CAN YOU BE STILL?

(Devotion for 13 April 13)

How hard is it to go without your electronic communication devices? Would you be able to go up to the woods and not take your cell phone for instance? Do you constantly have to be in motion? For this writer I definitely have to work on this discipline but it is truly freeing to be alone with no noise. In this hustle and bustle world of ours sometimes it may be challenging to get away and be "still" in God's presence.

If you have been reading this devotion very long you may have read about a "DAWG" Day or "Day Alone With God".  I highly recommend this to everyone. It is so awesome to get alone and talk to God without TV's and radios blaring in the background or distractions taking you in another direction. 

Luke 6:12(NIV) says 'One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying there.' He was alone talking to His father in heaven. Maybe you feel like saying 'But Becky there was no electricity back then so it was easier for Him plus He is Jesus after all.' Many work full time, but be creative and find a safe place you can go every now and then and make it your praying place. I know someone who has a "prayer garden" at the side of her home in a subdivision. It might even just be sitting in a park in your car. On my last job I only got thirty minutes for lunch and there was a creek behind the building and I often would go back there and sit on the edge of a bridge going over it. A nearby university has a small lake with parking next to it and it was also a good place to go. If you desire to "be still" with God pray and ask Him to help you figure out where to go.

Luke 5:16(NIV) says 'Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.' Are your prayers just at meals or do you spend time talking to him other than that? He wants to "hear" from you in prayer and He would like to daily. What if you had a friend and you barely talked to them or spent time with them.  Wouldn't be much of a relationship now would it? Well this is how believers should be with Jesus. You want to know Him better it takes more than one hour each Sunday. It takes some alone time to pray and study and read the word of God.

Isaiah 30:15(NLT) says

'This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.' Can you do this? Trying being quiet and still and just hearing God's voice through his word. Can you be still? Can you make time to spend with Jesus each and every day? Do you desire this in your life? Psalm 46:1(NLT) sums it up quite well. 'Be still and now that I am God. I will be borrowed by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.' PRAYER: My desire Lord is to learn to be still in your presence. My desire is to go daily to my Bible and be still as I read your word. My desire is to have an impact in the world you have placed me in. Guide me and show me the way to go. In Jesus' name. Amen.