Why is it SO difficult to “be still”???? This summer Holy Spirit has had me get to a point where I had to place my hands on my hips and confront myself! 🙂 The only way I can describe it is like this – when I was a young girl and my mother use to have me sit in a chair while she brushed out the snarls in my hair. I wanted to be ANYWHERE else but sitting still on that chair!
Our world is one that has us always on the go. Go! Go! Go! But there are times in our walk with the LORD when He simply wants us to take a moment to catch our breaths and be still in His presence. I struggle with this. I wiggle in my chair. I feel like I’m being given a “time out” but the truth of the matter is sometimes, when we have been praying to hear from God and we can’t figure out WHY we are not hearing from Him, it’s because we are not allowing ourselves to be still and listen!
I have been a part of God’s Called Remnant (a born-again Christian) for almost 37 years now. You’d think this is something I wouldn’t struggle with anymore… But being still the hardest lesson for me to apply to my life. My thoughts are always rapid. I can still my body, but my mind is constantly on the run. Stilling my mind is more difficult than stilling my body. Do you struggle with this too?
This year I determined to do something I’ve never done before – read the Bible straight through from Genesis to Revelations. I will be honest and say that there are points in the Old Testament that I have found tedious to read through – but I have gained so much more knowledge in making the effort and reading it, Holy Spirit has brought a better understanding of what I’m reading as I read through the Living Word of God. Nuggets of important facts and life changing revelations as I read through the Bible. One thing yesterday that stood out to me was in 1 Kings Chapter 19 when the Prophet Elijah was running from Jezebel in fear of his life. Take a look at this, 1 Kings 19:3-14:
“And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ” I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.” Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
My point is that the LORD was in the quiet. Sometimes in order for us to actually hear what God is speaking to us; we have to still ourselves and find Him “in the quiet.” Ol’ slewfoot knows that this is where we often find God, so he strives to fill our lives with anxiety, noise, busyness so that we don’t allow ourselves to TAKE the time we need to quiet ourselves before the Father and LISTEN to what He is speaking to us. Making us believe that “God isn’t speaking to us.”
Listen, God’s GREATEST desire for you (and for me) is to have a “personal” one-on-One relationship with you! It is WHY He created us in the first place! His love for you is such that sometimes He has to allow things in life to MAKE it so that we have NO choice but to be still and chill so that we can hear what it is He is speaking to us. He has a plan for you to fulfill! A plan that will bring you unbelievable fulfillment in walking according to your purpose and one that will further the kingdom of God! I don’t know about you, but the desire of my heart is to walk IN that purpose. Time is short and Jesus is coming back soon! God has delegated work for you to do for the kingdom; don’t you want to be a part of what God is doing? Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to be still and chill. But we can purpose to do that, even if we fidget at first like a young child sitting in a classroom waiting for the Teacher to instruct us. 😉
Sometimes the very thing we have been waiting to receive an answer from God involves being still enough to receive it and when we are obedient and do it, we realize that He had been providing the answer for us all along, we just needed to sit still and listen! (Which is the VERY last thing the enemy wants us to do!)
Let’s determine that we will start of small – find a way to quiet ourselves for 10 minutes a day, be still and see if we can hear what Holy Spirit is saying to us. As we discipline ourselves to do something which SHOULD be SO easy we can expand on the time until it becomes more of a habit than a chore. God wants to speak to us; we only have to be still and chill in order to hear what He is saying! Let’s do it! Let’s chill! 🙂
9
0
20