I’m usually in the office an hour before our official hours open. I take the time, usually, to write, or to read scripture, but lately, I’ve been distracted, even from that. So now, I’ve resolved I will study the word before I come in, and take that time from seven to eight to be away from my phone, and to unplug from all screens and work of any sort, and just sit and be in the presence of God. I know this may sound odd to some. Heck, sitting and doing NOTHING? But it’s not nothing. It’s prayer, and it’s stopping my words to listen. It’s going, as Jesus did, to a desolate place to spend time with the Father. No Bibles, no distractions, just me and God, and, while I make my prayers and petitions known to God, and while I do pray for people by name, I sit and listen mostly. Today, I was only able to handle a half an hour. It became intense, I became restless, and what I heard and felt in my Spirit overwhelmed me. Yet I knew this is what God called me to.
I may not fully grasp it this side of heaven, but this was Jesus’ common practice: to get up before everyone else, to go to a desolate place, and to pray and be with the Father. It seems the busier He got, the more He did it. As His bondslave, adopted in to His Father’s house by His blood and His atonement for my sins, shouldn’t I imitate His practices? Simply put, yes. And simply stated to you, beloved brother or sister, so should you. Being still isn’t in our nature. Being still isn’t part of the busy life we feel we need to have. Being still doesn’t compute with having to fill every space of our time with activity, but it is absolutely necessary. As Christ followers, our goals should not be to merely listen to what He says, but to do what He says, and to copy His way of life.
We should desire to look like Jesus in every aspect of our lives, whether single or married, a parent or child, a boss or a worker, a student, a grown up, or whatever other position God may place us in. In everything and anything, we should strive to reflect Christ, and, from what I can read in the Scriptures, it begins with how we approach God, and how often. The Old Testament says, a few times, to “Be Still and know I’m God.” Shall we begin there? Shall we go, loved ones, to a quiet place and seek the Lord, to pray and to listen, and to sit with our Father who loves us enough to give His own Son that we may have the ability to come in to His presence?
Mark 1:35-39
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Luke 5:15-16
But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 4:42-44
And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Psalm 46:1-11
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
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