It's Time to Get Quiet

I'm amazed at how many answers in my life reside within me. I can be stressed out where I can't make a decision. I can be stressed out because there are hard things in my life. I can have questions about engaging with people or projects. I can have financial, uh, tension that I'm trying to resolve. I can have decisions with work that I'm trying to make, concerns about my children that I'm trying to get wisdom about. I can have things that are going on with my body and I need to know what next step to take. There are constant decisions and insights that I need for my life, and I'm amazed at how often The answer is already in me, but I don't get to that answer without quiet. I am a proponent of quiet, and I don't live a quiet life, y'all. Like, my life is loud. I got kids, I have an office in my, uh, near my home. I work for myself, and I am going between homeschool and work and production and speaking and writing and work at church. This is my life. Very, very busy. And oh yeah, I make room in my life right now for piano lessons. It's a lot going on, but I have realized how much power lies when I get still. My brain starts working on my behalf. My heart starts telling me what I really feel about a matter. My body starts communicating with me what my body needs. I don't get it without quiet. And what makes me think that I would be able to know the voice of God, know his will for my life, get his answers to the questions I have if I don't create space and quiet? So I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about what quiet time for me with God, what it looks like, in hopes that it gives you a picture for how you can think differently or more intentionally about your quiet time too. So when I sit down with the intentionality of— see, there are different levels of quiet time for me, okay? One is literally just being quiet, like literally being still. So literally what that looks like is front porch rocking chair, back porch rocking chair, usually outside, going for a walk, sitting in a chair in the living room, often cup of tea. But it is putting myself in an environment where I am not distracted, or the things that do get my attention don't take my mind. A bird catching my attention singing in the morning does not take my mind. Going on a walk and moving my feet does not take my mind. Praying while I am folding laundry, that does not take my mind. My mind is there, it is on, but it is not distracted. It doesn't have to process other things or work anything else. Out. The environment for quiet time matters. Just being quiet is a lot. There are so many things that my mind wants to do with God and without God, just my mind wants to do. There are so many things that my soul wants to say it can't say because I can't hear it if I'm not still. So getting still is the precursor to having a great quiet time. Now, that doesn't mean that on the way to work I can't pray, or, you know, that I can't pray without ceasing while I'm doing dishes. But I'm saying the intentionality with getting quiet and allowing the Holy Spirit, through the word that has been implanted in my soul, to do a work in me and to speak to me without cracking the Bible necessarily, without having prayer or journaling— just stillness creates space. And that's what it looks like for me to do that. When I want to crack open the word, when I want to open my Bible, there are a variety of ways that I do this. But one of the best things that I love to do is just opening up the Bible and just reading, picking a book and reading through a book. Um, because while I enjoy BSF and while I love Bible studies, just reading it as it was written, just just reading it. The Bible was not initially with numbers and chapters and verses. Those were done so that you could, um, find scriptures. But James was written to the 12 tribes of Israel scattered among the nations. You know, it was written as a letter. When you read it that way, the Bible is unlocked as a full thought, a continuous thought written in whole to people. And what I do is just take out a pen to engage with the Bible as I read. I have my Bible. I met Kay Arthur years ago. She came to a conference that my mom was doing. She had her inductive study Bible, and all I knew was it had room to write in the margins. And I always say I want to start another Bible, but I love that Bible. My writing in it It gives me visual memory to remember what I've read. So I try to have a pen and a pad, a notebook, a spiral notebook, and my Bible in front of me, and I just read. And then when I get to a verse that stands out to me, I dig in. What it means for me to dig in is that I will use any tool and resource I have at my disposal to take that verse and examine it and turn it all the way around. Often I will read it in another version or another paraphrase. What did, based on language developed over time, did other people say this verse meant? Because those people were very smart and they were probably scholars and they understood the Greek and the Hebrew, and they