Devotionals for the Heart: Why silence is necessary to hear from God

Fighting for Silence
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

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)

I used to be that person who needed the crazy and the chaotic. Silence felt awkward, like there was a space I had to fill.

It took a long time to realize that deep down, all my nervous energy meant something else. In truth, I feared the silence and quiet, for that led to head space, and head space led to boredom, and boredom made all my painful thoughts and melancholy moods harder to ignore.

As long as I had the crazy and chaotic intact, I didn’t need to face my bigger issues. I was too busy to worry about them… so busy, in fact, that I was running around like a fool, working my life away, spinning my wheels but going nowhere.

All that changed when I grew as a Christian. In fact, I noticed that the more time I spent in prayer, in reading the Bible, in thinking about and centering my life on God, the more I began to crave the silence. In fact, I wanted anything except the crazy and chaotic.

I had the opportunity to listen to bestselling Christian author and theologian Francis Chan give some remarks to hundreds of South Carolina men about a month ago (women were allowed, too, but it was designed to be a “men in ministry” event). Chan authored Crazy Love, and he had some powerful words about what it means to be resilient in today’s culture.

As Chan noted, it starts within—being intentional about time with God, which awakens a hunger in our hearts. Then, once we appreciate that alone time, we have to work to carve out distraction-free time.

“You have to fight for silence and figure out a rhythm, figure out quiet, self-controlled, sober-minded prayer before the Lord,” he said.

I believe he is right. I saw tremendous growth in my faith when I began to fight for silence, when I started to push away the clamor of crazy chaos and instead cling to controlled quiet.

I had to let myself feel uncomfortable in the silence, be willing to accept the melancholy of “being bored,” for this to happen, and it wasn’t easy.

But I found that God was there with me in the silence, just as he was for the prophet Elijah with a whisper in the cave (1 Kings 19:11-13). And that silence can be so necessary. For while God is always there, there is something about the centering and reflection that occurs in silence that helps me hear Him better. The silence also helps me understand myself—the true nature of my soul and my desires, feelings, and thoughts—better.

Part of loving myself as a daughter of God is learning to embrace the uncomfortable and the awkward. It’s learning to embrace the quiet.

Wherever you are today, whether surrounded by massive crowds or by yourself, I encourage you to fight for silence in the noisy world. Seek God in the quiet and the stillness. Listen for His voice even as other voices try to drown His voice out.

If you have a special way you do this, I’d love to hear in the comments below. And if you, too used to be a “crazy chaos” cultivator who has come to appreciate the opposite, I’d love to know!

Let’s Pray: Lord, help me to quiet the clamor of the world around me and fight for the silence, a place where I can focus on You and Your perfect way and will. In Your holy and precious name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian novelist, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach and the recipient of the 2018 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for her novel, The Memory Garden. 

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. Learn more about her fiction and read her faith blog at http://jessicabrodie.com. She has a weekly YouTube devotional and podcast.

You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and more. She’s also produced a free eBook, A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed.

Devotionals for the Heart: Spiritual insight from watching pinwheels

Pinwheels
A devotional by Glynis Becker

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.” –Psalm 27:4 (NASB)

Spring comes relatively late where I live. The month of March can be anything from snowy and cold like winter or rainy and warmer like spring should be. Right now there is no snow on the ground, but also no green grass or buds on the trees. There are no gardens and no flowers. Add in gray skies and the world can seem exceedingly drab.

But the other day, on my drive to work, my eyes were drawn to something colorful. I drive the same way every day, but this time I noticed a row of bright garden pinwheels planted outside a plain white house. I’m sure they’ve been there since last summer when they stood in the midst of flowers and plants. It may have been the contrast of the rainbow colors against the brown grass and the white siding, but I think what my peripheral vision really caught that day was the movement.

There was very little wind that morning, and a line of primary-colored pinwheels stood still as stone. But one, the one on the edge, spun in place. Just a few degrees off its axis and the one pinwheel that was not absolutely in line with all the others had caught the breeze and been able to accomplish what the others hadn’t: fulfilling its purpose.

What is a pinwheel meant to do? It’s not a windmill or a water wheel, so there is no energy generated when it spins. There’s really nothing for it but to catch the wind and be beautiful.

I continued to think about that pinwheel and how it compares to us as believers.

In Acts Chapter 2, the coming of the Holy Spirit is described as a “noise, like a violent rushing wind” (Acts 2:2 NASB). It’s no wonder we’ve come to think of The Spirit of God as a wind, a breeze, or a movement we feel but can’t see because it feels like the perfect analogy.

But here’s a good question: If we are all given the Holy Spirit when we become believers, why do some people seem to “catch the fire” or seem more “in tune” with the Holy Spirit than others?

Maybe, like that pinwheel, some of us have positioned ourselves just a bit differently, in order to catch the wind of whatever God is doing. So what might happen if each of us, instead of facing the same way everyone else is, turned our faces toward Him a little bit more? Would we catch a new movement of the Spirit? Would we be able to better fulfill the purpose for which we were created?

All the pinwheels are beautiful. All of us are beautiful. But when we all spin in the direction of the Holy Spirit? Well, no one will be able to look away!

Let’s Pray: Sweet Holy Spirit, turn our faces to You today. Make sure we are in tune with Your movement in the world and not going our own direction. We want to catch the fire. We want to be part of what You’re doing. Allow us to be beauty in a colorless world. We love you. In Jesus Christ’s beautiful name we pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Glynis Becker writes devotions and inspirational fiction, hoping someday to have a published novel on her resume.

She has co-written several screenplays, including the film Sinking Sand, available on DVD and digital streaming.

Glynis, whose childhood was spent all over the country as an Air Force brat, has called South Dakota home for many years, along with her husband and two teenage children.

