7 Day Devotional Responding to a Global PandemicSample

Pushing the buttons My gym routine always starts with the treadmill. I focus on building stamina and strength by starting off slow and gradually increasing my pace—in theory. In reality, after a few seconds of slowly building pace, I always give into the sudden urge to push the buttons and go faster. Within seconds I am running at full capacity and immediately burn out! After only spending three minutes on the treadmill, I always leave feeling defeated and exhausted. This is often the case in our world today. The world seems to be on a treadmill, with investors and inventors pushing the buttons to create something new and faster. We live on an ever-increasing speed and we are constantly pushing the gas pedal to move faster. We want so much out of life and we want it now. And when things seem to be moving slower than our expected pace, we believe that we are stuck and ineffective. Rat Race Our minds are constantly racing. We are always thinking about the next thing...Perhaps this is why only 6% of adults in the UK achieve the recommended 8 hours sleep per night. The rest of us are too busy worrying about our: finances, work, relationships, families, and this pandemic. Although it is good to be ambitious and plan for the future, life becomes exhausting and strenuous when we live at such a fast pace that we have no time to build a relationship with Jesus. For we were created to have an intimate relationship with God and the lack thereof will leave us feeling exhausted and burnt out. I don’t know about you, but I find it very hard to be still. I always feel idle and unproductive when I am not proactively working on my ever-growing to-do list. Being in ministry, my work often requires me to study Scripture for various sermons, meetings, and home groups. I used to pass up this time as intimate fellowship with God, when in actual fact it was work. The danger of viewing work as intimate time with God was that I neglected my own personal fellowship with Jesus. I remember being challenged on this issue by my dear mother, who observed that my zeal for the work of God was far greater than my own personal and intimate relationship with God. Be still and know that I am God I believe that Psalms 46:10 is one of the hardest bible verses to apply to our lives. God does not encourage us to be still; rather He commands us to be still and to trust him in the midst of this restless and turbulent world. In times of trouble we occasionally find ourselves trying our best to control situations in order to produce a desired outcome. For some this could mean retreating from God and relying on finances for refuge; for others, relying on other people may provide them with a sense of security when troubles arise. Yet God commands us to be still and know that he is God. Imagine the transformation to our lives, if we really begin to apply this command to our hearts; that in the mist of a pandemic, where the world seems to be caving in, we are calm and solely dependant on God. Pause for a moment We cannot be still and be running at the same time. Being still compels us to pause for a moment. Slowing down or stopping may be hard for us but it is a crucial step to really hearing from God and deepening our relationship with him. During this current climate, many things have come to a natural halt in our lives, yet many Christians are still finding it increasingly difficult to be still and know that he is God. Our personal relationship with God is suffering and this will only lead us to crash and burn. Nevertheless, when we are still and allow time for God to speak, God really refreshes us and keeps our minds on the right things. Being still and knowing that He is God means allowing him to have control of our time and our lives. How do we practically do this? These three things might help: Carve out time daily, to pause with God This is time dedicated to God. This could be reading the bible, praying or sang worship. You can be creative about this time, but the main idea is that your spending time to hear from God. Slow down your overthinking Even though our actions may show that we are calm in a difficult situation, oftentimes our minds are screaming with fear. We need to keep our minds in check. Our mind is where our fears, worries and anxiety form. So, each day it is very important to try and renew your mind by examining what you watch, read and hear. If we put more of God in these things, we will undoubtedly have a healthy mind. What we feed our minds will inform our choice of action. The Apostle Paul wrote in great detail about the importance of renewing our minds in Romans 12. Know that God is in control There is a difference between hearing that God is in control and knowing he is. Many Christians have heard this statement repeatedly before but not many actually believe it. Lately, social media has been saturated with bible quotes and passages, but I often wonder how transformed the world would be if the hearts behind those accounts, truly believed in what they posted. We must move from hearing God’s word to actually believing in the Word. This is what we call faith in action. We must demonstrate our trust in God by taking the time to be still and know that he is God.