Spiritual Practices: Solitude

Thank you so much for joining us for worship here today.

You know, during that time of communion, we had a few scriptures.

We had Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22 through 25 on the screens.

And the next verse in that, Lamentations 3, verse 26, says,

It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

And then in the book of Psalms, in the 37th Psalm, in verse 7,

the psalmist David writes,

And I don't know about you, but sometimes I really do struggle just to be still, right?

I struggle to wait patiently for the Lord.

You know, a few years back, I would have never even considered

saying,

sitting quietly and waiting patiently for the Lord is something that I personally needed to do.

See, I thought sitting quietly and waiting patiently for the Lord

was something for people that were more holy than me.

Because I've been incapable of sitting silent since I was a child.

My mom would tell you this.

My teachers would tell you this as well.

When I would be told to sit silently, I have a restless leg.

I'm constantly tapping my foot or I'm tapping my fingers, you know,

or now as an adult, I still tap on the table.

But if I'm in a meeting and I have a pen in my hand,

I'm constantly twirling the pen around my fingers.

I have a hard time sitting silently, sitting still, and just focusing in silence.

But here's what I've discovered.

See, this practice of sitting quietly and waiting on God,

of just being alone with him,

of just being in his presence, it's so vital.

It's so important to our health.

And it's so important to our growth as followers of Jesus Christ.

And solitude is simply defined as the practice of intentionally being alone with God.

And there's tons of books written on this subject.

There's so many books.

There's so much literature on all of these spiritual practices

that we've been studying over the past few weeks.

And I've got to tell you, as I studied for this message,

it was a little overwhelming.

And Friday, I still wasn't settled in what I was going to be speaking today.

So I was walking through the offices.

And normally, I'm not here on Fridays.

Normally, I'm at home.

But I came in Friday so that I could have a little bit of that time of silence.

And I was walking through the offices.

I was going to get a cup of coffee.

And I walked past Matthew Phillip's office.

And Matthew Phillip, he's our global engagement lead.

And he said,

Matthew, I'm going to get a cup of coffee.

And he asked me how my prep was going for this message.

And I told him.

I was honest.

I said, man, I'm a little bit overwhelmed.

I'm overwhelmed by the breadth and the depth of information that there is on this topic.

I said, but I think what excites me is I've been reading these biblical accounts of solitude,

especially in the life of Jesus.

And I said, Matthew, I've been beginning to see these identifiable benefits

to spending time in solitude.

And I listed a few.

And I listed a few of them.

And Matthew got really excited.

And he's sitting at his desk in the back corner of the room.

And he says, oh, he says, Andy, Andy, isn't that just like God?

It's the perfect example of his upside down kingdom.

Now, I got to tell you, Matthew is a little bit older than me.

So that's kind of fun because there's not many people on the staff that are.

But Matthew's one of them.

And Matthew also, he's got this cool way of speaking.

He's got this cool rhythm to his speech.

And he's got this nifty accent.

Everything Matthew says sounds smarter than any thought I could ever have in my life.

I mean, he just sounds so smart.

He sounds so wise when he speaks to me.

And when he said that to me, this is just like God's upside down kingdom.

I was like, I'm sure there's wisdom in that.

But I have no clue what he's talking about.

So I just looked at him.

I'm like, Matthew, man, I hate confessing my stupidity.

But what do you mean?

What do you mean by that?

So Matthew hops down off of his chair.

And it's not a normal chair.

So when I say he hops down, he sits in like a high chair.

He sits in a tall stool.

And he hops down off this tall stool.

And he runs to the front of his office.

And I'm standing in the doorway.

And he runs at me.

And I step back.

And he's like, oh, Andy, Andy.

He's like, here's the thing.

In the world, when we seek power, what we seek is to have as many people as we can follow us and gather around us.

We seek.

We follow as we seek friends.

And the person with the most of those is the most powerful.

And then he turns around and he runs to the back corner of his office.

And he says, but Andy, God works so differently than that.

He says, Andy, God wants you to get away.

He wants you to get quiet.

He wants you to get silent.

And in that silence, that's where you connect with true power.

And I thought, man, Matthew.

