This is so true. I’ve made a habit of keeping ear plugs with me so that when I want that quiet time with God, I can block out the noise of modern life with silence instead of music. God bless you, sir.
I’m 39. Husband of 18 years with 5 children ranging from 4 to 16 years old. I have to fight for silence. Since watching your video, I will schedule my silent time and be more routine and deliberate! Thank you for your insight and clarity. Amen
For 30 years my alone time has been taking my 4 wheel drive truck to a hill in the desert about 10 miles from my house and setting on the tailgate to talk to God as the sun goes down. When I'm out there I find my prayers are mostly praise. At home it's more of a wish list. When I saw this topic I knew I needed to see it and let you know how much my alone time means to me.
As a regional, OTR truckdriver I’m hearing noises 24 hrs a day basically. But, occasionally I’ll turn off the podcasts, radio, etc and just meditate on the Word of GOD, or maybe think on things that I need to improve (or more like surrender to Him most times) in my life. I drove for about 3 hrs straight one day just last week without anything “playing” in my ear. I think would be a great idea to at least spend an hour (or more if possible) each day in silence.
I live alone in the country so in this reguard I'm extremly blessed, and less than 100 feet off a busy highway but I like to fix my breakfast and go to the sunroom and listen to the birds singing. It isn't heated so it isn't an option this time of the year, but spring isn't really that far away.
Thank you for the wisdom sir. I initially recoiled when I saw the video title, because it sounded exactly like the Eastern idea of emptying the mind. But I appreciate your point that we actually have little experience with true silence and solitude in today’s world. This is certainly a goal worthy of pursuit, in order to not empty the mind, but actually contemplate and think about God’s grace and truth even more!
What a joyfull blessing of quiet in this world. Many in this world could not deal with this amount of quiet. When you where talking about your mother and father I was taken back in time instantly. Your mom and dad must be proud of you. Thank you sir for your loving work.
When my husband is gone, I try to live in silence. I’ve found it very beneficial not only in my walk but with knowing what is occurring for safety. Thank you for a great explanation.
Many years ago I needed a quiet private place to pray during my lunch hour in the middle of my work week. Churches and parks were busy places. I discovered that the local cemetery offered the quietness, solace, privacy, and beauty of God’s creation to really have an intimate time with the LORD. And they were very sobering places to pray because it kicks you in the teeth that all the people there have now stood before the LORD and seen His face when their life here was over (Hebrews 9:27), some now have everlasting life and many went to eternal disgrace. Whoah! Just one bit of advice…..only go during business hours, never go at night.
I am going to practice this daily. Just thinking about it makes my spirit feel so good. Utilizing time to be silent in God's presence. Awesome advice thanks soo much. Praise God
Really good. I go to the beach almost every weekend to spend time with God, and I cry often when I do this. It's a beautiful time for my relationship with Him.
I want to thank the orator in this video. I will use his "minute of retreat" method, as I find it perfect for those times! Can surely think of no better way to spend that time waiting on a light! God bless!
What a generous and reasoned response to these practices. "I want to encourage people watching this to experience both of them (community and time alone with God)." Thank you, Sir. Love the tips for moms and others--to find a place for solitude and silence in your local church. It's precisely where much of my deepening relationship with God began...a children's Sunday School room in a cool, quiet basement on a Monday decades ago. :)
This video has helped me to be intentionally with silence and solitude. I am grateful for the practical application that is expressed through this video as well! 🧡
The Bible commands us to be of "sound mind": "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Tim 1:7) (NKJV). Read God's Word daily, pray & fellowship with Christ followers. Amen
Love your good common sense Biblical teaching. I love being and talking to and include God every day in my life. 🇨🇦 I agree everyone who is truly God’s need to focus and talk to God and thank Him.
Thank you for these thoughts! One additional thought would be to keep the ideas you expounded separate from the teachings of ‘spiritual formation’ in which solitude and silence are used in more of a Buddhist or Hindu way: emptying the mind, repeated one word or short phrase etc... and expecting ‘the divine’ inside you to speak to you. Teachers of this stream of ‘Christianity’ often lead people away from the Lord into new age mystical practices. Please be so careful of aligning with spiritual formation teachings/teachers (who also do ‘retreats’ that end up being Catholic mystics). Let us have our minds washed with the water of the Word, and we will be transformed by their renewal according to the Word by the Spirit.
