Morning Tea with Jesus

                ”Be still and Know that I am God…” Psalms 46:10

The Journey Begins

For so many years I knew about God, I was culturally Christian. I attended church and said the right things. I did it because that is how I grew up and I thank God for it. I am truly thankful to have Christian parents and to have been raised in a Christian family; but my upbringing did not give me a close relationship with Jesus, just a lot of knowledge about Him.

Eventually “the rain came down and the floods came up.” I can still hear the words to the old children’s church song in my head. With the rising tides, my life of sand fell flat. Just doing the right things could not bring me joy or peace.

As it is said in Galatians 2:16 “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law… For no one is ever made right by obeying the law.” To be made right with God through Jesus Christ is to know true joy, peace, and love.

When I realized that nothing, I did would give me the peace, joy, and fulfillment that I needed. I had no other choice but to completely surrender to God. To let Him make me into a new creation.

This encounter with God changed my life forever. I never want to go back to the woman I was before. This hunger to know God intimately began to grow deep within my heart. It spread from the inside until it was more than a heart attitude but a lifestyle, and an identity. This change sparked my passion to help other women experience God in a deep and meaningful way.

Researching topics to write on I heard God speaking to my heart. Reminding me of all the things I have learned and one of the things that came to mind was learning to pray, listen, and hear God. When I began having a life of prayer, “Praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) That is when things began to profoundly change.

In the next four posts, I will dive into four distinct aspects of prayer and how to hear God. We will talk about, being still before God, getting prepared and waiting expectantly, having a willing and ready attitude, and how to build a consistent and persistent prayer life.

Be Still

“Be still and know I am God” Psalms 46:10

To hear well, we cannot be bombarded by other noises. To give something or someone our full attention and understand what they are saying we must stop engaging with things that distract us and start engaging with the person we are with.

I am guilty of listening without truly hearing what someone is saying. I was more focused on what I was doing than what others were saying. The other day my stepdaughter, Tessa, showed this tendency perfectly. A reminder of how we often do the same to God.

When the kids were at our house for Christmas, Tessa’s brother, Urijah, asked her a simple question. He wanted to have a sticker he found, and knew was hers. She was so busy looking at her new Christmas present in her hand. She happily agreed to give him the sticker. she did not realize what she was agreeing to. Minutes later she realized what she agreed to and wasn’t a happy camper about it. We too often respond with an automatic response to God, before we realize what it is we are saying.

We so often say the right words or do the right routines. The ones we know God wants to hear and see. Too often, however, we are so distracted with our own lives, living on autopilot. Our hearts aren’t in our responses. To hear what God has to say to us, we must put away the distractions and make ourselves quiet so that we can hear and understand what God is saying.

I can’t help but wonder if that is what happened in the story of Samuel. The Israelites became so distracted by rituals and the pagan traditions around them. They stopped being able to hear God. In 1 Samuel we see the young boy Samual living with an old priest Eli. In these times God’s messages were rare and visions from God were rarely seen (1 Samuel 3:1). People’s hearts were hard. They invested in the rituals of religion, but their hearts weren’t right. God warned Eli about the behaviors of his sons, but even the priest was unwilling to make the changes required, he was complacent.

God appeared to a young boy, Samuel, in the middle of the night. When the world is still, God appears. God has not changed; He still comes in the whisper so we must focus on Him to hear His voice. He wants people who want to hear Him and want to take part in a relationship willingly. To focus on God and what He is saying we must quiet our minds, cut out time in the life God has given us, to look for and listen to God.

In the book Luke, the author tells us the story of two sisters. Mary and Martha. Martha invites Jesus and his disciples to dine with her and Mary. While she is running around the house doing all the things that no doubt, at least in her mind, needed to get done. Meanwhile, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to what He had to say.

Martha complains to Jesus about Mary’s choice, and Jesus tells Martha, that Mary had made the right choice to listen to what He was teaching. A lot of women. like myself, struggle with this story. We all know that there are many chores to keep us busy till Jesus returns. The house needs to be cleaned, the laundry needs folded, and the list is never-ending.

Jesus’ answer explains it all. “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing to be concerned about and Martha has discovered it, and it won’t be taken from her.” Luke 10:42-42

Jesus is telling Martha that there is only one thing of true, lasting importance and it isn’t her house or the meal she serves. My guess is, that it wasn’t just Martha trying to get things done that was the issue, but Martha obsessing over getting everything exactly right. If she would stop worrying about Martha and getting things perfect, do her best, and put more emphasis on listening to Jesus’ teachings; my guess is she would not have been worried or upset. She would have been too busy listening to Jesus, to be those things.

To me, this speaks volumes about making sure your priorities are right. Jesus tells us the most important commandment is to “Love the Lord you God with all your heart all your mind and all your soul.” (Matthew 22:37) If God is first in our lives, then we will always make time to listen to what He is saying; more than anything else.

Next week I will build on the idea of being still by discussing how I prepare my heart to pray. We will explore how we can cultivate an expectant heart, waiting and expecting God to speak. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Share your personal journey with being still and listening to the Lord in the comments below or feel free to send me an email at emilyb@moreofjesusplease.com; I look forward to growing more with you in my next post, as we dive into how to get ready to hear from God.

As you go about your own study of God’s word and building habits of prayer think about these questions.

• What are things that distract me from God?

• What ways I can eliminate or decrease the distractions in my life?

• What are things that help me stay focused on God?

• What does life or prayer look like to me?

• What is God trying to speak to me about this week?