We’re only a few months into 2021 and already this year has brought so many unexpected turns. One of which has been starting The Take Heart Podcast. I sit with a dear friend, Emma, and journey through the idea of beholding God; gazing upon Him, being in awe of Him, ensuring that He is put in His rightful place as our King.
One of our recent episodes focused on some of the practical ways that we can refocus ourselves and behold the Father, amidst our chaotic lives. What follows is a brief summary of that chat. If you want it in more detail, you can listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
What a blessing it is to realise that our relationship with God is initiated by Him. That when we accept His great invitation, then we are blessed, brought near to him, loved by Him, challenged, changed, adored, uplifted and used by Him. When we accept this invitation, then we start the journey of true transformation to become more like Him.
When we are all created, by nature, to be worshippers, the question isn’t whether we worship, it’s what we worship, that truly defines us. Here are some ideas to get you inspired to live a life of beholding:
- Complete a heart check. Re-evaluate and reassess where your worship truly lies and what takes up the most space in your mind, your heart and the most time in your day. Ask yourself questions like “what upsets me the most?” Or “What do I spend my money on?” The deeper issue will always be the WHY, so drill down into that to find the real root cause of what you are actually worshipping.
- Change your daily mindset. Look at the pattern of Genesis 1: “There was evening and there was morning.” A friend recently opened my eyes to this order, that the Jewish day starts in the evening, not in the morning. Waking up with this perspective allows us to wake, in the knowledge and comfort that God has been working all night for our good. We awake and have the chance to join Him in His work, rather than waking and immediately needing to strive to start something new.
- Posture yourself in the throne room of God. Meditate on Revelation 4. If you know it well, reimagine how you see it, feel it, experience it. May you be so awed, that you’re floored. On your knees in worship. Whenever you pray, picture this scene and it’ll remind you of the glory of the One that you’re praying to and will shift the way you pray, as well as what you pray for.
- Get God’s Word under your skin. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8. Imagine knowing God’s Word as well as your favourite music. Study it, live and breathe it, soak in it.
- Prayer. Just the act of prayer itself is an acknowledgement that we are not the centre of our own world. It turns the focus from us, to God. It empowers us to know the work of the Spirit and take comfort in the fact that Jesus prays for you! Check out John 17:6-26.
- Repent and trust the Lord. Let go of any shame that could be holding you back from accepting God’s invitation of a relationship with Him. Soak in the words from Psalm 34:5, “Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your past. His son died to cover it all. He loves you that much. He has wiped your slate clean, He just wants you to trust Him.
- Fast. Jesus doesn’t say IF you fast, but WHEN you fast (Matthew 6:16-18). Like all spiritual disciplines, it takes time to understand how to do this. But the reward is powerful: you grow in your dependence on God, you grow the intimacy of your relationship with Him and it can be a truly beautiful thing.
- Get to know God. You can’t trust someone you don’t know. How can you live out the words of Philippians 4:6, without the assurance that the one you are giving your anxieties to is trustworthy beyond measure?
- Read God’s Word and understand its power. Kristi McLelland, a Biblical Culturalist, has a video series called “Jesus and Women.” In that series she teaches that reading God’s Word through a Western lens often focuses on “me,” whereas reading it through a Middle Eastern lens often focuses on God and what He is doing. Instead of reading a passage and trying to relate it to our lives, let’s read it and look up, expectantly looking for more of God.
- Be still. Carve out time to meditate in the quiet, to listen for God’s still, small voice. One thing I find helpful, is to have a notepad or my phone handy. Then as thoughts come and go, I jot them down. Some are rubbish, some are things I have to remember to do, but others I truly believe are words from God’s Spirit, speaking hope and/or direction into my life.
I truly hope this brain dump has been helpful for your walk with the Lord. Not all of these are easy and not all of them come naturally, but I’d encourage you (and me) to be disciplined in them. Discipline drives desire, so the more you do it, the more you want to do it. When you’re feeling like your discipline is lacking, then pray for more, because we are weak, but God is strong.
And finally, friends, remember that we were all created for community. This pursuit of living a life that beholds the Father was never designed to be lived alone. We are all on this journey together, so I’d encourage you to support each other, live it out together, put all (or even just some) of these disciplines into practice, if you’re not already, and I can assure you that your intimacy with God will grow to heights you may never have experienced before.
And don’t give up! We will all fail, as distractions come, but remember to fail forward!
BB