I wish you were preaching this weekend because that's good, you know.

But it's so true.

It's so true.

It's when we step outside of the busyness.

It's when we step outside of that noisiness of our day-to-day to spend time alone with God.

That's when we connect with true power.

That's where God gives us direction.

That's where he's, that's the place that we are sent from.

Okay.

Now, doing this, though, like I said a moment ago, it's such a vital.

Spiritual practice.

It's key to our spiritual growth.

All of these spiritual practices we've been studying over the past few weeks are.

They're not just important, though, to pastors, to worship leaders, or to all those other people that serve our church family each week.

See, all these spiritual practices, and this is why we're teaching them from the pulpit in this setting, is they're important to every one of us.

We all need to take these practices in and implement them in our lives and connect with that power.

Connect with the direction.

That our father gives us.

Connect with his love.

Now, a couple years ago, when we launched the roadmap as part of our website, I started to get this idea that I really need to implement some of these rhythms in my life.

Some spiritual practices that I hadn't really consciously tried to apply on a regular basis.

I wasn't successful with this right away.

I think I tried too big.

I wrote down a list of everything I was going to do, and I tried to attack all of these spiritual practices at once.

And that's not.

That's not the way to do this.

Take them one at a time.

Begin to work them into the regular rhythms of your life.

Okay?

Some of them, in order to implement them, I needed to be convinced.

I need a little bit of what they would have called in the military some additional external stimuli.

Right?

And nobody hit me.

But here's the thing.

Phil.

Phil leads this teaching team.

And until I was on this team, I never thought of fasting.

It's a regular practice that I needed to take part of.

I thought of fasting as something kind of like running.

It was something for other people to do.

You know?

Not me.

But I understood that there was power within that practice.

And Phil asked all the members of the teaching team to institute a regular time of fasting in our lives.

He asked us all to do this once a week.

Right?

So with Phil being my pastor, you know, and my boss.

I began to do it.

And now I really do.

I find great value in this practice of fasting.

And as we've gone through each of these different practices, you know, over these past few weeks.

And as we implement them into our lives.

Let me just say that this sermon series is one of the more important that we've taught, I feel.

I feel like if you've missed a week, you need to go back.

You need to catch up.

You know?

Go back.

Go back to the website.

Go into the app.

Go into your Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

You know, it's the Crossroads Christian Church Podcast.

Don't do it right now.

You know?

Focus on what we're doing right here at hand.

But do that.

All right?

And the first week, Phil taught on the practice of Sabbath.

And Sabbath is this taking this time of rest.

Right?

And he talked about how Sabbath can be a container practice.

That we practice some of these other practices.

Other spiritual practices within.

Okay?

And then we've had a few weeks of other messages.

We had prayer.

We had treasuring God's word.

We've had fasting.

And now this week, we have solitude.

And we've taught them in this sequence intentionally.

Because solitude is another one of those container practices.

Solitude is a great place to practice other disciplines of God.

Spiritual disciplines within.

Okay?

Prayer and Bible study would be two of those.

Silence is like an essential one to practice.

Within solitude.

And this practice of solitude is one that we see Jesus exercise several times throughout the Gospels.

Now, last week when Andrew taught on fasting.

He taught from a very famous instance of Jesus practicing solitude.

He taught from Matthew chapter 4.

And that's where Jesus is led into the wilderness.

And the wilderness is a solitary place.

There's no other people.

That's why it's called the wilderness.

Right?

And so Jesus.

He goes out.

And within that practice of solitude.

He uses it as a container for a time of fasting.

And he fasts for 40 days.

That's in Matthew chapter 4 verse 2.

And then during this time in the wilderness, Jesus is tested by Satan.

And at the end of his time.

There's three tests specifically that we see listed there in scripture.

We see it in Matthew chapter 4.

And we see him in Luke chapter 4.

And Satan's first challenge is found in verse 3.

And he says to Jesus.

He says.

If you are the son of God.

He says.

If you're the son of God.

Tell this stone to become bread.

And Jesus answered.

It's written.

Man shall not live on bread alone.

But on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

So Satan attacks Jesus's identity there.

Says.

