Key scripture- “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

When you pray do you ever read a verse and just sit quietly and think about it?

If not, you need to start giving God some of your “still” time because if you want to know God you are going to have to allocate time for Him. You will not just naturally find yourself giving time to meditate on the things of God. But once you begin, you will find it to be one of the most important activities in your life, and one that you look forward to and that you can’t live without.

It is difficult for us to take time to simply be quiet with God and His Word. Not necessarily praying so much as listening and thinking about God and what He is putting on our hearts and minds. That’s why the Lord is saying to us today,“Be still, and know that I am God.”
You will find that some of the best times in prayer are wordless times when you stop speaking, close your eyes, and meditate upon what you have been reading or upon what you have been saying, and you listen inside of yourself.

That is when you need to listen deeply and intently. You need to listen for reproofs. As You are meditating—it helps to close your eyes so you won’t be distracted—then wait and it is there that the Holy Spirit invades. Then, you take circumstances before Him and listen. It’s a listening down inside. It’s sensing what God is saying about the situation. His promise is, after all, that He will inscribe His law—His will—upon our hearts and our minds.

It’s like what you do when you are with someone that you are very, very close to. The deeper the love and friendship between you, the less that has to be said. You can actually sit alone together for an hour or two and say very, very little, but it can be the deepest encounter and relationship you know anything about.

That is how your relationship with the Lord should be. Isaiah tells us that those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength, but remember: the key is waiting. “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31).

There’s a sense of stability in trusting the Lord. That’s how we wait silently and with a sense of confidence. When we wait for God to direct our steps, He does! When we trust Him to protect us and provide for us, He does! When we trust Him to meet our needs, He will! When we trust Him to show us His goodness, He will!

Pastor Chuck Swindoll says that, “When we wait on God, He tempers and seasons us, making us mellow and mature.”

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I want to thank You that I can come before such a Holy Holy God and that You love me more than I can even understand. That is truly amazing. Father, I want to listen deeply and intently to what You are saying to me. I want to know You and Your Word intimately so that I know the plans that You have for me. I want You to speak to me so that I do not walk in the way of the wicked, and I want to know Your truth, not what the world says is true. “For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.” (Isaiah 8:11-12). I want the Holy Spirit to guide me, lead me and correct me and I can only do that by getting to know You through Your Word and being in Your presence on a daily basis. Father, as I sit quietly with You, and I wait patiently for you, I proclaim that “My soul waits in silence for God only” (Psalm 62:1). In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.

 Laura Ingle