My mind is like a wild stallion, not wanting to be tamed, refusing to be ruled. It wanders wherever it wishes. It speeds ahead to the agenda of the day. It clamors for its own way. It refuses to be bridled. It won't be still. Peter tells us to bring it under control. "Gird up the loins of your mind." Put a girdle on it! Fasten it down. Make it do what you order it to. Paul says, "Bring every thought into the captivity of Christ."

I have found that it is virtually impossible for my busy mind to be still. So I found a simple tool that helps me discipline my mind. It is a 3-minute timer. I use the three-minute egg timer to keep myself focused and to spend a disciplined amount of time on each step of intercession. It is hard. It takes work. It demands time. Make yourself do it.

I begin with BE STILL and force myself to lay quietly on my face before God asking him to help me be obedient and be still. Then I push things out of my mind by saying "No" to them. I demand a complete 3 minutes of a quiet mind and heart before allowing myself to go on.

I punish my mind for wandering by tacking on another 3-minutes when I perceive that my mind has not been quiet - that is, it has not been brought into subjection to the obedience to Christ. "Be still" is a command, not a suggestion!

Sometimes it takes me five or six flips of the timer until my spirit and mind begin to slow down and obey. That's 18 minutes! I have had to spend as much as 36 minutes getting quiet in God's presence before moving on. Hurry is the enemy of prayer. Hurry and busy-ness is what has always kept you out of God's throne room. Satan knows that if he can get us worried about going somewhere, or doing some thing, we will not be where we should be to receive God's approval and blessing.

Your mind is not used to focusing on one item. Your spirit is not disciplined and will want to hurry. Do not hurry! It is Satan who is pushing out of the presence of God. Corral that wild stallion! Make yourself spend time with God. That is what intercession is all about. It is not about asking many things from God. Spend time with God getting to know Him in unhurried preparation. God did not come to Adam in the cool of the day to check up on his progress or productivity in the garden of Eden. God came to spend time with his friend.

You goal IS NOT supplication. You goal is INTIMACY WITH GOD. It may be months before you get far enough along to walk through all 12 Steps in one sitting (kneeling). But Your goal is not to do the steps. Your goal is to be intimate with the lover of your soul. Get familiar with the holy place. Get known before the throne. Spend time with God. Enoch "walked with God" and he was not because "God took him." God wanted the fellowship with Enoch, not Enoch's productivity.