added elements of language that further explain what this verse says. Um, paraphrases too. So The Message or The Passion Translation, The Amplified Version. Then I take that verse and any words that I really want to dig into, I just look them up in the dictionary. What does this word actually mean. So what I'm doing is taking something and I'm expanding it. It's like taking rice and you want to cook rice and you put it in water because the water and the cooking expands it. It's the same rice, it's just expanded for you to enjoy it a different way. So I'm taking a scripture, I'm reading it, I'm getting quiet, I'm reading the scripture, I'm reading it over and over again, I'm reading it in context And then I'm examining it by looking at it with different words in different forms and fashions, versions and paraphrases, my own study of the word. And then I let the word explain itself. What that means is that I'm going to use the concordance in my Bible. And I've realized that I've had some Bibles that were very, very deeply cross-referenced. I don't know that the— and I don't know if the new inductive study Bibles are different or the same. But I know when I'm reading a scripture sometimes that there's another scripture that kind of says this, and I'll look at the little verses that are related to it and look them all up, and the verse that I'm thinking about isn't there. But I'll never forget Kay Arthur said one of the best things that you will ever do is for you to create your own cross-references because of your knowledge of God's word. So I don't know if it was intentional to have few or if it's just, you know, they've developed over time. I'm not sure. But between her cross-references and my own, I am letting scripture explain itself. Scripture is really good at explaining itself. So if you know what else God says about a certain topic, then you're able to not just look at the words in a full-fashioned way, you're able to look at the scriptures, the intentionality of scripture from a multifaceted way, and you let scripture explain itself. And all these things, anything that comes to me, I'm just writing it down. And then I learned from Priscilla, And I've seen this done many times in different ways, but Priscilla asked 3 questions, and then there are other methods that I'll tell you about. What does this say? What does this mean? And what does it mean to me? What does this say? What does it mean? And what does this mean to me? What does it say means I just write the verse. If I'm reading James chapter 1 and a scripture pops off at me, I'll take Out of the 8 verses I read, I'll write one down and I write it out verbatim. There's something that I believe that happens in each one of us when we write things down. You know this. So I write the scripture out verbatim. Then what does it mean? And this is where I will take key words and write those words down. And then I look at those words in a multifaceted way and write down what does this scripture mean? What is the scripture saying? And I'm just taking notes on my interpretation of the word of God as I am digging in. We think that pastors have— and of course there's, there's beauty to going to seminary, there's beauty to having a whole week to study the word of God— but we think that pastors have something we don't have. The only thing that they have, and honestly what we are grateful to them for doing, is time time to dig into the word. So when I look at first, uh, the first chapter of James, chapter 1, and I'm reading, uh, the first few verses: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. This is the New Living Translation. Let me go to my normal version, which is the NASB 1995. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I want to dig into verse 4. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The first thing I noticed is that the word perfect is repeated twice. Endurance will have a perfect result. The result will be perfect. I think of perfect as in it's done, it's finished. And what will be finished when endurance is complete? I will be finished. Endurance is gonna produce something that's finished, done. But then I'm also going to look at this same verse in other, um, other versions. So the New Living Translation is a paraphrase. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed— what does fully developed mean? It makes me start thinking about babies. It makes me start thinking about the complete meals. You will be perfect and complete. So I will be done when my endurance is fully developed. That means endurance means I gotta stick I have to finish things. I have to finish my race. I might get tired. Endurance implies doing things when you're tired and that it needs to be fully developed. That makes me think about my lungs and capacity and what it takes to actually build up endurance. It makes me think of marathons. And what does marathon make me think of? Training. That life is going to come. My faith will be tested. And why is my faith being tested? Because I need my capacity to grow. I will not be