Finding Your Place of Solitude

Where is your place of solitude?

Where is that place that you go to get away from people and noise. This spiritual discipline of solitude is in my mind one of the most important disciplines to practice. A place of quietness and loneliness is what we desperately need in our ipod/crowded culture.  Ipods and crowds are not bad, but they can distract us from Jesus and pull us off the Way very easily. We need something to dislodge us from these dangerous cultural paths.

This is where solitude comes in beautifully. Go and be alone. Take a Bible and journal, or perhaps you don’t want to take anything with you at all and just sit in the presence of Jesus. Go for it! What is important is that we “find a quiet place where we can read [or be] undisturbed (Foster, Life with God. 63).”

Some Solitude Spots:

Your couch at 6 am.
On your patio with a cup of coffee.
In your closet for 30 min.
In your car with the radio off meditating Psalm 23.
In a vacant parking lot during your lunch break with your Bible & journal.
By a creek with absolutely nothing.
Next to the waterfall in Allen (off Exchange behind some corporate buildings).
On a sidewalk at dusk praying for a clean heart. 
On a nature trail at sunrise (Mckinney has one off 75).
In a church sanctuary, laying on a pew.

Find your place of solitude and then GO there regularly.

“35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

Mark 1.35

What a Disciple Does

   3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself;
         The LORD hears when I call to Him. 
   4 Tremble, and do not sin;
         Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. 
   5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
         And trust in the LORD.

Psalm 4.3-5

It is great to know that the God has always been looking for disciples. A disciple is someone who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to be with Jesus, learning to be like Jesus. And this verse shows many, many things that are happening in a disciple’s day-to-day life.

Godly men and women is what God is after and He will accomplish his purpose no doubt. I looked up that word ‘godly’ in the Hebrew language and it means someone who is pious, or kind. God is calling people through His Son Jesus to be set apart. Set a part in the Hebrew means simply, distinct. We should be incredibly distinct but not dogmatic. Distinct means especially easy to perceive. So our lives should be quite obvious to everyone that something is different, but we shouldn’t become legalist, pharisees, or defenders of truth and Christianity. We should be kind. We should be pious. Pious means we show reverence for deity. Pious is not bad, its the people who claim piety that make pious a dirty word.

We should look like the fruit of the Spirit. And that is what we are hoping and praying for as we follow Jesus and trust the Spirit to transform us inwardly, so that our character is reformed and then our behavior will be reformed–not the other way around.

“The Lord hears when I call to Him.” How often am I calling to Jesus? I should be in a daily dialogue, a constant communion with Jesus. Reading, listening, speaking, and obeying.

“Tremble and do not sin.” Disciples are not perfect. In fact we never will be until we see Jesus face to face, however that doesn’t mean we can behave licentiously. We should tremble before we sin, as we sin, and after we sin. We may not tremble so much in the actual doing of sin, but we should tremble before when the temptation sets in and after as the conviction becomes apparent. One mark of the disciple is to be agitated with sin, to quake or quiver.

“Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.” Meditation is rumination. It’s kind of like looking in the attic for something. You are in a confined space and your attention is focused on one thing. Maybe it is a scripture verse, a phrase from an old hymn or perhaps a quote from a devotional book. Whatever it is we are running it over and over in our minds. Looking at every angle, trying to understand every aspect, not letting it go. Of course we are still this entire time. Stillness is badly needed and held in contempt by the 21st century.

“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.” What are we sacrificing? How many sacrifices can you count that you have made this past year, month, week or morning? While we are certainly not killing any animals or building in altars in our backyard, I still think we have to find ways to sacrifice. Our money is a good start. Let’s give away our time to Jesus, children, addicts, elderly, etc. Let’s sacrifice some of our food and fast. There are so many things!

“And trust in the Lord.” What does doing all of these things mean for the disciple? It means we trust the Lord! We actually trust Him with real stuff not just with our fickle and failing words. These are the things trust are made of. Jesus give us the grace to become your disciples and follow hard after you!

Seek the Kingdom
Jon

Silence is Golden

Psalm 131:2
“But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

One of the most needed disciplines in our life is silence!  There is so much noise: TV, Radio, Podcast, iTunes, Blue Ray, HD, CDs, DVDs, etc.  With so much noise it makes it very difficult to set and keep our mind on Jesus.

 Jesus is our teacher and model.  One thing He models in the gospels is His need to be silent.  As you walk through Galilee and Judea with Jesus in the gospel stories, you may notice how often He finds quiet places. This is essential for us if we are going to be transformed into Christlikeness.  God spoke through David the great warrior poet and told us to “be still and know I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

So our experiment this week is to be still and silent. 

Experiment 001: Turn off the noise.

Almost all of us travel to work during the week. Most likely we are listening to the radio, CDs or the famous iPod.  Maybe it’s sports radio, NPR, right-wing talk, country music, kidd kradick, rap music, praise & worship, or a sermon. One thing i’ve discovered over the past 2 years, is our cars, trucks, SUVs and vans turn out to be unique opportunities for silence. Our drive to work doesn’t have to be a race, it can be a rest.  So, i am proposing that one morning this week we turn off the noise as we journey to work.  This may mean 10 minutes or 45 minutes, it doesn’t matter how much, it just matters that we do it.  

What do i do while i am driving? i have two suggestions. meditate on one of your favorite scripture verses, or pray for your family members & friends.  One of my favorites for meditation is Psalm 23, ‘the Lord is my Shepherd…” or use the verses quoted in this blog.

If you find that this special time of silence helped set your mind on Jesus then think seriously about how you can incorporate it into your weekly schedule (Luke 14:28-33). Enjoy the silence this week! Let Jesus transform you and shape you as you set aside time in your car, truck, SUV or van  just for Him.

Remember please comment on your experiment this week. Let’s create some community on this blog! We may not be able to see each other everyday or week, but at least we can stay in touch. Also, if you want to receive an email when a new experiment is posted please let me know by posting it in the comments section.

 

Seek the Kingdom,

Jon 

“If we desire to have a true understanding of His gospels, we must study to conform our life as nearly as we can to His”

Thomas A Kempis

The Imitation of Christ

(Brought to you by Zach Silvers study time on Monday morning. Thanks Zach!)