Week 4 – Day 25
Dear Friend,
One of the most amazing things about being delivered from the spirit of fear is the quiet moments. Have you ever noticed that anxiety causes you to run from the quiet moments? It is in the quiet moments that your mind races, that all the things you have tried to ignore with your busyness comes to the forefront. As you walk out of the battle of fear you reclaim the quiet times. The pressure of reasoning or filling the space with talk is gone. You actually long for alone time because you can finally rest, in both His presence and sometimes simply in your own.
When I was growing up my father used to jokingly ask me, “Are you afraid of silence?” In reality I was, I felt this pressure to always be doing or saying something. I have watched many moms keep themselves so busy with their children and activities so they can shut out the worry in their heads. Unfortunately this doesn’t work long-term, it is simply another Band-Aid solution. Pretty soon we will have made ourselves too busy with commitments that stress will overtake us and we will explode with frustration. Instead lean close into God and stop being afraid of the quiet or slow times.
As the fear receded with the increase of Word in my life God began to take my schedule into peaks and valleys. The busy peak times would fade into some definitive valleys of inactivity. As long as I trusted Him with those times and didn’t overbook them to fill the quiet, He would begin to bring more peace and relief to my soul. He wants us to slow down long enough to commune with Him. It is a recharging time in His presence, so we are equipped for the next time that we have to pour out or have an impacted schedule.
Another thing loving the quiet times taught me was the ability to handle the silence of nighttime. For years, I was afraid of the dark, as a child it was something left over from my foster days. When I was pregnant, I always had insomnia and the night hours were excruciating; trying to rest but having worry and reasoning filling up my mind never let me shut down and replenish. As I began to spend more time with God in worship, the times I was awake became secret hideaway times for God and I. With the kids asleep, I could read for pleasure or journal my dreams. Fear no longer held me hostage and the night seasons became a time for the Holy Spirit to share His thoughts with me. Now my best times for writing are my times alone and even late in the midnight or early morning hours. The Holy Spirit shows up and ministers to me and then I fall into a deep, refreshing sleep. Sometimes the Holy Spirit wakes me, but never do I feel exhausted after our times together. This is the difference between fear and God’s presence; restoration.
Do you struggle with quiet times? Are you always rushing to keep ahead of the next thought? Do you feel a pressure that if you don’t fill an empty time slot that you might be failing your children or your church? Know that pressure isn’t God’s will for you. The busyness is a decoy for real peace.
Take your schedule today and speak to it:
“Schedule, I dedicate you to God, 100%. No longer will I be pressured to run and overbook. God is my source of supply, of freedom, of joy and of peace. This schedule belongs to Him from this moment forward. Father, you are Lord over my schedule, my time belongs to you. I pray you guide me beside the still waters of Psalm 23 and prepare a table in the midst of my enemies so that I am replenished and refreshed.”
As God begins to rearrange your schedule and even possibly slow you down a bit, remember that He is God. He isn’t bound by man’s ways of doing things; this includes children’s sports in order to become good enough for college scholarships, for church and school organizations that never have enough volunteers, and extended family that always wants you at another birthday party or function. Be led by the Holy Spirit and you will find yourself with more time and much more productivity. Does this mean that you have to give up all of those things? Of course not! It means those things no longer drive you through fear. Instead you are led by God to participate in the ones He has assigned for you. Then you walk anointed and live refreshed, with time to spare. You see His way is easy and light without bondage… and He gets to show off when we do it His way.
Remember that He loves you deeply and is bringing you to a place of freedom that you have never experienced. What a wonderful Father.
Love,
Jen
Journal:
With the 21st century we face another obstacle to real rest, devices. People like to say they are resting and recharging with mindless screen time. In reality, this is simply another delay tactic. I’ve been guilty of putting my brain on auto-pilot so that I can numb out from all the stress life is throwing my way. At the end of the time I just used up time, but I didn’t add to my peace or freedom. Learn to trust God with your quiet moments, especially when you body wants to simply “check-out”. Those are the times we need quietness in Him the most.
