5 Reasons to Schedule in a Full Day with Jesus
In the modern world we are constantly thinking about what we need to get done, what we need to achieve and how we can be more productive. We read books about how we can hack life, achieve more, have more and be more. We are so busy proving that we are worthy that we are pushing ourselves into a toxic way of living with stress, anxiety and burn out now being considered normal.
Why do we feel like we’re doing something wrong when we stop focusing so much on being productive and start focusing on rest, enjoying our life and spending time with the people we love? How did our lives become so focused on results and achievement?
The other day my brain was in a huge spinout, thinking about what my next blog post should be, if I should write about God or travel, if I should change my posting strategy, how I can achieve bigger numbers on my blog and what I needed to do for the day, when God interrupted my thoughts and, in His loving kindness, softly said, “Spend the day with Me.”
My loving Heavenly Father was simply asking me to spend my day with Him. Why don’t we do this more often? Why do we feel guilty if we take a day off from doing everything on our to do list, to spend time with God? He is our Source, our Strength and our Guide, so why aren’t we devoting more of our days to be in His presence?
I spent the day reading the Bible, praying, journaling in the sunshine, listening to worship music and watching sermons on YouTube. It was a beautiful day devoted to my love for my Saviour and His love for me. I really enjoyed watching Better Together on TBN – God is Calling You! How to Stay Focused on His Plan on YouTube; it really stirred my faith and reminded me that I am God’s beloved.
This is what I learnt about my day spent with Jesus and the 5 Reasons why you need to schedule in a full day to spend with Jesus, more often in your life, too.
1. It Reminds You That He is With You
Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.
When life feels out of control, the stress just keeps piling on and things seem to keep happening one after the other, we can feel like it’s all just too much. We either want to run away or curl up in a corner somewhere where no one can find us. Everything feels too heavy and far too much for us to carry. The reason we all experience this in life is because we weren’t meant to carry it all alone, in fact, we aren’t meant to carry it at all.
God tells us to cast our anxiety onto Him, to ask Him for help, to focus on Him, not the waves around us. When we purposefully spend the day in the presence of God, seeking Him and leaning on Him, we are reminded that He is with us, always. We are never walking through anything alone. He carries us through the toughest, darkest seasons of our lives and will give us beauty for ashes, but we need to release control and give Him the things that we can’t carry. When we draw near to the Lord, He draws near to us.
2. It Helps Slow You Down and Rest
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Anxiety, burn out and, the pressure to keep up with the world, create a sense of panic in us that makes our lives chaotic, fast-paced and much busier than we were ever meant to be. If you slow down enough to observe nature, you’ll notice that things generally progress and move at a slow pace. The time between planting a seed and flowers blooming can sometimes be months, or even years. Rivers, streams and the ocean all move at a constant, slow rhythm. The sun rises and sets gradually every day. Just as God created nature to move at a slow pace, He created us to do the same. That’s why box-breathing, meditating on God’s word and walking through a forest have the same effect on calming our nervous systems down, because we are meant to operate from a place of peace and steadiness, instead of panic and rushing.
When you step away from work and being productive and choose to spend that time with God instead, He will slow the pace you’re moving at, remind you to be still and give you His rest. Our Father is a God of peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. When you spend time in God’s presence, you’ll be filled with His peace and you will be reminded that He is your refuge and calm in the storms of life. His load is light and He is gentle, which is the complete opposite of how modern-day life feels. This is why it’s so important to spend time with Jesus, it brings us much needed rest from the stress and busyness that surrounds us.
3. Your Identity is Found in Christ, Not in What You Do
I am the beloved of the Most High, just as I am, not in striving or achieving. Just as I am, I am worthy to Him. The simplicity and the beauty of being loved by God is what makes us who we are. Your identity isn’t in what others think of you. It’s not found in your career, who you know, or where you’ve been. Your identity, as well as your purpose, are found in Jesus. You are His precious child. You are a daughter or son of the King and you have been made in His image.
You can live your life from the love of God, instead of the approval of other people. You don’t need to prove yourself worthy, you have already been made as worthy as you could ever be, through the love of Jesus. You don’t need to search for the love and acceptance of others; you already have it in the eyes of God. Even if you didn’t accomplish anything in your life, you would still be God’s beloved. No matter how big you’ve messed up, how often you’ve failed, you are still called His beloved. Surrender your yearning to work for love and receive the love He freely gives you. Your identity and value are found in Christ and when you fully accept and receive this over yourself, you become free from finding your identity in anything else.
4. It Puts the Focus Back on God, Not on Being Productive
John 3:30
He must become greater; I must become less.
Success and productivity are not the same as purpose. Our purpose is to love God and love people. The world confuses purpose with productivity. Anxiety of performing and fear of failure has created a toxic environment of over productivity in our modern lives. We’re scared to be judged by others as not good enough, we feel like we need to prove something to someone, or to ourselves, or to God, that we are worthy through productivity and success.
We are created to love our Creator, not to be productive. Our core purpose is to spend time with the Lord and to seek him with everything we have, not to seek productivity with everything we have. Our focus should be on loving God, obeying Him and following Him as He leads us every day. When we do this, He will bring us success His way and we will bear good fruit in our lives. When we get off the productivity rollercoaster and choose to slow down, spend time with God and seek His will, it makes space for God to be God in our lives. It takes the pressure and anxiety off of us to perform and achieve, because He will give us the best fruit through our surrender and obedience in Him.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
5. It Stirs Your Faith
Rushing through life and feeling that every problem is our responsibility to sort out drains our energy and zest for life. It can also limit our faith because we feel heavy and weighed down by the burdens of life. If we fill our time and drain our energy to the point of exhaustion, it leaves very little space for quiet time with the Lord. We get caught up in a loop of rushing from one task to the next, without slowing down or laying our burdens down at the feet of Jesus.
Living like this will make you feel disconnected and far from God. He is always with you in everything you do, but if you refuse to let Him help you or carry your burdens, you are limiting what He can do in your life and your faith will eventually be negatively affected.
By slowing life down and devoting a day to spend with Jesus, it reminds you that He is in control, even when you feel out of control. He has you in the palm of His hand and He will help you and uplift you through the chaos of life. Spending the day in God’s presence stirs your faith and brings you closer to Him, as you remember His goodness, how blessed you are right now, and all the times He has given you victory in the past. He is good and He brings good out of everything, even the darkest and heaviest times of our lives. Trust Him with it all, give Him the weight of your burdens and remember His goodness instead of trying to prove to the world you can do it all on your own, because none of us can.
Life feels so busy and overwhelming at the moment for all of us. The expectations of the world to just keep pushing, just keep moving and keep producing results is driving us into lives filled with chronic stress, anxiety and feeling like rest is not an option. Deadlines, constant emails, feeling like we need to always be available and the never-ending responsibilities of life are always in the back of our minds and we are powering through like this is the way life is meant to be.
As Christians, we need to listen when Our Father tells us to rest. We need to spend time with Him when He prompts us to. He knows what we need and He knows that we cannot do life without Him. Devote a full day to Jesus and He will restore you and help you. Don’t listen to the lie that says you can’t take a full day out of your life to spend with God because you’ll fall behind with your tasks, or your work and you won’t meet your deadlines. I thought the same things but obeyed God anyway, and He gave me the anointing and strength to still meet my deadline. He filled me with creativity and inspiration to write this blog post and He helped me do it without stress or anxiety. God is so good and He is waiting to help us; we just need to slow down enough and give Him space and time to work in our lives.
