Being with God in Quiet

If you have a Bible—and I hope you or somebody around you does that you can look on with—let me invite you to open with me to Matthew 6. Feel free to use the table of contents if you need to. My name is David and I’m one of the pastors here. We are really glad you’re here. Please bear with my voice. I’m struggling a bit today. Basketball season is in full sway and I’m coaching a few teams. Corralling seven-year-olds on the court can take a lot of you, especially when you lose something like 60 to 4. Yesterday was a rough one. But man, those two baskets? I was going nuts! Those were high moments amidst a variety of really low moments. 

Anyway, today is a new day. As a church, we are beginning three weeks of intentional prayer and fasting together here at the start of this year. You can find information about us and can sign up to get encouragement along these lines at mcleanbible.org/21days. At that site you can get all kinds of resources. Our hope is to help one another start the year off right in our relationships with God. You’ll also find information there about prayer gatherings at our different locations over the next few weeks, including a churchwide prayer gathering that’s happening this Friday night, Lord willing, here at Tysons at 7:00 p.m. You do not want to miss this Friday, as we come together to seek God with each other.

For today, though, I want to show you one verse in the Bible. If you do what this one verse says to do, it will completely change your life. I know that may sound like an exaggeration or overstatement, especially if you’re visiting or exploring Christianity. But for every single person listening right now, and any person who listens in the future—regardless of who you are or what your background is, how old you are, from the youngest to the oldest—I guarantee that if you do what this one verse says to do, it will totally change your life. One verse, spoken by Jesus. We’re just going to take it word by word, phrase by phrase. 

This verse comes in the middle of what’s known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and his teaching about prayer. Listen to what he says in Matthew 6:6: “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” All right, let’s dive in. 

“But when you pray…” Let’s pause here and realize what Jesus is saying. Jesus is giving an invitation for you and me, for any one of us, to meet with God, with the Creator of all things, the one who spoke and the world came into being. He’s the one who calls the stars by name, causes the rain to fall and the wind to blow. He’s the God who created you and eight billion other people on the planet. Just think about it. He’s the God who crafted you and formed you, the God who is sustaining your beating heart and your breathing lungs right now. He’s the God who knows you better than you know yourself. He knows far better than you what is best for your life, because he’s the one who made you. He’s the God who is ultimately in control of everything going on in your life and the God who is ultimately in control of everything that’s going on in the entire world. Jesus is saying, “You have an open invitation to meet with my Father, alone with God.”

I think about the first time I ever had a date with a girl—the first time I sat alone at a table with a girl—and how surreal that felt. Like, wow. Just me and her. I’m at a table with a girl. She’s looking at me and talking to me. I was looking at her and trying not to mess up my words with what I’d say to her. The whole room, the whole world, is spinning with joy. Just so you know, this isn’t awkward for me to tell around my wife, because that girl became my wife. I think about that thrill, then I think that doesn’t compare to meeting alone with God. God looking at me, talking to me. Me looking at God, talking to God, the one who is spinning the world! 

So can I just pause a moment and ask who else is more important, more significant, more consequential, more glorious that you had to meet with this week? I know you’re busy. We’re busy people. But what do you have on your schedule tomorrow that is more important than a meeting with God, at some point in the day? 

Set aside a time to meet alone with God.

Jesus says, “When you pray…” So set aside a time. If you’re taking notes, write that down: set aside a time. When are you going to meet with God during your day? We all know that if we don’t set a time, we’ll get busy doing all kinds of other things, then what’s most important in our lives will not happen. So set aside a time when you’re going to meet with, sit down with and focus on God.

I would encourage you, to the extent possible, to put this on your schedule at the same time every day. Set aside that time, thinking, “Okay, at this point in my day, I know I’m going to meet with God.” For me, it’s a morning routine. I get up, brush my teeth, get some water and get alone with God before anything else. I would personally encourage everyone who can to set aside the first moments of your day for this. It will change the rest of your day. For some of you, that may not be possible for a number of different reasons. So then, what will your time be when you pray? Set aside a time.

Then “…go into your room…” Here’s the second thing to write down: find a place. Where is the place? Where’s the room where you’re going to meet with God? Plan this out. Heather and I have designated places where we meet with God in the morning. Obviously when I travel, that changes. Your schedule may mean this place on this day or that place on that day. But where is the place you’re going to be? Set it up. Find a place. 

I’m going to meet with God at this time, in this place, and I’m going to “…shut the door…” Now, that doesn’t mean there literally has to be an enclosed room with the door shut. Early in the morning before our kids get up, Heather is in our den, on the couch, alone with God. That’s the point. Where can you get alone with God, just you and him? 

Think about why this is so important; there are many reasons. I’ll give you two that are clearly behind what Jesus is saying here. One, find a place where nothing else can distract you. That’s part of the purpose here, to get away from anything and everything else, from anyone and everyone else—no matter how good those people or those things may be—so you can focus on God and you. We are bombarded every day with what the world is telling us to do. We need to get alone with God and hear what he is telling us to do. Nobody else. Just God. 

Here’s another angle. We are constantly wondering what others think or say about us. We need to get alone with God and hear what he thinks and says about us, Our identity is not defined by other people or the world around us; our identity is defined by the one who made us. We all need that. Our minds and hearts run in so many different directions. We have so many different obligations: school, work, relationships in our home—marriage or parenting—friendships outside our homes, people, things. We’re surrounded by distractions, particularly on screens. Jesus is saying here, “Put it all aside to be with God.”  

Going back to the date illustration for a minute, we didn’t have cell phones way back then like we do today. But let me tell you if we did have phones what I would not have been doing.  In the thrill of that moment, it would have been foolish to be distracted by that phone, not with a beautiful girl in front of me. Look at her. I don’t mean to be trite with the date illustration, but all the more so when you’re looking at God. Put it aside. Get off your phone. Gaze on God. Listen to God. Talk to God. We spend an average of five and a half hours a day on that thing. Surely we can set aside a few minutes to focus on God. We need this. So find a place where nothing can distract you and where no one else can see you. 

Do you see this word “secret” twice? Get alone with God “in secret,” where only God can see you. Do you realize what Jesus is saying here? The most important part of your life is the part that no one else sees. Let me say that again. The most important part of your life is the part that nobody else sees. The most important part of your life is not what your family sees, though that is very important. The most important part of your life is not what your friends see, though that is very important. The most important part of your life is not what your classmates or coworkers see, though that is important. The most important part of your life is the part that only God sees. 

Jesus is giving every single one of us here an invitation to meet with God, just you and him, in secret.

Set aside time to pray.

So then, what do you do when you get alone in the room with God? Jesus says, “…go into your room and shut the door and pray…” Pray. Talk with God. You might think, “Well, what do I say? Where do I start?” This is why, right after Jesus tells us to do this, he specifically tells us how to pray. This is known as the Lord’s Prayer. 

We use an acrostic around here that summarizes what Jesus says in the Lord’s Prayer to help us remember how to pray. P-R-A-Y. 

P stands for Praise. Jesus starts by saying, “Pray like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Prayer starts with focusing on who God is. So start here. Just get alone, close the door and praise God for who he is. Praise him for his love, his mercy, his justice, his goodness, his grace. Praise and thank God specifically for how you see his love and goodness in your life. Thank him for what he’s doing in your life. Think about what he did in your life the day before and thank him for that. Praise and thank him for giving you life, for the breath in your lungs and the beating of your heart. Praise him for the good things you have, knowing that every good thing comes from him. Just thank him and praise him for good things. 

Don’t rush through this. Pull up a worship song on your phone and sing to him. We don’t just need to sing when we’re together; sing when no one else can see you. The good thing is, at least with my singing voice, no one else can hear you. It’s a win-win. Then periodically, get on your knees, on your face before God. Don’t forget who you’re meeting with. It is good for this to be a regular posture in our daily lives. 

We are a prideful people. We need to physically—alone, with nobody else watching—be on our faces in a place where we’re reminding ourselves and confessing before God, “You’re God and I’m not. I need you.” So don’t rush through this. The goal is not just to check off a box. Don’t meet with God just to say, “Okay. That’s done.” No. You’re spending time with who he is, so start with Praise.

