Be Still: Love Your Prayer Time
A Christian Devotional on how to pray
Breaking into a bag of plastic egg timers, our speaker challenged us to use them during our daily prayer times.
He told us to take those three minutes of flowing sand to focus and “be still” before God.
Selecting a pink timer, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.
My prayer life was just fine – or so I thought. It was a matter of getting it done right? And, if I could pray while doing other things, well it was all the better.
Being still really didn’t matter all that much did it?
You see, I’m a multitasker and I love to “kill two birds with one stone.” So when we purchased our treadmill about eight years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to
couple exercise with my prayer time.
I just figured that since I was stuck in a room “hoofing it,” I may as
well be productive in some other way too. So prayer and exercise just seemed to
go hand in hand for me – even when I had kids in the room.
He told us to take those three minutes of flowing sand to focus and “be still” before God.
Selecting a pink timer, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.
My prayer life was just fine – or so I thought. It was a matter of getting it done right? And, if I could pray while doing other things, well it was all the better.
Being still really didn’t matter all that much did it?
You see, I’m a multitasker and I love to “kill two birds with one stone.” So when we purchased our treadmill about eight years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to
couple exercise with my prayer time.
I just figured that since I was stuck in a room “hoofing it,” I may as
well be productive in some other way too. So prayer and exercise just seemed to
go hand in hand for me – even when I had kids in the room.
But our church’s special speaker that day, Richard LaFountain, author of the book “Time Alone with God,” challenged me to take my daily prayer time to a whole new level.
You see, LaFountain told me that although praying through exercise was all well and good, I needed to take some time out each day to “shut the door” and focus completely on God.
You see, LaFountain told me that although praying through exercise was all well and good, I needed to take some time out each day to “shut the door” and focus completely on God.
And it was in this alone time that I could still my rushing mind and truly wait on Him.
“In the age of cell phones, microwaves, satellite TVs, high speed computers, and nano-second processing, we don’t like to wait,” writes LaFountain. “But waiting on God is an important biblical principle. Most of us are in a constant frenetic hurry. We don’t like to wait. We don’t have time to wait.
"Waiting is a waste of time. So we don’t wait and we miss God’s train of blessing. Waiting is part of the blessing of prayer. It requires us to put aside the rush of life and sit still and just wait. The point of prayer is not getting stuff from God. The point of prayer is getting God, not stuff!”
So, this morning I pulled myself out of bed a half hour earlier and decided to give the “waiting on God” thing a try.
Grabbing my Bible, I sat myself in my favorite chair and I flipped the egg timer.
“Focus on God, focus on God,” I tried to tell myself as I battled the host of other thoughts that
threatened to invade. It wasn’t a time to think about things like what I was making for dinner, where my son was going to college, whether we got frost last night … ugh! Why was it so hard?
“In the age of cell phones, microwaves, satellite TVs, high speed computers, and nano-second processing, we don’t like to wait,” writes LaFountain. “But waiting on God is an important biblical principle. Most of us are in a constant frenetic hurry. We don’t like to wait. We don’t have time to wait.
"Waiting is a waste of time. So we don’t wait and we miss God’s train of blessing. Waiting is part of the blessing of prayer. It requires us to put aside the rush of life and sit still and just wait. The point of prayer is not getting stuff from God. The point of prayer is getting God, not stuff!”
So, this morning I pulled myself out of bed a half hour earlier and decided to give the “waiting on God” thing a try.
Grabbing my Bible, I sat myself in my favorite chair and I flipped the egg timer.
“Focus on God, focus on God,” I tried to tell myself as I battled the host of other thoughts that
threatened to invade. It wasn’t a time to think about things like what I was making for dinner, where my son was going to college, whether we got frost last night … ugh! Why was it so hard?
But, I do have to say that as the last 20 grains of sand slipped through that timer, I had a little breakthrough.
Without asking God for anything or doing anything else, I had accomplished a few sweet moments of simply “being” with Him and enjoying His company.
It was a special feeling, one that I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time.
Without asking God for anything or doing anything else, I had accomplished a few sweet moments of simply “being” with Him and enjoying His company.
It was a special feeling, one that I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time.
And now that I know what I’ve been missing, I think that being still is definitely something that I want to work on. According to LaFountain, it’s during times like this that we are most likely able to hear God’s voice.
And who wouldn’t want that?
Elijah was like us. He wanted to hear God’s voice too. In fact, he was pretty desperate for it. You see he was an Old Testament prophet in some pretty dire straits. After God used him mightily, the evil Queen Jezebel said she was going to kill him. Afraid, Elijah ran from her and was ready to give up -- but God had other plans.
And first, Elijah needed to hear God’s voice.
After travelling to the mountain of Horeb, he was instructed to stand on it and wait for God. Here he saw and heard some pretty powerful things like a mighty wind, an earthquake and a fire – but the Bible says that God wasn’t in all that noise.
Instead, God’s voice came in what’s described in 1 Kings 19:12 as a “gentle whisper.”
And Elijah heard it.
How is it that Elijah was able to hear such a small voice after all that raucous? Probably because he was still and focused on God.
As our speaker wrapped up his presentation on prayer, I quickly asked him if he would sign my copy of his book and here is some of what he wrote: “May the Lord draw near to you as you draw near to him … ‘Be Still.’”
And who wouldn’t want that?
Elijah was like us. He wanted to hear God’s voice too. In fact, he was pretty desperate for it. You see he was an Old Testament prophet in some pretty dire straits. After God used him mightily, the evil Queen Jezebel said she was going to kill him. Afraid, Elijah ran from her and was ready to give up -- but God had other plans.
And first, Elijah needed to hear God’s voice.
After travelling to the mountain of Horeb, he was instructed to stand on it and wait for God. Here he saw and heard some pretty powerful things like a mighty wind, an earthquake and a fire – but the Bible says that God wasn’t in all that noise.
Instead, God’s voice came in what’s described in 1 Kings 19:12 as a “gentle whisper.”
And Elijah heard it.
How is it that Elijah was able to hear such a small voice after all that raucous? Probably because he was still and focused on God.
As our speaker wrapped up his presentation on prayer, I quickly asked him if he would sign my copy of his book and here is some of what he wrote: “May the Lord draw near to you as you draw near to him … ‘Be Still.’”
Here are some Bible verses that'll help you on your journey:
Psalm46:10a New King James Version
Be still, and know that I am God;
Psalm 4:4 King James Version
Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with
your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Isaiah 30:15 New International Version
This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
Psalm46:10a New King James Version
Be still, and know that I am God;
Psalm 4:4 King James Version
Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with
your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Isaiah 30:15 New International Version
This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.