How To Pray When You Are Out Of Words

How To Pray When You Are Out Of Words

  

Reading Time: 4 min 35 sec

I flopped down, my head buried in my hands and gasped to God, “I am here…barely. I got nothing. No words. No thoughts. I don’t even know what to pray.” I just sat there.  My mind, my body just too numb to move.

 

We all go through times in our lives where we are so physically and emotionally depleted that we have no words, no thoughts, and no energy with which to pray. We can feel like we have hit rock bottom with not even enough energy to call out to God for help.

 

This feeling of exhaustion can creep slowly into our lives or hit us like a freight train; one minute we feel fine, and the next we are on the floor gasping for breath. Life changes, busy schedules, addictions, tragedy, fear of the future, sin, or worry, can brutally strip away our feelings of self-sufficiency, leaving us feeling breathlessly vulnerable.

 

These are times when our illusions of control are shattered and we are left staring at the pieces of our lives.  How do we ask God for help when we are a blubbering mess? When we have no idea how to troubleshoot the pain in our lives?  How do we pray when we don’t even know what we need?

1. Remove Distractions

2. Be Present

3. Let Go 

 

 

1. Remove Distractions 

 

It can be easy when we are utterly wiped to sink into a quagmire of intense navel-gazing. You laugh but it can be so true.  We can so quickly turn inward, trying desperately to find the exit out of this hole of misery.  

 

When we are in the depths of despair (a little drama, to see if you are still with me 🙂 we can be so worn out that all we want to do is indulge in activities that numb the pain. Chocolate, longer hours at work, losing ourselves in social media, an increase of activities, you name it, we’ve explored it.

 

We have this idea that going to God is WORK.  We feel already beaten down and we don’t have the mental energy to have a conversation with the almighty God.

 

Before we can even come to God in prayer we have to make a conscious decision to stop burying ourselves in distractions to try to handle the pain. Those distractions are band-aids which do nothing to heal the hemorrhaging inside our hearts.

 

Unlike the world, we can go to God in our agony and know that he can handle anything we put before him. Stepping away from our latest Netflix binge is a way we can actively participate in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  

 

That means that whether we feel like it or not, broken and battered, exhausted and discouraged, we are invited to put down our empty distractions and create space for God to speak.

 

 

2.  Be Present  

 

God, in our place of utter vulnerability, gently invites us into a with God life.  Jesus talking to ordinary people in Mathew 11:28-30 says this,

 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

 

God is inviting us to learn how to rest and live life with him. We do this by setting aside distractions and THEN making the conscious decision to spend time with Jesus. Easier said, then done, right?

 

Even when we go to spend time with God, it can be a challenge to remain present with him.  It can be so easy to move into a place of mental gymnastics, desperately trying to figure out solutions to our issues on our own.

 

So how can we be present with the one who is ever present with us?  

 

Here are Some Ideas:

 

  1. Invite God into this moment. Ask for his grace to help you be with him. If you get distracted, gently pull your thoughts back towards him. This is a time where there are no expectations. You are just intentionally carving out time to be with God. No words are necessary.

 

  1. Take a walk or sit in silence with God. Notice the intricacies of creation around you.

 

  1. Pull out blank paper and colored pencils or paints. Start doodling what’s on your heart. No rules.

 

  1. Spend some time drawing words that encapsulate how you are feeling. Ask God to speak to you during this time.

 

  1. Read Matthew 11:28-30 slowly several times. Is there a word or phrase that jumps out at you? Bring it before the Lord and just sit with it. What would look like to live freely and lightly?

 

It can feel awkward to initially be quiet before God.  You can feel this pressure like you should be doing something.  But the amazing thing about friendship with God is that you can sit together in the good and tough times and find rest in his presence.  

 

3. Let Go 

When we present ourselves, the Holy Spirit is faithful to show up, often when we feel like NOTHING is happening.  He serves as our advocate, confidant, and friend. When we are broken, weary, or desperately seeking relief, he goes to bat for us.  

Paul in Romans 8:26-28, describes the role of the Holy Spirit this way,

 

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.