So true, there is so much talking going on, and there is no silence. I am always turning the tv off, and trying to turn my phone away, so I can relax and worship God, and enjoy silence. My time is in the morning, Bible studying in what my husband and I call the office in our house, that habit of doing this, I guess it has become a discipline.
I love spending time alone with God and less time out in the world. The struggle is the balance in doing Gods will and just spending all the time you can with God. That is my life struggle. You cant spend all your time alone with God and still do his will such as spreading/teaching Gods word. Correct??
I find myself wearing headphones everywhere, wether or not I am listening to music or not. Modern noises are so intrusive it makes me nuts. But I am also finding the need to seek out proper silence and solitude, its scary but something is pulling me towards it.
Everyday I wake up..I've never been one to make plans because I always be ready for God,to do anything He needs me to do. I know that men are supposed to work,the only thing I've wanted to do is me either a missionary or a youth pastor. Not saying I've never worked,but I always try to do or listen to God to do what He wants instead of what I want. You know when I was in middle school they had me take a test to see what I was good at,then ask me what I want to do for the rest of my life..and I could never answer that question,even to this day I still don't know..who am I to God to tell Him what I'm gonna do. To me that would be disrespectful.. and to even think that would make me fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness. You know people talk about faith and to actually put your life in God's hands,most of the time I don't think we really understand what that means..cause when you think about it, it's scary, cause we're so wrapped up in "gotta prove" thing, that we don't let God provide for us,that God will take care of us. I'm 38 and since I was 30 I don't know what it was but something happened where I'm walking more and more by faith and letting God take control. Why worry bout this and that,when birds or any animal never worries,why do we worry bout what we have or don't have,when God puts us above animals. All I'm saying is don't worry bout tomorrow, God will take care of everything.. God's will not ours! Amen! God bless.
I would love to spend hours in my church everyday, however it's always locked when we are not having a service, so I can't just go there when I want. I didn't even know churches stay unlocked anymore, a gift I wish I could have.
Those who live and earn righteously, and worship alone are the ones who experience God fastest. Becusse it is then God gives th His own experience, every experience God gives is unique and depends on His will which no one can predict and no one can set a benchmark mark against. To some God speaks directly , for some He sends His Angel. To se He gives His experience no one can ever think of.
The mind is so accustomed to having one thought after another, that focusing on just one singular thought (example: simply observing your breathing) for 30 seconds straight is almost impossible!
I have always had, thanks to the Providence of God, Who provides for every need, opportunities to be in silence. It is to my great embarrassment and shame that I have frequently attempted to deceive myself and others into believing that I have not.
The word Holy Hour eucharist adoration is on the tip of this man's tongue, I think he intentionally trying to avoid this answer with nonsense most evangelical churches are closed to the public during the week. I learned this from actual experience at multiple churches.
All evangelicals should practice at least silence, if not solitude. It would be better for everyone else, and evangelicals who are silent naturally seem smarter. And they might even become smarter because by being silent they might have more opportunities to listen to smarter people than themselves.
When your wife is fat and you have no testosterone for Big Dreams anyway I guess you can finally practice this after all the mumbo-jumbo about God answering prayer and all this positive crap was obviously just a lark..... but for the rest of us with actual testosterone and hopes and dreams, you'll be like that the rest of your life..... I'm almost 40 years old and I've been praying since I was 5 years old for shit that never came because the church won't help me fast and pray against principalities I guess..... or God just wants us to be eunuch monks, either way I wish the church would make up their mind about what we can actually expect from God because it's very confusing
This is so true. I’ve made a habit of keeping ear plugs with me so that when I want that quiet time with God, I can block out the noise of modern life with silence instead of music. God bless you, sir.
I’m 39. Husband of 18 years with 5 children ranging from 4 to 16 years old. I have to fight for silence. Since watching your video, I will schedule my silent time and be more routine and deliberate! Thank you for your insight and clarity. Amen
Your mind is so clear when you teach a topic sir, God bless you sir. Am so blessed
This is great! I called it "my check out time". I've done solitude and prayer with God since I've been very young.
For 30 years my alone time has been taking my 4 wheel drive truck to a hill in the desert about 10 miles from my house and setting on the tailgate to talk to God as the sun goes down. When I'm out there I find my prayers are mostly praise. At home it's more of a wish list. When I saw this topic I knew I needed to see it and let you know how much my alone time means to me.
'A wise man is known for his few words.' Prov.
