Me: Good morning Lord. Thank you for waking me this morning and for giving me this new day. Please help me to stay in the centre of your will today. I love you Lord.
Lord: Good morning Martin. Thank you for joining us this morning and for walking with us. We love you too.
What a cry I hear from my people all over the world! It's a cry from the heart that reaches to the heavens. It is a cry I am ready to answer. The cry comes in many different forms and arises from many situations, but essentially the cry is pleading for the same thing: "How can I hear the voice of God in this situation? How can I shut out the noise of the ungodly and listen to the still small voice?"
In order to hear my voice and to discern what I am saying, I want you to create space for me in your day. How can I talk to you if you keep wandering off doing something else? Apply one simple rule to your day. Give one hour to me uninterrupted. One hour, I hear you cry in desperation, how can I find one hour in my busy day? Let me tell you this, and there is no compromise or other option here, if you are too busy in your day to give me one hour in twenty four, then you are too busy, and need to shed some of the things you are doing, or alternatively get organised! No one, I repeat, no one, in any occupation, should be too busy to have at least one hour to be still before me. So, look at your life, look at your schedule and look at your priorities.
Make time to be still before me. This time of stillness can be an early morning walk, preferably before the busy world wakes up. Talk to me as you walk, and allow your mind to dwell on the things and the people you talk to me about. If it isn't possible or practical for you to walk, then sit in a quiet place. If you have a tendency to fall asleep then sit in a light place. Spend time letting all your concerns and worries flow out to me, pray your prayers and then allow the stillness wash over you. You see, more often than not, people pray to me, but then when they have run out of words they think it's all over, and get up and busy themselves again. I am in the silence after you have spent your prayers. I am in the stillness when words have run out. Stay in that place, wallow in that peace and let the silence soak in. This is the time when your mind and your brain switch over to spiritual mode. This is the time when all the interfaces I built into you engage, and Heaven becomes visible, and you are able to hear divine thoughts. It is essential that you do not run away from this time of stillness.
At first the stillness is quite hard to cope with, because your life is so full of busy-ness and noise. It requires practice, lots of practice! The best time to start learning to live in my presence and hear my voice, is as a child, so as you learn this, teach your children. Starting the day in this way will set you up for the whole day and make every part of the day more fruitful.
Staying in an attitude of prayer, aware of me, let the time of stillness move into a time of listening to the thoughts I drop into your mind. Those thoughts may be related to your prayers, or they may be totally unrelated. Do not be afraid to ask me questions, but be prepared to listen for the answers! I don't always use lots of words to answer your questions. Indeed more often than not, I instil a feeling, a conviction, an assurance that some course of action or some idea is right. People often explain it as, "I just knew it was the right thing to do."
As in most close friendships, I often want to tell you that I love you, and as you grow in your friendship with me, I hope that you too will want to express your love for me. Time spent loving each other is time well spent.
Remember I am God Almighty. What I have to say to my creation is valuable. I do not waste my words! What I say to you, whether personal or prophetical, it is worth recording in some way.
Job 19:24 ...that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!
Isaiah 30:8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
Jeremiah 36:2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now." New International Version ©1984
This writing can be in the form of a diary or a journal, and is best if it records context as well as my words. That is, what you ask, or what caused me to say the words. This is so that as you look back after time, you will remember why we had that conversation.
Do not be afraid of recording everything. As you get used to talking to me and listening it will become easier to discern what is me speaking and what is you. It is always helpful to have someone to share your journal with, who can be a sort of safety valve to guide you back if you do stray. But you will find that that will not happen very often, unless you walk away from me.
Martin, your pattern of walking and praying, then Bible reading of both Old and New Testaments, followed by stillness and journaling, works well for you, because you have time with me, you get in tune with me around my word, then you listen to what I am saying and record it. It works for you because I have chosen to wake you up and lead you into this pattern. Each person has to develop their own pattern to fit their own situation. There are, however, things vital to hearing my voice.
Lord: Good morning Martin. Thank you for joining us this morning and for walking with us. We love you too.