He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

 

I love how it says that the Holy Spirit ‘knows us better than we know ourselves’.

Our comfort in times of intense vulnerability and pain is that we don’t have a plan, we don’t have to find the perfect words, we don’t need to know what we need, the Holy Spirit is already at work, advocating for our good.

 

When we actively participate in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives by being present with God, he is faithful to transform our pain into something beautiful. He brings about the transformation of our souls and a deeper intimacy with the Father.  We live with expectancy knowing God is at work in our lives.

 

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide (below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families. 


What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to talking to God when you have no words?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!   

 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
How to Make God A Priority Now

How to Make God A Priority Now

  

Reading Time: 5 min 8 sec

Do you ever wonder how to make God a priority? Do you ever feel like your relationship with God takes permanent residence on the back burner of your life? 

 

The early seasons of The Office, a sitcom based on typical office dynamics, are a great picture of what life feels like before encountering a deep relationship with Jesus; everything looks drab, lifeless, and boring. You watch the employees express their feelings of discontent, and see the hopelessness on their faces as they move about their everyday tasks just waiting for the clock to hit 5pm.  They desire more to life (even a different office) but they don’t how to get there.

 

Do you ever feel stuck when it comes to your relationship with God?  You want to want more of Jesus but life just seems to be getting in the way?

 

Your time with him can consist of scattered prayers, hit or miss devotions, or primarily when you make it to a Sunday morning service.  You might hear an uplifting sermon, or the worship really seems to resonate, and your heart is stirred with a desire for more.  However, the wet blanket reality of Monday morning falls and all thoughts of the divine fly out the window. A deep life with God can feel like a dream, but not a pressing priority when you have kids to feed, dirty jerseys to wash, and projects at work hanging over your head. 

 

When you finally grab a moment for yourself, the last thing you want to do is crack open your current devotional because it can feel like more work.

 

You feel guilty, discontented, and stuck.  So how do you live a vibrant, exciting, life with God?  

  1. How to Increase Your Desire For God

2. How to Create Elbow Room

3. How to Live Life In Community 

 

 

1. How to Increase Your Desire For God 

 

Seriously, the Holy Spirit is your best friend when it comes to making God a priority in your life (actually, everything laughing)  making God a priority in your life. As we journey down the road towards deeper intimacy with the Father, we have no clue what we truly need. NONE. ZIP. NADDA. We might think we do but we really don’t.

 

You see the beautiful thing about a relationship with the Holy Spirit is that he has our best interests at heart. He knows our innermost selves, the part that we don’t even fully understand, and if we work with him, he will so graciously lead us by the hand into deeper intimacy with the God.

 

The fact is we can’t self-help our way into a deeper relationship with God. Inner transformation is 100% the Holy Spirit’s job (trust me, we don’t want it).  

What we are responsible for is actively participating in what the Holy Spirit is already doing in our lives.  

 

So how do we make God a priority in our life?  First, by asking the Holy Spirit for an increased desire for God.  

 

Every morning, start the day with this simple prayer, “Father, increase my hunger for you today. Let me desire you above all things.”

 

Seriously, it all begins with prayer. Prayer is an active participation in what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. When we ask, he is faithful to answer.

 

2.  Create Elbow Room 

 

 If we want to experience freedom, peace, and the lavish, unconditional love of God, we need to create some elbow room for the Holy Spirit to work. If we look at our lives, there is so much noise, it’s no wonder we feel like we can’t hear God’s voice, we barely can hear our own.  

 

I love how Dallas Willard put it, when he said, “You Must consider why you have no time to spend with the Father.”

 

This is not meant to be a shame-based question but a time of exploration.  What things fill up your days?

 

Choosing to make that intentional decision every day to take ten to twenty minutes and spend it with God is where a deeper intimacy with him develops. You get a taste for the over the top love and acceptance of the Father and instead of trying to remember to spend time with God, you want to include him in every facet of your day.

 

 This quote from C.S. Lewis really encapsulates this idea, “It’s funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different.”

 

A life-changing, deep relationship with God all starts with a simple choice every day. To say yes to spending time with God, even when it feels like nothing is happening or it’s a waste of time.

