Soaking

In this episode, Tim leads us through an experiential exercise designed to show us how we can use Focus as part of our daily rhythm to create an environment for growth. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Thanks, Elise. So in a previous podcast, we talked about how to create an environment for growth using focus, fellowship, and fasting. And focus being based on the neuroscience that if you meditate and soak on something for 10 or 15 minutes a day, after about a month, that becomes a pretty solid neuropathway in your brain. So it becomes real to you. Yeah. And then we also talked about fellowship, that we need to live in community, we need to involve others in our growth journey. And we also talked about fasting that usually when God asks us to focus on something, He also invites us to let go of something that might be getting in the way. And it might be a good thing that we have to let go of, or it might be a bad thing. But uh, I wanted to do for this month's podcast, uh, just lead you through an experience. So Elise and the rest of the audience as well, just lead you guys through this experience of what does it look like to uh meditate, to soak, to focus on something for 10 or 15 minutes. And of course, in this podcast, we've got seven. But yeah, I want to I want to just lead you through that. So let's say uh you have been praying and God kind of showed you He wanted you to focus on rest for this month. Like you needed to have some space and some rest in your life, and so you wanted to know what to focus on. So you googled rest, uh Googled scriptures, verses on rest, and you found uh Matthew 11 in the message version, uh, verses 28 through 30, um, as a verse on rest. And so you're like, okay, cool. Today I'm gonna focus on that. I would just invite you to join me in that. Um, I'd invite you to close your eyes and as we enter into prayer, just allow yourself to slow down, notice your breathing, what's it like to slow down and to stop? And yeah, I'd invite you to be aware of the presence of God because he is here and he is with us. And so as we enter prayer, Father, I just ask that you would lead us into what you want us to know. And I just ask that you would show us the things you want to show us, and um, I thank you that you're with us and we welcome you here. And so as we listen to this verse from Matthew 11, I just ask that you'd help us to see it through the lens of focus. Um, and whatever you want to highlight, I just ask that you would focus us on that. Are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. Freely, freely, lightly, and lightly, light and lightly. And then, Jesus, I just ask as we listen to this verse a second time, help us to look at it through the lens of fellowship. Who do you bring to mind that you're inviting us to walk this growth journey with, to share this with, to share what we're learning about rest. Are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. And light, and light, and light. Uh, what you're inviting us to let go of. Are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. Amen. So I'm curious, Elise, what was that experience like for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

It was really nice to just take that moment to think about it and just relax and listen.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's interesting, isn't it? We're focusing on rest and we're actually practicing it at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

So if we did that, you can imagine after a few weeks you'd actually might be restful. So I would encourage our listeners, try this, experiment. Uh neuroscience says this works. Ask God, hey, what's the one thing you want me to focus on this month? And then uh practice soaping in it, similar to what we did today, every day for 10 or 15 minutes. And in about a month, you will have developed a pretty strong neural pathway around that thing, whatever it is. Um, and you can literally do it with anything, with your nutrition, your physical health, with humility, with uh character trait, uh, with something you want to learn. So that's the challenge for this month. If you want to give us some feedback and let us know how that's going, we would love to hear it. So go to the website that is shown at the end of this podcast and ping us and let us know how things are going. Have a good day. See you guys later.