If you want all the peace that time with God can provide, here are some tools from my talk at SPC last Sunday. Our church has been studying The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and I had the privilege of sharing about Silence and Solitude in my teaching titled, “Unplugged.” For the full sermon, check out this link. Here are the bullet points:
Shift your focus from your phone to the throne.
Check-in with God before you check your newsfeed. Spend time with God before you jump on social media. Buy an alarm clock and move your phone out of your bedroom to remove the temptation of jumping into the fray before you've had a chance to pray.
And as you wait in line, don't jump online. Don't hurry into action. Instead, take time for contemplation. Allow the moments of quiet to motivate you to calm your heart before your everlasting creator and the lover of your soul. Look around the room. Is God prompting you to pray for someone you see or maybe someone you don't see, but he does? And He is putting that person on your heart to give you the privilege of participating in the eternal.
Or maybe He will prompt you to pray for yourself as you navigate the rest of your day and the things He knows you will face. Just listen. Tune in and let him direct your path.
If you want help shifting your focus then…
Spend quality time with the Lord every day.
Psalm 143:8, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life."
Do whatever it takes to make that happen. Where? Find your place: a desk, deck, or kitchen table. Sit down with a pen, your bible, and a journal or just a notepad. Add a devotional to prompt you with what to pray, not just so you can read the page and rush into the day. For more help in making this happen, check out the previous blog post on this site: what is god trying to tell us?
Keep your phone face down, computer unopened. Sit quietly in his presence. You don't need words. Listen for God's words.
If you strive to make this happen for 7 days, you will likely get 4. That is sustainable. But if you strive for 4, you will only get 2. And that is not sustainable. You'll end up a hot mess.
Couples, help each other out with this. Watch the kids, dad, so that mom can get that time. Give dad space, moms, so that he can get with God. Adjust your schedules to make it happen for each other.
Soak in the peace of God's presence.
Jesus came to "to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace," (luke 1:79).
Allow the peace of God's presence to descend on you like a warm blanket as your precious savior calms your heart and clears your head. The Prince of Peace provides a sense of well-being, a resolve that all is right with the world. And it's not because the challenges of the world have resolved. But rather, the Creator of it all will give you the resolve to face the world's challenges.,
In those quiet moments, Christ can impart to our hearts that he loves us with an unquenchable love, and He is more than willing to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. He's got this. He's in charge, so we don't have to be.
Solitude and silence provide an unplugged backdrop for us to simply sit in the lord's presence. Or you can sing a worship song. I do that under my breath because nobody—including me--wants to hear me sing. God hears my heart and not my voice.
We can cry out to God on behalf of people we're concerned about. But in those peace-filled moments, we find ourselves opening our hands to faith in Christ rather than wringing them in worry.
Stay in the lord's presence all day long.
In Psalm 25:5, David says, "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are god my savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
Once you have entered into this silent time of solitude and communion with the almighty, once you have received a download of the divine, acknowledge his presence all day long. Don't hang up the divine receiver or click off the cosmic computer. Stay in communication with him in every situation. In every minute. Take him with you all day long. Truth is, he is always with us. We just need to recognize his presence and welcome him into our every minute.
The practice of having a daily quiet time with God every day is not a soul-killing law. Rather, it's a life-giving opportunity to spend time with your loving lord.
I urge you to spend quiet time in the quiet place each day with Jesus and see if you don't find it's the most important thing in your life. And when you step from this life into the next, you might just find it was the most important thing to Jesus as well. Taken from Tech-Pecked or Tuned In: Finding God in a Digital World, Chapter Ten: "Meditation Isn't Just For Monks."