A Prayer of Active Listening

Isaiah 30:15
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength."

Isaiah 32:17
The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

A pleading heart, a mind of unrest and anxiety, a constant request for God's will, blessing, and strength; these are so often the pleas from my soul to my God.
Anxiousness is not peace, stillness, or quietness. Fear robs our prayers of faith and trust--
it is a desperate need for control, that even in talking to God, we say the same prayer over and over, we make the same pleas repeatedly as if our God is hard of hearing. How often are our prayers truly to God and not just for our own selfish desires of peace and control.

So often in the Bible is the word stillness, quietness, gentleness, and peacefulness and yet my prayers fall short of these attributes. Prayer is communication. Part of communication is listening and yet we focus so much on the talking aspect. I am so ready to ask God about my life and share with Him the desires and longings of my heart but so rarely am I ready to listen. Do we pray with the true intent of finding answers, of hearing God's direction? When you ask God a question are you prepared to listen for His answer?

Do you have faith and trust that the answer you ask for may not be the answer you want to hear? Do you believe your God is all knowing, all powerful, knows you better than you know yourself, and has your best interest at heart?

So often I pray in love but lack the trust. Patience and waiting are active qualities--they are not giving up, they are not easy--they take work, it is a constant state of mind of being prepared for every time anxiety creeps in, to step back and know that God has already stepped up to the plate for you.

Are you ready to listen?
Are you prepared for the quiet?
Will you be ready when God answers your prayers?
Will you trust in His answer?

I Find Myself In You

How often do we end relationships, quit jobs, change cities, update our wardrobes?
All for the sake of trying to find ourselves?

I don't believe that we were ever lost, but instead I believe that we lost focus on God.
We followed our own selfish desires--dated for the sake of loneliness, took a job for the status and esteem, moved to a city because we craved newness, or thought a new outfit would somehow restore our heart and inward feelings.
All those reasons and escapes are from trying to find and hold onto control of our own doing and not of Christs.

How can we ever feel lost when we are found in God?

There is no fear in Christ, no condemnation.
Perfect love drives out fear.

It is only Christ's love that is perfect and complete. If he is our focus, if He is our confidence, our security, our trust-- then we are in His will and our lives have purpose, passion, and peace.
He created us each uniquely with spiritual gifts, talents, and passions. He knew who you were before you were even born--He had a purpose and a plan to make you shine for Him.

The Heavens are an eternity away from the earth, but He created us to shine, exude praise, and be visible in between the two.
It is God that gaps the distance and who gives us the strength, courage, and confidence to be spotlights in a world of darkness.

We are never lost when we are found in God.
We never lose who we are until we lose sight of Him.

Isaiah 32:17
The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

God is Our Enough

There is purpose, there is peace, Christ does not keep us in fear by the mystery of His will.
He provides grace and strength in revealing to us who He is
in all we do, in all we love, in our earthly actions and responsibilities.

All things work together for those who love God.
God can be found in all things,
if we would only open our eyes and seek Him out.

We are not constantly waiting--
we are continually living out His purpose!
We fight for more, desire more, crave more,
but God is our enough.