Be Still

Have you ever sat down to pray or read the Bible and you keep getting distracted?  You can't shut off your brain and instead of praying you think about the laundry, what someone said to you that day that upset you, your schedule for tomorrow, etc.

How do you quiet your mind so you can meditate on the word of the Lord?  How do you learn to listen to that still small voice if everything else is screaming inside your head?  How do you learn to "be still"?

Its not easy.  Being still.  We live in a world where we are bombarded with "noise makers".  TV, Radio, Internet, Smart Phones, I pods, Video games...the list of noise makers is endless.  Its become uncommon for someone to sit in a quiet room.  The first question is "Why don't' you have the TV on?"  "Why are you sitting in the room with nothing on?".  I'm sure God would love to have even a fraction of the time we spend on those things.  We say we don't have time to pray, or read His word....now we see why. The noise makers of this world has eaten up our minutes.

I have found that giving God my first moments of the day, those early morning hours before anyone else is awake in the house, is when I can focus on Him and what He wants to say to me.  I get that fresh, piping hot mug of coffee, my blanket and my Bible, and I commune with my heavenly Father. 

 Some mornings I sit and wonder where to start.  That is when I am still.  I listen.  I don't speak. I want to hear His voice.  What do you want to say to me today Lord?  And sometimes, in those quiet moments as I sip on my coffee, I will hear Him. He will whisper to me to pray for someone.  He will guide me to a passage of scripture.  He will bring to mind something that happened and encourage me to share that story so it can relate to others in a way that brings glory to Him.

Being still is hard.  I don't' mean to make it sound easy.  There are mornings when I still can't focus.  My mind is cluttered and my heart races.  I want my time with Him to matter but I can't quiet the rush inside of me.  In those moments I will play worship music.  I will drown out the noise in my head with music.  To me, music is a way of not only worshiping Him, but letting Him speak to me.  I listen to the words.  There are messages in those songs.  And sometimes, when you don't know what to say, someone else has said it for you.  There is a song on the radio that I love.  I have posted it below.  When you don't know what to say, just say Jesus.  There is power in that name, the wonderful, beautiful name of Jesus.  And when you call Him, He will meet you where you are. 

So, be still....and trust that He will be there.  He's always there, waiting for you to put all the other stuff aside and spend time with Him.