AMBIENT NOISE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Be STILL and know (recognize, understand) that I am God

Psalm 46:10 (AMP)

Be still.

I am not very good at that.

Being still.

Being busy, now I am pretty good at that.

But in the busy I am afraid I miss a lot.

And the trouble is that when I try to be still, my mind often doesn’t cooperate. 

The phone beckons.

The feed beckons.

The laptop beckons.

Pick your distraction it vies for my attention and often commands it.

Hybels commented once that,

If you lower the ambient noise of your life and listen expectantly for those whispers of God, your ears will hear them. And when you follow their lead, your world will be rocked.

We often reference that “still small voice” the gentle whisper encounter with GOD recorded in 1 Kings 19:12.

But do WE tune to it?

I will admit, I don’t.

Those of you who know me well know that to tune out all the ambient noise in my life is especially challenging.  I can’t even sleep without something on in the background.  In fact, when things get quiet my brain often goes into overdrive waking me up even.

Yet it is in quiet that GOD gets the floor.

In the stillness GOD commands the attention.

And with that sometimes comes conviction but often affirmation and direction as well.

That is why the Psalmist encouraged us to…

Quiet your heart in his presence and pray – Psalm 37:7 (TPT)

It is for good reason. 

It is in the quiet that GOD speaks. 

It is in the quiet that we can hear.

So, quiet things down today if even just for a few minutes.

Tune your heart and ear to GOD.

Correction may come.

Direction will come.

My times of silence before God are very important to me now. I put everything else down, every word away, and I am with the Lord. When I'm quiet, life falls into perspective for me. I have a very active mind and I'm a worrier, but in those moments when I choose to put that away, I rest beside the Shepherd in still places. Why don't you give yourself a gift today? Turn off the television or the car stereo, put down the newspaper or the business plan, and in the quietness, rest for a while beside the Shepherd of your soul. – Sheila Walsh

HAVE A BLESSED DAY!

LOVE YOU ALL

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE