Be Still and Know

Prayer is so fruitful. If we did nothing else today, this time would not be wasted. Spending the first hour of the day in prayer gave us such an insight into God's way of doing things.

Being still is not as easy as it looks. But it is vital if we are to fulfil what he has called us to do. The reality of the situation for AfriCom is that we do not have regular provision for our basic needs, let alone the projects we feel called to do. With such a reality, it's easy to get drawn into plans, projects and strategies.

As we prayed as a team this morning, rather than answering our need for provision, God told us to be still and know that I am your God. The passages of scripture we received from our time of prayer all confirmed this message. When we brought God our needs, we felt guided to Matthew 6:31-32 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’, For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

So, rather than having a clear answer as to where the money for our ministry will come from, we had a sense of assurance that we just need to trust him. As we continued to pray, we felt led to openly confess our lack of trust and fear of failure that had crept in and was distracting us from the original calling.

What we know is that we need to have that stillness that only comes from being under the assurance of God and therefore trusting him enough to not fear about provision or needs.

Pastor Victor, one of the many gifted teachers at our church, gave a message on Sunday about setting our eyes on the eternal goal and not on our earthly needs. This fits our situation so well. If we trust God totally for our current needs (and thereby not let it consume us) and instead work towards the eternal, we will not panic when things fall apart around us.

Being still, as my colleague, Susana reminded us, is not about being passive. It's about that preparation that God is calling us to, to anticipate the move of God in our lives and to seek him first. Once again it falls back to the two commandments that Jesus taught us: firstly Love God, then Love others. So by praying for provision means that we are abandoning the core calling that God has placed on our lives. His command is to Love Him first, then Love others. Our needs don't even come into the picture. And they don't need to, because he's already told us not to worry about that, that's already sorted!