Where do you go to find God and experience His peace? Do you have a prayer altar, an escape room, a walking path, or a quiet place where you have uninterrupted time alone with God? As I was journeying through Scripture this morning, I noticed in the Old Testament how people who followed and obeyed God built altars where they encountered God. Then I noticed that in the New Testament, altar building seemed to be replaced with teaching and storytelling.
When was the last time you had a deep, life-changing encounter with God? Have you become too busy and preoccupied to even look for God? Do you have times each day when you stop and turn off all of the noises and distractions and conversations in your head when you just listen and be still? Do you use your God-given senses to connect you and to become grounded with your Creator? Becoming more aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout your day can become a habit that is hard to break. Once you begin to stop the forms of hurry in your life and to listen for the voice of God speaking, you will begin to hear what you haven’t been hearing. Go ahead and try it.
Oftentimes we set the pace and rhythms of life and become too busy for God and for one another. When God and people talk to us, we don’t really hear them. How many times will you talk with someone who doesn’t really listen to you? I know that we tune out people who talk too much. I know that we stop expecting people to confide in us when they process everything internally. I know it’s hard to listen to people who have hurt us, especially if we haven’t forgiven them. Sometimes the hardest person to listen to is ourselves because of the messages that we’ve given ourselves and how we’ve neglected or hurt ourselves and others.
If my words cut to the heart of your experience, I hope that you won’t tune them out. I believe the Holy Spirit inspires me to write because He longs for a deeper connection with you. God wants to slow you down, capture your attention, and lovingly speak His truth where you need it most. He wants to bring His help and healing and tenderhearted kindness to the places where you are experiencing pain and problems. I believe that God wants to speak and breathe new life into your life.
Then I hear the invitation to come (Matthew 11:28-30) to Me with all of your stuff and find rest for your soul. I hear the gentle and tender voice of Jesus inviting me to slip away. Come, let’s spend some time together. I want to give you My personal attention, My listening ears, My love, My wisdom, and My peaceful presence. Jesus is inviting us into the holy sanctuary of our heart—His favorite resting place. He offers unhurried and unpressured conversations. He knows everything that we’ve been through. He knows exactly how we are feeling and what we’ve been thinking. He knows what’s going on and what will happen next.
Although it can be helpful to develop rhythms where you develop times and places to be alone with God, you don’t have to stop everything you’re doing to experience sanctuary with God. The Holy Spirit lives and breathes through you. God miraculously causes your brain and body to work in ways that you can be operating a car, a kitchen appliance, a power tool, a computer, or a lawn mower and have conversations with God in motion. You can ask God to capture and keep your attention, and He will. The more intentional you become with practicing the presence of God, the more you will become aware of God’s Spirit breathing in and through you. With prayerful and Christ-honoring intent, the Spirit of the living God will capture your attention and lead your life in ways that you’ve never imagined are possible. You can become a mobile Spirit-driven sanctuary.
You don’t have to get to the next stage of life. You don’t have to buy or accomplish or finish something first. You can just invite the Holy Spirit into your everyday encounters and ask Him to give you a growing awareness of His presence, His power, His love, and His peace. You can learn to reflex to God when you are anxious or worried or tempted to say or to do the wrong things. You can turn to God when you have decisions to make. You can turn to God when your boss or your family members are driving you crazy. You don’t have to live in a self-perpetuating prison from your past or in your head. You can be still and know that God is with you and that He loves you. We’re all in this ever-changing process called life, so why not enjoy our moments together with God, with ourselves, and with the people around us?
Lord, prepare me, to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true.
And with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living, sanctuary, for you.
(prayer song written by Randy Scruggs & John W. Thompson)