Developing Stillness
We are talking about having dialogue with God. Do you know what the word ‘dialogue’ means?
Here’s a definition that I found: “Talk of any kind between two or more people.”
When we speak of having dialogue with God, we are speaking of moving into such an intimate love relationship with Him that not only are we talking to Him, but we are hearing His response!
For most of us – this is quite a stretch from where we are at today. But – this is His desire for you! Jesus said:
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
So far, we’ve learned that in order to have authentic two-way dialogue with God we must:
• Tune into spontaneity. God speaks to our hearts – and we need to grow in our ability to listen in the spontaneous ways of the heart!
The next part of our journey into dialogue involves…
• Training in stillness. God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry that control our lives today! If I am to experience dialogue with God it will be the result of learning to still my mind and emotions.
Our biblical foundation for this spiritual truth is found in Psalms 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10
This verse comes in the context of a Psalm detailing a world at war – look at Psalms 46…
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields 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 Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” Psalms 46:1-11
And in the midst of troubles, trials, shaking, floods, earthquakes, political upheaval, God says– BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!
This has meaning for two different groups of people:
• The enemies of God are to be still and know! He is GOD! He is infinitely greater than they are! He will foil their plans for domination and He will be exalted – among all the nations!
• The people of God are to be still and know! We are to be calm and still, secure and no longer afraid – why? Because He is GOD! His IDENTITY secures our identity! His EXALTATION lifts us out of depression and despair! His NAME is given to us! We belong to Him!
Do you know what God means when He says: “Be still” ? He invites you to come to Him with all things and to cease striving, to relax, to let go and to enter into an attitude of playfulness!
All of this is the result of your taking your faith and putting it into action! Do we really believe that God is who He says He is? Will He really take care of me? Will He really meet all of my needs? – Or – am I on my own, alone in this cold, harsh and unkind world?
God invites you into the a place of absolute security – where He will speak and you will be built up as His child – “Be still and know that I am God!”
BUT – stillness doesn’t come easy. We aren’t exactly trained in stillness – in fact – everything in our culture and world goes directly opposite of stillness! All of us are experts at hurry! We have advanced degrees in noise! And confusion – we can do confusion extremely well!
So – what is our ACTION PLAN for becoming still?
We begin by…
Removing distractions to stillness.
Look at Mark 1:35…
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
What do we learn from Jesus about removing distractions to sillness?
• To get up early because the days are too busy! “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark…”
Let’s face it – few of us have a tremendous amount of free time. Most of us ‘go, go, go’ until we drop, drop, drop at the end of the day. We need to be intentional with our time with God – it won’t happen by accident, and it won’t happen if you wait ‘til you get around to it!
Some of you might say: “But I don’t like getting up early.” If you look at what Jesus was doing the night before in verse 32-34 – we see that it wasn’t until nighttime that Jesus really began ministering to people and that it most likely went until late at night before He finished! You may not like getting up early – but if you are going to pursue hard after Christ – you’ll find Him best in the early hours of the day!
The second thing we learn from Jesus is…
• To get away from others because we need our time alone! “He went off to a solitary place…”
Rancho Cucamonga is the 9th fastest growing city in the United States. California – in spite of it’s high home prices, traffic problems, smog and host of other challenges had in 2003 – nearly 36 million people living here! According to the US Census Bureau, there was an average of 2.87 people living in each household.
Regardless of all of this – the spiritually minded person, who is full pursuit of Christ is going to find both the place and the time to get away from others in order to be with Christ!
The benefits of being alone with Christ are too numerous to mention – but try these on for size:
o Gain clarity when confused
o Rediscover the love of God through Christ
o Find forgiveness when convicted of sin
o Direction for life
To get away from others is hugely important in hearing the voice of God! You know that you need this!
Where can you go – where you can be undisturbed for 30 minutes? It isn’t as hard as it may sound – if you make a commitment to be up early, before the others in the household!
On a practical level, once you’ve made the decision to be alone with God there will be other distractions:
• Physical Distractions – be comfortable! If you are kneeling, you’re legs will go to sleep. Be comfortable so that you can make Christ your focus!
• Brain Distractions – as soon as you sit down to be with God, your mind will begin to race – “You forgot to pick up the dry cleaning!” “Did you send the card to your nephew for his birthday?” “Am I ready for my meeting at work today?” “Did you make the deposit?” What are you to do with this? If you try to push those thoughts down – they’ll get louder and louder – so, deal with them – have a pen and paper ready, and when those thoughts come, write them down – so that you can deal with them later. Then refocus your thoughts back upon Christ.
