Thursday, November 6, 2008

Be Still Part 2


The Lord desires us to come to Him, to seek Him in the quietness of prayer and mediation on His word. God desires us to seek His voice and the more time we spend in His Presence the more we will see transformation in our lives. Difficulties will not render us helpless or hopeless for we will have faith in God, who is able to do all things. Holding on to those things which make us feel less than, unworthy and unlovable does not bring glory to God but shame for we show we do not trust in His love and His power to change us into holy women fit for His service, which we will never be without His power and guidance. Being still before God soaking in His voice will lead us to becoming jewels of hope, service, inspiration, righteousness, love, compassion, peace, joy, purity, wisdom, and all God desires us to be.

Let us look to a jewel in His crown as our example, Mary the Mother of Jesus. Scripture does not tell us she spent time in quietness before the Lord but her actions tell us she most likely did seek His Presence. When God sent Mary word she would be the mother of the Messiah she was able to say without hesitation "Lord I am your servant may everything you have said about me come true." She didn’t say she was unworthy, she didn’t say she was fearful, though she must have been. She just ask for an explanation as to how such would be possible and once given an answer she accepted and believed God would do what He said. Mary had to face a mother and father a fiancĂ© and a town of people who would possibly think she was a liar. It appears she took no thought of herself. She just wanted to serve the Lord; she knew she was being highly favored. We should trust in God as Mary did for her actions made her sparkle in God’s hands. I believe Mary was able to come to this place of faith because she had learned to get quiet before the Lord. Her psalm of praise says she spent time mediating on His word. She had learn to listen closely when being taught and she knew God’s history and history showed her God was able.
When God says to us "I forgive you, I will mold and shape you; I will heal you" we must take Him at His word. We must believe and respond Lord may all you say about me come true and because we believe, we will be highly favored. God already promised to make us sparkle like jewels in His hands, all we need do is get still, “Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him.” Psalm 37:7 (The Message) I find myself loving the instructions given in the Message translation for it is very clear leaving no room for us to doubt what God desires as we seek to be still before him
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. (Matthew 6:6) This is what Mary did, she took the focus off of herself and she was able to sense God’s grace upon her. Once we are still and our focus shifts to God we are than able to place ourselves in His Presence. “You're my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me." Psalm 119:114 (The Message) My sister once you are in His Presence just begin listening for His voice "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. and as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord God wasn't in the fire; and after the fire there was the sound of a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, "So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?" 1 Kings 19:11 -13 (The Message paraphrased) God most often speaks in a quiet and gentle voice, a whisper, we must have a quiet heart and spirit to hear Him. It is hard to hear God in the midst of noise, the many voices coming at us daily. Look to Jesus who went off by Himself to the mountains to talk with God. Lastly once we hear God we must be obedient and follow His instructions. This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Isaiah 30:15 (NIV) Let us not reject God’s way it is in the stillness that we gain strength to fight the enemy of hopelessness, unworthiness, loneliness, lowliness, discouragement, failure, and the past which seek to keep us motionless and unproductive for the Kingdom. God desires we seek stillness to gain strength not to hinder movement.


Seek quietness and you will not even need to fight. Take your quiet positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. He is with you, O daughters of the King. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out there tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!" (2 Chronicles 20:17 paraphrased). A woman should learn in quietness and full submission (1 Timothy 2:11 NIV ) Surrender only to the Lord, gaining a spirit of righteousness which will lead to quietness and confidence forever. (See Isaiah 32:17 NIV)

Prayer
Blessed Father, fill me with Thy Spirit and lead me to a place of sweet surrender. Build my strength and help me to gain confidence. Help me to let go of those things which keep me motionless and let me find moments of stillness, let quietness surround me so I may hear Your voice. Help me to hear the whispering of Your guidance. Speak to my heart Lord, touch my soul and let my spirit connect with Your Holy Spirit and together bring me into Your Holy Presence where there is refreshing, and restoration of the soul. Lord I need You, I desire You, I seek You, please be found according to You word, I am asking, knocking, seeking sweet communion with You. In Jesus Name I pray.

14 comments:

Joyfulsister said...

Hi Sis..
(((Hugz))) I have been trying to fight this head cold, my hubby and daughter just got over their colds and decided that sharing is caring lol.
Okay now I have some catching up to do here so off I got to read be still, Parts 1 and 2.

Luv ya..

Fitts said...

Wow! Great post!

Thanks,

DeAntwan

Kathie said...

Beautiful post. Thanks for sharing. Blessings from Costa Rica

God's Girl said...

Thank you for sharing! Be still is always a convicting topic to read and study.

Your blog blessed my heart!

Nice to meet you : ) Julie

Anonymous said...

Learning to be still and know He is God is where Father God has had me this whole year. My life has had some major changes. Desire to learn to rest in HIM, trusting and obeying is what I am am instructed to do each day by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks so much for your post today, so encouraged me.
Blessings-

SmilingSally said...

It's a difficult thing to learn: the act of being still and knowing that He is God. I must practice it more often. Thank you for the reminder.

Ginger~~Enchanting Cottage said...

Thank-you for this wonderful reminder. I need my time to be still,it is so important to me be I find myself doing other things. Thank-you for this great post.
Ginger

Musings of A Minister said...

You would think that in retirement it would be easier for me to find time to be quiet and to meditate. It's not! At least not for this retiree. I still have to work at it, make a point of it--do it. Thanks for your words of encouragement of this subject.

Anonymous said...

This is such wonderful advice. We need to be reminded often in this frantic fast paced world we live in. Thank you for the reminder. I read your Thankful Thursday post too. It was also very good. I'm glad you share with us on Spiritual Sundays.
Charlotte

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful devotion! I think you got right to the heart of the matter. Thanks for posting.

Joyfull said...

Beautiful post. Thanks for being a blessing.

Kathi~Lavender, Lace and Thyme said...

Your words are always so fulfilling. Be Still is my personal life verse, it is my struggle to be still all the time, especially on Sunday, it is the one day I try to devote to our Lord. Thank you for all the wonderful verses and prayer.

Blessings,
Kathi :)

Carol said...

Hi. Thank you for this post it was a real encouragement. I am always trying to find a time and place to be still and know that He is God and it's so very refreshing when I do.
Thanks again.
Carol

Joyfulsister said...

I got a chance to finally catch up.. Being still used to be one of the hardest things to do , just ask my husband lol. But I realized I was missing so much of what the Lord needed to speak to me about. The more I settled in his stillness the more he revealed to me. and after that I just knew that is where he wanted me at his feet, As much as I had to say to him I knew he wanted me to listen as well. beautiful beautiful words of life in this post.

Luv ya Lorie