 

It’s amazing that when you ask the Holy Spirit for a deeper desire for more of God, it actually happens.  And it gets easier to make space each day to spend time with God.   

 

3. Live Life Together In Community

Life with God is designed to happen not in isolation, but in community with others. I cannot stress this enough, you need to have authentic relationships with other Christians who are going for it in their relationships with Jesus.  

 

Ruth Haley Barton talks about the power of life in community this way, “The purpose of journeying together in spiritual friendship and spiritual community (whether there are just two of you or whether you are in a small group) is to listen to one another’s desire for God, to nurture that desire in each other and to support one another in seeking a way of life that is consistent with that desire.”

You need the support structure of a Christian community. You need Spiritual Friendships based on trust where you can be real.   

There is a well-known story (with multiple variations), about a Sunday School, where the teacher asked the children this question, “What is brown, furry, has a big tail, and collects nuts for winter?” One boy piped up and said, “Well, it sounds like a squirrel, but I am going to go ahead and say, Jesus.”

We need a Spiritual Community where we feel safe to say the real thing, not the “right thing”.   We can find this by regularly participating in a church community through services, small groups, serving others, and close spiritual friendships.

 

This foundation is not optional but CRITICAL to your overall growth and maturity as a Christian.

 

We need others to come alongside us and affirm what God is doing in our lives. When we develop relationships of trust and vulnerability it allows others to speak Gods truth into our lives. Spiritual Friendships encourage us to press on in pursuit of a love relationship with Jesus. 

 

So how do you make God a priority in your life?  Start off by daily asking for a deeper desire for him, create elbow room for the Holy Spirit to work, and live life together in community with others.

 

Wondering where to go from here?  Here are some of my favorite resources to get started:

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide (below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families. 

 

 

What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to creating elbow room for God in your life?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!   

How to Experience God When You Hit A Plateau

How to Experience God When You Hit A Plateau

  

Reading Time: 5 min 5 sec

Have you ever felt stuck in your relationship with God?  Things are moving along beautifully, your times with God are rich, and you are growing in your faith. You feel like every day the Holy Spirit is revealing something new, and you are hungry for more of God in your life.

 

And then suddenly, almost overnight your relationship with God seems to come to a grinding halt?  

 

You are still doing everything you did before, but those practices seem to have lost their effectiveness. You start to wonder what is going on as you continue to slog through your daily devotional and toss up some prayers to God throughout the day.

 

You went from excited, your heart full with love for God, to a feeling of emptiness. It feels like you aren’t on the same wavelength with Jesus anymore.

 

The longer this feeling of emptiness prevails the harder it is to find the motivation to keep actively seeking God. Honestly, you start to feel like it’s a waste of time. You know God loves you, but right now you just feel dead inside.

 

You long for the passion of yesterday, you desire to know and experience God, but you are at a loss as to how to move forward.  What do you do when you reach a plateau in your relationship with God? 

  1. The Journey

2. God’s Invitation

3. The Power of Community

 

 

1. The Journey

 

EVERY follower of Jesus goes through periods of time when it feels like we are talking to an empty room.  You know you have reached a plateau when one of your friends starts waxing eloquent about their amazing relationship with God and you want to clock them. (Did I say that out loud? smile)

 

You can breathe a sigh of relief because everyone (even great men and women of faith) have experienced plateaus in their walk with God! Yay! That should be encouraging news! 

 

The commentary from Life with God Bible actually speaks to this topic,“God is intentionally present to us in our spiritual infancy and then allows us to be increasingly “on our own” as we spiritually mature. God works to establish a balance between his presence and his “seeming absence” so that we will develop character.” 

 

So, throughout our relationship with God, he arranges times for us to be on our own. He is ALWAYS present but sometimes he will withdraw his tangible presence so that we can develop character and a profound hunger for a deeper experience of God.

 

Your feelings of dissatisfaction and desire for more of Jesus is a huge sign that God IS on the move in your life!  So, YAY! When you reach a seeming plateau this is great news because it means that you are entering a new season and maturing in your faith.  I would encourage you to stop and celebrate how far you have come in your relationship with God.

