"POINTS TO PONDER” – Day 30 & 31
Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)
“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 NKJ
As a child, we are told many times to ‘sit still’. Usually we had to be told that, because it was time to pay attention to what was being said, & to not distract others while they were listening as well. God sometimes needs to sit us down in His presence, and tell us to be still. He is our Father, and we are His children, and He wants us to pay attention. We can get so busy with things around us, and not take time to honestly pay attention to Him. Our lives are so busy in this day and age, and sometimes we are even busy doing things for the Lord, that we don’t always take time with the Lord. In the case of when we were children, or looking at children today, we say the old saying, ‘Silence is golden’. We truly don’t realize that silence, doesn’t mean just standing motionless, and having no sound around us, it means silencing our hearts and minds as well. God speaks in a still, small voice, and if we really want to hear Him, and be able to listen to His Words, then we need to silence our entire beings, heart, soul, mind, spirit & body.
I know that when I worship & pray to God I can get excited, and I speak in tongues, and like to praise Him, but there are times when I need to ‘be quiet’. Sometimes God needs to remind me of this truth, (as He did at the “Expect a Harvest Fall Conference” last weekend – Thank you Lord!) and I need to remain in His peace. I thank the Lord for His peace that passes all understanding, and that although there may be storms around us, we can rest in His peace, and truly know He is God.
To ‘know’, according to the dictionary, is;
- to perceive or understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty:
- to have established or fixed in the mind or memory:
- to be cognizant or aware of
- be acquainted with, as by sight, experience or report:
- to understand from experience or attainment
- to be able to distinguish, as one from another
How does one truly ‘know’ God? This is a question in the hearts and minds of Biblical scholars, and regular people all around the world. So many authors, teachers, professors, scholars, pastors, evangelists, etc have given their take on the answer to this question, and you can read many books or articles, attend many conferences or seminars, but the answer lies in this verse… “Be still and know that I am God”. Spend time with God. It’s as simple as that. When you first begin to date, you get to know the other person, and spend time with them. As time goes by, and you spend more time with them, listening and sharing, you learn more about them. But they also learn more about you. God knows all about you, but He wants you to share your heart with Him. He wants you to know Him in an intimate way as well.
There is a worship song called, ‘In the Secret’, and in the chorus it says, “I want to know You, I want to hear Your voice, I want to know You more. I want to touch You, I want to see Your face, I want to know You more”. To truly ‘know’ something or someone, you need to use all your senses to experience it or them for all they are worth, or for all they have. I cannot say I know ‘Spanish’ for example, just from watching some Dora videos, where Dora uses a few Spanish words like ‘agua’ (water) and ‘Hola’ (hello). I actually have to experience it for myself, learn the words, listen to others speak it, and to understand it fully, and clearly. Obviously I cannot physically touch the Spanish language… but I’m sure you get my point.
To know God, is to love God. When you truly experience God for yourself, you will come to a whole new understanding of who He really is, and what He can and will do in and through you. When we come to this realization of God, to ‘know’ Him as the definition above stated, we can truly:
- perceive or understand God as fact or truth; to apprehend Him and His ways clearly and with certainty:
- to have established or fixed Him in our mind or memory:
- to be cognizant or aware of Him
- be acquainted with God, as by sight, experience or report:
- understand Him from experience or attainment
- & be able to distinguish Him, as one from another (discernment).
We will not have trouble distinguishing His voice from all the others around us, nor will we have trouble remembering that He is with us wherever we go. He will be exalted among the nations, and exalted in the earth, as the rest of the verse in Psalm 46:10.
When we ‘know’ God, we can understand Him, and what He wants for our lives. We can truly listen to His Words and not just hear them. We can then be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.
This leads us to devotional #2 – Day #31
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22 NKJV
Hearing and listening are a great topic of discussion. In the dictionary in most cases, hearing is defined as ‘to listen’ or ‘to perceive by the ear’. Listening on the other hand is defined as;
- to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
- To pay attention; heed; obey
- To wait attentively for a sound.
