Episode #26 Extraordinary in the Ordinary – Rest More Resolution

As Christians, we all want to feel closer to God in our everyday lives, right? I mean, that's the reason I'm sharing this podcast, the reason you're engaging with this podcast. And I'm excited you're here because in today's episode, we're turning normal daily activities into shared experiences with God, and you'll discover the profound impact that it can have on your relationship.

Find out how to start enjoying God's company in new and meaningful ways, starting right now. Are you ready?

Now, God delights to spend time with us, and we know this mentally, intellectually, but we don't often consider this.The God of the universe delights to spend time with us and as we continue in our Rest More Resolution series, I'm sharing a fun activation with you. This is something I often enjoy doing with God in my own day-to-day life because he delights to spend all time, any time, with us.

Now, you've likely heard me say before that human relationships are built through healthy communication and shared experiences. We're this way because God made us this way and he knows that this is how we feel connected to others. So it makes sense that he would also choose to engage with us in this way

We see this on display by how Jesus lived and ministered in his life on earth, and he did so many things along the way from one place to another. Think about it. He taught as he traveled. He would enter a town and heal someone and teach there and eat here and cast out a demon and move on to the next location.He would answer the disciples' questions as they traveled, and he would perform miracles as the need arose. He would even use circumstances to share more of who he was through parables and stories and illustrations. Jesus' ministry and life were inextricably mingled.

Christ's ministry to me is often intermingled with my own day-to-day life.

So today's question comes in the form of a fun activity. What if God wants to engage with you as you go along the way today? He's everywhere with us, as it says in Acts 17:27-28,that all humans can "seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being."

We live surrounded by God, but there's a lot of things in our day-to-day lives that we've never thought to do with him. Don't worry about it. This gets to be a new expression. I've been doing this for years as a way that I approach my relationship with God and there's still new things that I've yet to do with him.

So here's the activity for today: Pick one of those things or invite God to pick and turn it into a shared experience with God as you go about along the way in your day. What is a new way that you can enjoy his company as God there with you?

If you're not quite sure what to do, here are some things that you might want to consider:

Maybe experiencing this activity with God is in the form of conversation, just talking with God as you go and do something that you normally would have just done or problem solved on your own.

Or it could be engaging in worship or expressing gratitude or meditating and contemplating scripture as you handle household chores or errands.

It could be inviting God to be part of the errand that you're running and asking him to help you be aware of him, or to be aware of the beauty of nature around you as you drive or walk.

It could be asking him to help you be aware and attentive to the needs of those that you come in contact with, that you could be of support or encouragement to them.

I like to ask God for his insight or to chat with him about things that I notice as a way of sharing that everyday experience with him. Sometimes when I'm shopping I'll ask God what he would add to my shopping list and why. Now, sometimes I don't hear anything. Other times he's reminded me of something I've forgotten or I've gotten to stock up on something in my pantry that I was grateful to have later. And there've even been times he's prompted me to get a little something for a loved one in my life to show that I was thinking about them or a form of care.

If I'm making plans and I'm unsure about my calendar, I'll ask God about it. Or if I'm stressing about an upcoming meeting or big opportunity, I'll ask God for his perspective, so I'm not only limited to what I can see.

Sometimes these interactions are really small. I'll notice that something tastes especially delicious, like that first sip of morning coffee, and I'll thank God for it and thank him for taste buds. Or I'll realize that I was driving and my mind was wandering and I wasn't paying close attention to the road and I will thank God for keeping me safe. All of these are small little examples of ways that we can engage with God and turn everyday circumstances and happenings and activities into shared experiences with God.

Now, please don't hear me to say that I'm ultra spiritual or live always with this present awareness of God. But to whatever extent I know him and experience life with him, I want more of that, and I know you do too. This is an opportunity for us to expand that habit.

God is not far from us. The ways that we can engage with him will ebb and flow and change constantly as we move about our day, just like it does with the people that we have relationships with in our daily lives. But I've come to experience these little conversations and these moments of engagement as part of the life giving ways that I feel my way towards him-the one in whom we live and move and have our being. They're small interactions, but they're never insignificant.

Are you ready to experience something new with God today? Here's a question that you can bring to him:

God, what's something that I'm doing today that you'd like to do with me?

Please tell me more.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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