 

 

2.  God’s Invitation

 

Okay, so how do we partner with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we enter this new season?  First, we need to understand that some of the tools that may have worked in the past such as devotionals, prayers, spiritual books, etc.  might not fit this new period of your relationship with God.

 

Instead of trying to finish or press on with a resource give yourself permission to place it on a shelf. You can always come back and reacquaint yourself with that resource in the future. Our goal is not to finish a devotional, but to partner with the Holy Spirit in what he is currently doing in our lives.  

 

So, how do you know what tools would be a good fit for this new season?  

 

Ask yourself the question: What is God Inviting me into?  What draws you and sparks your interest? What tool feels invitational to you when you think about an aspect of your walk with God?

 

Do you feel a desire to go deeper in prayer?  Are you hungry for authentic Christian relationships?  Do you crave a deeper dependence upon God?  Do you want to weave prayer into your everyday life?  Do you want to experience the lavish love of God?

 

If you are struggling to figure out what God is inviting you into, here are two more questions that you can ask yourself, “What Things Are You Talking to God About Right now?” and “How are you most aware of God in Your Life today?”  The answers to these questions will be a great starting place for you to explore.

 

As with everything, talk to God about your desires and ask him to provide the right tools for this season of your life.

 

Here are some resources that I LOVE to help get you started: 

3. The Power of Community

As a follower of Jesus, we were not designed to live life on our own, but in community with others.  One of the great ways that we can partner with the Holy Spirit is to live in relationship with other Christians.  

Yes, it is messy.  Yes, it can be at times uncomfortable. The church is full of broken people who are all dependent upon God’s lavish love and grace.  However, investing in authentic relationships built on trust with other Christians is CRUCIAL to your ongoing growth. 

 

Ruth Haley Barton really unpacks the power of community here, “The purpose of journeying together in spiritual friendship and spiritual community (whether there are just two of you or whether you are in a small group) is to listen to one another’s desire for God, to nurture that desire in each other and to support one another in seeking a way of life that is consistent with that desire.”

 

We need other people to come alongside us and affirm what God is doing in our lives. When we develop relationships of trust and vulnerability, it allows others to speak Gods truth into our lives. Spiritual Friendships encourage us to press on in pursuit of a love relationship with Jesus. 

 

So how do we find and develop authentic, nurturing relationships with other Christians?

 

You can seek to develop spiritual community in your local church, through small groups, and one on one friendships.  You can develop relationships with the intercessors, who will cover you in prayer.

 

This won’t happen by chance. You have to pray and intentionally seek out friendships with people who are going for it in their relationship with God.

 

If you desire to embrace all that God has for you in this new season; I would encourage you to celebrate where you are, ask God what he is inviting you into, and intentionally seek out authentic Spiritual Friendships with others.

 

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide (below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families. 


What about you? What is God inviting you into in this new season?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!   

 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
What Happened When I Got Sick and Tired of Superficial Faith

What Happened When I Got Sick and Tired of Superficial Faith

  

Reading Time: 5 min 38 sec

Do you as you get done with the endless rounds of church services, volunteering shifts, small groups, and food pantry donations, ever stop short and ask yourself, “Is this all there is?”.   

 

Seriously, do you ever feel like a poser always projecting this vibrant relationship with God when frankly you are not even sure you could tell the difference between his voice and the pizza you had for dinner last night?

 

Do you ever feel like all your running around for God leaves you feeling even emptier inside?  Your devotions and all your knowledge of God feel pointless because it never seems to transfer into real life?

 

You feel discouraged, unmotivated, and maybe even a little guilty. This is not what you imagined a living breathing, relationship with God would look like.

 

I was there. I had reached the end of what I could work up for God. My endless doing for God felt exhausting, overwhelming and never enough.   My relationship felt stagnant like someone had pressed pause, and no conference on the earth was going to change that outcome.  

 

I grew more desperate as the dissatisfaction continued to grow. There had to be more to a relationship with God than my current experience of him.

