HOW TO BE STILL AND LEAN ON GOD

Recently the Lord has been highlighting Psalm 46:10 to me a lot. Now you may wonder how I knew it was God or how I knew He was highlighting the verse. First, you need to realize that God is always speaking. He wants to speak to you because you are His child and He loves you. Second, for you to hear God’s voice, you have to know His voice. After all, you can only discern when someone is speaking if you have a relationship with them. Especially in a crowd. Now, in this case, the crowd could be external voices, your flesh, and the enemy. These voices can sometimes be louder than God’s voice. And it can be easy for you to miss the still, small voice that is God.

This, however, is not the only way that God speaks. God will also speak in other ways, like repetition, dreams, vision, or prophetic words. The bottom line is that God speaks to us. Anyway, in my case, I knew God was speaking to me through repetition. And sometimes it would be the said scripture. And other times it would be the numbers. So maybe I would look at the clock and it would be 10:46. And immediately Psalm 46:10 would pop up in my mind. Or I would listen to a song and the phrase be still would be mentioned. Sometimes it would be during my bible study time that the devotion for the day would highlight the same thing. It got so clear that God was speaking to me and wanted me to be still.

Now I will not lie to you. Although I knew what being still was, I had a really hard time being still. So today as I was watching a YouTube video on a couple talking about their miracle and how God answered their prayer. The couple talked about how God asked them to be still and let go of the striving for His glory and power to manifest. As they were telling us their story, they clarified they received their miracle the minute they stopped trying and striving. And actually, fully let go and surrendered it all to God. 

And this got me thinking, what does being still look like? On one hand, you don’t want to be lazy and use the phrase waiting on God to prevent you from doing what is required of you. But on the other hand, you want to exercise stillness. So how can you be still and actively wait? And as I was thinking about it, I knew God was talking to me about surrendering and trusting. 

For you to be still, you need to get to the point where you trust God fully. And have the faith that you are in the right hands. Being still is moving as God leads. It does not mean you not doing anything, although sometimes it could. But being still requires you to trust the who and not the how, when, or what. It simply means that you will not rely on your strength. God has a habit of using unorthodox ways to bring about miracles. The world might give you specific formulae for success. And then boom, God interrupts the steps and gives you a whole new blueprint.

So then how do you know when God is telling you to be still?

The biggest sign that God is asking you to be still and know that He is God is when you see little to no fruit after trying to do it in your strength.

•  When your effort fails, although you did what was required of you, then God is asking you to be still. 
• When you get to the end of yourself, God is asking you to be still. Remember, He says that it is in your weakness that His strength comes to play. Have you gotten to the end of yourself? Have you tried everything and have seen no fruit? God is asking you to be still and trust Him. You can tell when you have given your all to something and not seen any fruit. There is a level of frustration and weariness that comes when you get to the end of yourself. If you are in such a place, I want you to know that you are the right candidate for God to show out. 
• When what others have done does not yield the same results in your life, it is a sign that God wants you to be still. 

Anyway, let’s look at how then you can be still.

The first thing you need to do is gain clarity.

You must be sure that God is asking you to be still. You don’t want to do something that God has not asked you to do because it will not yield any fruit. God will only bless what He ordains. If He has told you to be still, then your being still will yield results. In the Bible, we see God giving the Israelites different strategies to defeat the enemy. In one instance, HE asked them to be still and watch Him fight for them. But other times they had to do the fighting themselves.

Therefore, you need to be very sure that it is God who is asking you to be still and rest. If you are not sure if God is asking you to, then ASK Him. God promises that when you ask, He will answer and then show you great and mighty things that you do not know of. So ask Him. You don’t have to complicate this step. Just ask God to reveal to you if He is speaking to you and asking you to let go, and exercise stillness. Him being your Heavenly Father means He will not let you wonder what He wants you to do. He will surely reveal it to you. This brings me to my next point, which is. 

Spend time with God.

Being still in God will come when you spend time with God. When God asks you to be still, it will look different. In those seasons and moments when He is asking you to be still, He wants to do something in you. Stillness in God involves healing, wholeness, and deliverance. When God asks you to be still, it is because He wants to give you a strategy on how you will access your miracle. Remember when the Israelites faced a dilemma in Exodus 14? God told them to be still. But then in verse 15, God instructed Moses to part the red sea using his rod.

After that, the Israelites had to cross to the other side. So, although God asked them to be still, He still gave them instructions on how to go about receiving their miracle. You have to Co partner with God for your miracle. That’s why I earlier said that stillness involves actively waiting on God. But for you to get the strategies that you need, spend time with God. This sometimes could be as simple as just being still and silent and allowing Him to speak. You could even play soft worship music in the background as you just sit in silence and allow God to speak to you. Or you could with no hurry read your Bible and meditate on a particular scripture, maybe one that talks about your specific situation. What I mean is to make room for God.

