Be Still and Know More

Stillness before God is not inactivity; it is the intentional quieting of the heart so that we can recognise His voice, wisdom, presence, and direction. Drawing from Psalm 46:10, Habakkuk 2:1, Isaiah 30:15, and Exodus 14:13–14, this message explores how waiting on God can produce discernment, maturity, deliverance, and the ability to see what He is already doing.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

It is a spiritual position that allows us to recognize what anxiety and constant activity may have prevented us from seeing. When we become still before the Lord, we become more attentive to his voice, his wisdom, his presence, and his work. Good morning and welcome to this expression of igniting your day. Yesterday evening, the Lord showed me someone who practiced stillness. As this person became still, he became more knowledgeable. He gained a clearer understanding of matters concerning his life. He understood more about how to conduct himself and he gained greater awareness of situations in which he was involved. What I saw was simple but spiritually significant. Stillness led to greater knowledge. The revelation remained with me. Before going to bed, I began to search the scriptures and trust the Lord for further understanding. Let's begin this way. What is stillness? Stillness is the intentional quieting of the heart and mind before God. As human beings, our minds are naturally active. Thoughts, possibilities, worries, suggestions, and competing voices continually arise within us. Stillness is the deliberate decision to quiet those internal movements so that we can become more attentive and responsive to God's presence, voice, wisdom, and direction. When you become still, you intentionally quiet your mind and settle your heart before the Lord. You make yourself available to recognize his leading. Stillness may take different forms in different situations. For someone, stillness may mean ceasing to strive. You may have struggled for a long time to make something happen, or to make something happen, rather. You have tried every actionable option, but perhaps the Lord is inviting you to pause and say, Lord, may I hear you again concerning this matter? For another person, stillness may mean intentional listening. Lord, I want to listen carefully for your voice in this situation. Stillness may also mean patient waiting. You may have become anxious or agitated about something you are expecting. Stillness means refusing to allow unrest to govern your heart while you wait upon the Lord. For someone else, stillness may involve fasting, setting aside a time to seek the face of God concerning a particular matter. Whatever form it takes, the revelation is this someone practiced stillness and at the end of that exercise knew more than he did at the beginning. Perhaps you have chosen to fast today. Perhaps you have decided to wait on the Lord this week concerning a particular matter. Perhaps you have dedicated this month to seeking God's direction about something important. The Lord's invitation appears to be this if you will wait, you will know more. If you will seek me, you will know more. If you choose to be still, you will gain a greater understanding of that situation. If you choose to listen actively, wait patiently, cease striving, and seek the Lord, you will know more than you presently know. You may have entered the season of waiting without complete understanding, but you will not leave it with the same level of awareness. Therefore, we declare this morning that as you wait upon the Lord, you will know more. As you quiet your heart before Him, you will receive greater clarity. As you separate yourself to listen, you will recognize what you could not recognize before. As a child that is winged of his mother, my soul is evil as a wind child. The picture of a winged child points towards maturity. The child is no longer governed by the same demands and dependencies that characterized an earlier stage of development. This means stillness can produce maturity. In the revelation, I saw a couple, a husband and a wife, suddenly realizing that they had not been taking certain matters seriously. They had made decisions and engaged in activities together, perhaps believing that their actions would mainly affect other people, but they came to understand that they had actually been making a mockery of themselves. Through stillness, they experienced an awakening. They recognized that their previous positions and convictions could no longer stand. Their time of waiting upon the Lord produced maturity, and that maturity enabled them to see how unserious they had been. This is important because some things are tolerated only while we remain spiritually immature. When maturity comes, we recognize that certain attitudes, habits, positions, and practices no longer belong in our lives. Stillness can bring seriousness into a relationship. Stillness can cause a husband and wife to recognize where they have been careless. Stillness can awaken two people preparing for marriage to the weight of the commitment before them. Stillness can show us that certain behaviors do not agree with our present level of responsibility or our position in God. Can you just pray for any relationship around you this morning? Lord Jesus, we pray concerning every couple around us. Whether they are already married or preparing for marriage, as they wait upon you, let seriousness enter their relationships. Let there be an awakening beyond what they have imagined. As they quiet their hearts before you, expose immaturity and produce growth. Help them recognize attitudes and practices that do not honor you or strengthen their relationships. Let waiting upon you produce greater knowledge, deeper understanding, and spiritual maturity in Jesus' name. Amen. Dear friends, as you quiet your soul in this season, may you experience spiritual winning. Yes, may the Lord separate you from habits and practices that belong to an earlier stage of your development. Some actions were possible only because you were immature, easily