How Can Believers Deepen Their Intimacy with the Lord？

I just had the privilege of sharing a few minutes ago at the Revival Conference here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and I mentioned in that sermon a friend of mine, his name is Ian Dunn. He's a pastor up in Ontario, and he hears incredibly well from God, incredibly accurate. And so the question about how we can develop our intimacy with God and our prayer life with God, I asked Ian last summer, Ian, how is it that you hear so well from God? And his answer caught me off guard a little bit. He said that he hears most often from God during his private worship times. Corporate worship is very important. I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be corporate worship. But he was telling me that during his times of private worship, where he just puts on some quiet worship music, and he's singing and adoring on God and thanking God and expressing his worship to God, it's in that context that he hears best from God. And so times of private worship really help our prayer life. Of course, issues of fasting, which is a lost practice in many, many churches and amongst many Christians. The Bible doesn't say if you fast, it says when you fast, and so the Bible assumes that we're going to be fasting. Quietness is another thing. God typically doesn't shout. He can, there's times in the Bible where it says the voice of God sounded like thunder, but most of the time, it's that still, small voice, and we don't have nearly enough quiet in our lives. I was listening not too long ago to a radio broadcast, a secular one, and they were interviewing a poet, and they were asking the poet why poetry is not being written very much anymore. And the person said, the reason poetry is not being written very much anymore is because people are not walking. We drive, and we get in the car, we turn on our music and podcasts and things of that nature, and it's slam bang, and we're going to where we're going. But when we walk, there's much more time for quietness and reflection. That not only affects poetry, but it also affects our ability to hear from God. And I'd also add to that simplicity. Our lives are way too busy. It's not just noisiness, but busyness. And the more clutter that there is in our lives, the more that that drowns out the voice of God. So, I would say if people want to improve their prayer life, increasing their private times of worship, fasting, quietness, and adding simplicity would also be helpful.