For me, it is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith: God wants to spend time with me. With me. Seriously. Despite my failures and faults, despite my small mind and feeble faith, He wants to have a relationship with me. Though I don’t fully understand this mystery, I believe it because the Bible reflects it and because I have experienced it firsthand. It is why so many people intentionally get up early or stay up late to read the Word, pray and meditate. For many, spending time with God is an intentional, scheduled time of the day, and that is great!
But what about the rest of the day? God doesn’t just want us to spend time with Him on a schedule. He wants to be part of the rest of our day as well. The pace of life makes this difficult…how can we do it?
Consider some ”intentional interruptions”.
Intentional interruptions are events that we prepare ahead of time with the purpose of snapping us out of our daily focus on our wordly tasks and bringing us back into God’s presence. They are still “intentional” in that we prepare them ahead of time, but they are also “interruptions” in that they will come into our lives when we are in the middle of something else.
Here is one way to include these “intentional interruptions” into our day: email devotionals. Many of us are on the computer all day, everyday. What if an email were delivered to our in-box that enabled us to refocus on God for few minutes? What if we were intentionally interrupted in this way?
If the concept interests you, here are some places to sign up for email devotionals.
- Daylights (Great Commission Churches)
- Insight for Living (Chuck Swindoll)
- Men at the Cross (Joe White)
- Our Daily Bread (RBC Ministries)
- The GPCC Discipleship blog (Yours truly)
I’d love your comments about other devotionals you have found beneficial, or other ways you practice “intentional interruptions”.
3 comments
John says:
November 11, 2008 at 9:57 pm (UTC -4 )
Thank you Tom for the reminder. I have signed up for the email interuptions in the past and at times I delete them because I do not have time. I need to continually remind myself that I requested these interuptions for a purpose and God is just sitting there waiting for me to acknowledge Him.
Thank you!
Tom Houser says:
November 11, 2008 at 10:45 am (UTC -4 )
Not at all! I used to (before I lost it) carry a rough “nail” in my pocket. Everytime I want to get my keys or some change I would think of Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf.
Good example D2!
Dee Dee Ball says:
November 11, 2008 at 10:40 am (UTC -4 )
This may surprise you
. I use jewelry as an intentional interruption. For example, after Hurricane Katrina I wore an ear cuf that I had gotten while travelling in New Orleans. Every time I touched it, moved it, noticed it was on my ear, I would pray for those effected by the storm.
I wear a thumb ring with the word faith on it. When I glance down while writing, typing, holding Olivia in my lap and reading Science with her, I am reminded to have faith. God uses these little moments to get a hold of my heart and reassure me. It’s amazing how it happens at the most needed times.