Hey, Everybody! Hope you are having a wonderful day in the Lord! Today, I just wanted to take a moment to encourage “us” as holiness ladies to keep “pressing toward the goal.”
Life has a way of making us super busy. As homemakers and women pursuing Godliness, sometimes we can just get so fatigued from all the things pulling at us and demanding our attention. We often find ourselves with “too many irons in the fire” so to speak. It is our nature to get stressed and frustrated when we are worn ragged by the everyday grind. We get tired from all the effort that we put out…. Seems like we are always giving and giving until we ourselves feel burned out, stressed out, and “worn to a frazzle” as my Pappaw used to say.
But may I encourage you to take a moment to be still….
Oh, I know that we must still fulfill all of our God-given responsibilities. We all have our own list of tasks and responsibilities that we HAVE to complete in order to be the woman that God has called us to be— whether that is as a wife, mom, a role model, a woman assisting in ministering, a soul winner, a prayer warrior, an example, etc. but sometimes, we can become so busy that we tuned out the ONE thing that can make us experience that “spirit of refreshing”
It is so easy to just grab our phone and mindlessly browse, shop, check emails, or watch a YouTube video when we get a moment to ourselves, but may I encourage you to put down the phone and take a moment to just be still…
Why??
Because it is in the stillness that we can clearly hear the whisper of the Savior. He will draw
close to a heart that is quietly waiting on Him.
Sometimes, we must quiet our hearts in order to hear Jesus calling us away to worship Him, despite the busyness of our every day lives.
I don’t know about you but my soul (mind) isn’t always a quiet place. There are so many distractions everywhere. Oh, we all have good intentions— we say we are gonna spend more time in His Word or more time praying but it seems like when we try to do that, everything goes wrong or every distraction possible pops up! (Or does that happen to just me? )
Thankfully, there are some things we can do to minimize those distractions and quiet our thoughts in order for o hear the voice of the Savior, even right in the midst of our busy lives. Sometimes, we need to intentionally make time for these quiet pauses in our day. We must make time to be listening to the most important voice of all- the voice of God.
1 Kings 19:11-13
[11] And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent h the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: [12] And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. [13] And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? …
Notice that God’s voice came to Elijah as a still small voice—just a whisper! Think about it — It’s extremely hard to hear a whisper in the middle of loud chaos! You have to be relatively quiet to hear a whisper.
Even Jesus withdrew into the wilderness (or got alone) and prayed (Luke 5:16). In my own life, the times when I really felt God speaking to me was during the quiet times of reading, worship, prayer, or simply quietly waiting on Him.
At times, I have heard the whisper of God when I’m reading the Bible. A certain verse, maybe even something I’ve read many, many times before, will suddenly stick out, with new meaning
—There are other times when I read the Bible; I might not think I “got” anything new from my reading. But later, right when I need it, a verse will come back to me- and it’s like a light bulb comes on. A fresh perspective, a thought that I know wasn’t from me…these are some of the ways I hear God speaking to me. God speaks to us through the Bible and it’s the Holy Ghost that illuminates His Word (—that’s His job to bear witness of Jesus!!) To help us better understand the Word and how it relates to us personally and to show us how to apply it to our own lives.
NOTE: If you ever wonder whether the voice you are hearing is the voice of God, thankfully, there’s an easy way to test it. God will never contradict himself. We can measure everything against His Word in the Bible. God is a perfect God! He is the epitome of order! It would be completely against His character to put one thing in His Word and then then turn around and say the opposite. So always remember, God will always confirm His Word! Never will He contradict it!
So, how can I help reduce distractions and “quiet my soul” so I can listen for God to speak?
First, we must create an atmosphere for it!!
We must find a quiet time (if you have little kids, perhaps before your kids get up or maybe after they are in bed) to get alone with God. Getting alone with God is super important in order to hear Him speak to you on a personal level. God is a personal God. He delights when His people spend quality time (one on one) with Him and Him alone!
(NOTE: this time is part of your personal devotion with God. However, your kids are still need to see Mommy praying and reading. It will develop the habit in them as well. If you always do your devotions solely when they aren’t around and they never see you reading the Bible or praying, it will be harder for them to get their own pattern of devotion as they grow. They will model their behavior after what they see. I was so blessed growing up to have had a mother who definitely “got alone with God” but also modeled a good routine of devotion in front of us kids AND included us!) Family or couple devotions are super important— praying together as a family or as a couple is essential to building a home right! But don’t forget to make time for one-on-one with God yourself!
Create an atmosphere:
If you are a long time reader, you know I am a big advocate of the Holiness Voices Radio App.
I find that turning on good, anointed, Holiness music (with the volume turned down low) also aids in creating a calming, quieting atmosphere— perhaps just getting myself in the mindframe of worship or reflection. Music is powerful. Listening to and participating in right kind of music 🎶 is a huge part of worship! (See link below for post on music)
Remove known distractions!
Years ago, the old saints of God were known to “take the phone off the hook” during their quiet time with God. Their relationship with God was more important! Cell phones has brought us the ability to be reached pretty much 24/7…. This has created almost a dependency, or perhaps better said— an anxiety, at the thought of being unreachable for any reason. People are used to instant communication now and we all have trouble disconnecting from it. But sometimes it’s good to put our phones on silent/do not disturb or in another room to keep us from getting distracted when we are trying to hear from God or to spend quality time in his presence.
Then just be still…. Allow God to speak. Too many times we go to prayer with a huge laundry list of wants/ needs/ requests and we run through all those and then we pop up and go about our day but sometimes, God wants to talk back to us! We must linger in His presence and wait on his response. He longs for our worship. He desires our praise and adoration. Worship and praise brings Him honor. Sometimes, just by lingering in His presence in adoration, can bring by the greatest of blessings and “rest” to our souls.… He inhabits the praise of His people!! His presence makes all the difference!! Ever seen someone who just got up from lingering in His presence in worship, there is such a calm, such a glow on their face! In His presence is the fullest of joy!! He can do more in 5 minutes than we can do in 5 lifetimes! He knows what we truly need! He can meet that desire inside our hearts and calm our stressed minds like nothing else! He is the Prince of Peace!
So, in closing , There is so much to be said of just “waiting on God”. We often find ourselves so busy that we rush through our devotions and then, through our day. We rush through each task on our list, (Spiritual things included!) but we sometimes forget to stop and savor the moments of life. As a result, We often miss out on opportunities to “hear from God” or to simply rest in His presence by rushing through our time with Him.
Too often, in life, we miss out on the small but meaningful things around us because we are too focused on “getting to the next thing”. It would do us all good to take a breath and free up our time a little bit — make more time for God and more time to slow down and enjoy the little things in life.
With all my heart,
-Tiphanie ♥️
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