If you came over from Encouragement for Today, I’m so glad you are here.
If you’ve been with me this week, we’ve been on a 30-day-to-intimacy-with-Christ journey. It’s actually a perfect encouragement for the devo as well.
For this week has been a practice to be still.
Practice? Why practice? Shouldn’t we have this down by now?
Practice is such a great word here. Let’s translate that into different relationships that matter to us.
- I practice listening to my child so I can really hear what she is saying.
- I practice making time for my spouse in my busy day.
- I practice slowing down so that I can find balance spiritually and physically.
In each of these, we would applaud the efforts.
So, we practice the art of being still because sometimes we feel lost from God. Or He seems far away. Or perhaps, you are that one running wildly in pursuit of Him and doing a lot of religious things to gain His attention.
He knows exactly where you are. He knows what you are feeling. He sees that beating heart, trying to locate Him in your busy efforts.
It’s why He asks you to be still. He’s a paternal God. One that sees you as His creation. His child. The last thing a parent wants is for a child to be lost. He’s the one looking for you.
So be still so that:
You can be found by Him.
Maybe you came to this blog today because of the devo. Be still and know that you are loved.
Maybe you have been practicing being still this week, and a thousand things have pulled at you and you aren’t sure you can do this. Be still and know that He wants to commune with you.
Maybe the stillness has opened the door a crack, and you want more. Be still and know that He longs to fill you up.
In our 30 Days to Intimacy, we’ll continue to practice the art of being still through the weekend.
Journal your thoughts as they come. If that hasn’t been easy, don’t make that an obstacle. It’s not about pass/fail. It’s about intimacy. Sometimes that takes times.
In fact, it always takes time.
What are some of the thoughts you’ve journaled this week?
What are the obstacles?
What are you gaining?
If you came over from Encouragement for Today, how can I pray with you?
I just don’t understand how to do this. If my body is still my mind races with a million and one things. Or I fall asleep.
If your mind is racing with things you need to do, jot them down to clear your head of them. I had that problem for a long time where my mind would be filled with things that I wanted to communicate but I didn’t know how without randomly interjecting them into a conversation. It was suggested to me that I write them down. When I did, my mind was so much more clear and my ability to focus on what God was calling me to do was better as well. Quiet time takes practice (I have a hard time focusing sometimes as well). Keep at it, keep praying about it and you’ll get there. 🙂
Sometimes when my mind is racing, I have to “put a foot in the revolving door” and just stop the spinning. I have often spent hours into days letting the same thoughts run over and over in my head.
Here’s a suggestion that works for me. Write it down. Don’t think about grammar, or punctuation, or spelling, or neatness. Just get out a notebook, or open a Word Doc and start writing. Keep writing until you can’t think of anything else that’s on your mind. It’s an “emptying of the mind basket.”
This exercise will not only free up your mind space, it will allow you to clarify those things that are on your mind. Seeing things in words is less chaotic.
Keep doing it, everyday if necessary. Your mind will clear. That’s when God thoughts will start to appear. In the empty spaces. But we need to have clean clear spaces in our hearts and minds for God’s word to become part of us.
I am with Patricia!
It’s not easy, but I have all the words that I want to write down but than when it is time, I can’t put it in words. I know it’s the devil but at least I tried to write down one word which is thank you God for something in my life…Roof over my heard, a compliment, my health…than praying for other people in the world.
Thank you all for the suggestion of writing things down when my mind become so jumbled when I am trying to be still before d Lord.
I love writing my prayers. I use a journal made by Becky Tirabassi, divided in two parts. My part, God’s part. There are four sections in my PART, Praise, admission, request, and thanksgiving. GOD’s part is LMNOP listen, messages, New Testament, Old Testament, Proverbs. And there is a To do section. I read a one year bible broke into old, new testament, psalms and proverbs. As I read God’s word, I listen and record his word. Sometimes in the listen section, I write a letter from God to me. I can picture him calling me Beloved, if things pop into my mind, I record them into the to do list, sometimes, I consider them my marching orders. Somedays I write alot and some days I write small amount. Blessings Diana
Oh, Suzie! How beautiful this post was for me yesterday! Every morning I have a short quiet time and then listen to KLOVE on my wat to work. I usually get home very late after working, meetings and helping my daughter with my awesome grandsons, one of whom is medically fragile. I then spend at least an hour or so reading Scripture and my emails from the blogs I subscribe to and/or OBS books and other Bible studies. But on Friday nights, I sit with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration for a few hours from 10:00 fish til about 1:00 a.m. I affectionately call it ” hanging with the Lord”. I look forward to this time. I often read, reflect and busy myself with catching up, but last night I simply enjoyed being in His presence! “Be still and know that I am God!” What great peace, joy and love! At first, it was hard to simply settle down, but I just went with it and asked Jesus to help me and before I knew it my mind was cleared of excess stuff and so blessed with the nothingness of the world and the everythingness of my Triune God! Thank you so much for your encouragement and inspiration! God bless!
Ps. Sorry for the typos…lol!