As a regional, OTR truckdriver I’m hearing noises 24 hrs a day basically. But, occasionally I’ll turn off the podcasts, radio, etc and just meditate on the Word of GOD, or maybe think on things that I need to improve (or more like surrender to Him most times) in my life. I drove for about 3 hrs straight one day just last week without anything “playing” in my ear. I think would be a great idea to at least spend an hour (or more if possible) each day in silence.
I live alone in the country so in this reguard I'm extremly blessed, and less than 100 feet off a busy highway but I like to fix my breakfast and go to the sunroom and listen to the birds singing. It isn't heated so it isn't an option this time of the year, but spring isn't really that far away.
Thank you for the wisdom sir. I initially recoiled when I saw the video title, because it sounded exactly like the Eastern idea of emptying the mind. But I appreciate your point that we actually have little experience with true silence and solitude in today’s world. This is certainly a goal worthy of pursuit, in order to not empty the mind, but actually contemplate and think about God’s grace and truth even more!
What a joyfull blessing of quiet in this world. Many in this world could not deal with this amount of quiet. When you where talking about your mother and father I was taken back in time instantly. Your mom and dad must be proud of you. Thank you sir for your loving work.
When my husband is gone, I try to live in silence. I’ve found it very beneficial not only in my walk but with knowing what is occurring for safety.
Thank you for a great explanation.
Many years ago I needed a quiet private place to pray during my lunch hour in the middle of my work week. Churches and parks were busy places. I discovered that the local cemetery offered the quietness, solace, privacy, and beauty of God’s creation to really have an intimate time with the LORD. And they were very sobering places to pray because it kicks you in the teeth that all the people there have now stood before the LORD and seen His face when their life here was over (Hebrews 9:27), some now have everlasting life and many went to eternal disgrace. Whoah!
Just one bit of advice…..only go during business hours, never go at night.
I am going to practice this daily. Just thinking about it makes my spirit feel so good. Utilizing time to be silent in God's presence. Awesome advice thanks soo much. Praise God
Really good. I go to the beach almost every weekend to spend time with God, and I cry often when I do this. It's a beautiful time for my relationship with Him.
I appreciate the theologically sound explanation of this.
I am genuinely thankful be to SBTS for sharing this precious information. God bless His serving souls.
I want to thank the orator in this video. I will use his "minute of retreat" method, as I find it perfect for those times! Can surely think of no better way to spend that time waiting on a light! God bless!
What a generous and reasoned response to these practices. "I want to encourage people watching this to experience both of them (community and time alone with God)." Thank you, Sir. Love the tips for moms and others--to find a place for solitude and silence in your local church. It's precisely where much of my deepening relationship with God began...a children's Sunday School room in a cool, quiet basement on a Monday decades ago. :)
This video has helped me to be intentionally with silence and solitude. I am grateful for the practical application that is expressed through this video as well! 🧡
The Bible commands us to be of "sound mind":
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Tim 1:7) (NKJV).
Read God's Word daily, pray & fellowship with Christ followers. Amen
Love your good common sense Biblical teaching. I love being and talking to and include God every day in my life. 🇨🇦 I agree everyone who is truly God’s need to focus and talk to God and thank Him.
Thank you for these thoughts! One additional thought would be to keep the ideas you expounded separate from the teachings of ‘spiritual formation’ in which solitude and silence are used in more of a Buddhist or Hindu way: emptying the mind, repeated one word or short phrase etc... and expecting ‘the divine’ inside you to speak to you. Teachers of this stream of ‘Christianity’ often lead people away from the Lord into new age mystical practices. Please be so careful of aligning with spiritual formation teachings/teachers (who also do ‘retreats’ that end up being Catholic mystics).
Let us have our minds washed with the water of the Word, and we will be transformed by their renewal according to the Word by the Spirit.
So true, there is so much talking going on, and there is no silence. I am always turning the tv off, and trying to turn my phone away, so I can relax and worship God, and enjoy silence. My time is in the morning, Bible studying in what my husband and I call the office in our house, that habit of doing this, I guess it has become a discipline.
I love spending time alone with God and less time out in the world. The struggle is the balance in doing Gods will and just spending all the time you can with God. That is my life struggle. You cant spend all your time alone with God and still do his will such as spreading/teaching Gods word. Correct??