Then R stands for Repent. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:12 to pray like this, “Forgive us our sins, our debts, our trespasses.” To go back to my relationship with my wife, any married couple knows what it’s like to have tension when one spouse has done something that’s offended the other spouse. At least I think every married couple experiences that tension. I’ve experienced that tension when I’ve said or done something that’s not good or helpful for Heather. If I ignore that or don’t address that or don’t apologize for that, it affects my closeness to her. There’s a distance we both feel. Everything changes when that comes to light, so we talk through it, I ask for forgiveness, then the door is open for intimacy to be restored. We know this in all kinds of human relationships and all the more so in relationship with God. 

So pause and ask, as you’re alone in that room, “God, what in my life right now, what in my life yesterday—since the last time I was here and we were together—what in my life has not been and is not now pleasing to you? Where have I turned away? Where am I prone to turn away? How am I not trusting your ways over my ways? How am I not trusting your ways over the ways of this world?” Pause and confess your need for God’s grace and God’s forgiveness.

If we don’t do this, there will be continual distance in our relationship with God. Repentance leads to restoration of intimate relationship with God. So do this continually, daily, throughout the day as needed, particularly in this concentrated time alone in the room with God.

Praise. Repent. Then A stands for Ask. Jesus says, “Pray like this… Give us this day our daily bread…” Ask God for what you need, what you desire in your life. On a practical level, I would encourage you, in your meeting with God, to ask for things in planned and spontaneous ways. 

We’ll start with spontaneous. Ask God for things in spontaneous ways. When you’re meeting with God, just think, “What comes to my mind when I think of what I need or want in my life, right now, according to God’s Word? What do others need or want in their lives, right now, according to God’s Word?” As different things, people and circumstances come to your mind, trust that God by his Spirit is leading you to pray in these ways. 

Sometimes our minds can start to go different directions when we’re praying. Trust that God is leading your thoughts in those different directions. Just this morning, when a particular person and circumstance came to my mind that I hadn’t thought about in a long time, I just pressed in there. For a couple minutes, I just prayed for that person and that circumstance. I’m trusting that God was leading in that. 

So stop and think what are things I can pray for, in my life, in others’ lives, Pray whatever comes to your mind. That’s spontaneous asking.

Then ask in planned ways. There are so many things that we want to pray for our lives and other lives around us. I think about praying for Heather and my kids. There are so many things I want to pray for them. I pray for their love for God, their love for others. I pray for my kids’ maturing and excelling in school. I’m going to pray for their future spouses, should the Lord leads them to marry. I pray for any future children, grandchildren. There’s just a long list of things I want for my kids.

Then I think about other family members and different friends I want to pray for. There are so many different things I want to pray for you, for our church. There are so many things in our city and around the world that I want to pray for. So for me personally, I have a document I’ve formatted. I have specific things set aside to pray for on Mondays: my family, various friends, certain things in the world, certain things for you as a church. Then there are similar lists on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I guess I could pray for all of these every single day, but I decided to split it up over a few different days. That’s just an idea that might spur your mind on to how you might do this. 

The point is, God has invited you to ask for things. He’s actually said, “You don’t have, because you don’t ask” (Jaems 4:2). So ask intentionally, in spontaneous and planned ways, obviously trusting God to answer according to his wisdom. Also ask, realizing that God has actually chosen to involve you in his work in your life, in other people’s lives, in the world through prayer.

Look at Exodus 8:13 for one example: “And the Lord did according to the word of Moses.” What a statement! God did what Moses asked. Moses prayed, then God acted. When you pray, God will act—according to his Word and his wisdom. You think, “Well, I’ve asked for things, but God’s not done it.” Yes, that’s when we trust. Again, he is God and we are not. But that doesn’t mean he’s just ignoring everything we say. No. That’s not what the Bible teaches at all. So ask.

So Praise. Repent. Ask. Then Y stands for Yield. Jesus says in Matthew 6:13 to pray this way: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” So pray, “God, please lead. God, direct my life.” That’s a good prayer to pray. 

One of the things I often do in my time alone with God in the morning is just to pray through the details of my day, as best as I know them. I know things can change, but I know I’m going to be around these people, at this time. That’s what the schedule is. So I pray for this person I’m meeting with, for this meeting I’ll be having, for this thing I’ll be doing, for this basketball practice during this I will need patience. Whatever it is, pray through it. Pray for sensitivity to God’s Spirit at every moment, for opportunities to share the gospel, to build up others, to encourage others in Christ. “Lord, help me love you with all my heart and love others as myself, as I go throughout the details of this day.” 

