You Are More Than You’ve Been Told: Unlock a Fresh Way to Live Through the Rhythms of JesusSample

DAY 5: The Rhythms of Scripture and Prayer

In the next couple of days, we will unpack 4 rhythms of Jesus that connected Him to God and to who He really was. I want to help you make these habits practical in your everyday life.

A Rhythm of Scripture

While Jesus was growing up, we see Him studying God’s Word (see Luke 2:41–52). In this story, Jesus leaves the path His family was on, goes out of His way to discover the truth about Himself and the truth about God, and to be in the Temple around people who were also talking about God. Jesus showed us that truth might be something we have to go out of our way to discover.

It’s time to ask yourself a very real and pressing question. Not just are you reading God’s Word, but how are you reading it? Is it in a way that is bringing you closer to God?

Don’t let the Enemy convince you that knowing what God says about you is just a religious box you must check every day, or else. Remember the point is not the structure. Reading God’s book of truths is meant to connect you to the Source of life, which is Jesus. If you find reading it is a chore, or not life-giving, then you may need a fresh new way to know what God says.

You may want to use a devotional plan and engage with a friend about what you learn. You may want to listen to it audibly while taking a walk. You may want to find a new translation. You may want to read it at a different time of day than you’ve been reading it. Take a few minutes to stop and consider your lifestyle, your personality, how you engage, how you enjoy, and what is doable.

Just like Jesus, you might have to go out of your way to know what God says about you. This is urgent. Make engaging with God’s words one of the most important priorities in your life.

A Rhythm of Prayer

God wants to hear from you about the pressing things on your heart, your worries, your desires, your hopes, and your fears. He wants to be involved in the innermost parts of your life. Jesus regularly went out of His way to be alone with God (Luke 5:15–16, Mark 1:32-38). After a full day of healing people, helping people, and performing miracles, lots of people had opinions of where Jesus should go and what He should do. Instead, Jesus spent time alone with God to discern where God was calling Him to next.

Remember, before Jesus fought the lies of the Enemy in the desert, he was alone with God for 40 days. Time alone with God is a weapon, a way to fight the lies of the Enemy, and also the pressures and expectations of our everyday lives.

Here are 3 practices of prayer that have reconnected me to God in profound new ways:

Solitude - Being alone with your thoughts and with God to remember who you are and to hear yourself think. Try to notice the pauses of life. During a quiet moment, don’t rush to scroll on your phone, or to turn on more noise. Look for pauses, sit in the pauses, and use them for moments of silence and solitude and to reconnect with God.

Specific Prayers - Pray specifically about things you are struggling with and ask God to bring you peace and healing. This might look like writing some of your prayers, hurts, and worries down. Specific prayers are an invitation for God to inspect your heart, heal you, and make you whole. We often cannot heal from what we cannot name. Take the time to name your sins, your scars, and your desires, and bring them each to God.

Saying Thanks – Being thankful in prayer will strengthen your relationship with God. God invites you to pause and see what He’s already done, and worship Him with a grateful heart. Remembrance and gratitude is a key to reconnecting with God.

Honest conversations with the One who created you will realign your life, revive your faith, and refresh your soul.

Add these two rhythms into your life’s structure, your trellis. They will help you reconnect with God and live lighter and freer.

Prayer

Thank You, God, that You are always available. I want to spend more time with You. Help me to find fresh ways to learn from You and engage in Your words. Help me find moments of pause and to create a new structure of prayer in my life. I thank You that I can pray specifically for things that are in my heart, and I thank You for who You are and all that You’ve done. Amen.