Chapter Five: I Bow My Life

After a week of putting into practice what we've been learning, we're back with last week's chapter review:

I Bow My Life

(Chapter Five)

Come let us worship and bow down,

Let us bow our lives in worship before God

Psalm 95-6 (paraphrased by author)

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever.  Amen

This passage found in Romans 11:33-36 is where Linda begins this chapter on bowing our life to God in worship.  She imagines the apostle Paul writing of God’s glorious mercies, overwhelmed with his love for his Lord.  The first word that comes to him is “Oh”.

Linda suggests that “when we truly see the Holy One, there are no words, for no words in any language can declare His majesty”.

Had you noticed that “Oh” at the start of Romans 11:33 before?  I’m not sure I had in that overwhelmed sense. It’s the depth of God’s riches both in the wisdom and knowledge of Him that overwhelms Paul and should overwhelm us too.  Linda reminds us that “this God who became man is indescribable and unfathomable”.  Like Paul, this should render us on our knees “bowing low because everything originates with God, all is given by Him”.  He is master and we are servant.

When we put our spiritual lives into perspective, is it any wonder that these are the verses that proceed where Paul takes us next in Romans 12:1.

The Message says it well:  “With God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering.”  This is the least we can do for all God’s done for us, don’t you think?

In simple terms what Paul (and Linda) are getting to in these verses and chapter is the dreaded “S” word… Surrender.   We don’t generally like that word, but Linda shares with us next how we can discover the joy of surrender.  Yep... I said JOY of surrender!

Linda suggests we do something really important. “Envision a big stop sign in front of you.  It is a signal to STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, and THINK deeply about your life.  Did your heart start to race when I said that?  If it did, it could be because most of us don’t take time to think about our lives.  We don’t heed David’s words in Psalm 39:4-5:

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath

Do you feel convicted like I do by those verses?  German philospher Goethe said, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”  So Linda asks us, “What matters most to you?”

Here’s where it gets a little uncomfortable for us.  Linda reminds us that "we can know Jesus as our Savior.  We can be a Christian, assured of eternal life, but is He LORD?  Could you (or I) say that we are 100% surrendered to God?"

Linda’s friend Lorraine shared of her own journey towards 100% surrender, revealing that she held back a small percentage of her life, wrapping her fear and anger at God in a nice neat little bow, tucked away and hidden from the outstretched arms of her Lord.  When confronted with the fact that Jesus had given everything, including His life for her, she asked herself (and indirectly us), Could I do less?

Lorraine discovered joy in surrendering all to the Lord, as did Dr. Walter Wilson.  Dr. Wilson, a beloved physician and pastor was grieved when he realized the fruitlessness in his life was because of a disconnect in his relationship with the Holy Spirit.  His missionary friend admonished him in that if he would “seek personally to know the Holy Spirit, He (the Holy Spirit) would transform his life”.   The Holy Spirit will do the same for us too if we allow Him, and surrender all to Him.

Dr. Wilson heard an Episcopal priest, in a message on Romans 12:1 talk about how the Holy Spirit “has come to earth without a body.  God could have made a body for Him as He did for Jesus, but He did not do so.  God gives you the privilege and the indescribable honor of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth".  This message convicted Dr. Wilson and in our books on page 97 is Dr. Wilson’s heartfelt prayer of surrender to the Holy Spirit.  Have you set about praying your own prayer of surrender, or the one Linda suggests on page 99?

In reading the testimony of F. B. Meyer in his journey of surrender, I am reminded of a booklet I saw years ago by Robert Boyd Munger entitled, “My Heart, Christ’s Home”.  Similar to F.B. Meyer’s “keys to his heart”, Munger’s story depicts Jesus coming into our hearts and making Himself at home, only to find some areas of His new home need some cleaning out while other areas are completely shut off and off limits to Him.  I found this short, albeit a little "cheesy" video on YouTube based on Munger’s book.

F.B. Meyer, like the man in Munger’s book, realized that if Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.  Every room of our heart needs to be surrendered to Him.

So how do we do this?  Linda gives us some practical ways to help us let go of anything we’re holding back from God so we can experience the joy of complete surrender.