 

So, what do you do when you reach a wall in your relationship with God that you can’t scale, you can bury under, and you can’t knock down?

 

  1. The Desperation

2. The Invitation

3. The Transformed Life

 

 

1. The Desperation

 

I grew up in the church. I was there every time the doors were open. I was involved in various ministries, attended all the classes, and pursued learning as much as I could about God and how to be a good Christian.

 

I went on staff at a local church and served as part of their elementary team and later as their youth pastor. I created and led events that were designed to help students and their families grow deeper in their faith.  I was all about producing more, accomplishing more, and working more all in an effort to prove my worth not only to others but to God.  

 

I would run from conference to event to workshop hunting for an encounter with God all the while burying this deep sense of dissatisfaction and exhaustion. I believed the lie that “good Christians” (especially in ministry) don’t give up, they stick with it. I found myself running from one thing to the next trying to serve my way into encountering God’s love and approval.

 

If you would have asked me I would have told you that without a doubt God’s love for me was not conditional on my performance. And that there was nothing I could do to make God love me any more or any less than he did right now. I  thought I believed it, but I obviously hadn’t experienced God’s transforming love. 

 

Can I tell you that it is exhausting to try and outperform God? Okay, that might be a little over dramatic (:) but it felt like the harder I “ministered for Jesus” the more dissatisfied I became.  My quiet times felt stale and lifeless and I couldn’t figure out where to go from here.

 

2. The Invitation

 

I had grown up hearing stories of men and women of faith. Who not only exemplified the fruits of the spirit (the holy grail of the Christian life) but who even more surprisingly had actual deep relationships with Jesus.

They had actual conversations with God which were captivating because if I were honest, my conversations with Jesus were more me talking and him listening.  They completely surrendered their lives to God, it wasn’t always pretty, and yet shockingly they were at peace.  That’s it, I thought, I want what they have. Little did I know that an invitation was about to be presented to me.

 

I was sitting in a staff meeting when I first heard about several people I respect journeying through a book (Journey with Jesus) that was based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatian. I wasn’t familiar with St. Ignatius at the time, and a coming from a conservative evangelical background I was leery of anything with a saint in front of it. 🙂 

 

However, I remember sitting there and hearing the stories of these leaders whose lives, ministries, and intimacy with Jesus were transformed. I knew this was something I had to check out.  

One of the things that I learned about St. Ignatius is that he was a man who strongly desired to help others encounter a deep experience of Jesus. The key for me was the word Experience. I did not need more head knowledge about God, I wanted a relationship with him.  

 

 The process was a little daunting, you commit to nine months of not only meeting with God for an hour a day but also meeting regularly with a Spiritual Friend. After time spent in prayer I felt like this was God’s bold invitation to me.   

 

I am not going to lie. This experience cost me something. I had to rearrange my life so I could participate in this journey. 

 

As a mom, who at the time had several kids under the age five (and a brand-new puppy), finding an hour to meet with God each day was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I had to be creative when it came to carving out time with Jesus. But it was so necessary for my soul.

 

3. The Surrendered Life

Those nine months (that actually stretched into a year and a half) changed my life. Through daily scripture reading, prayer, silence, and hands-on activities, I encountered the lavish never-ending love of the Father.

 

I discovered that as I experienced God’s love by indentity started to undergo a transformation. God used this tool (for that is all that it is) in my life to allow me to experience the height and depth and breadth of his lavish love.  It was like a breath of fresh air. Finally, I could cease striving to try to prove my worth and rest in my identity as one chosen, adopted and unconditionally loved by my Father in heaven.

 

I learned that the basis of my relationship with God is learning how to be rooted and grounded in love. It is out of my great love relationship with him that I can, in turn, share his love with others.   

 

My whole paradigm shifted, my identity, security, and outlook on life changed drastically. I don’t have to jump from conference to conference trying to figure out the missing key to a deep relationship with God.  My relationship with God has grown significantly. I get to step off the treadmill of performance and  actively participate with the Holy Spirit in my life.

 

 I am, like all of us, on a journey. Every day, I discover something new, and it feels like I am just scratching the surface of a relationship with Jesus.  Life is still challenging but you get to rest in the peace that you are unconditionally loved by God. This changes EVERYTHING!

