Advanced Faith (3) – Be Still and Listen
Sometimes the advice you get on faith may seem contradictory. The previous article seemed to advocate ACTION, while this one advocates INACTION. Both are true. Both are necessary. Just as one day in the physical realm we might get storms and another perfect calm, so it is important in our spiritual life to learn how to differentiate between the call to advance, and the call to be still.
There is a time in the morning, usually around 5am, when spiritual activity seems to be at its highest. People stir from sleep, awake from dreams, without really knowing why. This is even more the case for those on a mission to know God. In the still of the morning, in the dark, get on your knees and let the vibrations of the Holy Spirit fill you. It will be less of a physical communication, but more of a stirring of the heart and mind. Leave your thoughts to travel freely to those things which most concern you. Just let them run through your mind. Don’t try and stop the anxiety that grips your heart as you dwell on problems which seem insoluble. Feel your anxiety harden into a solid mass. then pray over it. Imagine the Spirit pouring its healing power over it. As each anxious thought enters your mind, allow the Holy Spirit to drift across it and deal with it in the spiritual plane.
Listen out for advice. Let your thoughts run free as God fills your head with a definite plan of action. Whereas your problems will cause your chest to constrict and tighten, God’s spiritual voice will set you free, releasing in you a sense of warm elation. Let this warmth melt your anxiety. Stay in supplication to the Lord, on your knees, hands together in prayer, while this spiritual battle goes on inside. Stay on your knees until the battle is won and you feel calm again.
In the cold light of morning you will recall these moments on your knees as though part of a dream. But you will also discover a new resolve, a strength, a calm. You will feel that you have handed your problems to God. Jesus has interceded on your behalf. There is nothing so big that He can’t handle. Go about your daily life with a new confidence, knowing that whatever happens from now on will be for the best. DO NOT try and force your own solution, but only the solution that God allows.
During the course of the day, focus on that state of calm you experienced during the night. Try and recreate it. In time, you will find that communing with the Spirit will be as easy as breathing, and prayer will become an ongoing channel of communication between you and your Lord.
