An excerpt from the Simple/House Church Revolution book:
Solitude and Listening
If I were to point to one great need for us, as God’s people, who desire to experience a deeper intimacy with God, it would be the need for more solitude out of which comes a more available listening heart. Henri Nouwen speaks to this:
Solitude is being with God and God alone. Is there any space for that in your life?
Why is it so important that you are with God and God alone on the mountain top? It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved. To pray is to listen to the One who calls you "my beloved daughter," "my beloved son," "my beloved child." To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being…
Solitude is where spiritual ministry begins. That's where Jesus listened to God. That's where we listen to God.
Comments
4 responses to “Solitude and Listening”
When I look at the life of Jesus, there are four things that stand out to me (if you’ll excuse my alliteration):
1) He spent time in His Father’s Presence
2) He manifested God’s Power
3) He Preached the word
4) He endured Persecution
I’m coming to the conclusion that none of the last three elements would have been possible without the first. Even as we pursue intentional fellowship with the brethren, it’s easy to let that become the goal. There are many things are that are “good”, but we can’t let that replace the thing that is best, which is our relationship with God. This article is a great encouragement to that end. I hear the voice of God saying, “Come away, my beloved.”
However, I’ll qualify my response by saying that I don’t believe in meditating on nothingness. And I’m a bit leary of those who practice meditation apart from the Word or who elevate their meditation experience above the Word. To me the most profitable meditation is to meditate on the Word (Ps. 1:2; Luke 10:39). I like to take a single verse that speaks to me and give it my undistracted attention, letting it feed my spirit.
Good shares, Marc. I appreciate the input.
Here’s one of the keys to the “listening heart” you mentioned: “Believers need to be drawing nourishment from Christ continually.” ―Henry Hon, in the book ONE: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose from House to House