A mystic is someone who experiences communication from and/or conscious awareness of God. Everyone has the potential for mysticism.

In fact, God communicates with most people everyday. However, most of us discount or drown out His voice. We think it is our own thinking. Or it gets lost in the flood of thoughts and images than run through our mind everyday.

Here are a few keys to unlock the mystic in you:

* Sincerely ask God to speak to you. You can use this Biblical phrase (or ask in your on words): “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

* Take some time to be still and quiet and pay attention to the thoughts or impressions that enter your mind and/or heart.

* Resist any thoughts or impressions that attack, devalue, or put you down.

* Pay close attention to any thoughts or impressions that bring insight or touch your heart in a positive or healing way, or instruct you on a better way to live. Cultivate those thoughts.

* Get in nature. Go for a walk in the woods, in a park, on a beach, in a field, by a creek, river or ocean, on a hill or a mountain. Look at the starry night sky. Observe the sights and sounds around you and the uplifting voice within you.

* Read books written by experiential followers of Jesus from ages past. Read the stories and testimonies of people who have been transformed by God. A great place to start is with the Gospels and the book of Acts in the New Testament.

* Repeat the name of Jesus over and over. Continually say this ancient prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

* Avoid watching, listening to, reading, or thinking about things that are disrespectful, vulgar, mean, hostile, or unkind. These things will drown out the voice of God in you.

* Write down what you hear/experience God saying to you. Then read it often.

* Find a friend who hears from God and openly share your experiences with each other.

Here is a Rufus Jones quote: “If God ever spoke God is still speaking.” Why not take some time and listen?