I am reading 2 books about Mother Teresa right now and have been very, very inspired, to say the least. What a woman of God!!
She was a HUGE prayer warrior. There are a lot of discussions in one of these books about being silent before God and listening to Him. (The book titles are Come Be My Light and Praying With Mother Teresa.)
So, I’d like to get your thoughts on this. How are you silent before God? How do you listen best? I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time slowing my mind down. I pray a lot, but I’m usually doing all the talking. Yikes! I do meditate on scripture a lot – is that listening? How do you do it? How do you slow down your own thoughts to hear His precious thoughts?
How are you silent before God? How do you truly “be still” and know Him?
Candace- This is a tough one…like you in prayer I do all the talking! But I think meditating and studying His Word is a way to be still before God and learn from Him.
I find that by entering into his presence through worship, it is easier to be still/quiet before him. Sometimes in the late night when everyone has gone to bed, I put on my ipod with worship music. It is an awsome place to be…just me and the Lord.
I think we listen to God thru his word and thru other people. When you hear the same thing in quiet worship time AND Bible Study AND other people – that is confirmation that it is Him speaking. I have been covered up in “wilderness” words from many places for months now. When this happens it is really exciting. Even during the struggles, it shows me that God understands, is with me, and speaking to me. Of course, worship music is another way that I love to listen and feel his presence.
Dr Ben Jennings recently spoke at our church. I wish had taken notes, but one of the things he said that really stuck with me was that he learned when he was a young man that he needed to wait for the presence of the Lord to show up, not just have prayer time like a to do list. He said at first it took many minutes and then he would only have a few minutes of that real communion with the Lord. Now he comes into the Lord’s presence almost immediately. I am not sure that I explained this right though. I have had times like that too. I definetely feel He speaks to me through his word and in my Spirit at different times throughout the days, but there is something so WONDERFUL when you KNOW that God is really speaking just to me! Just think of all the times the Word tells us to seek Him and we will find Him! One thing I do too is pray that the enemy will not be allowed to decieve me – that I won’t listen to His lies. & I pray that I will have wisdom and discernment. Sometimes my life is just too cluttered and I have to do some decluttering. I am interested in what others share as well. I hope more people will respond here.
thanks,
Leanne
agreeing with Katie. Also, this might seem crazy, but I’d say that I hear God best in the shower. 🙂 My dh giggles when I come out of the shower with “this thought just came to me……..”. 🙂
Thinking of you lately, Candace 🙂