Here's a question for you...how much of your praying is talking and how much is listening? If we are to truly pray the will of God, shouldn't we listen first to know what it is before we can verbally pray it? John 15:7 says "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." Maybe if we get the "abiding" right, we'll see more responses to our prayer requests (because they will line up with His will). My favorite description for what it means to abide in Him comes from one of my favorite books (I became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt), describes abiding this way:
To abide means to live within. Jesus says He wants me to live inside of Him and that He will live inside of me. That doesn't sound like a relationship to me.
What if you could somehow interview a baby inside his mother's womb? And let's say you asked the baby, "Do you have a relationship with your mother?"
I think the baby would give you a really weird look...and answer, "That's what I thought you said, but I can't believe you would ask that. How do I answer? I mean yes, we do have a relationship, but c'mon it's way beyond that. I mean, I live inside of her. I can't live without her. I am totally dependent on her for everything that keeps me alive. I can't do anything without her. So yes, I guess we have a relationship, but that's a colossal understatement."
I think that in order to live this way - by truly abiding in Him - it takes setting aside the necessary time to hear the "silent thunder" and to be in such awe of Him that we are undone. So many times we have good intentions and then get busy and just don't take the time we should for our Creator. Did you take the time to read Psalm 139 or did you intend to and then time just got away from you?
In my first post, I shared Psalm 19:1-4 - "the heavens declare the glory of the Lord...". A friend was over last night and was showing me some recordings from NASA of the planets and the sounds they emit. WOW! Did you know that the heavens truly "declare" the glory of God? They actually make sound? How creative is our God? And...as my friend pointed out...their sound matches their appearance! (If you want to hear, go to You Tube and just search for planet sounds, NASA)NASA Voyager Recording of the sounds of Neptune
Silent thunder...if we will just be quiet and still and know He is God and listen to the silent thunder of the Lord of hosts, how much will that change us? How much will that change the way we pray? How much will it change the way we live?
I truly believe this is what it means to live a life of worship...it may or may not involve singing worship songs, but it is living in awe of the Great I AM and pursuing Him. I challenge you to join me this week and increase the time you spend in His presence...listening...see what He will reveal to you in the quiet...listen for the silent thunder...allow yourself to become undone...then see what changes. Don't let your busyness get in the way of abiding...our busyness is just temporary and will not fill any voids - it will not bring peace or joy; it simply gets in the way of those things that God wants to give us. Start small - just take 5 - 10 minutes/day; my goal is to increase my time each day this week.
I would love to hear how God moves in you this week...hold me accountable...ask me if I'm spending time listening...share what He's telling you...let's journey together.
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