Phil, I think this is a beautiful description of contemplative prayer, which 
is something that has been practiced among Christians for centuries. 
Unfortunately, it has often gotten lost in our busy noisy culture, or in our 
preference for vocal prayers.  But yes, learning to sit quietly in God's 
presence and just let go of our noisy thoughts and let them pass until it's 
just us and God is a wonderful experience.  The way I heard it explained is 
that our thoughts are like boats that are going by, and we're tempted to 
want to jump on a passing thought-boat and go with it.  But if we just let 
the thought-boat go on by, we'll learn how to be in God's presence.  Alas, 
it's easier said than done, but well worth the doing.  <smile>

Peggy
http://kernsac.livejournal.com/
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 12:44 PM
Subject: Be Still and Know


> Rhonda,
>
> Being still has always been difficult for me.  It takes some practice.
> Learning how to focus and be still so you can hear God always begins with
> noise, that is, outside noise.  That includes everything you mentioned in
> your message.  I learned 27 years ago how to do this.  At first, 
> everything
> is clamoring for attention the second you sit down to be still.  Screaming
> is often more like it.  The first time I did this, I almost freaked out 
> when
> all the noise and clamor slammed into my brain.  I told the Lord that I
> would never be able to do what He was asking me to do.  He told me to 
> wait.
> I did.  About 15 minutes later, as I identified the noises individually 
> and
> let them fall away, or drift away, things became very quiet for the first
> time in my life.  I was on my knees and knealing in front of a chair I
> always used when praying but most of the time I sit in a comfortable chair
> now.  God is just on the other side of the noise.  Some noise is pretty
> threatening, too, like "You are sick and going to die," or, "Your mate has
> cancer and is going to die," or old memories try and surface to condemn 
> you
> and your relationship with God.  Let them come and don't focus on any of
> them; just sit there.  Practicing this more than once will eventually 
> allow
> you to go into a prayerful mode, sort of speak, almost immediately, and
> frankly, at any time or any place, and the second you do, the noise and
> racket bounces off and away almost immediately and suddenly, there is God.
> No, this is in no way eastern meditation techniques.  I don't focus on God
> or a flame of a candle or hum ohm to myself or try and create images.  I
> don't picture myself on the surface of a plasid pond or lake or ocean and
> slowly sinking to the bottom.  I don't picture myself slowly levitating 
> into
> the sky to drift aimlessly among the clouds and eventually into and among
> the stars.  I don't picture myself in my favorite childhood memory 
> playing,
> riding my bike, running with my little dog, or strolling through the woods
> on a gentle path.  I could, and I have when I didn't know any better, but 
> I
> don't.  In fact, if such happens, I immediately mentally defocus away from
> them.  I've study eastern religions and practiced, years ago, 
> Transcendental
> Meditation, and other eastern new age forms of meditation, and became 
> quite
> good at it.  In fact, I became good enough that I know now I could have
> easily had and out of body experience, or O B E for short, or what is now
> commonly called astral projection.  What I am describing is nothing like
> that.  If any image, or unholy thought, attempts coming to mind as I sit 
> and
> wait on the Lord, I let my mind immediately go to any of my favorite Bible
> verses.  When I let myself unfocus for a second from that verse, I know if
> what I was seeing or hearing is gone.  If it isn't, I return to the verse.
> If it is gone, I let myself return to just thinking and that's all this 
> is.
> Biblical, or Scriptural, meditation is seeking God and to do that, we must
> be still and wait on Him.  As I said, I have learned, in recent years, how
> to allow this to occur on the fly, sort of speak, and it is a definite
> advantage to be able to instantly recognize the voice of the Lord over 
> that
> of any other voice because we have lots of voices trying to get our
> attention.  So what happens after you cross this noise barrier of every 
> day
> life events and circumstances?  Good question.  You hear God.  I know this
> is going to get me in trouble.  I reached a point in my prayer life, 27
> years ago, when praying in this manner, that I eventually remained on my
> knees and totally silent and almost motionless for 30 minutes as I 
> listened.
> I did it daily for several weeks, maybe months, until I knew God and where
> He was.  He is inside of us and His name is The Holy Spirit.  What I
> discovered was that everything faded quietly into the background.  No, not
> disappeared all together and no, my mind didn't become empty.  I 
> discovered
> that the only two people who were talking in my thoughts were the Holy
> Spirit and me without all the worldly interference.  Don't try this at all
> if you are really upset because sometimes we are really upset naturally,
> that is, our emotions are responding normally to present circumstances, 
> and
> since the Lord gave us those emotions, and He has them Himself, He isn't
> expecting us to go into a trance and become devoid of all thought and
> emotion.  Besides, that alone is dangerous, spiritually speaking, in the
> first place.  This is especially true if you haven't ever heard God's 
> voice
> in your thoughts clearly in the first place.  So, now that everybody 
> thinks
> I am New Age and involved in the eastern art of meditation, I'll stop.
>
> Phil.
>
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