If you're the son of God.

You can do this.

But Jesus responds with the word.

And he responds with confidence.

The next temptation that Satan hits Jesus with.

Was in verse 5.

So here they go to the highest point of the temple.

And Satan says.

If you're the son of God.

Throw yourself down.

And then he starts to use a little bit of Jesus's thing here.

He says.

Hey for it's written.

He will command his angels concerning you.

And they will lift you up in their hands.

So that you will not strike your foot against the stone.

So here Satan is trying to convince Jesus.

To doubt or to test the loving.

The caring nature of his father.

And Jesus again responds with scripture.

He says.

It is said.

Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

So Jesus had full confidence in the nature of his father.

And then in verse 9.

Satan again.

This time he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.

And he says.

All this I'll give to you.

If you'll just bow down.

And worship me.

And in Luke's account of this temptation.

Satan says these words specifically.

I will give you all their authority.

And splendor.

It has been given to me.

And I can give it to anyone I want to.

If you worship me.

It will all be yours.

And Jesus again responds with scripture.

He says.

It's written.

Worship the Lord your God.

And serve him only.

Jesus knew what was written.

He had full confidence in where he was to place his allegiance.

He knew what God had in store for him.

If we were to skip ahead to the time following his resurrection.

If you're in the book of Matthew.

Chapter 28 verse 18.

Jesus says.

And these are those words we heard a little bit earlier.

All authority.

But he says.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Jesus was confident in his future.

He was confident in his birthright.

Way back in chapter 4.

He was confident in his inheritance.

He knew the reality of his future inheritance.

So far outweighed.

Those false promises.

Made by Satan.

So we see here that coming out of this time of solitude.

Jesus responds with full confidence in three things.

His identity.

His relationship with his father.

His father's nature.

And his birthright.

Or his inheritance.

He was confident in his future.

And I believe that as we study solitude.

Those are three things.

Three benefits that we can find to spending time in solitude.

In solitude we're often reminded of our identity as children of God.

We are often reminded of the nature of God.

Remember when we started the service.

I read that list.

And just a few of those were that God is loving.

He's all powerful.

He's just.

And then also we're reminded of our inheritance.

And our inheritance in this kingdom.

Right now we have a down payment.

That's the Holy Spirit that's inside each one of us.

But our eventual inheritance is to spend eternity in the presence of God.

We can be confident in that.

In Mark chapter 1 verse 35.

It describes another time that Jesus practiced solitude.

It says very early in the morning.

While it was still dark.

Jesus got up.

He left the house.

And he went off to a solitary place where he prayed.

So here we see Jesus again.

Go off for a time of solitude.

This time inside that container of solitude he's placing prayer.

This is another one of the spiritual practices we talked over the past few weeks.

But this time when he finishes his disciples find him.

And his disciples encourage him to go back to the crowds it says.

And that just makes sense to them.

Because what are the crowds?

The crowds are where you exercise your power.

Right?

The crowds are where we gain power.

But Jesus having just spent time in solitude.

Responds in this way in verse 38.

He says.

Now let's go somewhere else.

To the nearby villages.

So I can preach there also.

That is why I have come.

So this time we see that Jesus comes away from this time of solitude.

And this time he's got a distinct sense of purpose.

That's another one of those benefits to practicing solitude.

And then related to this.

In Luke chapter 6 verse 12.

In the verses.

Proceeding this in Luke chapter 6.

Jesus has declared himself Lord of the Sabbath.

And then on a subsequent Sabbath.

There was a man with a shriveled hand.

The leader sat by to see if Jesus would heal him.

Jesus heals him.

He does this on the Sabbath.

So now the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders.

Start to plot against Jesus.

And in verse 12 we read this.

It says.

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray.

And he spent the night praying to God.

When morning came.

He called his disciples to him.

And chose 12.

12 of them.

Whom he also designated apostles.

So here we see in this time of testing.

Jesus goes off to get alone into solitude.

And he makes a very important decision.

He receives direction.

So this time we see that Jesus comes out of this time of solitude.

With a solid direction.

That's the next one of these points.

I should point this direction.

Now.

These are just a few of the benefits though.

