Category: Every Day with God

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Mary, Martha, and Me” subhead=”Dec 3, 2018 | Every Day with God” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/MandM.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ooking at the story of Mary and Martha I see what can be instinctive in me. For those who don’t know the story – Jesus is having dinner with two sisters; one of whom is willing to listen to Him (Mary), and the other is more concerned about catering for the guests and getting everything prepared (Martha). Martha suddenly turns on them both in a tirade that to some might sound familiar, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

I see it like this; there is a line between me fulfilling my responsibilities and letting my responsibilities fulfil me. In the story of Mary and Martha we see that Martha has chosen to let the responsibilities and perception of her preparation define her evening. Mary on the other hand gets it and decides that she just wants to sit at the feet of Jesus. She wants to engage, listen, and be filled by Jesus’ words which are eternal life. It’s so easy to take a dig at Martha because ‘who wouldn’t want to sit with Jesus?’ – I catch myself drifting into that hypocrisy sometimes. Do you?

So, what was Jesus’ response to Martha? “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Jesus praises Mary for her obedience and sensitivity to the situation. She perceives that Jesus has some important stuff to say. On the other hand Jesus calls Martha out and sets her thinking straight.

I’ve made the mistake of thinking that God is not interested in the menial details of my day to day life and that he just wants to fulfil my calling, you know, the big stuff. This is so untrue, firstly, because personal holiness is at stake –being made like Jesus. Secondly, because God cares about how He is represented here on the earth. This has required me to reevaluate the weight of importance that I’ve placed on certain aspects in my life – even my dreams. It can be deceiving to place these goals and dreams on pedestals. They become daunting if not balanced with the reality of Christ.

I’ve realised how important it is to start every day in earnest prayer. It makes it easier to face each task and responsibility seeing them as opportunities to manifest the Fruit of the Spirit. Instead of seeing these smaller day to day details as obstacles I can see them as opportunities that will sharpen me and draw out responses of someone growing in holiness.

On the flip side I know people who constantly let the menial details of life define their outlook and behaviours like Martha did at the meal with Jesus. I am guilty of having done the same, but I believe strongly that this is not a correct or healthy approach to living. Much like Martha, I might have stressed or even snapped back at someone in an unforgiving moment, but Jesus wants me to bear my responsibilities with joy and grace (which He provides if we ask Him). He wants me to receive faith and be filled in order that I can give. What I’m saying is that Christ wants to be ‘all in’ with us. He invites us to sit at His feet and let His perspective become our perspective.

A verse that has always stood out to me is this: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.”

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”35908″ show_more=”on” show_author=”off” show_comments=”on” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ header_font=”|300|||||||” header_font_size=”22px” header_line_height=”1.3em” pagination_font_size_tablet=”51″ pagination_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_padding=”|||” saved_tabs=”all” show_content=”off” show_thumbnail=”on” show_date=”on” show_categories=”on” use_dropshadow=”off” use_overlay=”off” background_layout=”light”]

[/et_pb_blog][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Is Prayer A One-Way Conversation” subhead=”Nov 26, 2018 | Every Day with God” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Is-Prayer-A-One-Way-Conversation.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen we pray, do we expect God to respond? I don’t always. I certainly didn’t used to.

I grew up in a Christian family. It was pretty normal to pray before dinner, give thanks for my family when I went to bed, that kind of thing. I supposed that sort of normalised praying every day. I can still remember thinking at some point though, ‘Does God ever talk back?’

Prayer is more than just a form of meditation. In the Christian faith, prayer isn’t simply a way to express our thoughts or to gain clarity on our inner being. Christians believe that prayer actually changes things – little, everyday things as well as the big stuff.

When I think about my day-to-day life, the thing that has the most impact is prayer. What do I mean?

I mean that if I pray when I am in my car on the way into work then my day will go better than if I hadn’t. The other day I had a presentation that I had forgotten about until my manager reminded me just after I arrived in the office. I got into the meeting room a few minutes before everyone else and I prayed. I invited the presence of the Lord (God) into that meeting room.

Not only was I then able to put together the presentation slides in almost-record time, but the presentation went remarkably well. I felt inspired to deliver it in a particular way, and to say certain things in it. It turned out that just before I was about to stand up and present, my Managing Director walked in. I didn’t know he was going to be there, but he was! He was impressed by the presentation, how prepared my slides were (!) and the way I delivered it, as well as the passion with which I spoke. Off the back of that presentation my manager was so impressed she gave me more responsibilities within the team. I don’t think that would have happened if I hadn’t prayed beforehand.

I suppose there are two responses to prayer that I see in my own life. I’m gonna call these a response and an answer.

A response would be where there is a conversational response from God. This might be an audible voice or in a vision or a dream. This happens a lot to people in the Bible, but maybe not so much in our lives. Another way could be a Scripture coming into your mind at a particular moment. Jesus said that this was one way that God would communicate to us by the Holy Spirit: He would remind Jesus’ followers of the things He had said. Jesus said that His sheep would hear His voice. If we are His sheep then it makes sense to practice this.