• Conscience Distractions – Suddenly all of your sin is put before you. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Runs through your mind like a hamster on a wheel! You’ve got some choices to make: If you have not confessed your sins – now is the time. And then, you’ve got to take God as His Word. If you have confessed your sins – you’ve got to remind your conscience of God’s Promises. We are either going to gaze upon our self and our sin and weaknesses – or – we are going to choose to focus on Christ and His glory and grace! The Bible tells us that what we focus on will determine what we will become – check out 2 Corinthians 3:18
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18
We must decide to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust that He will clothe us in His righteousness!
What is the GOAL of stillness?
The goal of stillness isn’t to empty the mind or totally blank out the intellect – rather the goal is:
• Refocus ourselves upon Christ! For it is in Christ that we are made new!
• Know deep within ourselves the movement of God! For it is in the stillness that God speaks and brings revelation of Himself and His plans into our lives!
Becoming still isn’t doing something, it is being in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ within! To be still is to experience Christ in this very moment. He is the Great I Am. To live the God of the Now, I must live in this moment.
I am not mourning for the past, or worrying about the future – I am living and enjoying Christ in the present moment. I am allowing my salvation to impact this very moment. I am living out what David wrote about when he said…
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24
CONCLUSION:
Christ is calling you into the deep. He is saying: “I want to speak with you. I have the words of life – will you turn away from the noise, the hurry, the confusion – and come into the quiet, into the stillness, into my presence – in order to hear what I have to say?”
This week – turn inward. Turn toward the quiet.
In your notes there is a place where you can make a couple of notations:
• PLACE: Where will you go to be with Christ?
• TIME: When will you go there?
• PREPARATION: What will you bring with you?
One of the best rock bands in the world today – a group of guys called “Switchfoot” wrote these lyrics:
What's it gonna take to slow us down
to let the silence spin us around?
What's it gonna take to drop this town?
We've been spinning at the speed of sound.
If we're adding to the noise turn off this song
If we're adding to the noise turn off your stereo, stereo, stereo
This week – I dare you to move away from the noise, and into the stillness.
Here’s a definition that I found: “Talk of any kind between two or more people.”
When we speak of having dialogue with God, we are speaking of moving into such an intimate love relationship with Him that not only are we talking to Him, but we are hearing His response!
For most of us – this is quite a stretch from where we are at today. But – this is His desire for you! Jesus said:
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
So far, we’ve learned that in order to have authentic two-way dialogue with God we must:
• Tune into spontaneity. God speaks to our hearts – and we need to grow in our ability to listen in the spontaneous ways of the heart!
The next part of our journey into dialogue involves…
• Training in stillness. God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry that control our lives today! If I am to experience dialogue with God it will be the result of learning to still my mind and emotions.
Our biblical foundation for this spiritual truth is found in Psalms 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10
This verse comes in the context of a Psalm detailing a world at war – look at Psalms 46…
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields 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 Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” Psalms 46:1-11
And in the midst of troubles, trials, shaking, floods, earthquakes, political upheaval, God says– BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!
This has meaning for two different groups of people:
• The enemies of God are to be still and know! He is GOD! He is infinitely greater than they are! He will foil their plans for domination and He will be exalted – among all the nations!
• The people of God are to be still and know! We are to be calm and still, secure and no longer afraid – why? Because He is GOD! His IDENTITY secures our identity! His EXALTATION lifts us out of depression and despair! His NAME is given to us! We belong to Him!
Do you know what God means when He says: “Be still” ? He invites you to come to Him with all things and to cease striving, to relax, to let go and to enter into an attitude of playfulness!
All of this is the result of your taking your faith and putting it into action! Do we really believe that God is who He says He is? Will He really take care of me? Will He really meet all of my needs? – Or – am I on my own, alone in this cold, harsh and unkind world?
God invites you into the a place of absolute security – where He will speak and you will be built up as His child – “Be still and know that I am God!”
BUT – stillness doesn’t come easy. We aren’t exactly trained in stillness – in fact – everything in our culture and world goes directly opposite of stillness! All of us are experts at hurry! We have advanced degrees in noise! And confusion – we can do confusion extremely well!
So – what is our ACTION PLAN for becoming still?
We begin by…
Removing distractions to stillness.