That would be found by following Jesus.

And instituting this regular time of solitude.

In our lives.

So now you might ask.

What happens within that practice of solitude?

We've seen the outcome.

So what happens within that practice of solitude?

Well.

As I've studied over the past few weeks.

And I've prepared for this message.

I've realized that what happens in this time of solitude.

Is very similar.

To what happens.

During halftime at a football game.

Now.

Don't turn off or turn away.

Because here's the thing.

If you know me at all.

And you can look.

At me and see this.

You know I am not an athlete.

Right.

I am no expert.

On the game of football.

It's just.

That's not the case.

I don't know the difference between a nickel and a dime defense.

I don't know the difference between a cornerback and a safety.

I had to Google all of those terms.

Okay.

So.

So don't think I'm going to give you like some deep instruction on the game of football.

The part of the game that I'm interested in.

Is halftime.

All right.

And that's honestly.

When you watch a Super Bowl.

That's the part.

That a lot of people.

A lot of people watch.

Right.

So.

My lack of understanding of this game.

And my appreciation for halftime.

Comes from high school.

So.

That's when I was introduced to the game of football.

I didn't know anything about it.

But then when I get to high school.

I have to attend every single game.

Because.

Not.

Not that I'm a player.

Instead.

I was in the marching band.

Right.

So.

And this is like.

So far.

Before being in the marching band was cool.

All right.

So.

So this is.

This is.

Well before that.

So.

Every weekend.

Every Saturday.

Or every Friday night.

Depending on when the game was scheduled.

I sat there through that game.

And just waited for halftime.

Halftime came.

It was our time to put on a show.

Right.

We got out there.

Me.

My little 98 pound self at the time.

Slamming on that base drum.

With everything I had.

Trying to keep those beats.

As we marched across the field.

Trying to keep count of my steps.

So carefully.

I lost track once.

And the kid in front of me.

Picked me up.

And threw me.

Like that's how small.

I was.

Right.

I carried the biggest drum.

But I was the smallest kid.

I'm not lying.

When I say I weighed 98 pounds.

As a freshman in high school.

So.

That.

But I loved halftime.

I loved all the activity.

That was involved with it.

On the field.

At that time.

And then as I got older.

My understanding of the game.

Began to grow.

And the way this happened.

Is also maybe a little bit strange.

See I bought.

My kids.

A PlayStation 2.

Right.

Now.

My kids.

Were four.

Two.

And one.

So.

When I say I bought my kids.

A PlayStation 2.

I bought myself a PlayStation 2.

Right.

That's the fact.

I bought myself a PlayStation 2.

But.

One of the first three games.

That released with that PlayStation 2.

Was Madden 2001.

And I loved Madden 2001.

That was a fun game.

Had Eddie George on the cover.

But it had the greatest show on turf.

Inside it.

It had Kurt Warner.

And the St.

Louis Red Rams.

Right.

Red Rams.

And I was from St.

Louis.

So.

I'm like.

All I had to do.

Was pick the Rams.

I didn't even know.

Have to know how to play the game.

At all.

Kurt Warner.

Go back.

Throw a pass.

They catch it.

It's a touchdown.

I would win.

By like a hundred and eight.

To seven.

Whatever it was.

Didn't matter who I played.

Right.

But.

Just a few years later.

Because.

This started to stir me.

Like this.

A little bit of more of an interest.

In the game of football.

So.

I started to watch games.

Outside of playing the game.

And.

Electronically.

I started.

I started to watch.

Some of the games.

And over the years.

I became.

Acquainted with.

Bill Belichick.

And Tom Brady.

And the New England Patriots.

Now.

Last service.

When I said the New England Patriots.

I think I heard somebody hiss.

Like.

It got really quiet in here.

But.

But here's the thing.

Like.

The.

The Patriots.

They're not my favorite team.

But.

I have to admit.

They were a very special team.

In the 2000s.

Right.

So.

Like.

2004.

2005.

And.

I would hear.

The announcers.

Talk.

A lot.

About.

Bill Belichick.

And his halftime adjustments.

That he would make.

During the game.

And.

To me.

And the rest of the world.

You know.

