Soul Care — Disconnect

Posted on September 7, 2015 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

SOUL CARE – Disconnect!!!

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

On Saturday morning in my quiet time I read these two verses and then I read these words: “Break free from information overload by refocusing your thoughts on Me. As you rest in My peaceful Presence, true hope grows within you.”

I don’t know what you do for your career, or in your ministry – but my heart resonated with these words because I have so coming across my desk. Emails! Faxes! Blogs! Articles that people send me! Books I want to read! Letters! Tweets! Facebook posts!

I am amazed that you are even opening up our Freedom Fighter posts with all that comes your way. I am addicted to books. My closet is filled with books I want and need to read. My Ipad is burning with books I want to read. Last time I checked, I have 549 books in my Kindle library.

And think of all we have now – many of you have an Ipad, a smart phone, a tablet shoving data at us. Some of you are connected to the internet through your phone an even your Roku!!!

I am finding at 61 it has become harder to focus with so much information coming at me. My brain is on overload, and I find it hard to get to sleep or stay asleep because I feel like I can’t turn my brain off.

Stephen Smith in is book, Soul Custody: Choosing to Care for the One and Only You, says “a life of prolonged busyness, engaging with people, performing tasks, and expanding your knowledge about God does not help your experience God. More information, no matter how good it is, does not yield to a transformed life. Transformation and deep changes are ushered in by experiencing God, not just knowing God. And stillness is required.”

If you are a couch potato, and I don’t mean that demean anyone, you won’t get this. But if you are a typical Type A, high-energy kind of guy, you know what I am talking about. Many of us are on overload and rest is something we hope to do someday.

Smith gives this equation: stillness + quiet + rest + solitude = experiencing God.

How do we make this happen? It requires several key steps:

1. We have to make deliberate and intentional decisions to bring life into rhythm. Rhythm for you will be different for you than it is for me. We’ll talk about this in the weeks to come.
2. We need to learn to disconnect. Ok, I will be the first to admit it – I have become addicted to technology. Yep. I realized that I have allowed technology and the need to be connected to control me.

I am working through my life plan on this. I need to decide in advance at what time I will stop checking my emails, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. by 9:00 PM. Studies show that using electronic devices after 9:00 PM greatly impacts our sleep patterns.

It is easy for us to believe the lie of the enemy of our souls that we are so important that we must remain connected 24/7. I am being vulnerable and transparent here: I actually have believed that lie.

We will never be able to fully experience God unless we intentionally plan for stillness + quiet + rest + solitude.

What are the steps you need to take disconnect?

What are the steps you can take to bring rhythm into your life?

With all you have coming at you these days, I am thankful you have chosen to read Freedom Fighters. – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick.

Daily Bible Reading: Judges 1-3; John 2

Think About This: We fear the quiet because it is too scary. Stephen Smith

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:  Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18