"The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." (Psalm 145:18) God is so close to us. He's nearer to us than our own breath. He's just a prayer away. You can actually know Him, in a very real and personal way. You can experience His Love for you, not in an abstract, knowledge-based
way using your mind, but rather, with the eyes and ears of your heart. But how do we find God and how can we hear His voice in our lives? People search for God all over the place, in every possible person, place or thing. But He's not there. He's within you.
Yes, Jesus lives in us. The problem is we don't look for Him there. We drown His gentle voice out with the noise of our lives. Much of this noise is necessary. We have responsibilities we need to meet, family to take care of, etc. But I think if we were to evaluate our lives closely we could probably come up with 5 -7 minutes that we could give to the Lord. This is how we come to know Him. Through prayer and meditation. Can a relationship grow if you never spend any time with the other person? It's up to us to give God a little time, at least a little space in our day, not with words, but with our presence.
Saint Catherine of Siena was once asked, "It seems in the past God was speaking to many people, but today he rarely speaks to anyone, why?" She answered, "That's because people use to pray, 'Speak Lord your servant is listening', and today we pray, 'Listen Lord your servant is speaking". It's all about listening. We are used to doing the talking. Telling God what we want and what we don't want.
So we have to train ourselves to pray in a New Way.
Yes, God still speaks to us today. We find God in the still small voice. I encourage you to read 1Kings 19:11-13 (also found here in the inspiration tab above) where Elijah standing on the mountain listening for God, heard Him in the "gentle whisper". This is where the Lord is. n the stillness. In the quiet place of our hearts. But we must become quiet to let Him in.
The easiest way to begin is to put aside and commit to the 5 minutes every day. Do what you have to do to get this "alone time". Ask God to help you find this time in your day. He will make a way for you. Next, turn off the noise, the TV, the cell phone, the computer, everything. And sit. hat's all. Sit quietly. Tell Jesus you are here to be with Him for a few minutes and ask Him to bless this time together and then be silent. Let all the thoughts that come to mind just flow out, release them. Let the noise go.
Let your guard down. That's a big one... we don't realize the walls we create around our hearts, protecting them from pain. Jesus understands this, and it will take time for those walls to come down. It will take time to Trust Him with our hearts. It's all part of the process of intimate prayer.
When you're done, get up and go about your day, inviting God to come with you. You may get up from
this prayer feeling absolutely nothing, having experienced absolutely nothing. Do not get discouraged. Remain faithful to those 5 minutes every day and you will soon experience a joy and newfound Love
in your life that can't be matched. You will come to know God as He truly is .. a loving and gentle Father,
who is always with you.
So let's make a decision to seek God in a New Way Today. A Way that involves us taking a step
closer towards Him. Jesus has
already promised that when we seek we shall find. Let's seek God's presence in
our lives through silent prayer, and listen closely to our hearts ... the place
where we will find Him.
way using your mind, but rather, with the eyes and ears of your heart. But how do we find God and how can we hear His voice in our lives? People search for God all over the place, in every possible person, place or thing. But He's not there. He's within you.
Yes, Jesus lives in us. The problem is we don't look for Him there. We drown His gentle voice out with the noise of our lives. Much of this noise is necessary. We have responsibilities we need to meet, family to take care of, etc. But I think if we were to evaluate our lives closely we could probably come up with 5 -7 minutes that we could give to the Lord. This is how we come to know Him. Through prayer and meditation. Can a relationship grow if you never spend any time with the other person? It's up to us to give God a little time, at least a little space in our day, not with words, but with our presence.
Saint Catherine of Siena was once asked, "It seems in the past God was speaking to many people, but today he rarely speaks to anyone, why?" She answered, "That's because people use to pray, 'Speak Lord your servant is listening', and today we pray, 'Listen Lord your servant is speaking". It's all about listening. We are used to doing the talking. Telling God what we want and what we don't want.
So we have to train ourselves to pray in a New Way.
Yes, God still speaks to us today. We find God in the still small voice. I encourage you to read 1Kings 19:11-13 (also found here in the inspiration tab above) where Elijah standing on the mountain listening for God, heard Him in the "gentle whisper". This is where the Lord is. n the stillness. In the quiet place of our hearts. But we must become quiet to let Him in.
The easiest way to begin is to put aside and commit to the 5 minutes every day. Do what you have to do to get this "alone time". Ask God to help you find this time in your day. He will make a way for you. Next, turn off the noise, the TV, the cell phone, the computer, everything. And sit. hat's all. Sit quietly. Tell Jesus you are here to be with Him for a few minutes and ask Him to bless this time together and then be silent. Let all the thoughts that come to mind just flow out, release them. Let the noise go.
Let your guard down. That's a big one... we don't realize the walls we create around our hearts, protecting them from pain. Jesus understands this, and it will take time for those walls to come down. It will take time to Trust Him with our hearts. It's all part of the process of intimate prayer.
When you're done, get up and go about your day, inviting God to come with you. You may get up from
this prayer feeling absolutely nothing, having experienced absolutely nothing. Do not get discouraged. Remain faithful to those 5 minutes every day and you will soon experience a joy and newfound Love
in your life that can't be matched. You will come to know God as He truly is .. a loving and gentle Father,
who is always with you.
So let's make a decision to seek God in a New Way Today. A Way that involves us taking a step
closer towards Him. Jesus has
already promised that when we seek we shall find. Let's seek God's presence in
our lives through silent prayer, and listen closely to our hearts ... the place
where we will find Him.
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