A man can learn a lot when he listens.”
                    –Monty R. Garner  (The Healer)

       “Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel!  Samuel!’  And Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears.'”
                    –1 Samuel 3:10 (NKJV)
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          “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”  –Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

I wrote the other day about not seeking to run away or to go behind the walls of a monastery to be with God.  Now, I will say–there is a time to be alone with Him.  When things go helter-skelter in your life, when your normal, regular schedule turns into havoc, when the demands of everyday life start getting to you then it is time to be alone with God.  The CEV puts it this way, “Our God says, ‘Calm down, and learn that I am God!  All nations on earth will honor me.'”
     Fenelon writes, “How rare it is that the soul is sufficiently stilled to let God speak!  The least murmur of our foolish wishes, the least murmur of self-interest, confuses the message of the Spirit of God.  We hear Him speaking and asking for something, but we have no idea what He is saying, and often we are glad not to guess.  The least reservation, the least consideration of self, the least fear of hearing too clearly that God is asking for more than we want to give Him–any of these will disturb the Word within.  Need we then wonder that so many people, even pious people, but still pleasure loving, full of foolish desires, of false wisdom, of complacency, cannot hear; and consider this inner Word the imagination of fanatics?”
     The old Pogo comic strip comes to mind when Pogo says, “We have met the enemy and they are us.”  We blame this, and that.  We blame the environment or the circumstance.  We blame someone else.  Rarely do we want to look within ourselves to see the reason why we won’t take time to get alone with God.  Fenelon brings out one important reason–we don’t want to hear Him too clearly, to hear what He is really asking of us.  Listen, to be a friend of God we must listen for His voice, and then do His bidding.  John Newton declared, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.  He deals familiarly with them.  He calls them not servants only, but friends; and He treats them as friends.  He affords them more than promises, for He opens to them the plan of His great designs from everlasting to everlasting, shows them the strong foundations and inviolable securities of His favor towards them, the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of His love, which passeth knowledge, and the unsearchable riches of His grace.”
     But we have to listen.  We have to get alone with Him, and that doesn’t mean running to the mountains or the beach or the seclusion of walls.  Then, now get this, then we must obey.  Listening–then obeying.

 

A man must listen with his heart to hear which trail calls truest.”
                    –Russell J. Atwater  (Gallatin’s Last Stand)

       “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
                    –Jeremiah 29:12 (NIV)
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          “The poor will see and be glad–you who seek God, may our hearts live!”   –Psalm 69:32 (NIV)

Prayer–that needed Christian discipline which we all should be involved in is often so hard, or seemingly so.  We are given instructions by the Lord that men must always pray and never lose heart.  Some versions read:  not become discouraged, never give up, not to faint–in other words keep at it.  
     Far too often we pray in the wrong manner, we pray selfishly or against God’s will.  “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong–you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4:3, NLT)  The ESV puts is simply, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”  Is it wrong then to pray for yourself?  No, but we must carefully look at what we are praying for and make sure that it is not against God’s Word or that it will not bring spiritual harm to us.
     We are instructed by Paul to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  To do this we must be walking with God, able to have a conversation with Him along the way.  It is staying in an attitude of prayer.  This is not intercessional prayer, though it might contain it at times.  This is simply walking with the Lord and talking with Him about circumstances, about issues, about life.  This should become our daily practice.
     However, there is a time to get shut in with God and seek His face.  This may include praying for others (intercessory), praying for your pastor, for missionaries, for friends and families.  This is “tough” prayer.  Do you ever find your mind wandering when praying in this manner?  Do not fret.  First, check to see if it isn’t the Holy Spirit bringing something to your mind.  If not, try what Fenelon tells us, “When you see your mind wandering, bring it back gently without being upset, and without ever being discouraged by these distractions which are stubborn.  On the contrary, they will help you more than a prayer which brings with it very evident comfort and fervor, because these distractions will humble you, mortify you, and accustom you to seek God purely for His own sake, unmixed with any pleasure.”

 

Lots of people talk about what the Lord wants. Wonder how many has ever asked Him?”
                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)

       “LORD, accept my offerings of praise, and teach me your regulations.  My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.”
                    –Psalm 119:108-109 (NLT)
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               “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
                                   –2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV)

     I have read some of the writings of those who went off by themselves (hermits) or those who went to monasteries to be alone with God.  They had the right concept, but the wrong methodology.  Yes, there are times we need to get alone to shut ourselves in with God, but we are never to seclude ourselves for we are to be salt and light unto the world.  This cannot be done behind the ways of a monastery or even up in the high lonesome.  I recall the old chorus:
               “Shut in with God in a secret place;
               There in the Spirit beholding His face;
               Gaining more Power to run in the race,
               I love to be shut in with God.”
                    –William Grum
     We don’t have to run to the mountains or the walls of seclusion to be alone with God.  This can happen while we’re driving, while we’re walking.  And know this, there is a time to get alone with God–try your “prayer closet.”  John Owen reminds us, “There have been those who withdrew from normal life in the mistaken belief that this was essential to spirituality.  But spiritual mindedness does not mean withdrawing from life; it means bringing spirituality into every part of life.”
     God is there!  Where is that?  Wherever you are He is there with you.  “A spiritual attitude of mind is no hindrance to secular work:  even though a pot is full of chaff (the secular) you can still pour a lot of water (the spiritual) into the same space.” (Owen)  Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21, NIV)  That includes our mind, our will and our emotions–the total person.  We are to keep an attitude that focuses on the Lord and the things of God.
     “Spiritual mindedness grows from and consists of being delighted by spiritual things:  what we love is what captures us.  The great contest between heaven and earth is to see which of them can most draw out our love.  Whoever has our love has the whole of us; love causes us to give ourselves away as nothing else can.  Our love is like the rudder of a ship–where it is turned, there the ship goes.” (Owen)
     Practice the presence of God wherever you are and in whatever situation you may find yourself.

A man should be strict with himself.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Down the Long Hills)

       “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
                    –Psalm 119:15-16 (ESV)
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What is it that you find your mind thinking about?  When you drive, where is your mind, your thoughts?  Before sleep finally overtakes you, what are your last thoughts of the day? When morning comes is it the proverbial “good morning Lord,” or is it, “good Lord, morning”?  What are your thoughts as you prepare for the day?  I could go on and on with examples, but the question is, where do you keep your mind?
     Contemplate deeply for a few minutes on the words of the Psalmist, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2, NIV)  The CEV puts it this way, “Instead, they find happiness in the Teaching of the LORD, and they think about it day and night.”  I would now ask, how much time do you think about the Lord?  How much time do you think about His Word, or pray unceasingly?  Look at the same verse from the TLB, “But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.”  
     Who is this person?  Go back to verse one.  They are the individuals who shun sin, stay away from those in the system of the world, and do not walk in darkness.  What do they do?  They “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”  In other words, they walk the way of righteousness, they stand firm in their faith, are courageous and strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)
     How important is it to keep our thoughts on the things of God?  Andrew Murray gives us some thoughts to ponder.  “It is in meditation that the heart holds and appropriates the Word.  Just as in reflection the understanding grasps all the meaning and bearings of a truth, so in meditation the heart assimilates it and makes it a part of its own life.  We need continual reminding that the heart means the will and affection.  The meditation of the heart implies desire, acceptance, surrender, love.  Out of the heart are the issues of life; what the heart truly believes, that it receives with love and joy, and allows to master and rule the life.  The intellect gathers and prepares the food on which we are to feed.  In meditation the heart takes it in and feeds on it.”
     Resolve, in your heart and mind, to dwell upon the Word of God.