Time and Place 2

 Where do we feel comfortable with God?

That is where we should have our five minutes of active listening and being still before Him. (If that is a practical possibility.)

How do we talk to God normally?

Do we ever pray while standing still, sitting or kneeling?

Then do the same for the five minutes of listening.

Do we pray at a particular time of day, maybe early in the morning or late at night? Maybe we create a space during our day for prayer.

Add the five minutes of listening to God to that time. 

Some of us are wide awake in the morning, some come alive more in the late hours. 

We have been created in a wonderfully beautiful and unique way, so it is not good to copy someone else just because that prayer time or style suits them. 

Find a time and a place where we can have an uninterrupted five minutes with God.

(If we have small children it is still possible to do, because I have done so in past years when our children were young.)

If we can't possibly see a way that we could spare another five minutes listening to God as extra to the time we are already spending in talking to Him, then I would suggest it could be a great opportunity to gently but firmly prune something else out of our day.

For example....

Is it a hundred percent necessary for us to be daily up to date with a huge number of global news events? (I may be so bold to state at this point that I don't believe our spirits/ minds/ bodies were designed to carry the huge quantity of distressing information available to consume through our big or little screens.)

I now choose very carefully how I receive and process national or global news, otherwise it can leave me feeling overwhelmed and depressed if I can't do anything about it. (Prayer is obviously the one thing we can all do about it, but God has the whole world in His hands. We don't!)

Maybe five minutes less news and five minutes more time with God could be a blessing in other ways too. God could speak to us about the things that are on His heart that He would like us to focus on in prayer or in our lives.

For anyone who has cut news media down or out already, I'm sure five minutes could be pared off social media interactions without any terrible social consequences!

Nothing is insurmountable when God enables us to do it.

That includes these daily five minutes listening to Him. Try doing it and see.