This is the first pillar in the building your ‘secret walk’. The idea for this is taken from”Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership, by Carl F. George”. Solitude is something many of us fear…we need time alone away from everyone to truly understand ourselves…to understand what we really want out of life. We see over and over again in the Bible where the central character of the story goes off to be alone. Nehemiah did, Elijah went and got to see God speak to him in a gentle whisper…Jesus made it something he did regularly…going off alone. I think you need to spend time away from all the business, from the T.V., computer…away from music. Time spent getting to know who you are. From this position you can have a meaningful conversation with God, because you know what you need to truly talk about.
Many people go off alone and talk to God, but never take the time to figure out what they need to talk about. We have so many things going on to kept us busy, it takes time to quiet down our souls to be in the position to listen to God. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Until we get quiet enough, we cant hear what God is trying to say.
Bill Hybels several years ago came out with a book titled “Too Busy not to Pray”. He said most of us go through life so fast that we’re revving our engines at 10,000 rpm’s when they are designed for only 5000 rpm’s. He said he had to create a journaling ritual that would help him slow down to the point where he could hear God. For him, he needed to cut back to the spiritual equivalent of 500 rpm’s.
It takes time to get quiet! Can you get earlier? Can you skip on meal a day or week? Can you give up some television? Most people could find 30 extra minutes a day to make space for quiet and solitude. Do you have power in your spiritual life? Check your solitude….Do you know what to ask God? Have you asked God to make a blessing or to bless the people in your life? If this isn’t true how can you expect divine intervention in your life? Your secret walk drive your life…solitude helps develop your secret walk.
Solitude helps us understand who we are…it helps us get away from the clutter and concentrate on what God would have us do in our lives. It when we get to this very point we can enter into a truly meaningful conversation with God and start to understand his will and purpose for our lives. So this long weekend take some time and spend it in solitude…don’t say anything…just be quiet before the Lord.
Two more pillars let….community and simplicity.
-ps
No comments:
Post a Comment