The beauty of God is that He will meet you where you are at. So don’t feel you need some formulae to hear from Him. Just spend time with Him, worshipping Him, and gazing at His fullness. As you do that, you activate your spiritual senses and you gain clarity to hear what He is speaking to you. Stillness requires the silencing of the soul. And the silencing of the soul is found in solitude. So intentionally set time aside to spend with God. Also, God will speak through His word. As you read the Bible, scripture will jump out of the pages and you know God is speaking to you. And discern what He is telling you. 

Ask God what strategy He would have you use.

Joseph’s miracle came through his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream. For David, it was through defeating Goliath. Ruth received her miracle when she went to the field to glean. What I am trying to put across is that, when you ask God, He will give you a strategy that will work for you. Sometimes God could ask you to do what other people have done. Sometimes, however, it could be something that feels stupid yet yields results. You don’t have to go through the same route others have used. God can have you use the back door. After Elijah had prophesied that there would be rain. He asked Ahab to go back to Jezreel because the rain was coming. And Ahab did that. But God had Elijah run and yet he got there before them. When God breathes on a strategy, divine acceleration is birthed.

The seventh time, the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, heavy rain started falling, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab to Jezreel. 1 Kings 18:44-46

This story clearly shows how a God-breathed strategy yields maximum results. 

Following the leading of God requires trust and surrender, which brings me to my next point. 

Trust, surrender, and let go.

When God asks you to be still, He wants you to trust Him. Trusting Him requires you to fully let go and trust His timings and ways. It requires you to recognize that He is the one in control. And that He has the best intentions for your life. The only way trust is established is when you know the person. For you to get to trust God, you need to know His character. His character is found in the Bible. You need to know what God did for others because this will give you the confidence to trust Him.

Knowing that He came through for Abraham by giving him a son old his old age, will help you recognize that time does not limit God. Reading that God remembered Joseph after he had been in prison for many years will help you see God keeps His promises. Seeing Ruth’s story will help you see that God redeems time. All these are just examples of how faithful God is. He always fulfills what He promised. And not only that, He can be trusted. These stories will help ignite your faith and give you the courage to trust Him, even when it makes little sense. 

Surrender your plans, goals, and your limitations to God. Surrender involves you being open to God’s ways. When you surrender to God, you get to where you recognize God might do what you are waiting on differently and that’s okay. It means letting go of your list and how-tos and trusting God’s list and His how-to. Flexibility is very important in your stillness. And obedience is key when God asks you to be still. Let go, rest and trust that God’s got you. You don’t need to figure everything out on your own. You were never meant to do that. God wants to be the one guiding you every step of the way. Will you let go of your plans and your list and allow God to do what He wants to do? Has God been asking you to be still? Comment down below.

Conclusion

When God is asking you to be still, He wants you to trust that He has it all figured out and will never lead you astray. God will never taunt you with something. He will never ask you to let go of He has no intentions of catching you. The reason God is asking you to be still is that He wants you to experience the rest that comes from Him. He wants you to know that He will take care of you. You are more precious than the sparrows, yet He takes care of them. Why wouldn’t He take care of you?

Remember that He paid an exorbitant price to redeem you. And this was through Jesus Christ, His only son. He gave Him up for your sake. So if He could do such a thing, then what’s tormenting you today is such a trivial matter. He wants to ease your pain. But for Him to do that, He is asking you to take a chance ON Him. HE wants to show out through you. So if God is asking you to be still, be still and know that He is God.

Let this scripture show you the why for being still.

God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in time of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need you. So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, moving mountains and casting them into the sea. For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you. Pause in his presence God has a constantly flowing river whose sparkling streams bring joy and delight to his people. His river flows right through the city of God Most High, into his holy dwelling places. God is in the midst of his city, secure and never shaken.

At daybreak his help will be seen with the appearing of the dawn. When the nations are in uproar with their tottering kingdoms, God simply raises his voice and the earth begins to disintegrate before him. Here he comes! The Commander! The mighty Lord of Angel Armies is on our side. The God of Jacob fights for us! Pause in his presence Everyone look! Come and see the breathtaking wonders of our God. For he brings both ruin and revival. He’s the one who makes conflicts end throughout the earth, breaking and burning every weapon of war. Surrender your anxiety!

Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God. I am the God above all the nations, and I will be exalted throughout the whole earth. Here he stands! The Commander! The mighty Lord of Angel Armies is on our side! The God of Jacob fights for us! Pause in his presence
Psalms 46:1‭-‬11 TPT