#3 – How’s Your Spiritual Health—REALLY?
We’re pastors, right? And so most people expect that when we get up out of our beds that the Angel of the Lord has already poured us a cup of coffee and is sitting in our kitchen just waiting on us to commune with him. After doing so we slip into our glorified bodies and quote Scripture all the way to the office, where, when we arrive God has emailed us the next six months of sermons we should preach.
AND then we wake up!!!
Walking with God isn’t easy; in fact, I would argue that for a pastor/church leader it is actually more of a challenge. We face critics, spiritual warfare and the realities of life on an enormous scale…and those things take a toll on us if we do not do whatever it takes to make sure we have a solid connection with Jesus.
Pastors, we’ve GOT to do all that we can do to make sure the spiritual temperature in our lives stays hot!!! A few suggestions…
- Read your Bible…NOT for sermon preparation but rather to hear God’s voice on a personal level.
- Take a technology break…get away from email, the cell phone, twitter and facebook for an extended period of time (AT LEAST A HALF A DAY!) It’s amazing how clearly we can hear God’s voice when we do not have distractions.
- By the way…if you can’t do the bullet point I just suggested then you are addicted…and it’s not something to be laughed about…it’s serious. You are filling your life up with distractions because you are probably wanting to avoid something…and the silence would allow God’s voice to solidly address the issue.
- Answer the following question, “I feel the closest to God when I BLANK.” And when you find that answer…do it A LOT!
- Practice, don’t just preach, confession and repentance.
- Take some time to get out of your normal routine to fast, pray and have some solitude.
- Take two Sunday’s in a row off from preaching. Your church will survive without you…and if it can’t then you have way more trouble than you would want to admit. Trust me…taking two Sunday’s off REALLY refreshes you.
- Visit other churches and attend conferences…and do not apologize for wanting to do this because “it fires you up!” We all need that!
- Get together with other pastors…and DO NOT let those meetings turn into “let’s bash the guy who isn’t here” meetings but rather times where you can mutually challenge and encourage one another.
I could go on and on…but the reality is that if you are a pastor/church leader then you probably already know what you need to do to grow and develop spiritually. Don’t let your walk with God be replaced by a run with the church! Do WHATEVER it takes to make YOUR walk a priority.