In once sense, they are the same, but in another, they are not. Once you have experienced God, you can come to the realization that you can hear the voice of the Lord, but to truly listen to what He says, you need to ‘be still’ and actively listen and then obey what He has said. It’s the same again, with children and their parents. When mom says, “take out the trash” to the little boy who is watching his favourite show on TV, he can hear her talking, but is he actually listening to what she is saying, or is he listening to the TV?
Listening is acting upon what is being heard. Communication barriers come up when people just hear, and don’t truly listen. Gossip is spread, and stories are changed, because some people hear what they want to hear, and they don’t listen to what is truly being said.
Music today is a great example of this ‘hearing vs. listening’ debate. We can hear the music, and love the tune, rhythm and the beats, but are we actually listening to the words? Some songs have very questionable lyrics, yet have really cool tunes, beats, or drum solos. One example for me is the song, ‘Mambo #5’. I used to work in a retail party store, and we sold party music CD’s and videos. We would play the video to help sell the merchandise, and so we would hear it all day long, and even learn some of the cheesy dance moves along with ‘Drew’. One of the songs was ‘Mambo #5’. Don’t get me wrong, (you will be convicted in your own time regarding songs, I am just sharing one that has affected me) I still like the tune, and unfortunately we have it on one of the CDs at work that we play for the children (which I still don’t understand). But anyhow, the tune is cool and the beats are cool and somehow we can even sing along to the words… and the one part is really fun to do the actions and dance to–
‘jump up and down and move it all aroundshake your head to the sound put your hands an the groundtake one step left and one step rightone to the front and one to the sideclap your hands once and clap your hands twiceand if it looks like this then you doin' it right’
But the words in the rest of it are truly questionable. In reality, the man singing the song is proud of the fact that he can flirt with so many women in his life, and each has a different ‘spot’ in his heart. He is having different relations and flirting with each of these women, and in one case he is with one of them ‘all night long’. One woman, and one man is the way God intended. Unfortunately he also prays to the Lord in the song. Eek… and this is what we are letting our kids listen to? (This isn’t even one of the worst ones).
We need to listen to worship music, and uplifting and inspirational music, or scripture so that is what goes in our minds, to come out our mouths, and also in our actions will be of the Lord. You need to ‘GET INTO GOD’S WORD, SO THAT GOD’S WORD GETS INTO YOU’! Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. Hear the word of the Lord, listen to what He is truly saying, and act upon His Words, not the words of the world. There is life in the Words of God, and we need to pay attention to His Words. In Proverbs 22:17-19 it says, “Listen carefully to what wise people say; pay attention to what I am teaching you. It will be good to keep these things in mind so that you are ready to repeat them. I am teaching them to you now so that you will put your trust in the Lord.” (NCV)
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we pray Lord that You will help us find that “secret place” with you, where we still our entire beings to hear and listen to what You want to tell us. Show us the ways in which You want us to walk. Teach us the things which You want us to say. Train us to discern Your voice, and the voice of Your Holy Spirit. Help us take time to be alone in Your presence, and to wait on You, and to truly come to ‘know’ You. Remind us that in the ‘storms of life’, you can still the wind and the waves, and we can rest in Your peace no matter what is going on around us. Hide us under Your wings, and let us rest in Your embrace. Draw us close to You, and never let us go. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN!
Reuben Morgan (Hillsong) wrote a beautiful peaceful song regarding the verse in Psalm 46:10. It is called “Still”. Turn up the volume a little, and play the video/song, and then quiet your soul to hear from the Lord, and be sure to listen to what He is telling you! (It takes a little bit to start playing, and there is an instrumental part at the end of the song.)
Here’s the lyrics…
(feel free to sing along, and sing it as a prayer to the Lord)
"Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hands
When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You, above the storm Father,
You are king over the flood
I will be still and know You are God
Find rest my soul,
in Christ alone
Know His power,
in quietness and trust"
Be blessed, and be a blessing!
Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)
“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 NKJ
As a child, we are told many times to ‘sit still’. Usually we had to be told that, because it was time to pay attention to what was being said, & to not distract others while they were listening as well. God sometimes needs to sit us down in His presence, and tell us to be still. He is our Father, and we are His children, and He wants us to pay attention. We can get so busy with things around us, and not take time to honestly pay attention to Him. Our lives are so busy in this day and age, and sometimes we are even busy doing things for the Lord, that we don’t always take time with the Lord. In the case of when we were children, or looking at children today, we say the old saying, ‘Silence is golden’. We truly don’t realize that silence, doesn’t mean just standing motionless, and having no sound around us, it means silencing our hearts and minds as well. God speaks in a still, small voice, and if we really want to hear Him, and be able to listen to His Words, then we need to silence our entire beings, heart, soul, mind, spirit & body.I know that when I worship & pray to God I can get excited, and I speak in tongues, and like to praise Him, but there are times when I need to ‘be quiet’. Sometimes God needs to remind me of this truth, (as He did at the “Expect a Harvest Fall Conference” last weekend – Thank you Lord!) and I need to remain in His peace. I thank the Lord for His peace that passes all understanding, and that although there may be storms around us, we can rest in His peace, and truly know He is God.
To ‘know’, according to the dictionary, is;
- to perceive or understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty:
- to have established or fixed in the mind or memory:
- to be cognizant or aware of
- be acquainted with, as by sight, experience or report:
- to understand from experience or attainment
- to be able to distinguish, as one from another
How does one truly ‘know’ God? This is a question in the hearts and minds of Biblical scholars, and regular people all around the world. So many authors, teachers, professors, scholars, pastors, evangelists, etc have given their take on the answer to this question, and you can read many books or articles, attend many conferences or seminars, but the answer lies in this verse… “Be still and know that I am God”. Spend time with God. It’s as simple as that. When you first begin to date, you get to know the other person, and spend time with them. As time goes by, and you spend more time with them, listening and sharing, you learn more about them. But they also learn more about you. God knows all about you, but He wants you to share your heart with Him. He wants you to know Him in an intimate way as well.
There is a worship song called, ‘In the Secret’, and in the chorus it says, “I want to know You, I want to hear Your voice, I want to know You more. I want to touch You, I want to see Your face, I want to know You more”. To truly ‘know’ something or someone, you need to use all your senses to experience it or them for all they are worth, or for all they have. I cannot say I know ‘Spanish’ for example, just from watching some Dora videos, where Dora uses a few Spanish words like ‘agua’ (water) and ‘Hola’ (hello). I actually have to experience it for myself, learn the words, listen to others speak it, and to understand it fully, and clearly. Obviously I cannot physically touch the Spanish language… but I’m sure you get my point.
To know God, is to love God. When you truly experience God for yourself, you will come to a whole new understanding of who He really is, and what He can and will do in and through you. When we come to this realization of God, to ‘know’ Him as the definition above stated, we can truly:
- perceive or understand God as fact or truth; to apprehend Him and His ways clearly and with certainty:
- to have established or fixed Him in our mind or memory:
- to be cognizant or aware of Him
- be acquainted with God, as by sight, experience or report:
- understand Him from experience or attainment
- & be able to distinguish Him, as one from another (discernment).
We will not have trouble distinguishing His voice from all the others around us, nor will we have trouble remembering that He is with us wherever we go. He will be exalted among the nations, and exalted in the earth, as the rest of the verse in Psalm 46:10.
When we ‘know’ God, we can understand Him, and what He wants for our lives. We can truly listen to His Words and not just hear them. We can then be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.
This leads us to devotional #2 – Day #31
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22 NKJV
Hearing and listening are a great topic of discussion. In the dictionary in most cases, hearing is defined as ‘to listen’ or ‘to perceive by the ear’. Listening on the other hand is defined as;- to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
- To pay attention; heed; obey
- To wait attentively for a sound.
