Seeking Stillness in a season of business
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Stillness In the Midst of Business
It's no secret that life can be filled with many obligations that can press us short on time and especially energy.
Many of us crave "me time" but fill it with distractions instead of understanding that what we truly crave is stillness and rest. Which can only be found at the feet of Jesus. It can be easy to seek a counterfeit of what Jesus offers us by trading it for immediate gratification and distractions such as our phones, Netflix, and more.
So then how can we as individuals take steps towards daily stillness and submission before Christ? When picking up our phones, turning on the TV, or distracting ourselves with worldly things feels easier in our state of exhaustion than choosing intimacy and picking up The Word and seeking strength from Christ...how do we start to pursue the latter more instead of the former?
God's word tells us in Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
First, we must understand that intentional stillness before the Lord is being in His presence with the desire to have an intimate relationship with Him. The biproduct is that He will refresh us and strengthen us with His love. This doesn't mean we won't have days where we are simply tired and weary, but when we are intentionally entering into the throne room of grace we can trust that His grace will cover us and that we don't have to rely on our own strength in the business of our lives, but His.
We so often seek temporary stillness and peace in the things around us. We search amidst the temporary and ordinary for something only an extraordinary and sacrificial God can give us. Peace isn't found in Netflix, scrolling, your accomplished to do list, perfect grades, etc. They might make you feel good temporarily (and we aren't saying these things are bad), but when we are choosing to use the time God has given us each day and fill it with temporary things that our eternal souls won't actually be refreshed by, we will find life more stressful and will be more prone to the fiery darts of the enemy.
Second, we need to come at this from a grace filled approach.
God doesn't want you operating under perfection and performance. It's ok to have a clear goal for spending time with God...but each day looks different, and when you run into a hiccup in the road, or your day simply isn't going as planned, the last thing God wants you to do is step into guilt, shame, and self-accusation because things didn't go like how you wanted them to.
Work with the day instead of against it!
God's grace is big enough and wide enough to cover your messy to do lists and busy days. If you have an extra five minutes to yourself, take that time to pray, listen for the Lord, recite scripture, etc.
Lastly, we need to humble ourselves and ask the Lord to help us and cause us to want to spend intimate time with Him, that through our obedience and His love, He will change our hearts and help us to prioritize time with Him, especially when worldly things that offer temporary reprieve pull at us. We need to understand that we can't do this in our own strength. Our flesh wants to pull us towards instant gratification when we are stressed and exhausted, while our spirit craves presence and relationship with the Lord, which will give us the refreshment we need.
Below is a prayer you can pray today for stillness which will also conclude this week's blog post. Thank you so much for reading, and we pray you would have a blessed week!
Many of us crave "me time" but fill it with distractions instead of understanding that what we truly crave is stillness and rest. Which can only be found at the feet of Jesus. It can be easy to seek a counterfeit of what Jesus offers us by trading it for immediate gratification and distractions such as our phones, Netflix, and more.
So then how can we as individuals take steps towards daily stillness and submission before Christ? When picking up our phones, turning on the TV, or distracting ourselves with worldly things feels easier in our state of exhaustion than choosing intimacy and picking up The Word and seeking strength from Christ...how do we start to pursue the latter more instead of the former?
God's word tells us in Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
First, we must understand that intentional stillness before the Lord is being in His presence with the desire to have an intimate relationship with Him. The biproduct is that He will refresh us and strengthen us with His love. This doesn't mean we won't have days where we are simply tired and weary, but when we are intentionally entering into the throne room of grace we can trust that His grace will cover us and that we don't have to rely on our own strength in the business of our lives, but His.
We so often seek temporary stillness and peace in the things around us. We search amidst the temporary and ordinary for something only an extraordinary and sacrificial God can give us. Peace isn't found in Netflix, scrolling, your accomplished to do list, perfect grades, etc. They might make you feel good temporarily (and we aren't saying these things are bad), but when we are choosing to use the time God has given us each day and fill it with temporary things that our eternal souls won't actually be refreshed by, we will find life more stressful and will be more prone to the fiery darts of the enemy.
Second, we need to come at this from a grace filled approach.
God doesn't want you operating under perfection and performance. It's ok to have a clear goal for spending time with God...but each day looks different, and when you run into a hiccup in the road, or your day simply isn't going as planned, the last thing God wants you to do is step into guilt, shame, and self-accusation because things didn't go like how you wanted them to.
Work with the day instead of against it!
God's grace is big enough and wide enough to cover your messy to do lists and busy days. If you have an extra five minutes to yourself, take that time to pray, listen for the Lord, recite scripture, etc.
Lastly, we need to humble ourselves and ask the Lord to help us and cause us to want to spend intimate time with Him, that through our obedience and His love, He will change our hearts and help us to prioritize time with Him, especially when worldly things that offer temporary reprieve pull at us. We need to understand that we can't do this in our own strength. Our flesh wants to pull us towards instant gratification when we are stressed and exhausted, while our spirit craves presence and relationship with the Lord, which will give us the refreshment we need.
Below is a prayer you can pray today for stillness which will also conclude this week's blog post. Thank you so much for reading, and we pray you would have a blessed week!
Prayer for Stillness
"Lord, I come into your throne room of grace with praise and worship. I worship you and praise you as Almighty God, King of Kings, Adonai, Yeshua, you are wonderful, Lord. Thank you for all the provisions of the blood, and every blessing you have given me. Father, I pray in Jesus name that you would help me to prioritize daily stillness with you in the midst of my busy days. I confess that I can't make myself perfect, and that sometimes it feels easier to pick up my phone or distract myself with temporary things instead of trusting that you will give me the refreshment and peace I crave. Help me to honor you in this and come at this from a grace filled approach. Help me to love and crave Your word, and presence. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
"Lord, I come into your throne room of grace with praise and worship. I worship you and praise you as Almighty God, King of Kings, Adonai, Yeshua, you are wonderful, Lord. Thank you for all the provisions of the blood, and every blessing you have given me. Father, I pray in Jesus name that you would help me to prioritize daily stillness with you in the midst of my busy days. I confess that I can't make myself perfect, and that sometimes it feels easier to pick up my phone or distract myself with temporary things instead of trusting that you will give me the refreshment and peace I crave. Help me to honor you in this and come at this from a grace filled approach. Help me to love and crave Your word, and presence. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
Posted in quiettime, stillness, atthefeetofjesus, Godisgood, biblestudytime, prayerworks, faithoverfear
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