One of the most practical ways that I have been able to keep my spiritual life “fresh” is through making God a big part of our family life. It’s one thing to burry my nose in study to get ready for a Wednesday night rally service, but it’s a totally different thing to prepare my heart as a father to share my relationship with God with my daughters. It’s very personal and it’s very much an investment that I know will reap great rewards.
It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the day. I homeschool my two oldest daughters and every day – about an hour into their schoolwork – we stop and pull out our copies of YouthWalk. I used the same devotional magazine when I was in highschool and still love to read it to this day. Each month focuses on a different blanket topic (this month = prayer) and each week focuses in on more specific areas of the blanket topic (this week = power of prayer). I’m so excited about the discussion and family prayer times we will have for the rest of the month!
How does this energize my spiritual life? #1) it deepens my relationship with God as another way of spending daily dedicated time with Him, #2) it encourages me as a father and spiritual mentor to walk my girls through some “ah-hah” moments in their own spiritual lives, and #3) the different weekly topics and various authors keep me interested in learning and growing together with my girls. I absolutely love it!
On a side note, if you don’t have children to do daily devotions with, why not try this with your spouse or another close friend of yours that loves God? We weren’t meant to do life alone – including our spiritual life. I set aside personal times with God, yes, but adding others into the conversation only adds to the mix/momentum.
___________
Shawn is the pastor to students at Destiny Foursquare Church in Rapid City, SD
Blog: Elevating A Generation
Twitter: http://twitter.com/shawnmichael
Related posts:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great point Shawn!! For me, being single in youth ministry, I don't have that opportunity at home. And I find that I spend so much time with the people at my church in my ministry role that I hesitate to plug in to the small group opportunities there. When it comes to my time with God, I tend to isolate myself. I need to get my act together and seek out opportunities to share my devo time with others B)
Thank you for the reminder that we're not meant to walk this journey alone!
I really liked what @loswhit was doing with the #twiblestudy hashtag this morning. Did you catch that? Twitter is becoming more and more of a useful tool for those in ministry and always has been a great way to build relationship, IMHO. It was too cool to watch God's Word become a "trend" this morning in the twitterverse.
By the time I caught on that it was happening this morning, it was wrapping up. But according to Carlos' blog, he'll be doing it again tomorrow. Very cool stuff!
Good stuff, Shawn! Thanks. One of the best ways to internalize what we are learning in our own spiritual life is to share it or even teach it to others. I do not use my own time with the Lord to prepare for teaching but that time often informs my teaching. When I teach it or share what I have been personally learning with others I am more likely to actively apply these principles in my own life.
Pretty cool, I saw that it was actually the top trend at one point this morning.