The Master's Voice - Glynis M. Belec

I close my tattered Bible and contemplate a choice

Do I resume my hurried pace or listen for God's voice?

My helter skelter schedule puts me in a spin

With lists and uttered empty words that contribute to the din.

I'm too busy pleasing others and working dawn 'til night.

"It's not my fault," I justify, "I have to do what's right."

Yet still I feel an emptiness at the end of each long day

My head it meets the pillow and I forget to pray.

Yet still, you love me as I sigh and give reason for my days

You understand my weakness and you know my fragile ways.

"Rest, my child. Be still and know..." God whispers to my heart

I know the way that I should go, yet I find it hard to start.

Sometimes the clutch around my soul brings fear with no releasing

The Word of God tells me to pray without a thought to ceasing.

So equip me Lord with prayer and peace; remind me of your Son

Jesus, in His gentle way. Tell again what He has done.

When my mind is stayed on Him a stillness fills my soul

The busyness or wordly quest no longer is my goal.

So as I seek Your still small voice in every thing I do

My motivating urgency will be to worship You.

As I pray a calmness comes and makes my heart rejoice

An urgent need to look to God and hear that still small voice.

Bless you Jesus as you wait with patient love for me

Lessons learned remind me that Your grace has set me free...

Time With God - Janet Sketchley

“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, NIV”

When we first choose to trust God, it’s like falling in love. We want to spend time with Him, get to know Him. He’s all we can think about, no matter what we’re doing.

Getting to know Him means reading His Book, talking with others and discovering what they know about Him, spending time alone with Him in prayer.

Over time, there’s a tendency to take Him for granted, not seize special moments with Him, talk more about ourselves than about Him.

God does want us to talk about ourselves, invites us to bring our needs and concerns to Him. I think His intent is “Let’s look at this together, and I’ll show you how I see it. Then let Me deal with it. It’s too big for you, and you don’t see all the pieces.”

What He doesn’t want is for us to natter at Him nonstop, rehashing the same grievance and telling Him yet again how He should solve it. (The humans we love don’t want that either!)

I love it that Jesus invites us to persistent prayer, but I need to combine that with the Apostle Paul’s instruction to “present our petitions with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6) so I don’t end up being a nag.

Most of all, I need to remember the intent of prayer is to bring me to God. I come with needs, requests, confessions, praise and thanksgiving, but the point is that I come to the God of the universe, who loves me.

When I finally run out of words, He wants me to stay with Him. To love Him, rest in Him, abide in His presence.

Father, please forgive me for the times I get more caught up in “prayer requests” than in Your presence. Please still my soul to know and love You. Thank You that You meet my needs. Thank You even more for who You are.

A good prayer for the week is the song “Give Me Jesus,” written by Peter Shambrook, sung here by Jeremy Camp.

*New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

© Janet Sketchley, 2009
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For devotionals, reviews and conversation, stop by Janet Sketchley's blog, God with Us: Finding Joy.