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Being Alone by Keith Cook
Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers. 1 Samuel 12:7
Recently, I had a really strange weekend. I was all alone. It is really quite hard to suddenly find yourself alone when you are use to having people all in your life. Usually I have all kinds of people and things in my life - all kinds of activity. But not so that weekend.
Joan, my wife, was visiting family miles away. My son, Keith and his wife Megan, were away ministering in a local church revival on the Gulf Coast. My pastor, who I usually connect with on the weekend, was away. My local friends all had plans for the weekend. All my staff were out ministering all over the world and I was home alone. Friends from out of town did stop in earlier in the week to visit for one night but they now had moved on down the road. To make things even worse - it was cloudy and raining outside.
I had tried to fill my life with activity. I had plenty of places I could go eat at or shop or look at. But they all had no appeal.
I had rented several movies I had been wanting to see, that my wife would not want to see, but they some how seem uninteresting.
I had turned on my internet buddy list and internet phone service but no one was chatting or calling.
Every dish was clean, all the laundry was in the basket, the normal manly clutter was out of sight. Nothing left to do - nothing! I mean nothing!
My house was suddenly very quiet and very lonely.
Does this sound like something you have ever been through?
While my predicament sounds dire it was not really life threatening. It was not very serious but it was very emotional. My wife, son, friends, co-workers, peers, are all great and will be back in my world very soon. This is not a real problem. I am just spoiled with a wonderful life that is filled with wonderful people, activities, and blessings from God.
Many people live their lives in a kind of permanent aloneness. They never get beyond being just with themselves.
The Bible tells us, if we have a relationship in Christ, that we are never really alone. We have the presence of Christ in our life at all times. Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."
The Bible actually admonishes us to "be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10
Here are some insight about being alone.
1. Being temporarily alone is not a bad thing. You will survive. Use the time to reflect, catch up, clean up, relax, enjoy.
2. Take time to actually plan to get alone for a time or season. I am not talking about great amounts of time - simply - take the time, make the time, to get alone for some quality time of reflection and meditation on what God is doing in your life and what He may want to be doing in the future. This is something you may want to do on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
3. Plan a daily time to get alone with God. During this time you need to pray, read the Word (Bible), and have some time to reflect and wait on God to speak to your mind and heart.
4. If you have been through a crisis or suffered a loss due to death make sure you are allowing God, your church, your friends and family to minister to you.
5. If you do not have family, friends, or a church home now would be a great time to seek out a local church to help you in your time of need. We all need support and encouragement and the local church is a great - best - place to start.
6. If you do not know the Lord - now is a good time to come to Him. He loves you and will help you - not just through this situation - but with your whole life.
7. Do not retreat into perpetual aloneness. Allow time during times of grief and sorrow - but also allow Christ to heal your heart and mind. Seek Christian professional help if you do not seem to be handling your grief and situations in a way that you know is healthy and right.
So being alone is not really a bad thing. It may be boring. It may be unusual and seldom experienced but Christ can speak and lead even in times of aloneness.
You can probably tell what God has called me to do during my time alone - away for all my normal activity. He has led me to write this devotion! I hope it has been time well spent. I certainly do not feel all alone any more. I feel like you have joined me in this very moment. May God bless you as you live on for Christ. Never alone - always - in Christ.
Daily Prayer Focus: Pray that God will give you time this week to literally get alone with Him in prayer and Bible study. Pray that He will prepare your heart for the truths He will reveal to you!
On The Go Prayer Focus: On The Go¹s USA Outreach Effort. God has placed a United States effort on the heart and mind of the On The Go Team. Three key objectives are sharing, praying, and training in every county in the USA using On The Go Advance Teams, Training Teams, Planning Teams, Prayer Teams, GoTeams, and Outreach Efforts.
Thank you for taking the time to pray for this important division of On The Go Ministries. For more information on any our ministries here at On The Go, you may send your questions to info@onthego.org.
Copyright (c) 2008, 2010 Keith Cook - On The Go
Permission is granted to "forward" this devotional to friends and acquaintances. All other rights reserved.
On The Go Ministries, Keith Cook Team
P.O. Box 963, Springfield, TN 37172, (615) 299-0222, www.onthego.org
Founder/Director - Keith Cook, keithcook@onthego.org
E-zine Editor, Laurie McTier, laurie@onthego.org
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