These steps help me settle myself as I prepare to meet with God. I use them to practice solitude, silence and stillness.
*FIND A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN MINIMIZE DISTRACTIONS.
Silence all TV, radio or online chatter.
Don’t sit where you can see waiting chores. Let them wait without guilt. This is your time with God.
*RELAX YOUR BODY SO IT DOESN’T DISTRACT YOU.
Get comfortable. Calm nerves and muscles. Release tension.
Then sit quietly. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply.
I have made myself calm and content
like a young child in its mother’s arms.
Deep down inside me, I am as content as a young child.
Psalm 131:2 New International Reader’s Version
*QUIET YOUR MIND SO IT WON’T SIDETRACK YOU.
Let go of the things that press on your mind. Set all worries and requests aside for now.
If your mind wanders, bring it gently back to focus on quietness.
Try, if only for an instant, to be quiet in body, mind and spirit.
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
Psalm 62:1 English Standard Version
Only in quiet waters does God cast His anchor.
God only draws near to a soul that enters quietness,
a soul whose thoughts and feelings have been stilled.
Basilea Schlink
*IMAGINE YOUR SPIRIT ASCENDING INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
Quietly listen with your mind, heart and soul.
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8a NIV
This is a time of silence when we are shutting out every other thought and distraction around us.
This is not talking to God. Just a complete mental drawing to Him;
and then as He promised, He will draw nigh to us.
Evelyn Christenson
We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory … Romans 5:2 The Message
Go and seek out your heavenly Father.
Pursue silence where you might hear from Him.
Pursue intimacy with Him in which you might discover
it is just you and Him, as it always has been.
(unknown)
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Sunday is “never a fast day but always a feast day.” In the Bible, the day begins at sundown, so here is a thought to begin your feast. I came upon it by accident … or was it by the hand of God?