So I'm sitting here with smoke almost literally rolling out of my ears.
I just got done looking through my 254 new emails. Many were spam but many were important information: updates on accounts I have, ministry training, lesson ideas, articles about social justice, updates on youth ministry events. I cannot believe the amount of information that comes into my life each day. Why is it necessary for me to have so many emails?
I'm reading like six books right now other than Bible study. I read numerous magazine & journal articles about faith and culture and generational studies. I try to stay current with world news. I meet new people almost everyday and try to remember their names. And sometimes it can all be a little overwhelming.
So in one of those six books I'm reading, I came to this line this week: Then I began to think about my life, my journey. I knew that God had been affecting a change in my life - the era of constant activity with no prayer was over.
Did you hear that?
No I guess you didn't. You probably read it.
Let me say the shocking part again: the era of constant activity with no prayer was over.
That is not a statement we hear very often in our society. Usually everything we see or are taught points us to greater activity rather than less. But that's, of course, if you see prayer as inactivity.
We live in this world of craziness and I'm the number one subscriber. But these words, they are haunting me this week. Maybe I'm not supposed to keep up with all of this activity - all of this information. Maybe I'm supposed to build margin into my life. Maybe I'm supposed to slow down. Maybe I'm supposed to give God some room to work in my life. Maybe I'm supposed to pray, trusting that God is going to take care of things.
But the real question I have is, how do we do that? How do we stop doing so much stuff? What are the things that are going to have to change in my life? What will I have to give up? What sacrifices will I have to make to move to more prayer and less activity?
Let me know how you are building margin and space into your life this week.
7 hours ago
2 comments:
Me? I feel guilty, because it doesn't seem like I'm doing enough!
I've got all this time now, to just sit around and do nothing..
I wonder if there's something that I need to be doing. Reaching out somehow. Even when I am doing things, I feel like it's not enough.
My question is..that when we do have time, or room for God...how do use this time? Is there an "on/off" switch that tells Him it's alright to teach us? Or do I send Him an email, with a scheduled appointment for Him to come into my life and teach me something new.
Obviously it doesn't work like that, because we live under His perfect timing, and His will..
But how do I get my free time, to coincide with His perfect timing?
I know it's hard sometimes to just switch into that listening to God mode. And I also know it can be very hard to understand God's voice or hear it at all. Something that I learned once really helped me with this issue. I was told that to understand God's voice, we need to look at five things: God's Word, prayer, the church, circumstances, and other Godly people. When several of these start matching up, then we can probably understand that God is trying to tell us something. Another matter in this whole discussion though, is our false belief that we have to "do something" to reach up to God. I believe that the Bible and my experiences clearly show me that God is searching and reaching down to me. One huge example is the fact that Jesus came down to earth in the form of a man to die for us when we weren't even looking for Him. Romans 5:8 tells us: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Some other really good things to read are Ezekiel 34; Luke 15; and Romans 8. I think all of these chapters really show God's passionate love and desire for us to the point that He is seeking us. I hope this starts to help a little.
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