 

You get to embrace of life of freedom instead of constantly worrying about how you measure up.  You get to live everyday in anticipation for you know there is SO MUCH MORE to a relationship with Jesus.

 

So, my friends, are ready to experience God on a deeper level? Here are some ways that you can get started in actually EXPERIENCING the love of the Father.

 

Everyone’s journey to a deeper life with God is different. If you feel drawn to the Ignatian Exercises you can check out this book Journey with Jesus by Larry Warner. I love it because it is written in a very accessible and experiential way. You actually get to participate in activities that help create space for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Did I make it clear that I LOVE  it? 🙂

 

If that seems like a bit much, to take on right now, I would suggest reading Surrender to Love by David Benner. It is a short but powerful book (its worth it even if you hate reading) that has played a huge part in my walk with Jesus.  

 

I pray that you will experience the height, depth, and breadth of God’s lavish love for you.

You will never be the same. 

                            

 

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide(below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families. 

What about you? What is God’s invitation to you?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!   

 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
How to Spend Time With Jesus When It’s Hard

How to Spend Time With Jesus When It’s Hard

  

Reading Time: 5 min 41 sec

Do you ever feel like a failure when it comes to your relationship with God? Your pastor, your friends, and your soul all tell you that daily time is crucial for your faith, but you just can’t seem to meet consistently with him. 

 

You occasionally hear about the lives of great men of faith and something in you stirs, you long for deep intimacy with the Father, but that longing never seems to translate into real life.  You plan to wake up early and spend time with God, and then you oversleep your alarm. You know waking up early will never happen so you plan on meeting with God after dinner, and then your spouse wants to take you out on a date.

 

Every day it seems like your grand intentions of spending time with Jesus are forced aside due to something. Your kid wakes up with a nightmare, your boss e-mails you with a question, your spouse is watching tv and you want to hang out, the mountains of laundry that need to be folded, and frankly, you are tired and you don’t want to do something you “should” do.

 

Good things are truly the enemy of great things.  There will always be a thousand reasons, excuses, emergencies, and opportunities for you not to spend time with Jesus.

 

But what could your life look like if you spent time with Jesus every day? How would your heart transform? Your attitudes and your interactions with others?

C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, Corrie Ten Boom, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer all started their walks with God where you are right now! It’s not too late to experience a deeper life with God.

  1. The Foundation

2. Reordering Your Life Around Jesus

3. Tools for the Changing Seasons

 

 

1. The Foundation 

 

Your father in heaven lavishly loves you regardless of whether or not you have gone three days without spending time with him. He is not a punitive God, ready to heap fire and brimstones on your head. His over the top love for you is not based on your performance. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or any less than he does right now. 

 

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”

 

This love that is overflowing with grace is the foundation for your entire relationship with God.  How can we go beyond a surface relationship with God? How can we experience a deeper life with God?   

 

First, by taking some time to ask ourselves, why do you want to experience a deeper life with God? Do you feel resistance to having devotions? List those reasons (ex. It seems like a waste of time, nothing ever happens, there is so much to do, I mess up so much that God doesn’t want to spend time with me etc.)  Really examine your heart and be real.  Is it because you feel like you should spend time with Jesus because that’s what good Christians do? Or because you know it will be good for you? What is your reason?

 

There is no right answer. Your father in heaven has been pursuing you since the moment of your existence. Regardless of where you are talk to God about your resistance, your thoughts, and feelings, and ask for a deeper desire for him.

 

Do you know that every time you show up and are present that you bring joy to God?  Every time you make the small choice to say yes to spending time with Jesus and no to something else (even good things) you fill his heart with joy.

 

 

2. Reordering Your Life Around Jesus 

 

A couple of years ago I trained for a half marathon. When I decided to race, I knew it was going to take more than a goal and fancy running plan. I woke up every morning at 5am.   I ran through blisters and cramps, I ran when it was the last thing I wanted to do, and I kept running when I was tired, hot, and discouraged. I ran for hours.

