Shhhh, Be Still, and Be Very, Very Quiet

I have not made any New Years resolutions this year other than to read God's Word and try to do what it says! But...

I am being drawn to two words I believe by God's Spirit.
They are "Quiet" and "Still"

I believe that the Lord is trying to tell me that I need to be quiet and still before Him.

We all live in a harried,hectic world. I especially found myself very busy during the holiday's. The Lord got my attention when my feet were knocked out from under me with sickness. I was having fever and chills and I had to be still. I also had to be quiet because frankly I couldn't talk!

During this down time is when I began thinking and listening to the Spirit's still small voice. I had been to busy to listen before.

So, during this time of the New year, a time of reflection, I want to focus on really doing these two things...
Being still before the Lord.
Being quiet before the Lord.

I am not finding this to be an easy thing for me. I don't have a very long attention span. In fact, the Lord is really going to have to help me with this! I have found several verses to help me focus my attention.

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10  "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." Isaiah 30:15 "The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." Isaiah 32:17 "But let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God." I Peter 3:4 I believe that this last verse will be the result of the sitting still and being quiet. "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 The verse in I Peter says that a quiet spirit is precious in God's sight. I want to be precious in God's sight and please the Lord. So, I will be trying to sit still... and Shhhhh... be very, very quiet.

I need to get out of the Way

2012 is here, another year is gone. The natural ebb and flow of life. It is the time when we reflect on what transpired over the past year, and the what will be in the coming year.

I have but one New years resolution for 2012. It is based on the verse, John 3:30. "He must increase, I must decrease".

John the Baptist is the one who said this. He was a forerunner of Christ. A man who came before Christ to prepare the way for Him. When someone asked if he was the Messiah he said, "I am a voice crying in the wilderness". He looked at himself as being unimportant. He was just "a voice", a vessel. He could have become proud and haughty. He drew a large crowd everywhere he went. But he was a humble man who knew his purpose in life. It was just be a voice!

That's what I want to do. Be a tool, an instrument of the Lord. Be a voice. Be whatever God has placed me here on earth to be. So, with that I realize... I have to get out of the way!

I have to decrease... He (Jesus), must increase.

That's something to really think about...

By the end of this year, I hope you can barely see me at all.

By the end of this year when you look at me... I hope you just see Jesus.