A Lost Art: Part Four by Ps Michael Podhaczky

In this series of blogs, I have been speaking about the lost art of silence and solitude. So, what are some practical things that we learn to be able live from this place? This can help us take a break from the chaos of the world and focus on God. The following suggestions may help in rediscovering this lost art.

·         A helpful place to start is being intentional in making room in our days for regular timeouts with God, seeing it as essential.

·         Find a quiet space where you can hear God’s voice in the silence. This is to hear God with better clarity from His word. A helpful tool is what I call ‘Ready, Set, Go.’

Ready: Quieten yourself

·         Settle your heart i.e. spend some time just listening in silence, letting yourself begin to soften before God. That is, turn your full attention to hearing from Him.

Set: Read

·         Be expecting to hear from Him and let Him guide your Bible reading. This can be the next passage in your daily reading or some other section of the Bible. It may even be a passage that the Lord has laid on your heart.

Go: Go ahead and ask

·         What has God said to the original audience within the passage/s?

·         What is God saying to me from the passage/s?

·         What is my response? Or, to put it another way, ‘So what?’

·         Record what He has said and what is to be your response on a piece of paper, notebook, journal, phone or tablet (consider turning the Wi-Fi off on the last two or putting them on aeroplane mode).

·         Try not to get detailed immediately instead try to reflect on things from a big picture perspective, to begin with. Then as you conclude your time of being quiet, you can be more specific.

·         Chose to put into practice what you have heard Him say to you.

PRAY

LISTEN

PRAY

LISTEN

PRAY

LISTEN...

Pause in His presence for a moment and think this over…