We would watch the games.

And.

And we would.

Watch the games.

Especially the Super Bowl.

For the halftime.

Right.

Sometimes.

You know.

One year.

It was.

Janet Jackson.

And.

Justin Timberlake.

And then the next year.

It was Paul McCartney.

Because.

Paul McCartney.

Was less likely.

To have a wardrobe malfunction.

It was a lot safer.

For them to have him.

That year.

I think.

So.

Anyway.

We watched the game.

For these halftimes.

For all that hustle and bustle.

But during that time.

The players.

And the coaches.

Were off the field.

And this is where it starts.

To become more like solitude.

Okay.

Because here's the thing.

The rest of the world.

Is going crazy.

There's all this frenetic activity.

But in the bowels of the stadium.

In this place.

Of quiet.

You have the coaches.

You have the players.

They're recovering.

They're resting.

During halftime.

They're regrouping.

They're organizing their thoughts.

And they're reorganizing their plans.

They're refocusing.

They're being certain.

That they have a clear vision.

Right.

And really.

If we wanted.

We could add a fourth R up here.

Repentance.

Right.

Even a football team.

Because sometimes.

The first half hasn't gone well.

So they have to turn.

And head a new direction.

That's what repentance is.

It's turning away from one thing.

Into another.

Sometimes in that time of solitude.

You have a great opportunity.

To turn.

For a time of repentance.

As well.

But hopefully.

You can see here.

How halftime.

At the football game.

For the players.

And the coach.

Is very similar.

To solitude.

I'm sure those players.

Left that locker room.

And when they did.

They were confident.

In their identity.

They were confident.

In their purpose.

For being there.

I'm sure that coach Belichick.

Provided them directions.

For them to follow.

When they got out.

And they reengaged.

With their opponent.

And with the rest of the world.

So that's what it can look like.

Inside of solitude.

It can be a time of recovering.

Regrouping.

Refocusing.

And possibly even repentance.

But how do we actually.

Practice solitude?

What does the practice of solitude look like?

And as I describe.

What the practice of solitude can look like.

Please understand.

I'm going to describe a practice.

I'm not going to prescribe a practice.

The difference is.

Describing one is like.

Hey this is how it could look in your life.

I'll actually.

Use an example of how I.

Spend my time in solitude.

A prescription.

Or if I were to prescribe something.

That'd be like a doctor.

Giving you a prescription.

Right?

So.

My prescription is.

You need to practice a time of solitude.

My description is.

This is one way that you can do it.

All right?

So first.

When we talk about practicing solitude.

First we start with rhythm.

We start with regularity.

I believe that in order to institute this practice.

Into your life.

And in order for it to be effective.

You really need.

To.

Schedule.

Regular times of solitude.

This is true for all of.

All of the spiritual practices we've talked about.

You need to get them onto your calendar.

You need to get them on there.

And then you need to be persistent in it.

Okay?

Luke chapter 5 verse 16.

It says there that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places.

And prayed.

So for me.

Often.

Looks like daily.

That's my rhythm.

Now.

The next thing we do after rhythm.

We establish a rhythm.

We pick a time.

Everyone's life circumstances.

Is different.

So.

So please don't feel convicted.

If daily doesn't work for you.

Like I said.

This is a description.

Not a prescription.

Right?

So.

There's.

There's one couple in the church.

I know.

That.

Their time of solitude.

Is set up.

Where they trade off weeks.

On Saturday mornings.

They take a couple hours.

They.

One stays home.

Children.

And the.

And the house.

The other one.

Goes to a park.

Or somewhere.

For a time of solitude.

And they trade that.

Each week.

Okay?

So.

So that's one thing.

That's one way that could look.

In my past.

When I worked out in Santa Claus, Indiana.

I had a 45 minute drive.

My 45 minute drive.

There were days.

I would just.

Turn off my radio in the car.

And then that was my time of solitude.

Maybe you have something like that.

For you.

Where.

Where it's like.

You know what?

My home is not a place.

Where I can.

Where I can have this time of solitude.

My workplace is not.

But maybe between the two.

Is where you place.

This time of solitude.

But.

But be persistent in it.

