Session 5: Silence, Stillness, Solitude and Divine Guidance

The monastic approach teaches us to pay attention to what is happening on the inside.

It is our inner life that shapes and dictates our outer life, so if we begin to change our inner life, our outer

behavior will naturally begin to change. The practice of Jesus Christ models a practice of silence

and solitude. Solitude is the practice of quiet within, while silence is external quiet.

The Practice of Silence, Stillness, and Solitude:

Psalms 46:10 NKJV - Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will

be exalted in the earth!

 Divine guidance comes when we’re still.

 If we’re never still, we’ll never experience the knowing that this Scripture speaks to.

Isaiah 40:28-31 NKJV - 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God,

the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is

unsearchable. 29  He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases

strength. 30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31  but

those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like

eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

 You’ll never know if you don’t hear, and you can’t hear if you’re always talking, noisy,

and busy.

 We’re not good at waiting because we often think waiting is a waste of time.

 Waiting on the Lord isn’t a waste of time, but a necessary method and practice.

 How you wait is important. How you wait depends on who you’re waiting for and the

value you believe the person you’re waiting for has. We are waiting on the Lord of the

universe.

 Silence, solitude, and divine guidance involve your time. We need to be time managers

and masters of our schedules. We need to move away from multitasking and always

thinking of several things at once.

Isaiah 64:4 NKJV - For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by

the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.

 God acts for the one who waits for him. As we wait on Him, we allow Him to be involved

in every area of our lives

 We should not be people who are driven, but people who are led. The devil drives and

God leads. God leads sovereignly, supernaturally, and in a divine way when we practice

stillness, silence, and solitude.