Please Just Shut Up

If you are doing a prayer and fast or just, like me, trying to listen for direction from God. Step one is still the same. Please.  Just shut up.

I know that sounds a bit rude, but you know you’ve been told nicely that you need to be quiet to hear from God and you just haven’t listened. It’s incredibly important, so, I believe, a little rudeness is completely justified. Don’t judge me. Please. Just shut up.

You can’t hear from God with  your mouth open. Whatever you are saying isn’t as important as what God is trying to tell  you. It’s the problem I have with fasting. Fasting becomes the topic of conversation.  Folks talk about how hard it is, or how easy it is or how much they are getting out of it or how they have manipulated the “rules” to make it not really fasting at all. Please. Just shut up.

Think about it this way. By your constant mouth movement, you are not just making too much noise for you to hear from God. You are causing the same problem for those around you. We feel obliged to at least pretend to be listening so it stops us from hearing from God as well. Please. Just shut up.

I include this advice for times of prayer. Why do we equate, “Let’s Pray” with “Let’s start talking”? Prayer requires very little if any talking. He already knows everything. Do you think you are providing God with inside info when you start prayer by talking? A circle of people just listening to God is a lot more impressive than a circle of people trying to impress each other with how well they talk to God. Please. Just shut up.

There is an exception to not talking while praying. Sometimes we just need to articulate what the problem is. This is not so God can understand what the problem is, but so we can. The thing is that kind of talking we can do in our heads. It doesn’t have to be out loud. Please. So just shut up.

I have gotten in trouble in the past by telling folks to just shut up. http://www.nicksigur.com/just-shut-up/ You see. I have learned something. I learned to say “Please shut up.”

I think I’ve said way too much so I’ll just shut up.