My word for April 23rd is Escape
Tension filled the air, the person that played a part in
ruining your family was breathing down the back of your neck. There wasn’t anyplace to go, no
escape. There wasn’t a storm
shelter to get you out of the turbulence that was circling around you. If this situation had been an actual
storm it would have been a tsunami.
Just the presence of the person, that you thought at one time was your friend,
had turned into a violent wave that kept crashing into you every moment. As the waves get higher and higher like
lava of a volcano, the top bursts.
A few words come sailing out of you; only to your surprise this person
has no humility, no remorse, no compassion. For the next few minutes’ words of sharpness are dropped
about you. You question, how could
this person that had manipulated everyone in your family and everyone in theirs
decide that they are the victim?
You just need space, an escape.
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t get away? You want to get away, but you have no
place to go. Maybe its not that
you don’t have a place you just feel you can’t let everyone you take care of
down. You have to be there for
them. You must be strong. The problem is this, for anyone to take
care of others they must be healthy.
Jesus did this; he made sure that he was healthy. He would go to his quiet place when he
needed to. We need to take time
for purposeful solitude.
Abstaining from interaction with others so that we can be with God. When Jesus went out into the desert
wilderness for 40 days he went to fast and pray in solitude. It was during this time of escape that the
Father, the Scriptures, and ministering angels strengthened him. It was during Jesus’ escape that He
would listen to the Father. He
would receive answers for many things.
This was how he knew to pick his 12 Apostles and when to move from one
place to the next.
Find your escape, your quiet place. It is by learning to be in solitude
that we find out how to maintain a silent center, a stillness of soul that
flows in God’s peace. He settles
us and leaves us with peace and a sense of well-being. Look at your escape not just as a place
to get away from this world we live in, but as a place to get closer to
God. Let Him be your escape, He
will bring you peace.
Dear Lord take us to a quiet place, give us an escape. Draw me to this escape and make it a
place of refuge with You. Protect
me from the enemy’s attacks. We
know the more time we spend with You the more peace we will have. During this journey of 2012 assist us
in spending more time in solitude with You. This escape will enable us to walk with strength during this
year.
“Solitude is the creation of an open, empty space in our lives by
purposely abstaining from interaction with other human beings, so that, freed
from competing loyalties, we can be found by God” (Life with God Bible, p.
531).
“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before
him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is
your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
http://www.soulshepherding.org/articles/spiritual-disciplines/silence-and-solitude/,
Soul Shepherding for you and your ministry, Silence and Solitude, Bill
Gaultiere, copyright 2005
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