And be creative.

Find the time.

Make the time.

To practice solitude in your life.

And then the third thing is.

The place.

The place is important as well.

When I say place.

Really.

Think environment.

Right?

So.

A quiet space.

Is very beneficial.

When you're practicing solitude.

And if your place is in the car.

On the way to work.

I said it a moment ago.

Turn off the radio.

Turn off your favorite podcast.

Even if it's.

The Crossroad Christian Church podcast.

You know.

Listen to it later.

But in this time of solitude.

Give yourself a chance.

For some silence.

So you can hear.

The voice of God.

If you're at home.

Pick a quiet room.

Set your phone into like.

A focus mode.

Or a do not disturb mode.

And just.

Or just turn off the TV.

And understand for some people.

Taking.

Taking the time.

To implement this practice.

It might feel like.

You're stealing from.

Your family.

Or your friends.

Or you're short shifting them somehow.

By.

Taking.

Whatever this amount of time is.

If it's 30 minutes.

If it's an hour.

Whatever you can.

Can give to this practice.

But.

But here's the thing.

The fact is.

Implementing this practice.

Can actually give you.

The peace.

And the strength.

That you need.

To relate well with.

Your family.

And friends.

So.

Now we get into the nuts and bolts.

Of what a practice of solitude.

Might look like.

This is a sample practice.

The best time for me.

Is.

Early in the morning.

I wake up earlier now.

Than at any other time in my life.

Actually.

Even.

I was in the army.

I wake up.

Earlier now.

Than I did when I was in the army.

Fortunately.

My wife.

She likes.

To practice her alone time.

At the same time I do.

And she's an early riser.

That's how I learned it.

She would wake up.

Wake me up.

Now we just do that intentionally.

And that's a key.

With practicing solitude.

Is there has to be.

Intention.

Behind it.

Okay.

So.

I prop myself up in bed.

And she goes into the family room.

She sits on the couch.

With her.

Bible.

And her cup of coffee.

I.

I'm.

In the bedroom.

Doing the same.

Okay.

Now.

I start with a time of prayer.

I think.

I think this is a great way.

To start your time of solitude.

Often.

Before I finish my time of prayer.

Because I also have a practice.

Of reading my Bible.

Within my time.

I'll.

I'll either read.

Or.

Kind of paraphrase.

Second Timothy 3.

16.

And 17.

And that's the.

All scripture is God breathed.

It's useful for teaching.

Rebuking.

And training.

And righteousness.

I pray God.

Equip me.

For every good work.

So.

I pray that prayer.

Before I begin.

My practice.

Of reading the Bible.

I learned that from Andrew Bondurant.

Now.

After that.

I have a time of silence.

And.

Silence.

Like I said earlier.

Is.

To me.

It's a very necessary ingredient.

To this time of solitude.

But.

Like I said earlier.

Sitting silently.

Or quietly.

Is very.

Very difficult for me.

It's the most important part.

Of my daily routine.

Or.

It's the most difficult part.

Of my daily routine.

And so.

What I do.

Is.

Is I set my.

Phone.

With a three minute timer.

Which three minutes.

Might not seem long to you.

But.

I started at one minute.

And I'm.

Like super proud.

That I'm all the way up to three.

You know.

And.

I would recommend.

Setting a timer.

If you have a problem.

With this portion.

Of this discipline.

Some people.

They're like super gifted.

They're just wired.

To where.

They can.

Fully appreciate silence.

More.

Than others.

These people are introspective.

Sometimes.

You know.

They might be contemplatives.

But.

I find myself.

Thinking.

When I see them.

I wish.

I was as mature.

I wish.

I was as holy.

As them.

So.

While this time of silence.

Might be easier for them.

Here's what we have to realize.

It's.

Equally important.

To all of us.

It's important.

To all of us.

That we give God.

A chance to speak.

And that we allow ourselves.

To be silent.

Or still enough.

To listen.

So.

Instead of being envious.

Of another person's ability.

To practice silence.

I just.

Observe them.

And I see what I can learn.

About them.

In this practice.

One of the people.

That I really admire.

And.

In this practice.

Is Luke Foles.