In once sense, they are the same, but in another, they are not. Once you have experienced God, you can come to the realization that you can hear the voice of the Lord, but to truly listen to what He says, you need to ‘be still’ and actively listen and then obey what He has said. It’s the same again, with children and their parents. When mom says, “take out the trash” to the little boy who is watching his favourite show on TV, he can hear her talking, but is he actually listening to what she is saying, or is he listening to the TV?
Listening is acting upon what is being heard. Communication barriers come up when people just hear, and don’t truly listen. Gossip is spread, and stories are changed, because some people hear what they want to hear, and they don’t listen to what is truly being said.
Music today is a great example of this ‘hearing vs. listening’ debate. We can hear the music, and love the tune, rhythm and the beats, but are we actually listening to the words? Some songs have very questionable lyrics, yet have really cool tunes, beats, or drum solos. One example for me is the song, ‘Mambo #5’. I used to work in a retail party store, and we sold party music CD’s and videos. We would play the video to help sell the merchandise, and so we would hear it all day long, and even learn some of the cheesy dance moves along with ‘Drew’. One of the songs was ‘Mambo #5’. Don’t get me wrong, (you will be convicted in your own time regarding songs, I am just sharing one that has affected me) I still like the tune, and unfortunately we have it on one of the CDs at work that we play for the children (which I still don’t understand). But anyhow, the tune is cool and the beats are cool and somehow we can even sing along to the words… and the one part is really fun to do the actions and dance to–
‘jump up and down and move it all aroundshake your head to the sound put your hands an the groundtake one step left and one step rightone to the front and one to the sideclap your hands once and clap your hands twiceand if it looks like this then you doin' it right’
But the words in the rest of it are truly questionable. In reality, the man singing the song is proud of the fact that he can flirt with so many women in his life, and each has a different ‘spot’ in his heart. He is having different relations and flirting with each of these women, and in one case he is with one of them ‘all night long’. One woman, and one man is the way God intended. Unfortunately he also prays to the Lord in the song. Eek… and this is what we are letting our kids listen to? (This isn’t even one of the worst ones).
We need to listen to worship music, and uplifting and inspirational music, or scripture so that is what goes in our minds, to come out our mouths, and also in our actions will be of the Lord. You need to ‘GET INTO GOD’S WORD, SO THAT GOD’S WORD GETS INTO YOU’! Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. Hear the word of the Lord, listen to what He is truly saying, and act upon His Words, not the words of the world. There is life in the Words of God, and we need to pay attention to His Words. In Proverbs 22:17-19 it says, “Listen carefully to what wise people say; pay attention to what I am teaching you. It will be good to keep these things in mind so that you are ready to repeat them. I am teaching them to you now so that you will put your trust in the Lord.” (NCV)
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we pray Lord that You will help us find that “secret place” with you, where we still our entire beings to hear and listen to what You want to tell us. Show us the ways in which You want us to walk. Teach us the things which You want us to say. Train us to discern Your voice, and the voice of Your Holy Spirit. Help us take time to be alone in Your presence, and to wait on You, and to truly come to ‘know’ You. Remind us that in the ‘storms of life’, you can still the wind and the waves, and we can rest in Your peace no matter what is going on around us. Hide us under Your wings, and let us rest in Your embrace. Draw us close to You, and never let us go. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN!
Reuben Morgan (Hillsong) wrote a beautiful peaceful song regarding the verse in Psalm 46:10. It is called “Still”. Turn up the volume a little, and play the video/song, and then quiet your soul to hear from the Lord, and be sure to listen to what He is telling you! (It takes a little bit to start playing, and there is an instrumental part at the end of the song.)
Here’s the lyrics…
(feel free to sing along, and sing it as a prayer to the Lord)
"Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hands
When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You, above the storm Father,
You are king over the flood
I will be still and know You are God
Find rest my soul,
in Christ alone
Know His power,
in quietness and trust"
Be blessed, and be a blessing!
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