First off, she encourages us to prayerfully consider whether we are 100% surrendered by reading and praying the prayer of surrender on page 99:

Lord Jesus, I offer you

All that I am

All that I have

All that I do

All that I suffer

I surrender to you

Now and forevermore

Kind of reminds me of wedding vows… but to our Holy Bridegroom.

Linda also suggests that we make 4 columns on a sheet of paper and use each of the “all” statements from that prayer as headings.  Then,"in quiet prayer, ask God to speak His truth, His will, His insight into our lives, showing any areas that still need to be surrendered to Him.  Remember that it is in love that He’s asking us to let go of the things that are holding us back from complete freedom."

Linda also suggests praying the beautiful hymn we sang earlier, “Take My Life and Let it Be” or the prayer on page 100 of your book.   When we’re able to give 100% of ourselves to the Lord, we become “all God created us to be.  What you become is your gift to God”.

Linda believes the natural progression of surrender leads to obedience.  Scripture confirms this throughout John 14 when Jesus says:

* He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me
* If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word
* He who does not love Me does not keep My words
* If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love: just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Linda states that “These words paint a beautiful picture of obedience flowing from a love relationship with God.  Such obedience is a wonderful thing because it is so relational."  She goes on to say, “Obedience flows out of a personal relationship and is motivated only by love.  It is a response of love to God.  I desire to obey God because I love Him”.  Does your love for God show in your obedience to Him?

Linda is “filled with joy” as her “obedience leads to an experiential knowledge of God and His presence.”  She compares this similarly to “how the presence of someone we deeply love lifts our spirits and surrounds us with a radiant sense of peace and well-being.  So the one who loves God supremely is lifted into rapture as a result of being conscious of God’s presence.”

She goes on to remind us that “Jesus made it clear that if my words of love are authentic, I will live out my love by obeying His commands.  Obedience motivated by love differs greatly from obedience motivated by duty.”  Is it love or duty that motivates your obedience to God today?

To help us understand this concept further, Linda shares how she envisions “a large flat rock securely suspended above,” with it’s underside filled with light.  As she looks above her, she sees a “ceiling of light”.  God, sitting atop the rock calls down to her, words of love, affirmation and instruction.  She “hears under His love, protection and authority”.  She goes on to say, “I may live and move freely under the rock, enjoying all that God has for me there, or I may choose to walk to the edge of the rock, leave the light, and step out into the shadow of darkness.  I can live and move in the darkness, but when I do, I am no longer under God; I am under the prince of darkness – satan.  There is no gray area – I am either in the light, hearing under and obeying God, or in the darkness of disobedience… Obedience", Linda says, "involves listening attentively with a heart of submission and then obeying God’s Word and His voice".

Linda concludes the chapter with the benefits of 100% surrender:

1. He is Intimate with the Upright:

Psalm 25:14
God reveals His secrets to those who fear Him.  What a privilege!

2. He Reveals Himself:

John 14:21
Linda shares that the word disclose means “to reveal” and that in her experience, as she grows in obedience, so has her experiencing of God’s presence.  She asks us, “Do you want to know God’s presence?  Do you long for Him to reveal Himself to you?  Then live out your love for Him by obeying His commandments, and He will reveal Himself to you.”

3. Our Life Becomes Elevated

Linda believes that “Surrendering our life on the altar as a living sacrifice leads us from holy expectancy (the act of worship) to holy obedience (the lifestyle of worship) and that “if worship is true worship, it will lead to holy obedience”.

She goes on, “As I walk my worship, every word I speak is an act of worship, every task I perform is an act of worship.  Each time I bow to God’s timeline, I worship.  Each time I worship through my pain, I honor my Father.  As I do these things, I begin to look at my life differently.  My life takes on a higher purpose because I see each action as an opportunity to bring glory to God.  My life becomes a beautiful thing because my every action is an act of worship.”  How awesome is that!

Let’s begin today if we haven’t already, living each of our days in total surrender to our Lord and may each of our actions be a living and holy sacrifice, pleasing to our God!