Luke Foles is our worship leader.

And.

We.

As a staff.

We're.

We're super blessed.

We have this opportunity.

To come together for prayer.

Twice a month.

For 30 minutes.

We do this on Tuesdays.

Nine o'clock.

And.

A lot of times.

Luke will lead us in that time.

And Luke will.

Start with a time of silence.

More often than not.

And.

One of the things he says though.

Is if your mind wanders.

That's okay.

He encouraged us.

He encourages us.

In his own words.

To use some of those tools.

I mentioned earlier.

Those things that happen.

Within a time of solitude.

All those R's.

Repent.

Refocus.

And relaunch.

When my mind wanders.

Or if I get distracted.

This little mantra.

Repent.

Refocus.

Relaunch.

It really helps me.

Refocus.

It helps me.

Make it through this time of silence.

And listen.

So the way I practice this.

Is like I said.

That three minute timer.

But.

I said a moment ago.

Please.

Don't be afraid.

To start small in this.

My goal was five minutes.

I'm at three.

I'm not going to skip ahead.

But I've made my goal.

I'll show you.

Next.

I read the Bible.

So after a time of three minutes of silence.

I read my passages for the day.

Being intentional in this.

Is a little different than just reading it.

And checking those boxes on your daily reading plan.

Okay.

So for me.

It means I read the Bible.

With the idea that this is one way for God.

To reveal himself to me.

And to reveal his will to me.

Okay.

So that adds this.

This very specific intentionality to it.

I try to spot.

And I highlight places.

Where God reveals his nature.

His commands.

And his promises to me.

I use different colors for each of those three.

And then also I'll read.

And I'll say.

God what are you saying about me.

Or my relationship with you in this passage.

I would highlight those in yet a different color.

But this helps me not to just read the Bible.

And check it off as done for the day.

To apply intentionality to it.

And then after that.

I pray.

That's the next step.

Is prayer again.

This time.

It's a real short prayer though.

God what would you like me to do.

About what I've learned today.

And then another three minutes of silence.

This is how I get my five minutes in.

I can't do it all at once.

Not capable of it yet.

But I can do three minutes at the beginning.

Three minutes now.

And in this time of silence.

I think about.

What God has told me through the passage that day.

And like I've said.

I've just asked in this prayer.

What would you like me to do about what I've learned today.

I listen specifically for that response.

When I fail to focus.

A lot of times I go back to number five.

Or I go back to number six.

Or I go back to number seven.

Or I go back to number eight.

Or number three.

I read the passage again.

And I start over.

Sometimes my time of solitude can take 30 minutes.

Sometimes because of my distractions it can take 60.

But I follow up that prayer.

With a time of silence.

And then I wrap up yet again.

With just a very brief prayer.

And this time it's a prayer of thanksgiving.

It's a commitment to apply those things that I've learned.

And then start over the rest of my day.

And that's one practice.

A simple practice of solitude.

Now sometimes.

Sometimes solitude can be a great way for us to approach a difficult situation.

Or approach a difficult or a big decision.

So one of the things we have to do is be sensitive to God's spirit.

God's spirit can be like a referee in our life.

Blowing that halftime whistle.

Right?

To let us know that it's time to take a break.

To get away.

To get into solitude.

And to practice those R's.

Right?

So we need to be aware of that.

And sometimes we need to go.

We need to refocus.

Regroup.

Recharge.

Sometimes repent.

Before we reengage with the past.

With the people around us.

And this more impromptu.

This possibly less planned practice of solitude.

And this can take just a few minutes.

But it could take a couple hours.

But be sure to approach it intentionally.

Practice of solitude to work through difficult situations or decisions.

It's very simple.

And I label this one simple practice.

First, find a place where you can be alone.

Pray to God.

And then second, spend time in silence.

Wait for God's answer.

God's answers will always align with his word.

They'll never contradict scripture.

In fact, praying through scripture in that first part can be very helpful.

If you fail at being silent, be silent again.

Start over.

Repent.

Refocus.

Relaunch.

All right?

Be sure to quiet your electronic devices.

Use the focus setting on your iPhone.

