Can you imagine this Christmas without hearing God’s voice?

It’s entirely possible to wake up on January 1st without without having heard God speak or connected your heart to His. Often, it is not even a conscious choice we make. We are just so busy that we fail to make space for God.

But, the good news is we can change that!

All we need to do is intentionally slow down and create space for God.

Have you ever thought to invite Jesus in?

Into the daily moments…

Into the shopping lists…

Into the holiday celebration…

Into the overwhelming emotions…

It sounds obvious but it is so easy to forget. God is everywhere and yet He wants to be invited in to the details of our lives.

James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

I wonder what would happen this holiday season if we simply invited Jesus in?

What if you could actually be “thankful” this Thanksgiving?

God wants us to experience the love and peace he has prepared for us. To fully experience it, however, we need to embrace a timeless spiritual practice: Gratitude.

Gratitude have the power to replace anxiety and worry.

No matter how much is on our to-do list.

No matter how tricky our family gatherings can be.

We can experience the love and peace of God. We simply have to slow down, invite God in, and begin practicing gratitude in our every day lives so that we can be present to God’s blessings in real time.

What if this holiday season was your most meaningful (instead of the most overwhelming)?

Let’s be honest, the holidays are stressful.

Work parties, holiday shopping, year-end projects, and family gatherings…

All of it can feel overwhelming.

If you are anything like me, the anxiety starts to build around November 2nd and doesn’t end until the last gift is bought and the last party is over.

But, what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if we could be fully present this year and experience what we really long for?

We can’t just “add Jesus” into our already busy lives and expect to let him satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.

The only way to let him transform us is to intentionally create space for him.

This means becoming less busy.

To do this, we must subtract things from our lives before we add new things.

What if we could reclaim moments of time in our day to be still with God? Imagine how that would impact your connection with him.

One of our favorite ideas to help is to simple turn off the radio in the car. This creates space for God and we can invite him into the silence to speak.

When was the last time you sat still? No really. Try and think about it. Just...still.

No distractions; Just you, your mind, your soul, with nothing to do except to BE there.

Sounds…boring, right?

We often find ourselves in the trenches of life and tend to stay there, trying to simply get through another day; unable to look forward in our walk with God. But what if we did?

Have you forgotten what God has done in your life in the last few years? Where has God shown up for you that maybe you’ve lost sight of?

Following Jesus is difficult. Life can be hard and spiritual growth rarely comes easy. So, how do we keep moving forward in our pursuit of God?

For years we viewed sabbath as an unattainable practice meant for those who seemed to have the perfect set of circumstances in life to be able to do it. Looking back now we can’t imagine our lives without it!

Do I really want what Jesus wants? It would seem straightforward. He is God and knows best; so I should ask him what he thinks about the big decisions. Then, whatever he says, I should do it. No questions asked. Nothing to discuss. Obedience. He’s God and I’m clearly not. I should surrender my agenda to Him. Right?

It was all I could do, in the midst of the pain, to flip through those pages and read passages that assured me God had not left me. They were my reminder of His character; his very nature.

In our culture, Listening means that we give attention to a sound. But in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for listen is shema.

Shema has a double meaning: to hear and take action. Listen and obey. In Hebrew, this word does not differentiate between hearing, listening, or obeying. It assumes all three should happen when God speaks. Crazy, right?

Prayer has a lot more to do with surrender than we think

Discipline and unhurried… if we can get these two right then something powerful happens. Our relationship with Jesus begins to move with us throughout the day and helps us develop an effortless connection with Him. And out of that connection we get what we are looking for; life to the fullest.

I have a new friend who is great at asking insightful questions. In fact, he’s so good that each time I get to hang out with him I wonder what he’ll ask me next.

We got the kids together a few weeks ago. As we watched them play, our conversation once again began with a great question.

“Tim, what do you do when you fail big?”

(Nothing like diving right in with a big question! LOL.)

I answered, “I sit in it.”

The world is asking me to operate like a supercomputer - to process all of the information thrown at me in real time, quickly evaluate and consistently make great decisions. Worse yet - the internet assumes that my brain is adapting to the speed at which technology now operates and that I can keep up. And for the most part my brain can… or so it seems.

But I’m discovering that my soul cannot. My soul is not a supercomputer. This tension is creating some combination of anxiety and holy discontent within me and I can no longer ignore it.

“Am I tired?” Check.

“Am I worn out?” Check.

“Am I burned out on religion?” Double Check.

I read on...“Come to me, get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” I lost it. These words hit me in a deep way. I can remember sitting and talking with Jesus about how I needed his “rhythm of grace” not my rhythm of busyness and anxiety and frustration. My way was literally killing me from the inside out.

As the rain pounded we eventually shifted to playing corn hole and washers in the garage. It wasn’t our plan but the guys were having fun. As I was getting beat at corn hole, I could feel my blood pressure rising. Partly because I hate losing; partly because something bigger was going on inside me. I decided to let someone else play and I went outside and watched the rain. As I watched, I shook my head and said “really?”. I was royally ticked. We have been planning this Refresh for almost a year. We have prayed over these guys, fasted for them and have had countless hours planning this experience. In my mind I was thinking “and you can’t stop the rain for a day?”

Then, in that still small voice, Jesus said to me, “am I not in the rain?”

Silence.