Category Archives: SPIRITUAL INTEREST

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Spiritual Renewal for Your Soul

Renewal’s Path is One Worth Taking

Renewal is good for the soul. A walk in the serene beauty of nature has an internal renewal factor. Nature calms the soul-side of your sensitivities while you breathe in the invigorating fresh air of the unspoilt outdoors.

In a similar way spiritual renewal comes when we get away from it all to be alone with God. Jesus is our example. Jesus would go to the ‘devastated’ places to pray. Those alone times in the wild lonely places ministered to Him.

Jesus and His Times Alone

I am always curious about the reasons and whys in scripture. I’ve wondered about Jesus and those deserted places that scripture talks about. So I decided to read several of these passages in different translations to try to picture it. I also wondered why Jesus, the Son of God, would seek such a refuge.

  • After Jesus learns of John’s beheading, He withdraws by boat to go a solitary place. I assume He is sorrowing. The crowds are soon to follow. He has compassion on them and heals the sick. He ministers to them.
  • Later Jesus separates from the disciples to go off alone to pray. He is alone when evening comes. In the fourth watch He walks on the water to rejoin the disciples in a boat on the lake.
  • Another example: Mark 1:35 “and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
  • And: Luke 5:16 “Jesus withdrew to the lonely places and prayed.”

Jesus went to the solitary places when there was a need for Him to be alone. This must have strengthened Him. The pattern is cyclical: Jesus ministers; goes out alone, prays, and receives what He needs; then He ministers again.

Lonely places are described as desolate, deserted, wilderness; as a solitary place (NKJV), secluded place, lonely place, as a “desert place and was there praying” (Young), as a “secluded spot” (MSG), and as a “desolate place and there He prayed.” (ESV)

Jesus got whatever it was that He needed when He separated himself away from His disciples and the crowds. In the desolate places He spent time alone to pray and commune with His Father. We know this much for sure: Jesus was alone, and Jesus prayed while He was alone.

Take Time for Spiritual Renewal

It is no wonder that we benefit from time alone with God. We run low on energy. We deplete our natural strength though God sustains us. We set an anchor to secure our faith when we center our soul in the holy Trio. Then we revisit it again and again. In time we become stronger to where our faith withstands the storms of life.

But. But we still need to pay attention to how we are doing. Sometimes we need to sit a spell to receive greater spiritual rest and quiet interceding of the Spirit of God. It is not wrong to need time in the deserted places. These are times of receiving spiritual food.

Purposeful, intentional, scheduled, set-aside times for the purpose of being refreshed are worth any time or effort it takes to make it happen. There are demands on us that become internal with external ramifications that are weights that beset us. Their burden may be physical, emotional, financial, relational, spiritual, you name it, that thing that doesn’t go away and you worry at it.

I believe God is pleased when we purpose to get alone with Him, when we purpose to surrender our ‘whatevers’ to Him, when we look for Him in the silences. Anyone can set aside busyness and technology for a reprieve from the craziness of the daily. You will be glad when you do. It takes some measure of discipline, effort, and determination to see it through.

Personal Retreat: A few years ago I spent a weekend at Abbey of New Clairvaux (Vina Monastery) for a spiritual retreat. Cell phone use is off-limits. Electronics are off limits. The monastery bell is the time piece. Some retreatants are on a silent retreat (no talking). Meals are served in an old ranch house where those on a silent retreat eat in a separate area. A library is open to the guests. It was a sweet, quiet, peaceful visit. I roamed the grounds, sat through a few of the services, visited with guests, met with a spiritual director, and spent time alone with God.

At Home: Another time I spent three days fasting, meditating, and praying while conducting a spiritual examen and reading; marking and noting the actions in the book of Acts. I did this in a room in the house because of my single parent responsibilities. Two of my children were still at home, but they weren’t young. It worked because I made it work. The time was blessed, enriched by God’s wisdom, insights, and grace.

Renewal bursts forth in spontaneous surprises of delight.

How About You? Your Turn

You might want to take some time for spiritual renewal to get away from the distractions of daily living and to spiritually reboot.

A couple posts you might enjoy that relate to this subject:

  1. How Alone Time with God Affects Your Mouth
  2. A Place Called Sacred
  3. Sacred Space: Silence with God

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Keeping Your Balance

Are You Out of Balance?