influenced, easily provoked, or unable to perceive their consequences. But as you wait upon the Lord, may you grow beyond them. You may be weaned from a habit. You may be weaned from a destructive reaction. You may be weaned from an unhealthy pattern in your relationships. You may be weaned from practices that do not agree with your present rank and responsibility in the Lord. This is not about a person's age, nor it is about how long a couple has been married. No, people can remain immature in patterns for many years, but as they wait on the Lord, a spiritual winning can occur. Stillness produces awareness, stillness produces maturity, stillness leads to discernment. Psalm 46, verse 10 says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Perhaps you have misinterpreted God's involvement in your situation. Perhaps you have not been able to recognize that God is present with you in what you are facing. Certain things may be happening around you that appear negative, confusing, or even threatening. Yet you may not realize that God is working through the situation and causing all things to serve his purpose in your life. The instruction is be still and know that he is God. Stillness gives the opportunity to recognize God in circumstances where fear, pain, and confusion have obscured our vision. As you wait upon him, may you find God in that situation. As you choose to become still, may you recognize his presence in that circumstance. As you quiet your heart, may you see that he has not abandoned you. Yes, why don't you say this after me? Lord, as I wait upon you, help me to recognize you in this situation. Let me see your presence. Let me see your wisdom. Let me see your activity where I previously saw only confusion. Perhaps, friends, the situation you are facing calls for stillness, but you have not yet been able to choose it. The situation may require you to cease striving. It may require you to listen actively. But you have struggled to make that decision. Notice the deliberate decision in the verse. I will stand upon my watch. The prophet did not drift into attentiveness. He chose his position. He set himself apart to watch, listen, and receive correction. Perhaps this is the encouragement you need to make the decision. Decide that you will stand upon your watch. Decide that you will cease striving. Decide that you will listen actively. Decide that you will wait patiently. Decide that you will take time to fast and seek the Lord concerning that situation. Who knows how long God has been trying to gain your attention? Make the decision today. I will stand upon my watch. I will wait to hear what the Lord will say to me. When you are ready to listen, your father is willing to speak. Stillness can also lead to deliverance. For someone, the decision to become still before the Lord will go beyond increased knowledge and discernment. It will lead to deliverance. Stillness can starve certain triggers within you. Some reactions remain alive because they are continually fed. Certain environments, thought patterns, conversations, appetites, and emotional responses repeatedly activate them. But as you withdraw from those influences and become still before God, those triggers are no longer receiving their usual nourishment. As a result, things that should not remain alive within you begin to die naturally. A habit may lose its strength. A destructive practice may no longer have the same attraction. A reaction that once controlled you may begin to weaken. Something that does not glorify God may lose its hold over your life simply because you have chosen to become still before Him. Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15 says, For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. There is a salvation in returning and resting. There is strength in quietness and confidence. Therefore, declare this morning, I am saved from that habit. I am delivered from that destructive pattern. I receive strength through quietness and confidence in God. As I return to the Lord and rest in Him, the things that once controlled me lose their power in the name of Jesus. My dear friends, God may already be working in your favor. He may already be arranging circumstances on your behalf. He may already be honoring you and opening a way for you. But you may need to become still in order to recognize what he is doing. Exodus chapter 14, verse 13 to 14 says, And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. The emphasis here is clear. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord may already be present, but until you stand still, you may not recognize it. God may have prepared a door for you, but constant movement may prevent you from seeing it. God may have already made provision for you, but anxiety may prevent you from recognizing it. God may have raised people to support you, but striving may prevent you from identifying them. God may have established a channel of blessing for your life, but until you become still, you may not perceive it. Stillness does not create God's salvation. Stillness enables you to see what God is already doing. Why don't you declare this morning concerning that matter before you, that as you choose to become still, you see the salvation of the Lord. In this situation, I see the salvation of the Lord. In my family, I see the salvation of the Lord. In the lives of my children, I see the salvation of the Lord. In the lives of everyone around me, I see the salvation of the Lord. In the life of my son, in the life of my daughter, I see the salvation of the Lord. I will not allow fear, anxiety, or striving to prevent me from recognizing the word of God. I will stand still and I will see. Hallelujah. Dear friends, that will be all for this morning. I'd like to encourage you. Maybe you have been having nudges in your spirit to take out time to fast, to take our time to actively listen to the Lord. Let this be an encouragement to you this morning. Do it, and I pray for you, you will no more. You will be delivered in the name of Jesus. Till I come your way again. God bless you.