Chapter Four: Expanding My Worship Experience

I'm a little behind in our study notes but here is the chapter review from week four of our study:

Expanding My Worship Experience

(Chapter Four)

Come let us worship and bow down,

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.  For He is our God.

Psalm 95-6,7

In this chapter, Linda shares with us how we can expand our worship experience.  She illustrated this by recounting several very different personal worship experiences she’s had in the past.  One was a very formal experience in Cambridge, England where the King’s Choir sang prayers and Psalms.  Another experience was a more contemporary worship service in Colorado Springs where worship was more exuberant and free.  Linda also takes her worship outdoors to another “sanctuary” made by God’s Hands, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains where she goes on what she calls, a “holy hike” and “bows her knees in an attitude of the heart”.  Linda also worships in her home office.  Here in God’s presence this room becomes her “private sanctuary” where Linda “basks in His presence”.

In these experiences, Linda worships with God alone, but she goes on to share that she also joins with a close friend to worship as well.  Together they “whisper words of adoration… and offer thanksgiving” as they worship through prayer and song together.  Linda says that “Prayer flows naturally from our worship”.  Have you found that in your worship times these past few weeks?

Through these examples of worship, Linda has shown us that “we can worship God anywhere, and that we can worship in community or in solitude”.  She emphasises that our “sensitivity to God’s voice and presence is far more important than the actual place.”

Linda discovered that worship and prayer flow together.  In fact, Jesus taught His disciples (and us) this through the Lord’s Prayer.  Not only is this a beautiful prayer that we often recite, and sometimes without really thinking about what we’re saying, but it’s also a pattern for prayer that we can implement into our worship.  Worship starts and ends this prayer.  Linda points out that “of the 68 words in the Lord’s Prayer, 36 are words of worship”.  Hmm… more words than request… think Jesus is telling us something here?

Andrew Murray points out that we often reverse the order of prayer, asking of God more than we praise and honor Him.  He reminds us that “in true worship, the Father must be first, must be all”.  How are your prayers focused?  Do you, like me, need to re-order your prayers so that God is honored more?

Like Linda, do you find that prayer is a weak link in your devotion to God?  She found that as God began to change her from a servant to a worshipper, she became a woman of prayer.  Prayer began to flow naturally out of her worship and Jesus’ pattern became her pattern.  Linda encourages each of us to bow before God, asking Him to teach us how to worship so our prayers flow together naturally with our worship.

She goes on to tell us how her worship experience expanded as she learned to worship God in spirit and in truth.  We often hear this phrase, but do we really understand what it means?  Linda tries to enlighten us in this next section of chapter 4 by referring us to John 4 and Jacob’s well where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman.

This lonely, misguided woman only knows two ways of worship – the Samaritan way as she’d been raised (all spirit, no truth) or the Jewish way (all truth, no spirit).  Jesus introduces to her another way – worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth.

Linda helps us understand Jesus’ new way of worship.  Firstly, Jesus was specific as to who we’re to worship – the Father.  This was new to the Samaritan woman.  Jesus also points out that God the Father seeks worshippers.  I love how Linda points out that “God needs nothing, but He still seeks worshippers”.  That amazes me for some reason.  Jesus also pointed out to the Samaritan woman that “because God is Spirit, we must worship Him in spirit and truth”.  Did you catch that?  We MUST.  That’s a command.  Not a suggestion – a command!  So what does that mean though,  you may be asking.

Worshipping in truth means that we worship truly.  Linda suggests, “it is giving the true God the honor of an enlightened mind, one filled with the trust of who He is.  To worship in truth, I must know God’s Word and be sincere”.

We worship God according to our understanding of the truths about Him, Linda believes.  “Who He is determines how I worship.  My knowledge of God limits my worship”.  Is your worship limited because of your knowledge of God?   Linda says that “to worship in truth, we must first and most importantly fill our mind and heart with Scripture”.  She highly recommends memorising God’s Word as part of our worship.

