Today we are getting new furniture. Getting new furniture is like getting a new car. The excitement level is pretty high because you don't get new furniture or a new care very often. It is not everyday that you go out and pick out a new car or furniture. And I began to wonder at what point do we stop calling it new furniture. When do we stop saying, "Oh this is my new furniture, want to see a picture." At the first stain? The first get together. When it is first sat on? It makes me a little sad to think that I bet it comes about sooner than we expect it to.
I fear that this is the same high or extreme emotions we experience after a close encounter with God. They seem to be rare in our lives, we take trips, go to conferences, attend a concert and we get a glimpse of Him. We saw a bit of Him that we either never have before or haven't in a long time. When you first get home you are so excited or filled with emotion you think it never could be taken away or diminished. You wonder how you ever got to the emotionless place you were in before this event. Because you have tasted and seen that He is good and you seriously wonder how you ever allowed for it to become normal, not extraordinary. but then it happens. It is slow, but that's why you don't even notice it. But you make little choices each day that ultimately returns you back to that emotionless state you were in before. It is like a never ending cycle and you get more and more frustrated each time the cycle happens. Because it happens every time.
But there are things you could be doing to steer clear of the downward slope in the cycle, or to not allow the crazy dips in emotion. I believe that you will still have the high and the renew of love for your Savior whenever you have an intense experience, but I want that feeling to deepen each time, not have to be restored each time.
Here are a few tips that I came up with to help you steer yourself on the path that has been created from those experiences.
Numero 1. Continue to spend time with Him
This can look different for everyone. I feel as though I have always seen it as sitting still, before Him, with your Bible open and a concentrated look on your face. And that it was always spent in the morning, for about a half an hour.
Yes it can look like that, but it does not always have to look like that. It is not a box that you check off. (sometimes it may be because of routine, but to be good at anything you need to practice it, this can be the same way)
Take time to sit quietly with Him. Practicing silencing your mind, and truly thinking about Him or just listening to what He might have for you. Maybe it is just listening to His creation give Him praise (Romans 8:19-22, speaks to this, and there are others in the scripture that talks about Creation crying out for God). Luke 19:40, if we are silent, the rocks will cry out. His creation all living things, everything He created praises Him.
It could be going for a walk or a run, and worshiping him through music in your ears. Or listening to a sermon or a video that stretches your understanding of Him.
I want you to understand that there is not a chapter in the Bible that says spending time with me looks like this. It is listening to the Holy Spirit and what the Spirit is saying you need to do today. Maybe you need to be challenged in sitting silently, do it, and practice it. Don't just do what is comfortable. (I maybe be saying you a lot, but I am saying this to myself too, I had an intense encounter with God an I do not want to fall back into my old ways)
If you want to be stretched in some of the ways you worship, or spend time with Him check out this book
Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth I first read it in Bible College and it was a struggle, in a good way, because not all the disciplines are comfortable. They aren't meant to be, enjoy it.
Numero 2- Post Reminders
We are a forgetful people. I do not think that we want to forget the love we have for God. I do not believe that we want to continue in this cycle of emotionlessness and extreme highs. But we become forgetful. We need another reminder.
In Deuteronomy 6:5 God is saying that Israel needs to love their God with all their heart, soul, and strength. Then in 6-8 He goes into how it should be upon your hearts. Youneed to be impressing it on your children (passed down). Talked about everywhere at all times. Before you sleep and when you ride.Then He says they need to be tied as symbols to your hands, on your foreheads, on your doorframes and your gates. Put them everywhere, so you will not forget.
Once those reminders do not have the desired effect, change them. Put new ones up, keep yourself from falling back down that cycle.
Numero 3- Limit your screen time.
This one might seem obvious, but with the world at our fingers tips it is so easy to just pick up the phone and start scrolling through Instagram (my favorite) or through Facebook. And then when you are 5 people deep in creeping (oh is that just me) you realize that you just spent a half an hour doing ultimately nothing. Now I am not saying get rid of the screens or the social media, because I do believe that they can be great tools. but they end up being procrastination tools rather than connection tools. I would challenge you to maybe start with a day without going on any social media, playing games, or watching TV and see what happens. I took a whole 30 days once and was amazed. I got so much reading and organizing done. I was also amazed to find that I didn't miss it that much. I was present when with friends and not on my phone. (that is so what we do too, when their is an awkward lull in group situations, instead of embracing it, or trying to fill it, we get out our phones)
Now I am not saying that you need to get rid of all of it, or maybe you do need to for a period of time. But maybe create a time frame each day, an hour or two. That is spent on your phone. And then just keep track. Ok I just spend 20 minutes on Facebook, subtract that from your time limit and that is what you have left.