EVERYONE has issues. Some of these are obvious and others not so much. What is universally true for all people is that what they do with their issues is totally up to them. You can’t fix them. How about you? What you do with your issues is totally up to you. It-is-up-to-you. Let that sink in. Observers can see the need, show you the need, but they can’t change you or the problem. The proverbial, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. 

The trouble when we ignore the problem, hope it gets better on its own, is it doesn’t. You have to address the issue. It is up to you to put forth the effort, learn what you can, and determine to stay the course. Speaking from experience, it is so easy to get side-tracked. I get on a kick and go after it gung-ho, but after a couple of months, I let up a little here and a little there. Before I know it, I am almost back to where I started.

I am not happy with myself when I get out of balance in any area of my life. Of course things happen that over-stress the system and have to be worked through little by little. Some things we can’t control, say, like the Caronavirus. Even with that there are areas that we do control such as whether to follow the recommended guidelines.

Speaking of health, taking care of one’s health is not only wise, it is spiritual. Balanced health includes health in physical, mental, spiritual and emotional aspects of being. Ignore one area and it affects all other areas. Kind of like how food issues, too much or too little, bingeing on unhealthy foods or barely eating, lead to health being compromised. You can’t do that for long without it impacting your overall physical condition.

Self Evaluate

When we get out of whack we begin to see discrepancies popping up. We say one thing but do another. To keep in balance one has to self evaluate. You learn to take stock of your whole self. You will zoom out to take a bird’s eye view of yourself and what goes on in your world. Like putting numbers and facts on a ledger, you will sort by putting your positives and negatives in separate columns.

There’s something very freeing in this. You stop running away, stop avoiding the problem, begin taking ownership of the stuff in your life–both now and the things in your past–and you learn ways to deal with it. You become proactive in your spiritual life. This affects all areas in your life. Everything connects to everything, both in-house and relational. Your life impacts other lives. The healthier you are the more dynamic you become in your relationships

A Balanced Perspective

I’ve been rereading The Truth about Beauty written by Kat James. She was unhealthy in her teens and twenties from a food addiction. When the doctor said her liver was damaged and was ready to prescribe medication, she decided to do some research (pre-internet days) before going that route. She was already dealing with her emotional issues by sorting through her triggers and negative messages from the past.

While looking in the mirror one day, she saw the person she had become–overweight, plagued with skin issues, liver troubles, unwell, unhappy. She felt an overwhelming sadness for all that her real self had been through. Her wishes died that day. She quit lying to herself and accepted her ‘wounded,’ struggling self. A form of peace entered at the thought. It became her moment of truth and the start of her transformation, which she did through non-medicated, natural means. (That’s her on the book cover nine years after her transformation.)

A Balanced View of Yourself

This is going to take some work, it always does. No pain, no gain. The gain is worth every bit of effort one puts into it.

Start Here

  1. First, take an objective look at yourself.
  2. Second, begin to work on what you can do on your own.
  3. Next, give the other stuff to God and ask for His help.
  4. Then, God helps you deal with what is out of balance.
  5. Last, begin the process again in another area that needs attention.

Imagine you are in gymnastics’ class. You are on the balance beam, striving to keep upright and get through your routine. You notice what is a little sloppy or off balance. Your coach makes a few suggestions. Then you address it and move forward. To adjust your spiritual balance is a process of dependence on God for the enabling, and dependence on yourself for the initiative and carry-through. For those practically-perfect people like Mary Poppins, I suggest they ask God to reveal to them whatever is not so perfect.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Why You Should Care

The things that trip us up the most are related to ‘out of balance’ areas, whether they are activities we engage in, false expectations of ourselves and others, thought patterns that are destructive, or related to our spiritual condition. They can be anything that is hindering your life and not under the control of the Holy Spirit.

When you become healthy and whole, your life has more joy, promise, hope, and life to it. You become a blessing to others for your life graces them with its sunshiny beauty and radiance from God. Who wouldn’t want that? And yes, it is possible for anyone. It is possible for you.

God is ready, willing, and waiting to help you.

Related Posts: When Unsettled Feelings Cause Imbalance in You and Improve Your Mental Health & Much, Much More

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