Part of coming to worship truly is coming into God’s presence with “sincerity, integrity and purity of heart”.  Psalm 7:9b tells us that God looks deep within our hearts and minds.  So, to worship with a sincere heart involves coming to God with our masks off, hiding nothing from Him.  Linda imagines God asking, “When you sing songs of worship, when you bow or kneel or raise your hands to honor me, are you sincere?  Is your worship genuine and authentic or are you hiding something behind a mask?”

This leads us to the next part of worship that Jesus’ spoke of to the Samaritan woman – worshipping in Spirit.  Linda defines this as “giving God the honor of an affectionate heart”.  The spirit refers to our inner person – that “intangible, untouchable but real part of who we are”.  This is the part of us that God desires to meet with.

Watchman Nee suggests that “since God is Spirit, we must use spirit to worship Him”.  Does this make sense?  Linda defines it a little further when she writes, “We must be spiritual in thought, word and deed… continually asking God to examine my heart as I pray from Psalm 19:12-14 or Psalm 139:23,24”.

We can’t fully worship God in spirit though without the help of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus mentioned this to the Samaritan woman in John 4 and we have other verses that confirm the Holy Spirit’s help in our worship.  Romans 8:26 says the Holy Spirit prays for us.   John 14:26 tells us the Holy Spirit teaches us the words of Christ.  And Romans 5:5 tells us we are loved by God.

Jesus told the woman at the well that when she drinks of the Living Water He provides, the Holy Spirit will live inside her.  “This” Linda says, “is why worship comes from the inside-out.  When the living water of the Holy Spirit infuses our human spirit in worship, it becomes a spring that bubbles up, producing a river of praise that delights the heart of God and blesses us in the process”.  Have you had the privilege of experiencing this for yourself?

Linda went on in this chapter to share how she learned to worship with her body.  While reading the Psalms, she saw the hunger David had for God and how this hunger turned into exuberant and physical worship.  David was uninhibited in his worship and sang and danced loudly in his joy and praise to the Lord.  This wasn’t how Linda worshipped, nor is it the way I tend to worship.  How about you?

For some of us, outward physical worship is a challenge, but with prayer and reading the Psalms, Linda was able to let go and worship with her body.  She suggests that “if you worship in freedom, you will experience more joy and delight.”  As she became freer physically in worship, she found herself filled with greater joy.  She’s not suggesting that we must change the way we worship, but encourages us to spend time asking God how He wants us to worship Him.  We can do this by reading the Psalms and asking Him to reveal His will for us in this area, just as Linda did.

Linda shared an example of this freedom in worship when she told of Joni Eareckson Tada’s worship dance from her wheelchair.  Joni, for those who don’t know, was paralysed in a diving accident in her teens.  For decades she has been wheelchair bound but that hasn’t stopped her from worshipping God.  In the email Linda shared, the writer detailed how Joni with the little movement she has, manoeuvred her wheelchair into the most beautiful of dances before her God. There are no limitations in the freedom God can give us to worship Him with our bodies, is there?

So, Linda leaves us in this chapter with some practical tips on how we can expand our worship experience.

First she suggests we ask God to give us a picture of who He is.  This involves using your mind’s eye (or imagination) to get a glimpse of God.  Hannah Hurnard, the author of Hinds Feet in High Places, uses her gift of imagination while praying and imagines Jesus sitting close beside her for a face to face chat.  Others use their imagination to visualize God on His Kingly throne, while others see Jesus as the Lion of Judah.  Some see Him as their Shepherd.  For me, I often visualize God as my Bridegroom.  Have you used your imagination to commune with God?  How do you see Him?

Linda also suggests that we search out special places to worship.  Jesus taught in Matthew 6:6 that when we pray we should get alone in private where we can meet with Him uninhibited by people and things around us.  Like Linda shared in the beginning of the chapter, this could be more than one place and not necessarily indoors.  Do you have a place that speaks worship to you?  If not, ask God to show you where He wants to meet with you.

Lastly, Linda suggests finding music that lifts your spirit and leads you into worship.  Music is totally one way God uses to speak to me.  Psalm 150 calls for everything that has breath to praise the Lord.   Linda suggests that music is a great way she’s found for shutting off life around her so she can focus on God.  I can’t help but think about that old saying by William Congreve, “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak”.   God has blessed us with so many talented musicians the centuries over.  Find what music speaks to you and let it flood your soul in communion with God.