I also think that sometimes when we are on social media we begin to see others' lives (or what they want us to see) and we begin to compare our lives to theirs and we start to see ourselves as less because we are not doing x, y, and z. Oh they went on another great vacation, or they bought a new house, or they just seem to always be having so much fun. (a little side note). So then we think we are not living and our lives are insignificant. But truly we only put on social media what we want others to see and usually that is the fun, and the exciting. Not the mundane and boring.
Numero 4-Do things that truly require faith
I was asked by someone recently, because they were asked in a devotional, what are you doing right now that truly requires faith? What are you doing that you cannot do on your own? What are you stepping out in that completely scares you and is way out of your comfort zone? It can be something small or something big. It does not matter It is the same in that it requires faith in God, it requires you not knowing how it is going to turn out.
Everyday the Spirit is leading us into encounters that require faith. Will you follow or will you stay put?
This could be asking someone for coffee, joining a group or club, sharing about yourself, listening to that small voice in your head and doing it. It could be picking up a new hobby or skill. It could be as simple as saying hi to someone. Asking someone, and truly caring, how they are doing? Holding a door for someone, giving someone a hug. You know when you have a feeling like you should do something, and either you let it pass or you seize it. That is requiring faith. You are trusting that you are meant to do it and that God has a plan. It could be something so simple, but to that other person it is everything.
For example I was recently on a trip, you are probably thinking what you were on a trip, Just Kidding. Anyways I was going through some of my old insecurities, well I guess they were not very old. They were very real in this moment. My insecurities of not being thought of, being left out or behind. Even at my age (I know I am not that old) these things will still come up and still affect me greatly, they bring me back to when I was a teenager and who wants to go back there am I right. I had a good cry, which is always a good thing, I cried out to God in frustration because these insecurities are so selfish and I thought I was over them. I spent some time with Him and my mom (the one person I do not have to fake it with) (Not saying I fake it often, but in this moment when I have to be in a group I did not want to be crying because I was left out) I was just silently praying for a good period of time just asking God to help me, comfort me, speak truth to me. Then someone brought a chair over to me (I was standing at this point). And I almost felt like God was saying, "Hey, you are thought of, you are not alone, but people will not think of you all the time, they are flawed. But I am not, I am always thinking of you, I will never leave you." Ya see that simple act of bringing me a chair, so insignificant to that person, but to me in that moment it was everything, it rocked me and God touched me through his people. If that person had not given me that chair, had decided to ignore that voice, I would have been comforted by God, but not in the moment. Not creating these thoughts that I can share with you now.
You might not think that those things require faith or trust, they are so simple. But you are trusting that God has a plan for that act. (Not that you are thinking, "If I am going out of my way there better be a reason." But you are just trusting that God has a reason for this urging inside of you.
There are many verses about having faith in God. We really need to work on our trust. the more time you spend and the more you listen to that voice. The more trust and faith will come naturally. Because you will notice His plan is always perfect.
Habakkuk 2:4
2 Chronicles 20:20
Numero 5- Surround yourself with people that will challenge and push you
If you return home and go right back into all of the habits and patterns of life that you had before things will not change. Life will go right back to what it is was like before you left. But if you come back and think about how you spend your time, and who you spend it with and decide to change some of those things then life will be different. We have talked about how you spend your time,
Here is another great post about redirecting your life.
But for this step you need to think about those people that essentially have what you have in a spiritual way. They push you, they challenge you. They make you want to be better just by hanging out with them. They have integrity, humility, a passion for God, all things that you would want to be true of you as well. The people you surround yourself with will rub off on you. So who do you want rubbing off on you, people that spur you towards Christ or people who pull you away from Christ.
Now I am not saying that these are the only people you hang around with. Because we are meant to be in this world, and witnessing to it. But you need to be around people that bring you closer to Him as well.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
My prayer for you is that your hope and trust will grow in the Lord and you will not doubt or fall back into your old patterns of life. Do not focus so much on not falling back into those patterns, but focus on staying with your new patterns.