 

 I reordered my life to accomplish my goal. It took sacrifices. I went to bed earlier, I had to say no to some social activities, and I watched what I ate. I was single-minded in the pursuit of my goal.

 

The key to success was that I didn’t just try and fit my runs around life, I rearranged my life to fit my running schedule.

 

This idea crosses over into our relationship with God. If you have a desire to go deeper in your relationship with God, wishing won’t get you there.  To have an intimate relationship with God, you need to reorder your life around him.  It doesn’t work to make a goal, create a fancy plan, and then try to fit it around your schedule.  Other things will ALWAYS move you away from your goal.

 

It will take sacrifices. You might have to get up earlier, say no to a tv show, or time with your family.  But know that these sacrifices will pay DIVIDENDS in the future. You will be a woman who is operating out of your identity as a beloved child of God and that simple fact will CHANGE everything.  As you go deep in the love of God, that loves flows through you, and overflows on the people around you.  Your simple act of faithfulness will transform your family and your life.

 

Are you reordering your life around Jesus? 

 

3. Tools for the Changing Seasons

Do you feel like your time with God is boring and stale? Do you feel like you are not connecting with God?  Rest assured, you are not defective or a bad Christian. As we transition into different life seasons, the ways we connect with God might need to change in order to fit where we are in that season. Being flexible by not getting locked into certain ways of meeting with God can help you connect with him in different ways and at deeper levels.

For instance, you have entered into a very busy season either with your kids or at work. You are spending a large majority of your day in the car driving. This would be a great opportunity to change it up and start listening to an audio version of the Bible.

 

Or you find yourself slogging through current devotional (which you LOVED two months ago) and not really connecting with anything other than how much it is NO LONGER working.  This would be a great time to either try a different devotional or connect with God using art.  

 

Here are some ideas for how you can figure out what might be a good tool for your current season.

 

  1. Ask God what are you inviting me into?

 

  1. Ask yourself, what am I feeling drawn towards? Is there a devotional that you can’t stop thinking about? Do you get excited about the idea of using art as a way to connect with God?

 

  1. Try out different tools until you find one that seems to be a good fit.

 

 

Don’t feel the need to finish something. If a tool is no longer meeting you where you are at (you are dreading you using it) put it down, it may really fit where you are in a future season.

 

Here are some resources that might be a good fit for your current season.

IF you want to know how to get started in living a deeper life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide(below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families. 

 

What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to living life with God?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

 

How To Pray When It Feels Like God Isn’t Listening

How To Pray When It Feels Like God Isn’t Listening

  

Reading Time: 5 min 46 sec

Have you ever wondered if God is off taking a vacation when you pray? Okay, maybe not a vacation, but it seems like every time you call out to him, you are met with deafening silence. You secretly wonder if you are doing something wrong.  All your friends, your pastor, people at church are always mentioning, God said this…or I hear God today.. and you are like, “WAIT, did I miss the memo? Did God show up today and I didn’t hear about it?”  

 

The fact that you must be defective, or a really immature Christian, festers in the back of your brain, you feel embarrassed, and you try to mask the fact that apparently you and God aren’t on speaking terms. You push your prayer frustrations to the side until one day you are confronted with pain.

 

Whether the death of a loved one, frustration at work, a rebellious teen, violence in the world, something stirs your heart, and you cry out to God, “God, where are you? I am in agony. I am confused. I am frustrated. You say you love me, but where are you when I need you? All I get is silence. Am I doing something wrong? Do you not love me? Where are you? I need you now.”

 

If that’s you, keep reading…

  1. Playing Hide and Seek with God 

2. The Invitation 

3. Practice Showing Up 

 

 

1. Playing Hide and Seek With God 

 

 So where is God? Seriously, it can seem like every time we desperately need to hear from him, he is off saving the world. What about us? Where is he, when we call out in our pain?  Does he even care?       Psalm 139:1-12 gives us explicit directions as to where God is hanging out.

 

It says, “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful. I can’t take it all in!  Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? To be out of your sight?

 If I climb to the sky, you’re there!  If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon,You’d find me in a minute—you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.”

