Be with Jesus. A lifestyle of Intimate Connection with Him.

3. Integrate silence
Day one of this devotional asked you to implement a period of silence into your day. There’s a time and place for many forms of prayer and being before God, but silence, which is one form of prayer, is a habit that is not as common or well-practiced in our world today. Reality is we live in a busy, noisy world, under a non-stop assault of distraction!

The Bible models silence as a way of life. How beautiful are the words penned by David in Psalm 62:1-2,5

Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.

Peter Scazzero says ‘integrating silence & stillness utterly transforms the way we follow Jesus and the way we lead’. Here’s why...in silence we LET GO and as we do it creates room for a number of things to happen.

We surrender our will to God’s will. God is always extending an invitation to surrender control, approval and security. Whilst bringing our requests to God is so important, the more we sit in silence, the more we know His will and are able to bring requests to Him that align with what He wants .
We open ourselves to hear God speakImagine having a relationship with someone and all they do is talk! When we integrate silence, we give opportunity for God to speak to us .
We invite God to reveal Himself to us. When God appeared to Elijah after his suicidal depression and flight from Jezebel, He told him to stand and wait for the presence of the Lord to pass by. But God did not appear in ways he had in the past. As we read in 1 Kings 19:12, God finally revealed Himself to Elijah in ‘a sound of sheer silence.’ The English translation of God coming ‘in a still, small voice’ does not capture the original Hebrew intent, but what could the translators do? How do you hear silence!?
We allow God to work on our behalf. Moses instructed the people of Israel to be silent on numerous occasions, whilst this was a corporate exhortation, the principle of the power of being still before God is clearly communicated in the following passage. Exodus 14:13-14 But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will perform for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again, ever. The LORD will fight for you, while you keep silent.’

Whether it be two or twenty minutes each day, silence will revolutionise your relationship with God when this becomes a core habit in your practice of being with Jesus.

Be with Jesus. A lifestyle of Intimate Connection with Him.

4. Commune with Jesus throughout the day

We touched earlier on the topic of communing with Jesus throughout the day, there is such beauty and easy familiarity found when there is a continual abiding with Jesus that it warrants further focus on this subject.

Practice it and experience it! It’s important to recognise that a lifestyle of continual communion with God doesn’t come naturally to us, particularly when we live in a world that is designed to keep us away from it. Hence the emphasis that this habit needs to be practiced.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing! In other words, ‘Be with Jesus’ without ceasing, abide in Jesus all day.

These statements and scriptures are all good in theory....but how do we practically do that in our current information charged society, whilst at work or university, when busy with friends and family?

Some ideas to consider:

• Pray while you wait.
• Incorporate prayer or worship into housework.
• Give up worrying. If you replace your worry with prayer or thanksgiving like scriptures tell us to ... how much more communion with God would take place?
• Consider setting an alarm on your phone at intervals through the day to pause and be with Jesus.
• Install an App that encourages you to ‘pause’ during the day.
• Acknowledge God is with you in every activity throughout your day.

A reminder – there is nothing in life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God...