Linda closes this chapter by saying: "Worship is all about our amazingly wonderful God.  I pray you are encouraged and motivated to expand your worship experience.  May you grow as one who bows her knees in the specific act of worship and declares, “Holy, Holy, Holy!"

This concludes section one of our study.  Next week we’re going to be putting into practice what we’ve learned so far as Linda Robinson comes to share with us about “Soaking” prayer.  You won’t want to miss that!

The following week we’ll get into section 2 of our study – Walking in Worship.

Chapter Three: My Soul Finds Stillness

Before we got into the overview of the next chapter in Linda Dillow's fabulous book, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul: For I Am Desperate for Your Presence, we entered into quiet meditative worship this week, watching and listening to this Steven Curtis Chapman video on YouTube:

My Soul Finds Stillness

(Chapter Three)

Be still and know that I am God

Psalm 46:10

Last week Linda shared with us how to pray the “ABC’s of Worship”.  She begins this chapter telling us how this simple exercise turned into an exercise in frustration for her.  As she attempted to work her way through the alphabet, instead of praising God, before she knew it her mind was drifting off to making lists and formulating prayer requests.  Despite her “growing awe, astonished wonder and adoration of God”, she couldn’t stop her racing mind and life to fully embrace stillness with the Lord.  Can you relate to her frustration?  I sure can!

Linda asks, “Why did I need a quiet heart?  Because we cannot realise true intimacy with God until we learn to come before Him in quietness of spirit, mind, and body.”

King David understood this when he wrote Psalm 62:1.  Habakkuk got it too in Habakkuk 2:20.  I Kings 19:12 tells us about Elijah waiting to hear God’s voice.

Psalm 46:10 “encourages us that when we’re still, we can know God."

Linda tells us that the Hebrew word for “know” is yada, which describes “the most intimate kind of knowing between a husband and wife”… meaning sexual intercourse.  What this means is God is saying that we can “know” Him in such an “intimate and personal way that we share a deep spiritual oneness” with Him, God Almighty.  I think it's that naked, transparent, safe and trusting friendship that comes with the intimacy of marriage.  This is where, Linda says, “His Spirit indwells us, His breath inspires us, and His heart invigorates us.”  This is what face-to-face intimacy looks like!  And it is this type of intimacy that is missed when the busyness of life and the internal clatter and restlessness isn’t dealt with.  We miss the blessing of stillness and the presence of God!

So Linda delves into each of these issues – the busyness and restlessness of our lives in this chapter.

First she deals with the busyness, what she refers to as the “external clamor”.  We live in a frantically paced life where we are bombarded with external stimulus.  Linda fears “we are becoming nervous, anxious, overactive people who don’t know how to be still.  We rarely give our full attention to anyone or anything.  We’re always thinking ahead to the next thing that must be done, the next person we must talk to and check off our list.  We do the same with God.  We hurry our “Quiet Time” which is anything but quiet.  Our bodies sit, but our minds race.  Ready to get on with the day, we hope our moments with God win His approval.”  Can you relate?

Henri Nouwen gives a great word picture in his book Making All Things New, when he says, “Our lives often seem like over packed suitcases bursting at the seams”.  How are your “suitcases”?  Like me, do you need to do some unpacking?

One woman in the Bible can relate to us in our busyness.  She was even reprimanded by Jesus because of it.  Yep… you know her well.  Martha, beloved Type A sister of Lazarus and Mary.  Martha wasn’t wrong in her approach completely.  Linda suggests that in her way, Martha “chose to relate to Jesus’ humanity” by practical means of feeding Him, while her sister Mary, “chose to relate to His divinity”, choosing to feed on Him.

Martha wasn’t wrong in what she did for longing to meet Jesus’ human needs for nourishment, but her busyness caused her to get frustrated, angry and ultimately miss out on the peace that Jesus gives.  How many times do we find ourselves frustrated, angry and missing out on God’s peace because we’re too busy “doing” for God, rather than “being still” and gleaning from Him like Mary at His feet?