 

Is there a word or phrase that jumps out at you in this passage?  

 

Do you notice that it says, he knows what we are thinking?  Not just what we are doing, but our very thoughts and that there is no place we can go to avoid his Spirit.

 

King David, the author of this Psalm, was known for having a deep, intimate relationship with God, and out of that intimacy, he shares his experience of God with us.  Now before you think that this is just a picture of David’s relationship with God, David wrote this psalm for the choir director. Meaning this song was written to be sung by people of Israel, proclaiming Gods praises, attesting of Gods’ faithfulness to us.

 

 We read this passage and tell ourselves, yes, of course, God is with me.  Any person who has been a Christian for longer than five minutes knows that God never leaves us or forsakes us.

 

 We know this truth mentally but it sure doesn’t feel like he is present.  So, if we can’t outrun, out hide, or out fly, the love of God than why can’t I hear his voice?

 

 

2. The Invitation

 

I was having a conversation with an acquaintance, and halfway through, I noticed that her eyes kept drifting, and she was looking very distracted.  All throughout our conversation, she kept smiling and nodding to the people around me. Needless to say, it was a very distracting conversation for both of us.

 

We can fall into this same trap in our conversations with God.  We are either so desperate for an answer that we spend the entire time shouting our requests to God. Or we say a five-second prayer, wait for a moment or two, and then rail at him when he doesn’t show up in a miraculous way.

 

Anthony Bloom, a spiritual writer says it this way, “We complain that God does not make himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for him, but what about the twenty-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer, “I am busy. I am sorry.” Or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at the door of our heart, of our mind, of our conscience, of our life.”

 

 God loves spending time with you.  He is not hiding or playing games with you. He genuinely loves to hear your voice. And he is presenting you with a Grand Invitation. He is inviting you to go deeper into a love relationship with him. He is asking, “I am inviting you to spend time with me?”

 

He is asking you to invite him into your entire day, not just the twenty minutes you spend reading the Bible each morning.

 

 So how can we practically be present with God all throughout the day? How can we give him more than a distracted conversation in a time of crisis? 

 

3. Practice Showing Up 

 

 Do you ever feel like you are wasting your time when you sit down to have devotions and nothing seems to happen? That there are so many other responsibilities clamoring for your attention, taking twenty minutes out of your day can seem well, a lavish extravagance.  

 

You go through the motions of reading a Bible passage or filling in the answers in a devotional, and at times it can just seem…well boring. (GASP!) Yes, I did say boring, because frankly, devotions can be boring.

 

I got bored. I wanted something more than filling my head with facts about God (though it is an important part of our faith), I wanted to actually have a living, breathing experience of God. I wanted what Daniel, David, Esther, Mary, and countless others had with Jesus. I wanted to have a real relationship with him. 

 

To have a deep relationship with him, we must be active participants in our conversations with God. Setting aside distractions (or at least keeping them at bay), and engaging in talking and listening to God. And here is the key part…even when it feels like nothing is happening.   

 

It seriously is about the practice of showing up, day after day and laying down our agenda for his.  Asking God that he would spark a deeper desire for more of him in our hearts.

 

Here are some suggestions of practical things that you can use throughout your day as a reminder to be present to Jesus.

 

1. Light or use a battery powered candle to remind you that God is with you and in you.

 

2. Place a small cross in your pocket. Every time you touch it serves as a reminder to turn your focus back to Jesus.

 

3. Set reminders on your phone. You can label them with messages, like “You are a beloved child of God.” “How is your day going? Love, God” “I am with you today- Love, God”

 

4. Hang a meaningful symbol from your rearview mirror. Every time you get in the car, let it serve as a reminder to pray.

 

5. Put a picture of Jesus holding a lamb, or with children on the background d of your phone or computer. Let it serve as a reminder that you are a child beloved by God.

 

 

Do you want to learn how to live WITH God? Do you want to experience a deep relationship with Jesus not just find out more facts about him?  Check out Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. This book was pivotal in my own journey, in learning how to be present to God all throughout my day. I LOVE it!

 


What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to living life with God?   Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!    

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
Skip to content