Quiet Your Spirit.
The engineer sounded his whistle long and LOUD at the little guy watching beside the tracks. It was loud. The ground rumbled under us as the black train engine roared past. I held Brayden’s hand to keep him safe, but I wanted to put both hands over my ears. Brayden loves trains. And I love Brayden.
Noise isn’t just at railroad crossings…it’s everywhere. Loud radios. Screaming sirens. Angry voices. Crying babies. Phones demanding our attention. Email alerts screaming to be read. Social Media nags us to peek. Work drives us. And that’s just the outer noise.
Noise
- …we celebrate with it.
- …we express ourselves with it.
- …we are warned by it.
- BUT…
- Noise
- …drains us.
- …stresses us.
And inner noise can be even louder.
Decisions.
Problems.
Fears.
Shame.
Anger.
We need quiet!
Really? Quiet?
You better believe it.
We all need quiet time.
Babies.
Children.
Youth.
Adults.
Older adults.
Noise seems to be everywhere. So we need to be deliberate about finding quiet time. King David lived and reigned in a quieter, rural culture of sheep and pastures, but he realized the need to quiet his spirit.
But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Psalms 131:2
Benefits of Quieting Your Spirit
Peace
Restfulness
Strength
Joy
You position yourself to hear God.
I love this verse. It reminds me of a father rocking, singing and quieting his baby in his arms. 
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
Here’s the verse in another version.
For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” NLT
Mighty God? Absolutely! Living with me? Taking delight in me? Calming me with His love? Singing over me? What a beautiful picture of God! One we don’t pause often enough to experience. I’ve experienced times like that. Times so precious I didn’t want to move…so I didn’t. There are all kinds of prayers, with all kinds of names. We know how to ask for things, but we need to know how to just enjoy His presence too.
Quiet times can be hard to find.
So deliberately make them. It might mean getting up early. So let’s go back to the train crossing. There are some principles there that we can learn. Stop! Look! Listen!
Stop.
Get still.
“Be still, and know that I am God!…” Psalms 46:10
Unplug
Turn off the TV, phone and close the computer. You don’t have to take a long time. But you need to take some time.
Look!
Whisper His name. There is power in His name.
Focus on loving Jesus. Tell Him you love Him. It’s OK to say it more than once. I tell my husband many times a day that I love Him and he likes…so does God. Allow the expression of that love to flow to God from your heart.
Think about Jesus…who He is…and what He is like.
Worship comes from a deeper place in you. It comes from your spirit. Worship Jesus aloud, but quietly.
Use words that describe Him. Faithful. True. Loving. Kind. King. Redeemer.
Borrow some words from Scripture. Psalm is a great place to find powerful words to describe God.
When you use a word that jumps out at you, then celebrate that He is “faithful” to you or whatever really came alive to you as you worshipped.
I like to play worship music while I worship. Sing a song to Jesus. If you play an instrument, play quietly. Again, don’t focus on playing the song or the song itself. Just focus on Jesus.
Listen
While you rest in His presence, don’t be afraid of the quietness.
Don’t strain to listen. Just relax in His presence.
You mind will wander (or at least mine does), but just gently bring it back with worship.
OK. I promised 4 ways.
And number four is “Make it a lifestyle.
Keep doing it. Let quiet worship be a part of your worship to God. Yes, praise God with excitement.
- Clapping.
- Dancing.
- Loud singing. “I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me.” Psalms 71:23 NLT
- But don’t miss the quiet worship either. It brings healing.
Remember:
It doesn’t have to be long to be effective. It will get easier the more you do it.
Don’t miss next week’s post. I want to tell you about how distracted I was in my worship one morning and what God did for me when I pressed in. Never under estimate the power of worship!