Speaker 1Hello, welcome to Intimacy 30, Day 14, and it's a joy to be here again. Guess what? We're almost halfway, and I want to trust and believe that these teachings have been a blessing to you. They've helped you in your walk with the Lord and granted you practical tools to deepen your fellowship with the Lord. We've been looking at the elements of intimacy, number one being knowledge, number two being strong desire, and then number three being separation. These are elements. Everywhere you see intimacy, even in the natural, these are the elements of such relationship. In the same way, these are elements of the relationship of intimacy, if we're going to have intimacy with the Lord. Now, I want to give you a fourth element, which is an interesting one. It's a spin-off from yesterday, but it's not exactly the same thing. It's called stillness, stillness, or this is important, stillness. Now, yesterday we spoke about separation, which means learning to have those moments and those times where you disconnect from the world so that you can spend more time with the Lord and deepen your fellowship with the Lord. But you'll agree with me that you are not always going to have all the time. Even if you disconnect, you separate, it's not going to be every time. You have work, you have engagements, you have those things, and yet you want to develop a relationship with the Lord. So how do I do it? Because developing a relationship is an on-the-go thing. There is the bit where I separate myself, but on-the-go, what is happening on-the-go? And so I want to introduce you to something you definitely have heard of before, the concept of stillness, that in the busyness of the world, you must practice stillness. The busiest place on earth today is the human soul. The internal, the inner man of many people is the busiest place on the face of the planet, unfortunately so. You'd be amazed if we were to analyze the amount of information, the amount of things, that your mind is processing, and God is just one of them. We must learn to practice stillness on-the-go if we're going to develop intimacy with the Lord. Let me show you a few scriptures, Psalm 46 and verse 10, that you sure know that if anybody is going to talk on stillness, they probably will start from here. It says, Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God. If you read in 1 Kings 19, verse 11 to 12, you remember the story. And, well, maybe I should read it. 1 Kings 19, verse 11 and verse 12. The Bible says that Elijah the prophet had gone to wait on the Lord and all of that. And then in verse 11, it says, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by. A great and strong wind rent the mountains, breaking pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. It says, After the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then in verse 12, it says, After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still, small voice. And we know that God was in the still, small voice. Now, one translation, let me read you a couple of those translations. One translation says, And after the fire, a sound of sheer silence. Another translation says, After the first, after the fire, a silent, silent sound. I found out that people that develop intimacy with God have learned the hack of maintaining a still inner condition, irrespective of what is going on around them. It's a hack. They've learned how to remain still on the inside of themselves. Now, what I, what does it mean when we talk about stillness? Number one, it means to learn how to be quiet within. Quiet the thoughts, quieting the thoughts, the anxieties, the worries, quieting it. You see, and that's one of the things worship does for you. You find out that as you worship the Lord, and as you worship the Lord, as you worship the Lord, after a while, your gaze and your attention is on him alone. And all the different thoughts of fear and anxiety, all of that, is on him alone. away. So it means to be quiet within. Number two, it refers to a reflective life. And by reflective life, we're talking about learning to keep your gaze and your attention on what God is doing. That's extremely important. You see, why many people get noisy within is because their gaze and their attention is on everything Satan is doing and everything everybody else is doing. all right? But learning to keep your gaze and your attention on what God is doing. That's something I do a lot of times. I mean, something is going on and I'm like, look at what God has done. And what I'm doing many times is I'm using my words to turn my attention, my gaze into what the Lord is doing. See how far God has helped us. See the grace and the mercy of God. Now, does it mean, and I must be very practical with you here. There are times what you're referring to, If you put it by human standards on the scale, side by side with the things that you think are not done, are not complete, are terrible, are bad. The other scale of evil and negativity may actually be more in factual terms. But when you learn that there is no small act of God, which means what I keep my gaze on will grow. And what I take my gaze away from will wither. And so you learn, because that's what brings stillness. Listen, once you keep your gaze on what God is doing, you come to a place of peace. You come to a place of stillness. You come to a place of praise. You come to a place of quiet. It's a quiet, unperturbed inner soul. One rabbi put it this way. He said, when we talk about stillness, we are talking about water that's flowing without making noise, without being disturbed, but it keeps flowing. So we're not talking about still waters in the sense that the waters is not moving. We're saying that it's undisturbed. It's moving, but it's undisturbed. In the same way, I'm not saying that when we talk about stillness, then there's no thought in your mind. No. Your thinking, there's a flow of thoughts, but it's directed on the Lord. It is a practice you have to learn or else you'll agree with me that there is so much around you, happening around you to keep your heart agitated. And the problem is this, is that nobody, even in natural, can develop any kind of relationship with an agitated soul. It's impossible. It's impossible. That's why you find out that husbands and wife, they fight more when there's no money. You find out that the relationship they have many a times is weakened because there's pressure of finances, pressure of responsibility, pressure of this and pressure of that. And so how do you develop this stillness? Cast your attention on what God is doing, not what the world is doing, not what Satan is doing. What the world is doing and what Satan is doing will get you into a place of agitation, anxiety, worry. That's generally what will happen. Doubt, fear. But if you cast your gaze on what the Lord is doing, you will find now that you come to a place of stillness and a place of peace. Now, this may not seem like an active thing in terms of, that many a times gives value to the disciplines. So somebody is praying, but is praying from an agitated soul. Another person is praying, worshipping, but is worshipping from an agitated soul. You must learn and practice the principle of stillness. I always catch myself. It's something I, I mean, there are two things. If I have the time, I'll come to the second one. There are two things I do constantly. I'm constantly checking, what is the peace level in my soul? Because if I have the time, I'll come to the second one. Because it's extremely important, what is the peace level in my soul? And once I realize that I'm getting to a place of anxiety, getting to a place of agitation, which is very uncommon, not regular, getting to a place of, and you know, you're beginning to get so calculated. Okay, well, how do I handle this? How do I do this? How do I do that? Immediately, I use my words to redirect my soul as I see what the Lord has done. And I start counting the things that I know God has done And I realized it works so powerfully. You just come to a place of peace. Why? Worry never, ever will get the job done. In fact, the Bible says this. It says that the agitations, the wrath of man, worketh not the righteousness of God. So learn to bring your soul to a place of stillness and peace. That is where intimacy is built. And the primary way to do it is by casting your gaze constantly on what God is doing, not what Elon Musk is doing. Not what the news is saying, but what God is doing. You find out that it builds peace. It builds stillness into your soul. And it's easy for you to build and to develop a relationship with the Lord from that platform. I'm sure that you have been blessed. Please make sure you share these videos. These are life hacks, actually. These are kingdom hacks to help you become a better Christian and to develop your relationship with God. It's the Lord. Share the video. Tell somebody about Intimacy 30. I'll be here again same time tomorrow. God bless you. God bless you.
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