Linda shared a quote from Martha Kilpatrick’s book, Adoration, about the treasure of time.

Time is the treasure of life.  Time IS Life.
Time is the willing sacrifice that you offer up to
The worship of what you love.
Don’t tell me what you love.  Tell me where you spend your TIME
And I’ll tell YOU what you love.

For some of us, myself included that is a convicting quote.  Where do you spend your time?  Does it reflect what you truly love?  Does that need to change with God’s help so HE can be your first love?

Linda moved on to the restlessness within us, which she calls ”internal chatter”.  Even when sitting quietly with the Lord, Linda found that all was not quiet within her.  The “internal chatter” inside her had a volume button she just couldn’t seem to turn down.  Do you have the same problem with your internal volume button?  I know I do!  She asks a very important question when she asks, ”How could I center on the Lord when my mind wouldn’t stop?”  Like us, she wanted to be still but didn’t know how.

She then gave a beautiful illustration of the definition of restfulness.  She told of two painters who captured their definition of restfulness on canvas.  One picture was a serene scene of a still, lone lake with majestic mountains off in the distance.  Easy to see restfulness in this scene, don’t you think?  The second artist had a different view of restfulness though.  In his scene was a thundering waterfall with a young, fragile birch tree bending over the foam of the raging water.  At a fork in the branch lay a nest.  There in the nest, almost wet from the spray of the pounding waterfall sat a robin, unencumbered by the raging water all around her.   Hmm.

Linda stated that “restfulness is a form of awareness, a way of being amid the noise of life.  It is being in my ordinary, busy life with a sense of ease, gratitude, appreciation, peace and prayer.”

Psalm 131 is a portrait of stillness.  Verse 2 in The Message says, “I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.  Like a baby content in it’s mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.”  You mothers get that don’t you?  How precious is your baby resting at peace on your chest.  You forget about the sleepless night that you just endured because restfulness is in that sleeping baby.  You are at rest at that moment as much as the child you’re holding.

Linda shared that “David could be still before God because he no longer came to the Lord with a ‘gimme’ spirit.  He longed only to climb up in his Father's lap and calmly nestle against His heart.  He had found quietness and happiness in intimate communication with God”.  Oh to experience this on a day to day basis and the great news is that we can!

For Linda and for us, “intimacy with God begins when we quiet our hearts, stop, and know that He is God”.  Reminds me of that fire drill kids learned at school – stop, drop and roll, except for us it’s stop, quiet and know!

As we practice this, we can experience what Linda calls the “silence of the soul” – that place where God meets us and takes us deeper into His presence.  For Linda this overwhelming and awe-filled moment with God wasn’t her seeking a “high”-type experience, it was her meeting and seeking God Himself.  She says of this moment, “If God grants us experiences with Himself, we rejoice and thank Him, but our purpose must be to bless Him, to see Him, not what He can give.”  Remember, David didn’t seek God in the stillness with a “gimme” spirit, but of one that just longed to love and honor God.

When we are able to be still with God, we’re better able to hear His voice.  O. Hallesby described why stillness is necessary to hear God’s voice:  “The greatest blessing connected with stillness is that we can hear eternity; we can hear the voice of the Eternal One as He speaks to our conscience”.  Have you heard God lately?

Linda asks us an important question for us to sit and ponder deeply – What does it look like for you to be still and know God is God?

Think about that while Linda teaches us how to get practical with this:

Linda gives us an Acronym to help us experience stillness:

S – Seek stillness
T – Take a retreat
I – Increase prayer
L – Let go of external clamor
L – Learn the Twenty-Minute Worship Experience

1.  S – Seek stillness
Linda says we have to be intentional about stillness.  Her friend Mimi shared her experience with this and explained how at first all she could do was offer up her desire to God.  She realized that she could not even worship without God’s help.

Mimi developed a “day of worship” where she took one morning a week to focus soley on God.  It was a process, which took time to develop in focus and intention, but God still met her in those moments.

