HOMESample

Welcome to day two of HOME.

You can be at home in the fellowship of the Father. We all can. It’s the secret of the easy yoke: to do what Jesus would do were He in your place, and to effortlessly be at home with the Father. Sound compelling? Let’s keep going.

According to Dallas Willard, we can attain this level of intimacy with God by creating certain disciplines in our lives, modeled after the disciplines in Jesus’ own life. The first that we’ll study together: Solitude.

In solitude, we close ourselves away. We go to the ocean, or the desert, or the wild. We aren’t just withdrawing to rest, but rather we are choosing to be alone. To dwell on our experience of isolation from other people.

Now… Why would we want to do that? The more obvious reason is that Jesus modeled it for us. The first thing He did after being baptized was withdraw from society for 40 days. Maybe a less obvious answer though is that solitude actually helps us derive strength. It cuts out the noise, helps us focus on the Lord. When Jesus came out of the wilderness, many wrongly interpret Him as being weak. Actually He was in a position of great strength from having spent focused time with the Father. And that’s what we’re after, too.

Check out today’s video for more.

Today's invitation:

Let’s practice solitude.

Pick a place. Pick a time. Pick prayer topics to have at the ready. And most importantly: commit. When you put solitude on your calendar and have a plan in place, you can honor it.

Remember, the main thing isn’t what you do; it’s what you don’t do. Be sure that you don’t talk to people, enter into conversation of any kind, read books, or consume media. Just simply pay attention to what is happening in your body and talk to God about it. Ask Him, “God, can I be at home with you today?”