Freestylin with Fred

One of the great passions of my heart is helping others grow daily to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It requires certain disciplines in our lives such as prayer, scripture reading, worship, fellowship, and mission involvement. In this November newsletter, I want to share with you another discipline God is trying to teach me. So together as committed Christians let us learn how we might become better at waiting and listening to the voice of God. Together let us seek God in our hearts and we will not fail to find Him.

To make prayer complete and enriching, we all need a significant dose of spiritual silence. A warning by J. Gregory Mantle says, “Work is not food for the spirit any more than for the body. Amidst a multitude of works the worker’s soul may wither; and his activities will prove this in due time.” What does it mean to wait upon God? Scripture insights help us understand the answer to waiting: Psalm 62:1 says, ”My soul waits upon God”. Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength”.

Waiting on the Lord is the silent surrendering of the soul to God. Waiting is a time of silent love. An elderly saint was asked how she spent her days. She replied, “I always begin my day in prayer. Then I take my Bible and read all I believe God wants to teach me. After this, I sing hymns and praises to my awesome God. Then I sit quietly and let God love”.

I close with a quote from John Bisagno, “Waiting upon God requires our entire being. It is not drifting into daydreaming, but is rather an exercise that demands our keenest attention, our most alert frame of mind and all of our soul’s attention to the Heavenly Voice.”

Fred Daniels