Then let me add one other thing, just on a practical level. This is a practice that’s extremely helpful for me in my time alone with God. Journaling. There’s no mention of journaling here, so just to be clear, I’m going beyond what Jesus is saying. This is just a practical help. When I was in middle school, somebody encouraged me to start journaling. So I did. I just wrote out prayers to God, reflections on his Word, what God was teaching me or doing in my life. Ever since then, personally, I can track what I’ve experienced. My deepest intimacy with God were times I’ve been journaling. It’s helpful for me. It helps to keep my mind focused on God as I’m spending time alone with him. I don’t write out every single thing I pray, but I write out many prayers, many reflections on God’s Word and God’s work in my life. Most mornings, I start by sitting down and writing out some prayers of praise. Then I reflect back on what God did in my life the day before in ways that lead me to praise, repent, ask or yield. I write out different verses I’m reading and pray according to them.

If you’ve never done something like this, I would encourage you to try it, maybe during these 21 days. You don’t have to come up with some elaborate system. All it takes is a piece of paper and a pen, or a device. I have a Word document titled “2024 Journal.” Super creative. I just write out the date: January whatever, 2024, then I start journaling. The next day, I do the same. The next day, do the same. Again, Jesus obviously doesn’t say to journal in Scripture, so it’s not something you need to do. But if it’s helpful, do it, knowing what Jesus does say.

So follow this. Set aside a time. Find a place. Pray. Now watch this: “…to your Father…” Oh, this is so good. This title for God is stunning in verse six and here’s why. Across 39 books in the Old Testament—the first two-thirds of the Bible—leading up to the book of Matthew, Father is used as a title for God 15 times. Only 15 times in the entire Old Testament and none of those references are about praying to God as Father. So when you turn the pages into the New Testament, into the Gospels, you have a whole new picture. In the Gospels alone—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—God is addressed as Father 165 different times. In all but one of those instances, Jesus used this title for God when he was teaching his disciples who were following him. This means that this is the gospel. This is the good news that we have all been created by God for relationship with God. We’re made to find our life in relationship with God—not apart from him, but with him. The problem is all of us have turned in some way from God, from his ways to ourselves and our own ways. We’ve all rebelled against God and sinned against him,  although it looks different in each of our lives. As a result of our sin, we’re separated from him. There is distance between us and God because of our sin. If we die in this state of separation from God, we will spend eternity distant from the goodness, love, grace and mercy of God. Rather we will spend eternity in holy judgment due to our sin. 

But the good news of the Bible—the gospel, the greatest news in the world—is that God has not left us alone in this state. God has come to us in the person of Jesus, God with us, in the flesh. Jesus has lived a life we could not live, a life with no sin. Then even though he had no sin for which to die, he chose to die on a cross to pay the price for your sin, my sin, the sins of anyone who will trust in him. Then the good news keeps getting better, because he didn’t stay dead for long. Three days later he rose from the grave. He conquered sin and death, so that anyone, anywhere, no matter who you are, no matter what you have done, if you will turn to Jesus, from your sin and yourself, and trust in him as the Savior and Lord of your life, God will forgive you of all your sin and restore you to relationship with him for all of eternity. You’re made to enjoy God, not as a distant all-powerful being, but as your father, in relationship with him. 

This then means when we pray, we don’t just pray to a distant, all-powerful being with a monotonous repetition of pious phrases. We don’t pray, “Almighty God, feared God among all gods, dreadful creator and ground of all things.” No, we come to God as children and say, “Father. Father.” Like a child who loves to see and be with his or her dad. Now I know not everybody hearing this knows what it’s like to have a good relationship with their dad, but just picture the best possible relationship between a child and a dad who loves his child, cares for his child, serves his child, knows what is best for his child, has the power to do what is best for his child, and is always, always, always working for the good of his child. Then realize this is who God is for you.

One of my favorite quotes from J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God, that I would recommend everyone read, is this: “What is a Christian? The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.” You have God as your Father. So get alone and pray to your Father who is in secret—so it’s just you and him together. 

