Staying connected with God through Abiding.

If we want to be disciples of Jesus we have to practice the Spiritual Disciplines.

Solitude & Silence

Of all the disciplines of abstinence, solitude is generally the most fundamental in the beginning of the spiritual life, and it must be returned to again and again as that life develops.

– Dallas Willard

Do nothing.

Don’t try to make anything happen.

I. Some Cautions about Solitude & Silence

II. An Example of Solitude & Silence: Jesus

III. Practical Applications for Solitude & Silence

I. Some Cautions about Solitude & Silence

“We can only survive solitude if we cling to Christ there”

– Dallas Willard

“Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born…

In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me – naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken – nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something.

But that is not all. As soon as I decide to stay in my solitude, confusing ideas, disturbing images, wild fantasies, and weird associations jump about in my mind like monkeys in a banana tree. Anger and greed begin to show their ugly faces. I give long, hostile speeches to my enemies and dream lustful dreams in which I am wealthy, influential, and very attractive – or poor, ugly, and in need of immediate consolation. Thus I try again to run from the dark abyss of my nothingness and restore my false self in all its vainglory…

The wisdom of the desert is that the confrontation with our own frightening nothingness forces us to surrender ourselves totally and unconditionally to the Lord Jesus Christ”

– Henri Nouwen

I. Some Cautions about Solitude & Silence

II. An Example of Solitude & Silence: Jesus

Because they force us to value what our culture calls unproductive time!

That when we’re talking about silence and solitude, it’s always in the context of a rhythm of life.

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community . . . let him who is not in community beware of being alone . . . Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Jesus, help me to over-manage my personality in this area of Solitude and Silence. By the power of the Holy Spirit living inside me help me to, little by little, practice the spiritual disciplines of Solitude and Silence. Amen.”

Silence and solitude are not, in the end, about success or failure. They are about showing up and letting God do the rest.

I. Some Cautions about Solitude & Silence

II. An Example of Solitude & Silence: Jesus

III. Practical Applications for Solitude & Silence

1. Find the right place

2. Allow yourself permission for this to feel awkward the first couple of times. Push through it.

3. Turn off or put away your phone (unless you are using it as a timer).

4. Try to look throughout the week for little free spaces in your day, such as breaks between activities.

5. Get up a little earlier or leave for your next appointment a little sooner so that when you arrive you will have extra time to find a quiet place and “just be.”

6. Meditate on a verse or portion of Scripture – Try Psalm 23.

1. Journal

“The purpose of silence and solitude, is to be able to see and hear”

- Richard Foster

1. Journal

2. Try Solitude & Silence Twice a Day

“We are silent at the beginning of the day because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep because the last word also belongs to God… Silence is nothing else but waiting for God’s Word and coming from God’s Word with a blessing. But everybody knows that this is something that needs to be practiced and learned”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer