This is from my Facebook Live from Wednesday, July 22, 2020.
I hope everyone is doing well!! We are so thankful here in our area that we have had some much needed rain today! I know the farmers are praising Father God today!!
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I would share spiritual disciplines that can lead to spiritual transformation. In her book, Sacred Rhythms. Ruth Haley Barton shares the importance of taking time to create your own sacred rhythms.
Recently, I shared the importance of silence and solitude and how reading God’s word for transformation leads to a deeper relationship with Christ. Today I want to speak with you about how God has shown me the importance of Sabbath.
The passage I am reading from is found in Isaiah 58.
“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Isaiah 58:13-14 NLT
Sabbath or Shabbat in Hebrew, is a day of rest on the seventh day of the week. Sabbath keeping is a way of ordering one’s life around the pattern of working six days and resting on the seventh.
One thing that I have come to understand during this season is the importance of Sabbath. While in full time ministry, I found it very difficult to keep a sabbath. I would fill my days off with all the things I couldn’t get to during my work week. Laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, other projects.. You name it – I did it!! Most weekends I would fall into bed at night completely exhausted.
God has used this season to teach me the importance of taking a day to rest and refuel and just “BE”. It is a pattern that God himself established as he was doing his work. He worked six days and rested on the seventh.
This is something Kevin and I have regularly been doing this these past couple of months. We begin our Sabbath time at 6:00p on Saturday and keep it until 6:00p on Sunday.
As I look to re-enter full time ministry, I am convinced more than ever the importance of keeping a day to honor the sabbath. I believe God wants us to emerge from our Sabbath rested and renewed, not worn out.
Now, you may be wondering.. What AM I to “DO” for Sabbath…think about things that would allow your body to rest, replenish your spirit and restore your soul. In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer, shares some ways you can mark your sabbath:
- Lighting the candles
- Blessing the children
- Eating a meal
- Singing
- Worshipping with your Community
- Walking
- Napping
- Making love (if you’re married)
- Reading
- Spending time alone with God
- Spending time with family and friends
- Gratitude
Here’s your challenge… What if you took time out of your week to create a sabbath for yourself? How do you think your life would be different? I think you may be surprised how the much better your week will go when you work from your rest!
Let’s pray..
Heavenly Father,
Today, I pray your blessings over everyone listening today. I pray for my friends who are needing rest. I pray they will find the rest and renewal they need by honoring the Sabbath.
In Jesus name. Amen.
Thanks for joining me today!
Have a blessed day!