You can do cool things with the iPhone.

You can actually set it in the focus setting so that only certain people can break through that barrier and reach you in times of emergency.

You can set up your own focus setting.

I recommend doing that.

That's what I've done.

So I do that in the evenings, too.

I have a family setting where only my family can reach me.

So often, if somebody texts me in the evening and I don't respond, it's because I'm in a family setting.

If you want to be part of my family, talk to me between 9 and 5 and we can discuss that.

All right?

But, yeah.

So be careful, though.

Another caution in this is don't confuse solitude with isolation.

Okay?

Isolation is not involuntary.

It's not intentional.

Isolation is often a defense mechanism.

It's that intentionality in regard to solitude that really is a prime differentiating factor between it and isolation.

Isolation many times can be accompanied by this sense of sadness or depression that can attack us in a crowded room.

It's unplanned.

It's unscheduled.

Right?

But here's the thing.

Isolation also has fruit.

And the fruit of isolation is inedible.

It's a bitter pill to swallow.

We don't want to have isolation.

Isolation can make.

Us question our identity.

It can make us question our value.

It can even make us question whether we're loved at all, much less loved by God.

In isolation, we can lose sight of our purpose.

We can lose our sense of direction of knowing where we're headed.

If you find your place in this place of isolation, please do this.

Please reach out.

We've got a couple of super resources available to us.

We've got the Crossroads Counseling Center.

We've got Freedom Prayer.

We had Paul up here a little bit ago.

They would love to help you pray through this and to come to that place of ultimate freedom that you can find in God.

Freedom that you can find in Jesus Christ.

And then finally, this last form of solitude that I just wanted to share is kind of,

you can add this as an add-on almost into some times of, not isolation, solitude.

You can add it as an add-on a little bit.

In Mark chapter 14, verses 32 through 35,

this is where Jesus takes the disciples to a place called Gethsemane.

And Jesus says to his disciples, sit here while I pray.

He takes Peter, James, and John along with him.

And then he is deeply distressed.

He's troubled.

He says,

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Stay here and keep watch.

And then going just a little bit further, he falls to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him.

This is just before being taken to his crucifixion, being arrested.

So while Jesus went to pray in solitude, he had a group of his closest friends stay behind and watch or to pray for him.

Now, hopefully the friends you might select for this, for this vigil, are more bought into the process than James.

Peter and John.

James, Peter, and John fell asleep.

All right?

Don't pick people that are going to fall asleep when you need them there praying for you as you're off in your time of solitude.

Also, though, approach this with intentionality.

Make sure you have a set start time, a set end time.

Make sure somebody knows where you are and how to get hold of you.

All right?

Scripture teaches us solitude is a vital, vital spiritual practice.

If it's good enough for Jesus, it's definitely a value to all of us that are his brothers and sisters.

So my prayer today is that you just take a step.

Take a step further with this practice.

Maybe you already have a daily time of solitude in which you pray and you study the Bible.

Well, what other practice can you bring into that container with you?

You know, might it be fasting?

Maybe replace a meal a week, once a week with a period of solitude.

Whatever your next step is, though, just do it with intentionality.

And also, I ask you, I just pray for you, do it with expectation that you'll see fruit from the experience.

Just like with these other practices or disciplines in our lives.

Don't give up.

You don't see immediate fruit.

I've joked from up here before that in the first week of the year, I'll work out that week,

and then I'll wait to work out again until I see some results or some benefit, right?

And we can't do that with disciplines.

That's not how it works.

With disciplines, you implement them in your life, and then you use repetition, okay?

That's rhythm.

You've got to do that with these spiritual practices.

These are super important to us.

Not so that we're like super Christians, though, right?

These are important to us to be healthy, committed followers of Jesus Christ.

They're important to us to be just part of this community of believers that's lifting one another up,

that's serving one another, and that's every day just living and loving like him

as we become sanctified and more like him throughout our daily lives.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you again so much for all those gifts that you've so greatly given us.

You've so richly blessed us with.

God, thank you for being a God that listens, for being a God that even wants us to be with him.

Father, thank you for the companionship.

Thank you for being our father.

Father God, bless our church family.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.