Be still, and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10
This Week's Reading: Matthew Ch 5
One of the biggest obstacles for me in my spiritual journey was my mind. My mind races a mile a minute. It is quite easy for me to get lost in thoughts about the past, the future, or some problem that I’m trying to solve. All of the sudden I’ll look up and minutes have passed without me being aware of what is going on around me.
Not so great for my conversation skills.
The root of the problem is that I identified too closely
with my mind. I always prided myself on being a smart person and so it was easy
to connect my identity to my thoughts.
I was stuck in the philosophical rut of “I think, therefore
I am”.
God helped me through this when he called me to a ten day
fast which included the Master Cleanse, no music, no internet, and no TV. Let
me tell you, the silence was deafening.
I was forced to confront my mind. When I tried to shut it up
it just kept roaring on. But, when I stopped and listened to it a breakthrough occurred.
It was as if I realized for the first time that all of the thoughts running
through my head were not me. Once my mind
became aware that it was being listened to it immediately shut up. And
then my spirit started talking.
We are not our minds,
we are our spirit.
This time was one of those times in my life where I
discovered a lot about who I am and what God wants me to do. It only took a few
days and some silence to LISTEN to what God had been trying to tell me my
entire life.
Here’s how we can
learn to better listen to God.
Pray as you normally would for as long as you like. When you
are done tell God that you will be quiet and ask Him to speak to you. Give
yourself at least 5 minutes of silence to allow for this to happen.
At first your mind will start to wander. That’s ok. Let it run
around and do its thing. You may have thoughts of doubt (this is stupid, God
isn’t real, why would he talk to me?), fear (oh my goodness, what am I going to
do about this problem at work? Did I leave the stove on? What if John hollers
at Sally before I get a chance to?) or even bad memories…
It’s ok… just hold on
and be patient.
Instead of trying to control your mind by beating it into
submission just LISTEN to it until it shuts up. Don’t judge it or get offended
by it. Just listen. Once it realizes that it is not in control then it will
submit.
Then the spirit will
speak.
You’ll know it is the spirit because there will not be any
fear. Everything you hear will be in line with the Bible.
During this first week just start writing down the
interesting things you hear. If you hear something and don’t know if it is from
God or not you can ask me here or in the facebook group and we will do our best
to help you along the journey.
I am willing to bet that if you spend at least 5 minutes a day LISTENING to God after you finish talking to Him in prayer he will
definitely talk back.
God wants to have relationship
with us. We just have to listen.
Let’s have fun with this. I’ll be here to help you along the
way. Dare to share!
1 John 5: 14-15: 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
ReplyDeleteThis came to me while I was silent. I didn't understand it at first. But I realized that once we express what's on our mind to God, we can let it go because he's told us to have "confidence" that he "hears us" and has essentially already come through for us in the Spirit world, it just may not have always manifested in the natural world. Sometimes, when we talk more than listen, it is an extension of our anxiety about our desires; an indication that we don't have full confidence that "it's already done." To attain peacefulness in our silent moments with God is to be confident that what you've asked for has already been done for you, it's just a matter of time until its revealed to you.
@Kofstradamus Awesome word! I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a hard time determining what was my voice. This is right on time because I keep getting words like God is anointing my voice.
ReplyDelete