GlocalNet

From the time I was born until I was in my mid-30’s I never shut up!  Some of you are laughing now - “Roberts, you never have shut up!”  I can hear you now.  But truthfully, there are times I get really quiet and still.  At a point of brokenness in my life I was forced to be quiet before God and seek his face - I’ve written about it in Transformation - my book.  It’s the whole, “When will Jesus be enough?” question.  After that I began to worship daily and learned the power of getting alone and getting quiet before God.  This year I went on a Quest, or a spiritual retreat, and one of the things I loved about it the most was getting huge blocks of time to be quiet with God’s Word and him.  My wife went on one as well - and just to be able to be quiet before God is a very powerful thing.  Daily I worship and journal early in the morning and have for the past 18 years - but in addition to that, there are some other things I’ve learned in a busy schedule that helps me stay centered and focused beyond daily worship.

A lot of people get away to chill - I’m not talking about chillin’ in that sense.  I’m talking about getting away for the expressed purpose of hearing God’s voice. 

1.  Be creative in your scheduling and get help to accomplish it - the hardest person in the world to do this is the mom with babies still at home - everyone else stop whining!  Get your husband, your parents, your in-laws to help you and every 6 months carve out at least a morning. 

2.  Start early on your knees and ask God to speak.

3.  Make a list of issues you’re dealing with - and take those to God in prayer.  What you’re doing is unloading your heart, and that’s a good thing to do.  Then put that list aside. . . . Prayer is not just giving God your list, it’s you hearing his.  Often when we pray we know how to ask, but we don’t know how to listen and hear him. 

4.  Pray in advance and pick a small book in the Bible or a few chapters to focus on and read them again and again and again.  I’ve been reading the book of Galatians over and over again the past 2 months.  It’s amazing how many things I’ve seen there that I’ve never seen before.  After unloading your heart read that book again.

5.  Have a time where you are quiet before God and you ask him to just say whatever he wants to say.  Ask him to clear your mind, your heart, all of it - and to speak.  He will.  Chances are something will come “out of the blue” you didn’t expect, or weren’t even praying about.  That’s the Holy Spirit. 

6.  Act on what he says to you - don’t delay.  One of the keys of the Great Awakenings and great historic moves of God is immediate obedience.  If you don’t do that, it was all wasted - it’s also sin not to do what God has put on your heart.

7.  Keep doing it.  You are developing your listening skills.  There is something else that will happen - you will start recognizing God in the small days of daily life like never before.  You will begin to hear his voice and recognize divine opportunities as well as Satanic attacks and respond accordingly. 

8.  Something else that can be powerful on a regular basis - when you are walking, jogging, or alone - turn off the radio and just be quiet and ask God to speak.  He will.