As a son whose earthly father died years ago of a sudden heart attack, I would give just about anything to just be with my dad again. I think of my senior year in high school and the one-on-one time he spent with me particularly that year. Just me and him, preparing for life ahead. In an even great way, this is you and God, one on one with him. He’s really there with you in secret. So when you pray, you’re not just talking into the air or the ceiling or the sky. You’re talking to and with the unseen God. 

“And your Father who sees…” I love this. God sees you. What a reality! The sovereign God of the universe, who’s ruling the universe, sees you in that room alone with him. His eyes are on you. 

This morning, when I got up and went to my place alone with God—the God who is ruling the universe—he was looking at me. He was listening to me. I was pouring out my heart to him, unburdening all kinds of things that are heavy on my heart. He was listening to me and he was talking to me.

And not just me. That’s the point. For anyone, through Jesus, he has made this possible for you. When you get alone with him, he sees you. He sees all of who you are. He knows you better than you know yourself. He sees all that’s going on in your life. He sees all the things that are heavy on your heart. He sees your struggles. He sees your fears. He sees your worries. He sees your cares. He sees your questions. He sees your joys and tears. The eye of God is on you. What a thought! He sees you.

Your Father who sees you in secret “…will reward you.” Wow. That’s a promise. Notice the language here: will. Set aside a time, find a place, pray to your Father in secret, and God your Father, who sees you, will reward you. Do you realize what this is saying? There is reward, a treasure, waiting for you every day in a room alone with God, just waiting for you. Don’t leave it there. Take it. Enjoy it. Do it again tomorrow; there’s a new reward just waiting the next day, too. More reward the next day and the next day. I can testify to this time and time again when I’m going through this or that in my life that’s hard or heavy. To be honest, I confess, there are times when I don’t even want to spend time with him, yet I get alone with God. Even in my lack of desire, he meets me with his love and says, “Here’s your reward. It’s for you.” He speaks to my heart and listens to my cries, then I experience his reward. I’m sharing what goes on in my life, but it’s not just me—this is for all of us. This is for you. Reward is waiting for you with God. 

There are two other things I want to mention before we close and go into these next 21 days. One, when we talk with God, we also listen to God. This is not like one-way communication. He speaks to us by his Spirit through his Word. Our church has a Bible Reading Plan that we walk through together. I want to encourage you and invite you to follow along, unless you have some other plan you’re walking through and you don’t want to change that, which is fine. Even if you have something else, at least consider it.

Here’s why. Heather and I started doing this together many years ago, just reading through the same Bible reading plan. It’s not necessarily that we sit down and read it together, but we’re both in the same place in the morning in God’s Word, in such a way that at different points in the day, we can encourage each other with what we’ve both read. “Did you see this? Wasn’t that encouraging in this way?” We now involve our kids, the ones who are able to read in the same way. So we talk about it in family worship at night. It’s so good to share life with others who are hearing the same things from God. 

This is why we do this Bible Reading Plan together as a church family. So go to mcleanbible.org/21days and download it. It’s only two chapters a day, so it’s manageable for sure. There’s also a devotional that goes along with it called “For the Love of God.” I highly recommend that. It’s just a short devotional. Again, this is not just to check off a box, but to listen to God. I would highly encourage to join with the church family in doing this.

Then one other resource along these lines, many of you know there’s a podcast called “Pray the Word” that I do every day. It’s a short five minutes, taking one of the verses from our Bible reading and leading us to pray according to it. I hope in a way that’s a helpful tool for you in your time alone with God, or maybe when you’re getting ready in the morning, or during your commute, or your drive with your parents or your kids or friends. So this is just one potential way to help fuel this time alone with God, and doing it together through our Bible Reading Plan and “Pray the Word” Podcast.

Second, if you jump down to Matthew 6:16, you hear Jesus say these words: “And when you fast…” Now, we don’t have time to talk in depth about fasting today, but notice the language is the same. “And when you fast…” just like “And when you pray…” Jesus is saying, “Find a time to fast.” We use another acrostic—F-A-S-T—to help us remember what it means to fast.

Focus on God. The purpose of fasting is not just to get physically healthy. All kinds of nutrition plans today call for some type of fasting and that may be a great side effect, but that’s not the purpose here. The purpose is to focus on God, and definitely not to do this to be seen by others as super-spiritual. Focus on God in a particular way.

