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Friday 5 March

The still, small voice

“My sheep listen to my voice.” (Jesus in John 10.27)

We are unlikely to hear God’s voice audibly. Rather, the God who has come to live in us wants to communicate to our spirit by his Spirit.

If we want to learn to listen to God we need to cultivate the spiritual discipline of silence (‘listen’ and ‘silent’ are anagrams!). It begins as an outward discipline but the goal is that it becomes an inward reality. Once we embark on silence we will notice the noise in us, which John Mark Comer describes as ‘a wild beast in desperate need of taming’.

Slowing down, Sabbath and solitude are essential for learning silence so we can hear the ‘still small voice’ of God.

Sometimes we can struggle to hear him because we haven’t yet learned to discern his still voice. At other times, God may have spoken to us, but we haven’t been listening! Perhaps we are looking for him to say something new, when he wants to bring us back to a previous statement we have ignored.

> Take some time to be silent. Welcome God’s presence. Notice if he is saying anything. If not, don’t worry – just enjoy his company.

Wednesday 3 March

God’s not in a box!

There are so many ways in which we can communicate with God! We will always discover new ways to pray, because can’t box God in!

Elijah was used to seeing God reveal himself in great power. Now, on Mount Sinai, God comes to him in a gentle whisper or a ‘still small voice’ (1 Kings 19.12).

Here are some ways that might help you develop your relationship with God:

• Read and reflect on Scripture
• Journal
• Pray the Lord’s Prayer, taking a phrase at a time as a guide
• Pray other biblical prayers
• Sing worship songs to God
• Pray the Prayer of Awareness or ‘Examen’ (see 26 Feb)
• Pray set prayers or ‘offices’ such as the daily prayers of the Church of England.
• Spend time in silence and solitude learning to be still to mediate on Scripture or just bask in God’s loving presence.

> Discover a different way of connecting with God this week!

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Monday 1 March

Spiritual renewal

 Have you ever allowed your petrol gauge to get into the red zone? Not only could you run out of petrol, you could also damage the engine. The same is true for your spiritual life: If you don’t refill your spiritual tank, you will get depleted on the inside and eventually do damage to every part of your life.

After his spiritual high, when he won a victory over the Baal priests, Elijah the prophet went into a deep hole of spiritual depletion. This can happen to us, too! When we give out without receiving from God for ourselves we can end up with spiritual burnout.

God lovingly restored Elijah. This involved a 40-day journey to Mount Sinai.

The Lord desires us to spend time alone with him. Henri Nouwen wrote, “We don’t take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him.”

We live after Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, so we don’t have to go on a 40-day pilgrimage to do that! We can learn to practice the presence of God in our everyday life.

Thank God today for his presence. Invite him to help you become more aware of him in your everyday life. Consider how you can make time in your daily schedule to seek him. “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4.8)