When she’s not writing or reading, she is watching more television than she should and crocheting. You can find her at www.glynisbecker.com.

Devotionals for the Heart: Serving God with ALL that you have to give

How Much Do I Have?
A devotional by Jo Huddleston

Nothing else in the house moved as I stumbled up the hall. I stood half asleep at my kitchen sink. Looking through half-closed blinds, I discovered what had interrupted my predawn sleep. On the deck, several pesky blue jays perched atop my patio table, ready to welcome a new day. Aggravated at them for disturbing me, I pecked impatiently on a window pane. With much fluttering, the birds scattered to nearby trees. All but one.

The lone bird pranced around the table top, tilting his head this way and that, beady black eyes searching for his would-be attacker. I raised the mini blind and pecked fiercely on the glass again. There! He looked my way—he’d found me. He stared at me; I glared at him. Appearing to know my threatening noises couldn’t harm him, he didn’t budge.

Then the concert began, his music as crisp and crystal clear as the day’s spring morning. Each warble imitated his previous one.

Each time he chirped, the little bird quivered from the black collar across his throat to the trembling tip of his brilliant blue tail feathers. Every inch of the bird moved to produce his melody.

This little bird put all his body behind each note—he gave it all he had. I forgot the blue jay’s peskiness, enjoying instead my private recital.

Watching from my quiet kitchen, I thought about the tremendous effort the little bird displayed. He certainly didn’t go about his singing in a halfhearted way.

I wondered if Christians could measure up to the blue jay. Are we as committed with our efforts of praise and worship?

I recalled some of Jesus’ examples. I remembered the widow who placed only two coins in the temple treasury as her offering (Mark 12:41-44). Compared to the rich who put in much, the widow’s gift pleased Jesus, for He said she “put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44, NIV).

I remembered when Jesus fed the five thousand with only five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:5-14). The bread and fish belonged to a boy in the crowd. Apparently, it was all the food he had, but it proved sufficient for Jesus’ purpose.

Then I pondered, “How much have I given? Have much do I have?”

It makes no difference how much we have. Jesus demands our all when we accept Him as our Savior and Lord. Jesus answered the questioning Pharisees, saying the first and greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, NIV).

All we have. We must give all we have to love and serve God. Whether in our jobs, raising our children, church work or leisure time, God demands from Christian a 100 percent effort.

Like the little blue jay on my deck with only one song to sing, we must give it all we’ve got.

~*~
Author Bio:  

Jo Huddleston is a multi-published author who writes novels inspired by her fascination with the 1950s and her love of her native American South. 

Novels in her endearing Caney Creek series, her West Virginia Mountains series, as well as her stand-alone release, Tidewater Summer, are sweet Southern romance novels. 

She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Literary Hall of Fame at Lincoln Memorial University (TN), and holds a M.Ed. degree from Mississippi State University. 

Visit Jo at www.johuddleston.com.

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Devotionals for the Heart: Shellie's thoughts on science and Heaven

When We All Get to Heaven
A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 
~Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

My husband, Stephen, loves science. Science, astronomy, nature—they all point him to God. For Stephen, watching the stars is a spiritual experience. They provoke him to worship.

So, you’d think I’d support that, wouldn’t you? My husband learning about science, nature, the stars, details about God’s creation. The problem is, he usually shares these facts when I’m trying to go to sleep. And I don’t care. Because I want to go to sleep.

One time he was trying to explain to me that scientists had recently stumbled onto a new fact—I don’t even know what the fact was—that pointed to (wait for it) the possibility of the creation of our world being the result of intelligent design. Stephen loves those kind of “discoveries.”

But I was irritated. I wanted to go to sleep, but he kept talking.

And mean Shellie came out. She doesn’t appear very often, but this time, she did. I sat up in bed, and I said: “You know what? When we get to heaven, God is going to take all you science types into a big classroom. And He’s going to ask every one of you, ‘How do you think I did it?’ and you’re all going to have the wrong answer. Then He’s going to say, ‘This is how I did it." And you’re all going to say, ‘Wow, I never would have thought of that.’”

After having this particular conversation with Stephen—aside from being convicted and having to apologize for letting “mean Shellie” come out—I started thinking about heaven. And the older I get, the more difficult things I face, the more I think about it. Because sometimes what gets me through the week, or the day, or the moment, is focusing on heaven and what it will be like.

The above verse tells us there will be no tears in heaven—over tragedies, frustration, or rejection. Can you imagine?

There will be no death in Heaven. From cancer or Alzheimer’s or MS. There will be no more mourning in Heaven.

There is no more crying in Heaven—over disappointment or betrayal.

There will be no more pain in Heaven—emotional, physical, or otherwise. Everyone there will love God. Every touch will be right and honest and pure.

In Heaven, the old order of things will pass away. Pride will no longer cause discrimination. Power will no longer corrupt. Greed won’t exist. Shame won’t exist. Every beautiful thing we lost when Adam and Eve sinned will be restored.

You see, Heaven is the anti-thesis of all that is awful and painful here on earth. The complete opposite of everything that wounds and scars us.

It’s relief. Blissful, permanent relief.

When life throws things you didn’t expect at you, remember heaven with all its promise. You can make it through this—you can, with God’s help and strength—because on the other side, all of the things that made this side so difficult will be gone.

The One thing that will be the same, is Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Our lives on this earth are merely a taste of what being close to God will be like. Because finally, finally there will be no barriers between us. We will see Jesus. We can touch Him and feel His scarred hands cup our face. We can look into His eyes and find Heaven.

Don’t give up when life kicks the breath out of you or when one (or more) of these insidious things that inhabit our world happens to you.

Because for you and me, Heaven is just around the corner!

~*~
Author Bio: 

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that.

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources.

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.

~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com