able to be fully developed and perfect. I won't be complete if I don't increase my capacity. So then that makes me start to look— is what does this mean? This means that in order for me to grow, in order for me to have capacity increased, my faith will be tested. So I shouldn't look at the testing of my faith as an interruption, as an inconvenience. I shouldn't look at the testing of my faith as God doesn't love me or make me question his presence in my life. I need to look at it as he is putting me on the training ground so that I can increase my capacity, so that I can run further and faster, because there is a race to win. Let me look at what else this says in another version, the Common English Bible. Verse 4 says, let this endurance— oh, this endurance, this specific endurance. What specific endurance? The testing. This is a specific kind of endurance. Let it complete its work so that you may be fully mature. Fully mature. That's another word. It gives me another picture. It makes me think about my children. It makes me think about— I have teenage children, and boys are different than girls. And my 20-year-old son is a different situation than my 20-year-old girls. My 18-year-old son is a different situation than my 20-year-old girls. And I'm watching them, and I see the budding of adulthood. And they need this for me. They need coaching, and they need training, and they need encouragement, and all of these things so that they can be fully mature. I just called my son the other day and I said, son, you got to get that storage unit. Y'all are waiting too long. Last year we got it in March. You and your roommate need to get it. If y'all don't get the storage unit, the same one we got last year, if you have to get a bigger one because the smaller ones aren't available, you're gonna have to pay the price. I'm not paying for the bigger one. And I'm nudging him and encouraging him up to do things differently that I did for him last year, but he's Bigger. He's older. He can handle it. And I need him to adult a little bit more. I need him to mature. What does maturity look like for me and God? Him coaching me and developing me and training me and reminding me of the things that he has been doing for me or that people have been doing for me. But I need to stop relying on people to feed me. It's time, Chrystal Hurst, for you not to only do a Bible study when someone is leading you through a Bible study. It's time for you to lead the Bible study. It's time for you to grow up. It's time for you to be engaged in this part of the process. What does it look like, Lord, in my life for me to be mature? What does this say? Grow up. What does it mean? It means that I need to increase my capacity. It means that I need to look for opportunities to do things different than I did them last year. It means that I need to look at where God is providing encouragement and boundary and counsel to me, and I need to move in that direction to do what I did last year, but in a better way. Do you see what happens? What does this mean? It means grow up. What will happen when you grow up? You will be lacking nothing. Let me look at another version. I love the Amplified Version because it gives extra words. And let its endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work. You know, there's a difference between— this is a whole talk. I just— this is a whole talk. This is one of my next talks. So we're gonna write all these down because this is great. But these are how the messages come. Um, thorough work. There is a difference between one of my children cleaning the kitchen and thoroughly cleaning the kitchen, because you can have somebody that does the dishes, right? And then they even wipe some countertops. When they thoroughly clean it, the knobs are clean, the floor is swept, the dishes are not only washed but they are dried and put away. You know, the, the handlebars are wiped because you got it dirty cleaning the kid. There's a difference between a thorough cleaning job, right, and just you did the basics. God wants to move me beyond the basics. He wants me to see things that I can now see because he's trained me in them. I know when my kids are— when I've done a good job, when they can clean the kitchen like I would clean the kitchen. And you want to know how God knows he's done a good job in us? When we look like Jesus, when we serve like Jesus, when we, when we minister like Jesus, when we take care of the poor like Jesus, when we make room for the least of these like Jesus. That is thorough. He wants my growth and development to be thorough so that you may be perfect and completely developed in your faith and lacking in nothing. One more version, the Message version. Here it is. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Is that not clear? Don't try to escape the pressure. Don't run away from the hard things. Let it do its work so you become mature and well developed and not deficient in any way. Do you see how looking at words helps you to say, I'm going to write down what does it say?

