A Reflective Exercise

Taking a look at how we're living, loving and growing

“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

1 Chronicles 16:11

LAY YOUR HEAD DOWN

As I write this, I’m listening to some great music by John Lucas. This song, Lay Your Head Down, reminds us to lay our heads down, and let someone else take the weight of the world for a while:

“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”

―Hudson Taylor

Sometimes it’s helpful to pause and reflect on how we’re living.

Here are some questions that might be valuable to reflect on:

• Do I have healthy, life-giving routines and rhythms that support my relationship with God and others I love?

• What habits or routines are serving me well, and what patterns actually detract from my calling and purpose?

• What do I really need? What do I want?

• How’s my soul?

• Are my needs for connection and meaningful relationships being met well?

• What’s out of balance in my life?

• What would help to get my life routines and patterns in better alignment with my core values?

I love spending time outdoors, and I love taking time to pray out in the sheep pastures. The Great Shepherd’s voice encourages me in those moments with Him. photo Sue Kuenzi ©

Am I allowing time each day to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to my heart through His Word?

Am I addicted to screens and allowing my time to be siphoned away into the endless dopamine driven vortex, or am I feeling grounded and fulfilled as I use my time in meaningful, healthy ways?

Am I growing in maturity in my faith?

Am I cultivating secure attachment with God and others? Do I sense God’s love and affection as I spend time with Him?

Am I drawing from God’s wisdom or does my life gravitate towards the wisdom of men rather than God’s power?

The Apostle Paul says in this passage below from 1 Corinthians 2 that he didn’t come with eloquence or wisdom as he proclaimed to them the testimony about God.

Am I more focussed on the metrics of this world, or am I sharing the testimony about God?

Do I love the sound of my own voice and rely on cleverness of speech to garner attention, or am I seeking to exalt my Savior and LORD?

Am I living in ways that promote growth and maturity in myself and others, or am I squandering the time I’ve been given?

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This chapter from 1 Corinthians 2 (BSB) reminds me of what matters most.

Paul’s Message by the Spirit’s Power

1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Spiritual Wisdom
(Ephesians 1:15–23)

6Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 Rather, as it is written:

“No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no heart has imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

10But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

14The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

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Join me in prayer:

Father,

I just want to thank you for the wonder of your love.

Thank you that you have given us the mind of Christ, and yet sometimes in this very distracted, overloaded information age we live in, we fill our minds with so much noise that we aren’t listening to your voice at all.

Father, I just pray you’d forgive me for the times I don’t pay attention to your voice, and that instead I gravitate towards the things that just won’t fill me up. I know that you are the source of life, you’re the source of power, you’re the source of meaning and purpose. And you’re the One who gives us wisdom.

Your Spirit lives in us. You said that you want us to understand what you’ve freely given to us. So I just pray that you would help us to focus our hearts on you and to not get drawn into the hamster wheel of this world that’s just going nowhere.

LORD, I just don’t want to waste my time. I don’t want to spend my time and attention on things that are not eternal at all. So I just pray for freedom from those things that rob me of my focus on you and your Word. I pray that you would do a work of transformation in me, and help me to walk in your wisdom, to walk in your truth, and to live in ways that aligns with what you’ve called me to do in my life.

Help me to use my time and my focus for your purposes. And most of all, help me to cultivate a deep, secure attachment with You. Thank You that in You we are safe and loved.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen