5 Ways to Stay Connected to Jesus During a Crazy Week

It’s Thursday, and the weekend is in sight. Woohoo! Sunday’s coming and for me and other people of the Christian faith, that means attending some sort of Church service. If you’re like me, however, sometimes you feel kind of spiritually dry between those Sundays.

And, well, that just makes sense. If you only ate once a week, you’d feel gorged after meal time, but then your body would ache and hunger during the rest of the week. It’s not healthy physically, and it’s not healthy spiritually. We’ll never be consistent in our faith until we consistently draw close to Jesus throughout the week.

“Yeah, Adam, I know that… I hear you… But how?” I’m so glad you asked. But before I share some answers that have worked for me, let me just say, I get it. Most people who follow Jesus recognize on some level the need to connect to Jesus more frequently or for those connections to increase in quality. The problem is twofold: 1, We sometimes genuinely don’t know how. 2, We lack the willpower to follow through.

Some other time, we’ll talk about building disciplines, but for now, let me share with you 5 Ways You Can Stay Connected to Jesus During a Crazy Week:

1. Read Your Bible & Pray Daily.

Ok, you surely knew this would make the list, right? If I didn’t include it, I’m sure the emails and messages would fill up my inbox: “Adam, what about reading the Bible? What about praying?”. Yes, I agree it’s a basic component of faithfully following Jesus. But sometimes we forget the basics. Nothing has helped me draw closer to Jesus than at least somewhat consistently reading the Bible and praying to God about what I have read.

And really, there isn’t an excuse anymore to not get into the Word daily. I’m a huge fan of the YOUVERSION APP. With it’s Bible plans, social networking features, media, and audio Bible features, there is so much to make reading the Bible a rich, soul-nourishing experience.

There are a lot more ways out there to engage with the text and the Author of the Bible. Amazon’s Alexa will read the Bible to you, there are apps that will remind you. This is an area where you just need to start. Pick up the book of 1 John and read a chapter a day for 5 days. Pray about what you’ve read. You’ll begin to connect with the Lord in a fresh, new way.

2. Listen to “Christian” Music

I have mixed feelings about this. I think we have to be careful about labeling music “Christian” versus “secular”. Music doesn’t experience salvation. But in the “Christian” music field, I draw two distinctions: 1, Worship music. 2, Songs about the Christian life.

Let me explain what I mean. I would include as Worship Music songs that I would use or expect to see in a worship service. Songs like “10,000 Reasons”, “In Christ Alone”, etc. These songs can help you have a private worship service that can draw you closer to Jesus

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Songs about the Christian life to me would include lots of songs I hear on Christian radio, like “Chain Breaker” by Zach Williams, music by Need to Breathe. While I wouldn’t use these songs in a worship service, because they’re not songs directed to God, they do have an encouraging faith-based message. Listening to that, either in the background as I work, or jamming out in the car, I notice a difference in my outlook and attitude.

3. Connect to a Small Group or Bible Study

When my mom was growing up, she went to a Holiness church and had something like 7 services a week. That’s right, SEVEN! You were expected to go to the church every time the doors were open. When I was growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the expectation was that you went to Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, and Midweek service.

Today, instead of attending 2-3 hours of services a week at a local church, it’s considered a win if people attend 2-3 hours PER MONTH. This is a huge culture shift in the American Church. And while we can bemoan this or say it’s causing people to be stagnant in their faith (which I disagree with, at least partially), it’s not something we’re probably going to see change.

And while I don’t think the answer is for you to go to a building more hours a week, I do strongly believe in the importance of Christ followers gathering in small groups for encouragement, accountability, and to work together.

Some churches do Sunday School. Some churches do life groups, home groups, cell groups, small groups, missional communities, etc. The main difference in all of these? Marketing/branding. It’s not nearly as important what you call these as long as you participate.

We were not created to do life alone. The Christian journey is not a solo adventure. Get connected with other Christians and you’ll get closer to Jesus.

4. Say No

Say no to something so you can say yes to Jesus. 90% of your schedule is ultimately determined by you. If your life is too busy to connect with Christ, frankly, it ultimately comes down to the fact that you have said yes to way too many things. Saying no isn’t easy. It’s not fun. But it’s important.

You don’t need to watch that show on Netflix nearly as much as you need to spend 5 minutes with the One who refreshes your soul. Do you really need to watch the news more than you need to connect with Jesus?

Say no to the good so you can say yes to the great. And the greatest thing in our lives in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

5. Seek to Integrate Your Faith into Your Tasks

Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Everything we do, huh? Yep. Now, I’ll be the first to admit this can be tricky. It definitely takes some creativity. But when we have the mindset that there are “Christian” tasks and then there is the stuff that I simply have to do, we misunderstand God’s purpose behind our work. The Lord of the Church is still Lord of the marketplace.

Offer to pray for people you meet. Or pray for them privately. When you go to the grocery store, buy some extra food for a family in need. Ask the Lord how you can be more generous at the workplace. Sing to Jesus when you’re on the lawnmower.

I’m sure that there are many other ways you can connect with Jesus during a crazy week or season of life. But these are the 5 that most quickly come to mind. What helps you connect with Christ?

Start Asking

Kids ask millions of questions, don’t they? Especially at what seems inopportune times like bedtime, when you’re trying to navigate traffic, or when you’re in the middle of trying to meet a deadline. What can seem annoying just actually may be what we need to think about.

No, I try not to think too much about why the sky is blue or why cats can’t fly. I mean the more fundamental type of questions. Such as “how”, and that perpetually perplexing question: “Why?”

As kids we ask why. And then as we got older, we stopped asking why. Perhaps our parents discouraged it.

“Dad, why do I have to go to school?”

“Because I said so, that’s why!”

Yeah, guilty here. I swore I would never give that answer to my kids, but the truth is that sometimes I have just been tired or mentally drained and that’s the best I could come up with.

God gave us an inquisitive mind. Here’s why: God made this amazing world to display His handy work, to show off, if you will. And when we investigate why, it causes us to recognize His greatness. He made us to ask questions.

But somewhere along the lines, many of us stopped. Maybe we felt jaded by the answers we got. Perhaps we just accepted the status quo. Is it possible we got so busy with life we forgot that we were created to ask questions?

Here is where I am going with this: We need to start asking questions again. I’m not suggesting questioning authority. I am suggesting questioning the status quo. Questions if asked with the right heart behind them aren’t threatening. Questioning something doesn’t mean rebelling, it means learning and understanding.

Now, I’m not talking about being a gossiping busy-body. Sadly, we ask those types of questions way too often. Stop it.

But what would happen if you and I would start asking “how” and “why” more frequently?

A few thoughts:

1. Asking Questions Makes Us Better Parents

Ok, maybe you don’t have kids, but hear me out. As a parent in my early 30’s with 3 kids, I DEFINITELY don’t have it figured out. So, I could try to figure this whole “being a dad” thing out on my own, or I can learn from the successes and mistakes of MILLIONS of moms and dads who have been down this road before.

When our middle child, Sophia, was diagnosed with epilepsy I had a gazillion questions. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to keep a qualified doctor on 24-hr standby. But I have several friends and connections who have been through this. I know that I can ask them questions. I’m part of a support network for parents working through this.

But it doesn’t have to be a major illness the prompts inquiries. Asking questions of other parents such as, “How did you get Johnny to improve his reading comprehension?” “Any tips to help Ella learn to share with the other kids at the babysitter’s?”

Being a better parent begins with asking how and why. In my experience as a Pastor and a School Board member, I can tell you anecdotally that not nearly enough parents are asking questions.

2. Asking Questions Makes Us Better Community Members

We live in an age of fake news, agenda driven media, and blatant lies shared on social media. Liberal, Conservative, unaffiliated, we’ve let others do the thinking for us. We are too busy to do the research into what is affecting our lives, our communities, our world. So, because we’re too busy, we let others look into it for us, let them do the thinking and asking.

And in settling for another’s manipulative answer, we’ve become sheep of uncaring and dishonest shepherds. I have a cousin who lives on the other side of the country with VASTLY different political views than I. He taught me a valuable lesson of asking questions. Each day, he spends a few hours reading half a dozen or so newspapers. (Newspapers are these archaic devices of media where words are printed on a piece of paper, which is then sold or delivered to your home.) His reason? You need to be informed before you pontificate.