Verbatim.

Then I'm going to write down what does it mean, and I'm going to go on a journey. And I haven't even gotten to the cross-references yet. That's just looking at different versions. And then I'm going to say, what does it mean to me, Lord Jesus? What this means to me today is there are some very hard things in my life I don't want to do, I don't want to go through, I don't want to experience. This is too hard. But oh, maybe this is the classroom. Maybe, God, you're expanding my capacity. Maybe you want me to go beyond the basics and look for the finish line. Maybe you want me to depend on you for my breath and my, my life and my well-being. Maybe this about you making me into the image of your son. Maybe this is about me being finished, done, delectable, delightful, and delicious. This is what I do in quiet time. Then after that, this is all written in a journal. In my perfect world, y'all, I would go back and type all that up and digitize it. As of right now, I have these notes in a Moleskine notebook, and one of the assignments of, of one of the girls who joins the team soon will be scanning in my notes and tagging them so I can find them later. That's the next level. But the best thing that you can do after you take notes is make sure you review them. Because I'm telling you that God repeats himself a lot. And if you will simply write down what he said to you today, next year, maybe you lap yourself. Because if you write the notes and study the notes, but you never review the notes, the work of the notes is undone. So you review your notes and you say, "On this day last year, What was God teaching me? Or if you're working your way through a book of the Bible, you go back and you read your notes from the book of the Bible. What was the Bible saying in James? What was God teaching me? One of the things my piano teacher taught me, because he's amazing— I have so many lessons, I just feel like I need to write a booklet, lessons my piano teacher taught me. He said, I am your coach, but you are your teacher. All I do is give you the tools. I give you some coaching. I give you some encouragement. I give you some direction. I give you some detailed knowledge, but you have to go home and practice. And when you practice, you are teaching yourself how to remember the things that I've given you. A teacher can teach and give you an acronym, but if you don't go home and read the textbook and study the notes and memorize the acronym, then you aren't going to have absorbed everything you need for the class. A good teacher will teach you how to teach yourself. A good teacher will give you the tools that you need for ingesting and digesting and absorbing the information. A good teacher will give you pegs to hang that information on, but you have to go home and do the homework. You have to go home and do the study. You have to go home and memorize everything. And ultimately what you're doing is you're teaching yourself. You are figuring out how to put that information in your brain so that you can grab that information when you need it the next. And my piano lessons, I am learning things so that the next time I go to play a dominant 7th in my left hand and then run through the dominant scale of that 7th in my right hand, that I know those chords so well I don't have to work hard to play them. He gave me the tools, but I have taught myself through muscle memory. I have taught myself through mental memory. I have taught myself by audio and visual memory how to play the song. God wants you to know how to play your life, so he's going to give you the tools. But he's like, now you got to go home and study that, and then you have to go home, and then you have to practice, and then you have to go home and you have to memorize this so that when it's time to play, you can play it without effort because you have increased your capacity. Do you see what happens when you go in deep and study the word of God? When I go back, I will highlight my notes, highlight the things that I remember, highlight the things that stood out In my Bible, I will underline keywords. I love Kay Arthur's inductive Bible method. I kind of do it half-baked, but she said this was a method that she taught herself, and then people now use her method. She said, make up your own, make it up. And I was like, but I wanna— I don't want to make up the wrong symbols. She said, there is no wrong symbol as long as you memorize it, as long as you know it. So quiet time then looks like me looking at it, reviewing it, and using color or shapes to put visual memory with those things, and then I have to ingest it, memorize it, absorb it. Then quiet time looks like prayer. In prayer, I'm going to pray about what God just gave me in that word. I'm going to pray about what concerns me. I'm going to pray for the people that are concerning me. I like to write down my prayer requests so that I will know and remember, what did I even ask God for? Because we are like sheep. And we are not perfect. So this is what quiet time looks like for me: the place, my position, my posture, my processing, my prayer. That was good too.

I need to write that down. I hope that was encouraging to you. Listen, I realize that God has given you and me the tools, everything we need in order to play the game of life life well. But we have to use the tools. That means having the habits and being in the practice of using the tools— praying and memorizing scripture and understanding and obeying his word. And I realize that that needs to be a part of my life every day on a consistent basis. I hope you realize that it should be a consistent part of yours. And if you haven't been able to do it consistently, no judgment. Give yourself grace. Give yourself grace. And let's keep that journey going. You just pick up where you are and keep going. But sometimes I know that when I need to jumpstart certain habits in my life or get going in a meaningful way, I need to put extra effort in, right?

And if I haven't maybe been to piano lessons in a while, maybe I have to put in extra practice.

And sometimes making the space for extra time is just what I need. This is why I create spaces via events from the Sister circle to create space for you to give yourself a jumpstart, a jumpstart in your life, a jumpstart with connecting with your soul, and a jumpstart with connecting with God. This is why the Sister Circle Retreat exists. And if you need the space in your life to give yourself a jumpstart in connecting with others, with your soul, or with God, I want you to know that you're invited.

If you haven't heard this invitation before, then here you go. Go to thesisterscircle.com/retreat.

If you've heard the invitation before and you've been trying to figure out whether or not you're coming, you're gonna have to make a decision soon, hun, because the doors close September 30th. Just know I would love for you to come. We are meeting on October 19th through the 22nd. We're gonna be holed away in California in Hume Lake, beautiful mountains, beautiful trees, because sometimes that's what it takes to jumpstart. Now y'all know what I always say, if you can join me, I would love for you to be there. If you can't, Don't sweat it.

Get up a little earlier, go to bed a little later, put your kids to bed, turn off your phone.

Whatever you need to do to jumpstart your connectivity with God, to hear his voice better, to study his word, that's what you should do. Because the best way to live life is to practice doing those things.

It'll help you play your life better.

All right, y'all. I hope this has been helpful and I'll see you next week.