A key part of a spiritual warrior’s character building is learning the ability to discipline our soul and to STILL the clamor within our hearts and minds. It is vital that we learn to be quiet and be still, resting in God, even in the face of adversity. Our first reaction should never be out of panic, but it should always come out of inner peace and rest! We live in a world that is filled with interruptions, distractions, annoyances and busyness. This can be a challenge for most of us, especially if we were raised in homes that were far from peaceful. So let’s visit some of the essential elements of stillness.
1. Stillness is a discipline. You need to discipline yourself to think and react out of your inner spirit man and not out of your soul/flesh. You must learn and practice to always react in peace and confidence while at the same time stilling the panic and the frantic of life exploding around us. From the stillness of your spirit you release peace into the anxious atmosphere around you. Demons can roar, people can scream, panic and chaos can reign all around you … but you must practice walking and releasing peace and stillness.
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5)
2. As you develop the quality of resting, God will send you into places where only His grace can protect you. When you go forth in confidence and stillness, you can walk where others fear to tread. When you rest on God’s power and majesty, He will give you greater and greater assignments.
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31 NIV)
3. God is always calm in the face of fury, battles and storms. When you focus in on Him … His confidence and calm will rub off on you. Jesus’ quiet confidence will give you strength and energy to keep on fighting no matter what the battle looks like! And you will be relaxed in the battle!
He stilled the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed. (Psalm 107:29 NIV)
4. True stillness opens your eyes to the majestic provision of God on your behalf when everything is against you. In stillness and quietness before God you can find a confidence, strength and power not available to you outside of stillness.
Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:12-14 NIV)
5. Lack of stillness and rest in your soul indicates the presence of fear. It means that you lack faith in who you believe God is in your life. It makes you vulnerable to the enemy and allows him to manifest through your soul. Without the spiritual quality of stillness, fear will keep you from reacting out of your spirit man just like the disciples in the storm.
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:37-39 NIV)
The disciples were amazed by the peace in Jesus to sleep through the storm and then by His power over the storm. Out of Jesus’ inner stillness, He released peace and caused stillness to affect their surroundings. The atmosphere changed!
6. In stillness and quietness, God will speak to you. God wants to give you revelation but it’s hard to hear Him when you are functioning out of your soul and flesh … busy, harried, anxious, etc. Most of the time God speaks to you when your heart is quiet and still, resting in Him … when you are living out of your spirit man. When Elijah was learning stillness it was to increase his capacity to listen and hear God’s voice on a deeper level.
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:12-13 NIV)
God’s voice wasn’t in the earthquake or the fire, but in a whisper! The power of God’s whisper is astonishing! God wants to whisper secrets to you, but you can only hear Him clearly when you are in a place of restful meditation on Him and you spirit is still and quiet.
Practice the spiritual quality of stillness this week. Set aside some quality time to seek that quiet place where you can experience stillness and hear the voice of your God!
Read January 2017 PowerTools Five Kingdom Keys for Living