A practical suggestion is to remember to read the Bible. It sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to not do it! In the Bible we are reminded that ‘faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’ As we build our faith by reading and listening to God’s Word, we become accustomed to hearing His voice.

The other way God responds to prayer is to answer by granting our requests. Sometimes this happens in ways we don’t expect, or at times when we are not looking for it.

I have so many answered prayers in my day-to-day life (at work, at home, when I’m out and about), that it is difficult to remember them all. The main problem I have is to remind myself to give thanks after having a prayer answered.

One other time that prayer was answered in my life was when I was on holiday. Me and my friend had gone for a bike ride on a very hot day, and we had not brought enough water. We were getting towards the top of a very tall hill. I hadn’t even prayed, but my friend had. I had just very much wanted water. When I got to the top of the hill, my friend had gone ahead of me. He was sitting above some steps, and sitting next to him were two, 1.5-litre bottles of water – completely sealed!

God loves answering prayer. Why don’t you pray to Him about the challenges and struggles you are facing today? Maybe you don’t pray. Start. Ask for His help. Thank Him for what He has already done. You will find that your list of things to be thankful for just keeps on growing.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”35908,35905″ show_more=”on” show_author=”off” show_comments=”on” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ header_font=”|300|||||||” header_font_size=”22px” header_line_height=”1.3em” pagination_font_size_tablet=”51″ pagination_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_padding=”|||” saved_tabs=”all” show_content=”off” show_thumbnail=”on” show_date=”on” show_categories=”on” use_dropshadow=”off” use_overlay=”off” background_layout=”light”]

[/et_pb_blog][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”How not to burn out” subhead=”Nov 18, 2018 | Every Day with God” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/HowNotToBurnOut.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter I finished studying full-time, I got a job. No big surprises there. Lots of people do.

What did surprise me was how tired I got. I guess I thought that I’d worked pretty hard before then. I’d studied pretty well and used to do homework in the evening when I was at school. What hit me when I started work though, was how full-on it was. You didn’t have as many breaks as you did at school. You didn’t finish at 3:30. There were expectations to be met, and those were higher than simply whether or not you’d completed an assignment or revised for an exam. They had real ramifications.

On top of that, I was doing more with church. I was helping to run a small group and was involved in the worship team. There was a lot to balance, and I had no idea how to prioritise it or how I was supposed to cope.

Someone gave me some advice soon after I started working. I had asked how I should balance it all: work, church, family, friends – how do you do it? I had just started working, and I was struggling to keep up. How was I to establish patterns that wouldn’t leave me burning out?

They said that I should never take on anything that wasn’t part of my ‘calling’. Just because something needed to be done (like the washing-up rota for teas and coffees at church) didn’t mean that they should be the ones to do it. There were ways that they could (and should) serve, but those might not necessarily be the ones that people always talked about.

How was I supposed to know what God was ‘calling’ me to do? I would already know, they said.

I realised that there were some things that I had just been doing because they were there, because I had been asked to do them, or out of a sense of obligation. I was tiring myself out doing things that weren’t really mine to be done. They were distracting me from the things that were actually important.

I stepped back from playing music in the worship team at church. I knew that leading worship was something that I didn’t feel peace about doing. I was feeling exhausted after worship practice and it wasn’t helping me on my personal walk with the Lord.

That wouldn’t be the right decision for everyone, but it was for me. It freed me up to serve at church by welcoming people at the door – and I enjoyed that a whole lot more! It was fulfilling, it was ‘me’, it lined up with my gifting, and it didn’t tire me out in the same way that the music had done.

It’s of course really important to understand that some things that you need to do are hard work. You will have responsibilities that you need to meet. Of course you do. Everyone does. But the important thing is to make sure that you are carrying your burden, doing the things that God wants you to do, not taking things that He has lined up for someone else.

Practically, I find that prayer is massively helpful in this process. It puts things into perspective and helps me avoid burning out. Often, I pray for peace about choices ahead of me, and God shows me pretty clearly what is the right thing to do. Other times, I speak to the wise people around me that God has provided me with.

Now, I’d like to say I get that decision right every time. But I don’t. I’m still pretty young, and I’ve got a lot of learning to do, but following God every day is an adventure and it’s one that I wouldn’t trade in for the world.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ show_more=”on” show_author=”off” show_comments=”on” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ header_font=”|300|||||||” header_font_size=”22px” header_line_height=”1.3em” pagination_font_size_tablet=”51″ pagination_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_padding=”|||” saved_tabs=”all” show_content=”off” show_thumbnail=”on” show_date=”on” show_categories=”on” use_dropshadow=”off” use_overlay=”off” background_layout=”light” include_categories=”35908,35907″]

[/et_pb_blog][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]