Imagine how much better our communities could be if we started asking why or how? Why is this person protesting? How is this person really different from me? Why do some people think gender or race automatically creates privilege? Does it? Instead of beating down people who disagree with us, what if we sought to understand them? We don’t have to agree with them, but could you maybe just ask and then quiet long enough to hear them out?

3. Asking Questions Makes Us Better

Most of us are part of some sort of organization or institution. Maybe it’s a local church or little league or PTO or the local historical society. Maybe you’re in the Lion’s club or some other fraternity. That institution was created or exists for a purpose. Do you know what that purpose is? Can you articulate it in a sentence? Why are you doing what you are doing?

Every group has a life cycle. And when we stop asking why or how, that group begins to die. “Why do we do this? How can we do it better? How does doing this accomplish our why?” Every group needs to ask and answer these questions regularly. The mission of the group is at stake.

Where I serve, in the local church world, we are often scared to ask why. We’re afraid we will upset someone. My position is that the mission of the local church, to love God and love others, making disciples, is FAR more important than someone getting upset over questions being asked. Far to often the answers to “why” and “how” in our local churches comes down to “I don’t know” or “we’ve always done it that way.” Both of those are bad answers to such important questions.

4. Asking Questions Makes Us Better Christ-Followers

Some pastors get nervous when people begin asking questions about God. We like our cookie cutter answers we memorized in Sunday School. When I was 9 years old, in one Sunday School class we played a trivia game, where the teacher would give us hints and we had to guess the Bible character. I always guess Jesus or Barnabas. I figured eventually I’d get it right.

But when it comes to questions of faith, I’m not threatened. I don’t have all the answers, that’s for sure! But, God does. And look, I know that sounds trite, but it’s accurate. Jesus stands up to scrutiny. The Bible stands up to critical scholarship. As an Evangelical, the doctrines that I follow aren’t contrived or invented on a whimsy.

Asking God why and how don’t threaten him. He actually invites our questions. He invites us to search and seek Him. He tells us in 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD you God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

When we wrestle with worry or doubt or simple don’t understand something about our walk with Christ, He invites us to reason together with Him.

There are so many ways in which asking questions will make us better. I could go on ad infinitum. But the best way is for you to start asking questions today. Reclaim the inquisitive nature you once had. You heavenly Father created you to ask.

Twisted: The Root of All Evil

This past Sunday at Mount Hermon Church we finished the series "Twisted" where we looked at the most some of the most commonly misunderstood Bible passages. 
You can listen to Sunday's message here: Twisted: Root of All Evil.

One of the key thoughts I shared was this: When we think "What I really need is more money," we're deceived. Money is not the answer to our deepest needs. JESUS IS! We don't need more money, we need more Jesus.

So as you go through the week, and maybe think, "I need more money. More money would make my life easier right now." Remember, Jesus is the answer to your greatest needs. Money isn't bad. But loving it is more dangerous than you can imagine.

So let's pursue Jesus instead of money. He's the real answer to our problems, the real source of our joy, the genuine provider of security and forgiveness.

Hey, are you a pastor, church leader, or Bible study facilitator? You need to check out Open.Church! They are a group of several churches who give away everything they do for free! From sermon outlines, to teaching videos, to church graphics, to original worship music. Open.Church has saved me countless hours of detail work. For this series, Twisted, I was able to use graphics and other media to give the message some extra oomph. I was able to take the outline for this series, and customize it to make it my own. Again, you need to check them out.

What About the Lies?

As the church where I serve, Mount Hermon UB, has grown, so has the amount of criticism that I and our church face. And while I’m all about constructive criticism, because I want to get better at what I do, there is one thing I don’t handle as well: lies about me or the organization I serve.

I’m not talking about differing opinions, or even differing interpretations of the facts. Those aren’t lies, those are opinions, and like bellybuttons, nearly everyone has one. And like bellybuttons, just because you have an opinion doesn’t mean you need to tell and show the whole world. Congrats. We get it.

But lies. What do you do about the lies? In our era of social media, they go viral, are shared dozens of times, or at least seen dozens of times by people before you even have time to see them for yourself, let alone react. Don’t we have a duty to correct, to rectify an injustice?

