Slowing Down to Speed Up Your Faith

Have you ever rode a roller coaster?

Chances are good you’ve probably been on at least one, even if you decided at that moment to never ride another one.

Personally, I cried a lot as a young kid when my parents wanted me to ride one. Later in life though, I’m down for literally any roller coaster you want to ride. That doesn’t mean I’m not scared inside, but I’m willing to hop on and take the journey anyway.

Faith is a lot like a roller coaster. (Yes, there are ups and downs, but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make.)

Think about the first thing that happens on almost all roller coasters. You go up a hill. Why? Because to get to the “fun” part of the roller coaster, you first need to build up speed. And the best way to build up speed is going down the other side of the hill you had to painstakingly climb up.

When it comes to our faith, we want the fast-moving big miracles to happen daily, like in the Bible. The only problem is miracles didn’t happen every day in the Bible. Often, you had to wander around on the run for your life, trusting God even though you couldn’t see what the results might be.

So long before we can get to the majestic moments of faith, we first have to be willing to slow down and invest in the mundane moments of faith.

We could talk about hundreds of ways we need to slow down and trust in the mundane moments, but I want to focus on three ways we need to slow down as Jesus' followers in order to experience Jesus to the fullest.

Pray

Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. 1 Chronicles 16:11, NLT

I know this feels obvious for a believer and not worth mentioning, but stick with me.

I’m a pastor, and I will fully admit prayer isn’t as big of a part of my life as I know it should be. So lately, I’ve been finding ways to remind myself to pray regularly throughout the day.

Unsurprisingly, I have felt a little lighter, my demeanor towards people has been more Jesus-centered, and I honestly think there have been extra hours in my workday to get things accomplished.

(Not even kidding about the extra hours. Somehow, I’m taking time to pray in the middle of work and still have time left over.)

Right now, I’m getting my day kicked off with the daily guided prayer on the YouVersion Bible app, and then I’m spending 5 minutes praying through random entries on my prayer list in the Echo Prayer app.

I also have the Echo Prayer app set as a widget on my home screen so every time I open my phone I have to see things I should be praying for. And I have an hourly notification set so I’ll see a random entry from my prayer list to pray for.

Am I praying every time I open my phone or see a notification? Nope.

But I am praying way more than I would if I didn’t have these helpful reminders. So, while I don’t hold myself to a legalistic ‘I have to pray this many times a day at these specific times,' I am praying more consistently.

Even if praying more consistently doesn’t cause God to show up in majestic ways, I feel ‘lighter’ and more connected to God the Father, Son, and Spirit. That alone is more than enough!

Be honest with yourself for a moment, if you had to rate your prayer life 1-10, what would your number be?

Btw, I also genuinely believe in the power of purposeful prayer about COVID. Prayer not just to end COVID, but to see the Kingdom of God grow with new members through COVID.

Now let’s all agree to spend a few minutes a few times a day praying for Kingdom of God impacts.

Rest

The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat. – Mark 6:30-31, The Message

What did God do after He created? He rested.

What did God have humans do the day after they were created? Rest.

What are we garbage as a society at doing? Resting.

Yet again, I raise my hand first to admit I don’t rest well.

I like to be busy accomplishing something, even if that something is reading a book, watching a show, playing a video game, or scrolling with hopes of finding the bottom of my social feed. (There is no bottom; it never ends.)

We were created to have times of rest. We need the kind of silence that only comes when we don’t have a phone vibrating in our pocket, music playing in the background, and a task we are trying to accomplish.

Rest that isn’t just about a leisure activity or being lazy. Sabbath rest helps us break the ordinary rhythms of our lives and reorient our lives to the rhythms of the Kingdom of God.

You and I both need to find space in our week to tap into the wisdom of the Sabbath in ways that don’t always come by being a part of a church gathering. (Yup, a pastor just said sometimes the church gathering doesn’t fulfill all the practices of the Sabbath.)

I have more I want to write about rest, but instead, I’m going to encourage all of us to pause for a moment at some point today and read Tim Keller’s short article on six ways to practice the Sabbath.

Act Small

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. – 1 John 3:18, NLT

For me, when I try to think of ways to make an impact in the world, my mind is always drawn to big actions I can take to make big impacts.

The problem is I typically can’t make those big action dreams a reality.

You may be similar.

We get caught in the loop of ‘I need to do something, but I can’t do anything of substance, so I do nothing.’

So let’s all agree that maybe dreaming about the big impacts isn’t worth the effort because we rarely pull the trigger. Instead, let’s start loving our literal neighbors.

When was the last time we cut our neighbor's grass when working on our own yard? Have we taken a care package for someone we know is going through something? Do we even know our neighbors well enough to know they are going through something?

The next step I want to take toward acting small and loving my literal neighbors well is having conversations that get beyond the surface.

I’m quick to say hello and keep walking towards the door, but I’m trying to make time to have meaningful conversations so that over time, my neighbors will know I’m someone they can trust and count on in a low moment of life.

And in the long term, I’m praying it leads to Gospel conversations.

My small actions will look different from yours, so don’t get caught up in doing what someone else is doing. Just do something.

Don’t wait for tomorrow. Today is a perfect opportunity to stop feeling overwhelmed by big actions we can’t take and start taking small, accomplishable actions instead!

Sum It Up

Pray to focus your mind and actions on Jesus.

Rest to break the ordinary rhythm and reorient to Kingdom rhythms.

Act in small, loving ways to help build big long-term wins.

COVID has thrown off basically every aspect of life, but we can still be the tangible representation of Jesus as we are using wisdom to stay well.

(Originally posted September 3, 2020.)