Abstain from food, setting aside food for a meal or a day or multiple days. With rare exceptions, which there certainly are, most people can do this. It may not be easy, but most people can do this. Abstain from food.

Then instead of eating for that meal or that day or those days, substitute the time you would eat with prayer and God’s Word. So it’s not just, “Well, I didn’t eat, so I fasted.” It’s not, “I missed breakfast, so I’m going to count that as a fast.” That misses the point. Instead of eating, you feast on extra time alone with God and his Word. Set aside the time you would be eating to spend extra time alone with God. Substitute that time with prayer and God’s Word. 

Then in the process, taste and see that God is good. God is better than even the most basic things we need and want in this world, like food.

We have a lot of resources for fasting on the 21 Days page. I encourage you to seek them out. Think through when, over the next 21 days, you will fast. 

This then leads right into the simple, personal, practical way I want us to close our time in God’s Word today. We’re going to do two things together. 

First, we’ve thought about being alone with God in quiet. I just think it would make sense for us, having thought about this in God’s Word, to be with God in quiet for a few minutes. Obviously in rooms like we’re in right now, we’re not alone with God. Part of the point is what we’ve seen today—go into your room and close the door, so nobody else can see or distract you. But that’s not what Sundays at church are designed to be. 

So on this Sunday, in this moment, I’d love for you to take a few quiet moments,  where you’re sitting right now, and pray. P-R-A-Y. This may be just you praying silently, or maybe you can write out a prayer on paper or on a device, not for the purpose of doing anything else. I just want to invite each of you, for the next few minutes, to spend a few quiet moments in prayer. Very rarely do we sit in silence. I think it would be really valuable for us to sit together in silence and just spend time praising God, repenting of sin, asking him for things—things in your life, in others’ lives—and yielding our lives to him.

If you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus and begun a relationship with God as your Father, you can do that right now. Pray to him. Tell God you want to know him as your Father. Confess your need for his forgiveness of your sins. Thank Jesus for dying on the cross for your sins. You can begin a relationship with God right now. You don’t have to go do a bunch of things. Just receive his love for you and enter into a relationship with him. 

Observation: What does the passage say?

1. Read Matthew 6:6 aloud as a group. Let group members share observations. Try not to move into interpretation of the passage or application of what you read quite yet. Simply share what you observe.

• What should be our posture in prayer? Is it possible for us to pray and yet be wrong in how we do it? Matthew 6:6 
• What does the passage say about fasting? Matthew 6:16-18 
• What are some unhealthy practices that Jesus warns us about prayer and fasting?  Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:7-8; Matthew 6:14-15; Luke 18:9-14
• How would you summarize Matthew 6:6 in your own words?

Interpretation: What does the passage mean?

1. Why is it important to set aside time to pray and fast? What can we learn from Jesus’ life about prayer? Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:28
2. What does it mean to meet with God in secret? Why is this important?  Matthew 6:6; Isaiah 26:20
3. Why does Jesus encourage us to pray to God as Father? How does this impact your time alone with God? Matthew 6:9; Romans 8:14–15; Romans 8:32
4. What is the reward waiting for us in prayer? Jeremiah 9:23–24
5. What are some reasons for fasting? Nehemiah 1:3–4; Psalm 34:8; Psalm 63:1–5; Luke 2:37

Application: How can we apply this passage to our lives?

1) When and where each day over the next 21 days are you going to spend time alone with God in prayer?

• Is there a step deeper that God is calling you to in prayer over the next 21 days?

2) When and how in the next 21 days are you going to fast?

•  Is there a step in fasting that God is calling you to go deeper over the next 21 days? 

3) As a Church Group Family, set aside some quiet time to reflect and pray about these questions.  

Matthew 6:6 ESV

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

SERMON RECAP

The most important part of your life is the part that no one else sees.

1) Set aside a time to meet alone with God

• Find a place, where no one sees, and with no distractions

2) Set aside time to PRAY

• Praise – Focus on God for who He is. 
• Repent – Pause and confess your need for God’s Grace 
• Ask for unplanned and unplanned things that God may bring to mind or things you or others need 
• Yield – Pray for God to lead, guide, direct your life 

3) Set aside time to FAST

• Focus on God
• Abstain from Food
• Substitute the time with prayer and God’s word
• Taste and see that God is good