Like Mimi, we can find ways to seek stillness with God.  Linda calls these “little solitudes” during our day and can be any moment in our day when we concentrate on God and His goodness, even in those loud, chaotic moments of life.  Linda suggests we ask God to help us recognize those moments and to open our eyes to opportunities to worship.

2. T – Take a retreat
This one might be a little trickier for some than others, but Linda suggests taking time out to “escape with God”.  It could be one day a week, one day a month, or even one day a year where you & God get away together alone – no distractions - just solitude with God, worshipping and adoring Him.

It could be escaping to Starbucks alone with your Bible, or getting away to a park along the Lake to sit and converse with God.  You might escape north to a retreat center or cottage.   Doesn’t matter where, but this kind of time alone can do wonders to refresh the soul as you meet alone with God, one on one.

3. I – Increase Prayer
Linda shares Richard Foster’s “The Prayer of Quiet” and I am passing this along to you.  Linda suggests praying this prayer every day for a week.

Prayer of Quiet

By Richard Foster

I have, O Lord, a noisy heart.  And entering outward silence doesn’t stop the inner clamor.  In fact, it seems only to make it worse.  When I am full of activity, the internal noise is only a distant rumble; but when I get still, the rumble amplifies itself.  And it is not like the majestic sound of a symphony rising to a grand crescendo; rather, it is the deafening din of clashing pots and clanging pans, what a racket!  Worst of all, I feel helpless to hush the interior pandemonium.

Dear Lord Jesus, you once spoke peace to the wind and waves.  Speak Your shalom over my heart.  I wait silently… patiently.  I receive into the very core of my being Your loving command, “Peace, be still.”  Amen.

If you’re like me, you’ll understand when Linda suggests that “one of the enemies of communion with God is a frantic mind, swirling with other things.  It’s almost impossible to hear the voice of God when you’re constantly hearing your own chatter”.  I get this!  My mind is a flurry of activity most moments of the day.  Linda gives some practical suggestions on how to battle this enemy:

 Keep a notebook nearby & put on paper any thoughts that distract you
 If your mind still won’t quiet, read a psalm or other passage of Scripture out loud
 Worship or pray out loud.

I’ve tried this and it works!

4. L – Let go of external clamor
Sometimes it’s the external clamor of a busy home or the sounds of life happening outside our door that distracts us in our worship time.  Linda tries to block out everything that will distract her so in her times of worship she gets on her knees, asking God to teach her how to be still.  Often she’ll pull over her head a prayer shawl to keep out light and earphones in her ears playing worship music, all to cocoon her in God’s presence.

Do you have a place you go to escape the external clamor?

5. L – Learn the 20-minute Worship Experience
Linda introduces us to another great worship experience.  This can be done alongside the ABC’s of Worship she taught us last week, or can be done using other methods of worship.  What you do in your 20 minutes (or maybe you can only do 10 minutes to start & that’s okay) is up to you & God.  Linda left us at the end of this chapter with her suggestions for your worship time:

 Ask God to teach you about worship – just be still before Him
 Pray the “Prayer of Quiet” or write your own
 Pray Psalm 131, asking God to reveal to you how your soul can be stilled
 Put on a headset and worship with worship music.  Sing or say the music to God.

If we commit to daily worship, Linda (and I) believe we will discover stillness and be changed.  We’ll grow in intimacy with God and bask in His presence.  Will you make that commitment today?

Here is another prayer Linda shared with us in her companion journal "My Worship Journal" by someone named, Sandi:

Prayer 

By Sandi 

(taken from Linda Dillow’s “My Worship Journal”)

Oh, my patient Father, they tyranny of the urgent seems so ever present in my mind.  As I kneel in your presence, I lay down my to-dos, should-dos, want-to-dos, and even can’t dos.  But most of all, I bring you my fragmented mind with its swirl of questions and data and brokenness and demands and lay all, my mind, body, soul, emotions, and spirit, in rest at your feet.  I lay this troubled head of mine on your knee and choose to look only in your face for this sweet time.  Now, in this moment, there is only you.  I love you, my Jesus.

We ended our morning in quiet meditation with this song, by MercyMe: