[1 John Series 7] Growing Up… SpirituallySample

The Inner Change Challenge

Today you can take the Inner Change Challenge. We are all so busy that we need to experience the spiritual discipline of having a time of solitude with God. Chances are, you are reading this because you already are in a growth process. But if you want to join this challenge, plan to be still before the Lord at some point this month. (Hopefully, numerous times this month.) Set apart some time for getting alone with a journal, a Bible, your headphones, and some music that can get you into a thought process with the Lord. If fifteen minutes of solitude is the best you can do, great, start there. Take out your calendar and plan when are you going to spend this good time with God. Maybe fifteen minutes is not enough for you and you want more. Thirty minutes? An hour? Plan it out so that you can make it happen. Make this year to be all about building your life and taking some spiritual disciplines.

During your quiet time, set aside your social media, your texting and email, and turn off your notifications. You can be sure it will all be there when you come back. Be still before God and let an inner change happen in your heart. Some of us are acquainted with the verse that says, “Be still and know that I am God.” But do we know what the rest of the verse says? “Be still and know that I am God and I will be exalted in the nations.”

Stillness results in mission and impact. Let us take the Inner Change Challenge and be still just for a time. This doesn’t mean to sit down alone for hours. We are not being called to be monks or nuns. Get away with God, spend some time to let the things in your heart settle, and you will come back as a better dad, as a better mom, and as a better employee or employer with a new vision or new thought or whatever you need. If you just stay on the hamster wheel, nothing will change. To fight the battle, spend time alone with God to get into His Word. That is inner change.