Civilisation and it's disadvantages ...May God help us
I find myself wearing headphones everywhere, wether or not I am listening to music or not. Modern noises are so intrusive it makes me nuts. But I am also finding the need to seek out proper silence and solitude, its scary but something is pulling me towards it.
5:26
Thanks for advising me.
This was very practical. It made me feel like it actually is possible to have alone time with God.
So fitting for this very moment for me. Blessings to you.
Everyday I wake up..I've never been one to make plans because I always be ready for God,to do anything He needs me to do. I know that men are supposed to work,the only thing I've wanted to do is me either a missionary or a youth pastor. Not saying I've never worked,but I always try to do or listen to God to do what He wants instead of what I want. You know when I was in middle school they had me take a test to see what I was good at,then ask me what I want to do for the rest of my life..and I could never answer that question,even to this day I still don't know..who am I to God to tell Him what I'm gonna do. To me that would be disrespectful.. and to even think that would make me fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness. You know people talk about faith and to actually put your life in God's hands,most of the time I don't think we really understand what that means..cause when you think about it, it's scary, cause we're so wrapped up in "gotta prove" thing, that we don't let God provide for us,that God will take care of us. I'm 38 and since I was 30 I don't know what it was but something happened where I'm walking more and more by faith and letting God take control. Why worry bout this and that,when birds or any animal never worries,why do we worry bout what we have or don't have,when God puts us above animals. All I'm saying is don't worry bout tomorrow, God will take care of everything.. God's will not ours! Amen! God bless.
Exactly, you dont even need to be religious to understand that to go deep inside you only silence can achieve this
I am somewhat envious of that generation and time of relative silence, it’s hard to imagine life being mostly silent compared to now.
I would love to spend hours in my church everyday, however it's always locked when we are not having a service, so I can't just go there when I want. I didn't even know churches stay unlocked anymore, a gift I wish I could have.
Those who live and earn righteously, and worship alone are the ones who experience God fastest.
Becusse it is then God gives th His own experience, every experience God gives is unique and depends on His will which no one can predict and no one can set a benchmark mark against.
To some God speaks directly , for some He sends His Angel.
To se He gives His experience no one can ever think of.
wooow, i love the church building idea. will adopt that. God bless you
The mind is so accustomed to having one thought after another, that focusing on just one singular thought (example: simply observing your breathing) for 30 seconds straight is almost impossible!
Actually you can "not think". It's called meditation and I've done it before. It's very difficult to do it but like anything else it takes practice.
Thank You Will i am
Thank you sir. God bless you 🙏
I have always had, thanks to the Providence of God, Who provides for every need, opportunities to be in silence. It is to my great embarrassment and shame that I have frequently attempted to deceive myself and others into believing that I have not.
Amen
Great teaching. Great suit!
God Bless You and thank you!!!🙏😇
Thanks, i been ministered.
I like his tie
Am so blessed
I talk because I have no interest in silence.
The word Holy Hour eucharist adoration is on the tip of this man's tongue,
I think he intentionally trying to avoid this answer with nonsense most evangelical churches are closed to the public during the week. I learned this from actual experience at multiple churches.
Amen!!!
From the video: 'You can't not think.' Phillipians 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.'
Biblical meditation is not biblical meditation is absolutely NOT not thinking. It is meditating On Gods Word
Is it God’s will that is manifested in a secular society?
What about going it alone, just me a Jesus. not going to church/fellowship. the Longwolf approach.
🌎🇺🇲🇮🇱🗣️YAH
Hallelujah Yahweh
Shalom Amen
🙏😇☔🕊️🕯️✝️🛐🙇♂️
All evangelicals should practice at least silence, if not solitude. It would be better for everyone else, and evangelicals who are silent naturally seem smarter. And they might even become smarter because by being silent they might have more opportunities to listen to smarter people than themselves.
Get out to the woods of god!
Make sure to capitalize the G in God.
The Christian life must have the balance of aloneness in fellowship with God and fellowship with God’s people
When your wife is fat and you have no testosterone for Big Dreams anyway I guess you can finally practice this after all the mumbo-jumbo about God answering prayer and all this positive crap was obviously just a lark..... but for the rest of us with actual testosterone and hopes and dreams, you'll be like that the rest of your life..... I'm almost 40 years old and I've been praying since I was 5 years old for shit that never came because the church won't help me fast and pray against principalities I guess..... or God just wants us to be eunuch monks, either way I wish the church would make up their mind about what we can actually expect from God because it's very confusing