When the lie is about you, or even your organization, I’m going to say, under most circumstances, NO. Yes, that goes against every instinct we have. That goes against our pride, our righteous indignation. But it’s usually the right call.

See, getting into an argument with someone who is lying about you is like wrestling a pig. You both get dirty and only one of you is going to like it. Reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:6, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (ESV) I know that may not be the proper exegesis of this passage, it just reminds me of what happens when you engage a person spreading lies about you.

So what do we do? Here’s 5 STEPS to deal with lies and the lying liars who lie.

1.  Recognize This Isn’t Personal, But Spiritual.

“But Adam, of course it’s personal, they’re talking about me!” While technically correct, remember the words of Paul the Apostle to the church at Ephesus: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (NLT)

I know Billy Bob may be telling a lie about you, but the issue isn’t Billy Bob himself. It’s the forces of the enemy, Satan, trying to take you down or to discourage you. See, if the Devil can get you to give up, or to sin while trying to defend yourself, he wins. The problem isn’t the person who’s lying. It’s the underlying spiritual issues.

Is that person saved? Is that person going through some sort of traumatic life circumstance? After all, hurting people hurt people. I’m not saying that they have a pass to say whatever they want. No one ever has a pass to say whatever they want (including you). But the issues are deeper.

2. If There is a Specific Accusation or Attack, Refute It Once And Move On.

But if it’s specific enough, refute it ONCE. Don’t be constantly trying to defend yourself. Again, then you find yourself in an argument that you can not win. But if you refute it, then the people whom are closest to you can say, “Nope, Jane didn’t do that. She refuted that charge.” I believe that your character will show the truth, at least to those open minded enough to give you the benefit of the doubt.

We have to be very careful about continually insisting on our innocence, because it then becomes very easy for us to think we are fighting the battle. It becomes easy for us to insist on our own righteousness. It becomes about our justification.

And for the Christian, we recognize that a, we’re not always innocent, in fact we have sinned just as everyone else has. B, It is God who is to fight for us. Vengeance is His. He promises to deal with it. C, apart from Christ, we have no righteousness. Sorry but without Jesus you might as well be guilty of what they’re accusing you of. And lastly, your justification comes only from what Jesus did for you on the cross, not from the opinions of others or the reputation you or your organization enjoy.

3. If You Have a Personal Relationship with Them, Reach Out. 

Now this can be tricky. But if it’s someone you have had a decent report with in the past, someone whom you have been in relationship with before, try to reach out to them. Humility is key here. Don’t reach out with a “What the heck are you doing” attitude. But humbly, kindly, ask them what is going on. Do they have a misunderstanding of what occurred? Perhaps they aren’t mentally well, and are lashing out? Ask them to correct the matter to the best of their ability.

They likely won’t listen. But you have fulfilled your obligation as stated in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceable with all.”

4. Keep Going. 

If the enemy can get you distracted, he’s won. You’re likely getting attacked because you are doing something worthwhile. Keep reaching people for Jesus. Keep being kind to others. Keep making the difference in people’s lives.

In the Book of Nehemiah, there is a guy named (wait for it) Nehemiah who is rebuilding the walls around the desolated city of Jerusalem. And people don’t want him to continue. They try to discourage him by trying to scare him and his workers. That doesn’t work so they resort to telling lies. “Hey Nehemiah, come down from the wall so we can talk about all the stuff you’re doing.”

Nehemiah’s response is great: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you.” (Nehemiah 6:3b ESV)

Did you catch that? “Sorry guys, I am too busy to play your game or get caught up in your little drama.”

Man, if more of us would keep going, imagine what we would get accomplished!

5. Bless Them.

 Yep, you read that right. Bless them. Jesus told us repeatedly to love our enemies. Bless those who curse you and lie about you. Why? Because that demonstrates the genuineness of our faith in Christ. It shows the world the power of God’s love.

Paul tells us to repay evil with good in Romans 12:14-21. In verse 20-21 Paul says, “To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

I hope I have given you some steps you can take when people say false things about you. It hurts. And it’s okay to hurt. But allow God to use this to shape your character to more reflect the image of Christ. He is for you. And you are never alone.

Be sure to share this post if it has helped you, and leave a comment.