What a cry I hear from my people all over the world! It's a cry from the heart that reaches to the heavens. It is a cry I am ready to answer. The cry comes in many different forms and arises from many situations, but essentially the cry is pleading for the same thing: "How can I hear the voice of God in this situation? How can I shut out the noise of the ungodly and listen to the still small voice?"
In order to hear my voice and to discern what I am saying, I want you to create space for me in your day. How can I talk to you if you keep wandering off doing something else? Apply one simple rule to your day. Give one hour to me uninterrupted. One hour, I hear you cry in desperation, how can I find one hour in my busy day? Let me tell you this, and there is no compromise or other option here, if you are too busy in your day to give me one hour in twenty four, then you are too busy, and need to shed some of the things you are doing, or alternatively get organised! No one, I repeat, no one, in any occupation, should be too busy to have at least one hour to be still before me. So, look at your life, look at your schedule and look at your priorities.
Make time to be still before me. This time of stillness can be an early morning walk, preferably before the busy world wakes up. Talk to me as you walk, and allow your mind to dwell on the things and the people you talk to me about. If it isn't possible or practical for you to walk, then sit in a quiet place. If you have a tendency to fall asleep then sit in a light place. Spend time letting all your concerns and worries flow out to me, pray your prayers and then allow the stillness wash over you. You see, more often than not, people pray to me, but then when they have run out of words they think it's all over, and get up and busy themselves again. I am in the silence after you have spent your prayers. I am in the stillness when words have run out. Stay in that place, wallow in that peace and let the silence soak in. This is the time when your mind and your brain switch over to spiritual mode. This is the time when all the interfaces I built into you engage, and Heaven becomes visible, and you are able to hear divine thoughts. It is essential that you do not run away from this time of stillness.
At first the stillness is quite hard to cope with, because your life is so full of busy-ness and noise. It requires practice, lots of practice! The best time to start learning to live in my presence and hear my voice, is as a child, so as you learn this, teach your children. Starting the day in this way will set you up for the whole day and make every part of the day more fruitful.
Staying in an attitude of prayer, aware of me, let the time of stillness move into a time of listening to the thoughts I drop into your mind. Those thoughts may be related to your prayers, or they may be totally unrelated. Do not be afraid to ask me questions, but be prepared to listen for the answers! I don't always use lots of words to answer your questions. Indeed more often than not, I instil a feeling, a conviction, an assurance that some course of action or some idea is right. People often explain it as, "I just knew it was the right thing to do."
As in most close friendships, I often want to tell you that I love you, and as you grow in your friendship with me, I hope that you too will want to express your love for me. Time spent loving each other is time well spent.
Remember I am God Almighty. What I have to say to my creation is valuable. I do not waste my words! What I say to you, whether personal or prophetical, it is worth recording in some way.
Job 19:24 ...that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!
Isaiah 30:8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
Jeremiah 36:2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now." New International Version ©1984
This writing can be in the form of a diary or a journal, and is best if it records context as well as my words. That is, what you ask, or what caused me to say the words. This is so that as you look back after time, you will remember why we had that conversation.
Do not be afraid of recording everything. As you get used to talking to me and listening it will become easier to discern what is me speaking and what is you. It is always helpful to have someone to share your journal with, who can be a sort of safety valve to guide you back if you do stray. But you will find that that will not happen very often, unless you walk away from me.
Martin, your pattern of walking and praying, then Bible reading of both Old and New Testaments, followed by stillness and journaling, works well for you, because you have time with me, you get in tune with me around my word, then you listen to what I am saying and record it. It works for you because I have chosen to wake you up and lead you into this pattern. Each person has to develop their own pattern to fit their own situation. There are, however, things vital to hearing my voice.
- Prayerful stillness.
- Open spiritual ears and eyes.
- An open Bible.
- Some method of recording what I say.
All this requires time every day when you won't be distracted or interrupted, when we can just be together to love each other.
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land". 2 Chronicles 7:14
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land". 2 Chronicles 7:14
