Posted by vicki on Aug 28, 2011 in
Listening stuff,
Stuff stuff Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20
We had an adventurous week here on the East Coast.
First there was an earthquake: 5.9 on Richter Scale.
Where was God during the earthquake?
He was right there with you and with me.
Then there was a hurricane. Only a Level 1 hurricane, but a hurricane nonetheless.
Where was God during the hurricane?
He was right there with you and with me.
Sometimes it is difficult to feel attached to the Lord (and hear His still, small voice) when the world is crazy. Here is a good prayer project:
Daily ask God to help you be sensitive to His presence in you and around you. The more you look for Him, the easier it will get. (Then during really scary times, it will be harder to forget!)
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, gives some insight into learning how to hear God’s voice:
The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.
What would happen if you caught your first thoughts of the day and directed them straight to God (before deciding the schedule of the day, what to wear, what the weather is like)?
Posted by vicki on Apr 19, 2011 in
Fasting stuff,
Listening stuff
I am not much of a party-person.
My job uses conversation all day long, so if I go to a party, I sort of dread needing to cook up another conversation.
However, there are some folks I don’t mind going to a party with. They are the ones you ask one question, and like a runner at the starting post- they’re off. They chatter and chatter- and I can just lean back, listen, and relax.
But, then, a party is not a place to get into deep, meaning-of-life conversation. It is not a place to learn a person’s heart.
If I truly want to know a person’s heart, I will pray with them often. When I pray with someone, it seems that the Holy Spirit works in us both to understand each other.
How much deeper and more meaningful prayer can be if I am truly trying to understand God’s heart.
I think that is what fasting is doing:
-calibrating
-setting aside my agenda
-listening to Him
-quieting my own noise
-seeking His thoughts and wishes
I feel like at this point in the process I am listening better, am quieter.
What are you noticing about your prayer life now?