I just had the privilege of sharing a
few minutes ago at the Revival Conference here
in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and I mentioned in
that sermon a friend of mine, his name
is Ian Dunn.
He's a pastor up in Ontario, and he
hears incredibly well from God, incredibly accurate.
And so the question about how we can
develop our intimacy with God and our prayer
life with God, I asked Ian last summer,
Ian, how is it that you hear so
well from God?
And his answer caught me off guard a
little bit.
He said that he hears most often from
God during his private worship times.
Corporate worship is very important.
I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be corporate
worship.
But he was telling me that during his
times of private worship, where he just puts
on some quiet worship music, and he's singing
and adoring on God and thanking God and
expressing his worship to God, it's in that
context that he hears best from God.
And so times of private worship really help
our prayer life.
Of course, issues of fasting, which is a
lost practice in many, many churches and amongst
many Christians.
The Bible doesn't say if you fast, it
says when you fast, and so the Bible
assumes that we're going to be fasting.
Quietness is another thing.
God typically doesn't shout.
He can, there's times in the Bible where
it says the voice of God sounded like
thunder, but most of the time, it's that
still, small voice, and we don't have nearly
enough quiet in our lives.
I was listening not too long ago to
a radio broadcast, a secular one, and they
were interviewing a poet, and they were asking
the poet why poetry is not being written
very much anymore.
And the person said, the reason poetry is
not being written very much anymore is because
people are not walking.
We drive, and we get in the car,
we turn on our music and podcasts and
things of that nature, and it's slam bang,
and we're going to where we're going.
But when we walk, there's much more time
for quietness and reflection.
That not only affects poetry, but it also
affects our ability to hear from God.
And I'd also add to that simplicity.
Our lives are way too busy.
It's not just noisiness, but busyness.
And the more clutter that there is in
our lives, the more that that drowns out
the voice of God.
So, I would say if people want to
improve their prayer life, increasing their private times
of worship, fasting, quietness, and adding simplicity would
also be helpful.