FIRST WORD!
Recently I’ve been getting a little creative with Prayer!
Now anyone who knows me knows that I’m a morning person. For me ‘it’s the best part of the day’, which in hindsight as I type that statement it sounds like the rest of the day is downhill from there! So maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration on my part, anyway back to Prayer.
I have been inspired recently to go ‘silent’ at the start of my waking day which means I stay quiet and I try to create a quiet environment where I have nothing to focus on but God. I rise earlier than Valda so it is not like i’m just ignoring her or anything but it is a change to my pattern as usually my early morning time is spent praying by rattling off a list of things that I have said I would pray for or stating the things I personally am believing for! It is also spent doing my daily devotionals through an app; all of which seems healthy for a Christian right?
Whilst all those things are good for the soul, a book that I am currently reading called ‘Praying like Monks, Living like fools' by Tyler Stanton has helped me to realise that they can also be a distraction especially if I am so busy that I am not trying to hear God for myself. It’s all well and good me trying to bring God into situations (I still do that, before you shake your head) but what is God trying to bring me into? How does God want my day to go? The upshot of this revelation is that I’ve been challenged and encouraged to change the start of my day!
I’m now trying to give God the first word!
That sounds pretty simple and on one level it is but it’s also complex, deep, challenging, beautiful and a little bit out there for me.
Psalm 46 v 10 says “Be still and KNOW that I am God” The truth is that many of us and I include myself in this like the sound of our own voice and we can all at some point tend to hog the conversation. I love that verse's simple instruction to be still, in other words, no movement whether it be by my mouth speaking, moving around the house or even me thinking about any of the other stuff as there is enough time in the day to do that after.
To say i’m used to a plan and love ticking off my To Do list each day I’m finding it liberating to not have to initially bring my stuff to God but to simply sit for a few moments and allow HIM to start my day, to allow HIM to perhaps align my thoughts to HIS purposes or even for HIM to just refocus me on what's really important today! The shift has gone from’ it’s all about me’ to ‘all about Him’! This is really helping me to connect with Him as it’s allowing my spirit to connect with the Father in a much deeper way! It is also helping me to stay on track throughout the day; it’s like I am seeing and hearing things that He wants me to see and hear!
There are two things I do need to confess! Firstly I have to have my ‘silent’ time after a shower when I am actually mainly conscious and secondly there are times when it appears that nothing has happened. I should say that this is only my limited perception as I know that even If it appears that way then something would have been happening in the spiritual. There will have been an unspoken, unshakable but clear marker put down for the day and I do just seem to have a deeper sense that God is in control of my day because I have prayerfully placed myself under his clear and loving authority. Which is never a bad thing is it?
So why not give it a go at some point this week? Allow God to speak the first word to you? See if it benefits you as much as it is with me.
PS For those nocturnals reading this in the early hours (I include my wife in this) I’m sure you could flip this to having the last word before you sleep! Let’s be honest many of us like to have the last word too so it’s worth considering!
by Simon Rushton Jan10th 2023
