“The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” James 5:16
When that is a struggle the Holy Spirit no fear –
“In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” Romans 8:26
The problem with prayer any more is the noise. The world is so noisy and cluttered with distractions. How can a soul hear God’s ‘still, small voice’ in such a loud world?
A huge step is to remove distractions. Since our move we have no cable TV, we have no home distractions and travel to/from work doesn’t steal time. We find ourselves spending so much more time in His Word, pursuing a closer more intimate relationship with Jesus through His Holy Spirit, focused on spiritual readings, discussion and prayer.
The lies of our world overwhelm His truth through misleading, distraction and anger. Believe it or not, but recent penance for me was no news at all for a period of time. Don’t let the enemy steal your peace with lies of the world. In all news outlets now, one could ask Pilates question, “what is truth?” John 18:38
The next step after removing the noise, distractions and lies the world (the enemy) throws at you is to start listening for and to God. God is ALWAYS speaking, He is a gentleman and will seldom ‘be rude’ and speak over or but in – though sometimes He is known to do that too. So start spending time listening. Start a journal and make notes of what stands out in scripture or prayer – this helps a soul develop an ear for God’s voice. The sheep doesn’t react to a the Shepherd’s voice simply because He speaks. The sheep reacts because it recognizes the voice of its Shepherd and then the last step I’ll mention comes to the sheep obeying the voice – trust.
The sheep knows the Shepherd’s voice and knows the Shepherd means only good for it. The voice calls for protection, feeding and rest. As the soul grows comfortable with this voice of its Shepherd, Faith i. his presence starts to grow. Trust that He is present becomes more than hope but a true fact to rest upon. Even when the storms rage or winds blow, the sheep knows the Shepherd will be there – even if the sheep becomes lost, it knows the Shepherd won’t stop searching for it.
The soul cuts distractions and starts to listen for that ‘still, small voice’ and then hearing it, starts to pay attention to what the voice is saying. And as the soul pays attention it starts to trust because it realizes everything the voice speaks is trust and love and mercy to it. And then the soul finds the peace Jesus promised, a peace unlike anything. The world could offer. And when the soul knows this, it knows God.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27