I got a great piece of advice from Encounters (our women's group) that had me thinking about how I approach my prayer time. Beth Moore encouraged us to "pour out" when we come to God so that we can be "filled up." The idea is to lay down everything that is filling us up with anxious thoughts, burdens, trouble (the list can go on) and then we are ready to hear and respond to the voice of the Spirit and be filled with His presence, His character, His wisdom, etc.
This is something that typically happens for me at some point when I am in a focused prayer time but not always the way that I would start. I had an opportunity to intentionally give it a shot during Fast & Pray Wednesday a couple of days later. We spend the thirty minutes praying on our own and so I sat down with the intention to "pour out". Do you know what I discovered? There was a lot to pour. When I took that pause in the middle of my day and tried to focus on prayer, I discovered that my mind and heart were full and distracted by a lot of things!
While this isn't really much of a shock since we all have a lot of things going on each day, it really reminded me how necessary silence and solitude is. If I had not been quiet, I would not have noticed the noise.
I'm grateful for the reminder and want to offer it to you as an encouragement to find the time to intentionally "pour out" and see what God might want to fill you with. He is so good that I can hardly begin to imagine what He can and will do with a heart that is poised to receive.
See you on Sunday,
Pastor Tracy
This Sunday
Speaking The Truth
"The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is Vital (Going Deeper Makes Me Nervous)”
Join us on Sunday at 10am as our Pastor Tracy continues in our series.