Look at Mark 1:35…
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
What do we learn from Jesus about removing distractions to sillness?
• To get up early because the days are too busy! “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark…”
Let’s face it – few of us have a tremendous amount of free time. Most of us ‘go, go, go’ until we drop, drop, drop at the end of the day. We need to be intentional with our time with God – it won’t happen by accident, and it won’t happen if you wait ‘til you get around to it!
Some of you might say: “But I don’t like getting up early.” If you look at what Jesus was doing the night before in verse 32-34 – we see that it wasn’t until nighttime that Jesus really began ministering to people and that it most likely went until late at night before He finished! You may not like getting up early – but if you are going to pursue hard after Christ – you’ll find Him best in the early hours of the day!
The second thing we learn from Jesus is…
• To get away from others because we need our time alone! “He went off to a solitary place…”
Rancho Cucamonga is the 9th fastest growing city in the United States. California – in spite of it’s high home prices, traffic problems, smog and host of other challenges had in 2003 – nearly 36 million people living here! According to the US Census Bureau, there was an average of 2.87 people living in each household.
Regardless of all of this – the spiritually minded person, who is full pursuit of Christ is going to find both the place and the time to get away from others in order to be with Christ!
The benefits of being alone with Christ are too numerous to mention – but try these on for size:
o Gain clarity when confused
o Rediscover the love of God through Christ
o Find forgiveness when convicted of sin
o Direction for life
To get away from others is hugely important in hearing the voice of God! You know that you need this!
Where can you go – where you can be undisturbed for 30 minutes? It isn’t as hard as it may sound – if you make a commitment to be up early, before the others in the household!
On a practical level, once you’ve made the decision to be alone with God there will be other distractions:
• Physical Distractions – be comfortable! If you are kneeling, you’re legs will go to sleep. Be comfortable so that you can make Christ your focus!
• Brain Distractions – as soon as you sit down to be with God, your mind will begin to race – “You forgot to pick up the dry cleaning!” “Did you send the card to your nephew for his birthday?” “Am I ready for my meeting at work today?” “Did you make the deposit?” What are you to do with this? If you try to push those thoughts down – they’ll get louder and louder – so, deal with them – have a pen and paper ready, and when those thoughts come, write them down – so that you can deal with them later. Then refocus your thoughts back upon Christ.
• Conscience Distractions – Suddenly all of your sin is put before you. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Runs through your mind like a hamster on a wheel! You’ve got some choices to make: If you have not confessed your sins – now is the time. And then, you’ve got to take God as His Word. If you have confessed your sins – you’ve got to remind your conscience of God’s Promises. We are either going to gaze upon our self and our sin and weaknesses – or – we are going to choose to focus on Christ and His glory and grace! The Bible tells us that what we focus on will determine what we will become – check out 2 Corinthians 3:18
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18
We must decide to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust that He will clothe us in His righteousness!
What is the GOAL of stillness?
The goal of stillness isn’t to empty the mind or totally blank out the intellect – rather the goal is:
• Refocus ourselves upon Christ! For it is in Christ that we are made new!
• Know deep within ourselves the movement of God! For it is in the stillness that God speaks and brings revelation of Himself and His plans into our lives!
Becoming still isn’t doing something, it is being in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ within! To be still is to experience Christ in this very moment. He is the Great I Am. To live the God of the Now, I must live in this moment.
I am not mourning for the past, or worrying about the future – I am living and enjoying Christ in the present moment. I am allowing my salvation to impact this very moment. I am living out what David wrote about when he said…
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24
CONCLUSION:
Christ is calling you into the deep. He is saying: “I want to speak with you. I have the words of life – will you turn away from the noise, the hurry, the confusion – and come into the quiet, into the stillness, into my presence – in order to hear what I have to say?”
This week – turn inward. Turn toward the quiet.
In your notes there is a place where you can make a couple of notations:
• PLACE: Where will you go to be with Christ?
• TIME: When will you go there?
• PREPARATION: What will you bring with you?
One of the best rock bands in the world today – a group of guys called “Switchfoot” wrote these lyrics:
What's it gonna take to slow us down
to let the silence spin us around?
What's it gonna take to drop this town?
We've been spinning at the speed of sound.
If we're adding to the noise turn off this song
If we're adding to the noise turn off your stereo, stereo, stereo
This week – I dare you to move away from the noise, and into the stillness.
posted by Doug Love at 6:18 PM
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