Creating Space For God - 2008
Spiritual Formation Opportunities Booklet

     If your everyday life right now feels hectic and overloaded, and your relationship with God is being reduced to religious duties devoid of joy, then pay attention to God’s instruction to His people through the prophet Isaiah.

        â€œIn repentance and rest you shall be saved;
        In quietness and trust shall be your strength.”
        (Isaiah 30:15)

    Unfortunately, Israel’s response to this invitation from God was just the opposite of rest and trust—it was worry and frantic activity (see Is. 30:15-17). What will your response be? The author of Hebrews reminds us that “the promise of entering [God’s] rest still stands…Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience..” (Heb. 4:1 & 11)

    Spiritual disciplines are one way in which we “make every effort to enter that rest”. Disciplines are not about earning favor with God so that He does what we want, rather disciplines are about training ourselves to pay attention to Him so that we have the resources to do what He wants.

    This booklet gives a list of opportunities for you to engage in various spiritual disciplines as a means of entering God’s rest. Many of these are retreats involving the disciplines of solitude and silence. The reason for this, as Pastor Bill Hybels states so well, is that “You can’t become an authentic Christian on a diet of constant activity, even if the activity is all church related. Power comes out of stillness; strength comes out of solitude. Decisions that change the entire course of your life come out of the holy of holies, your times of stillness before God.” Retreats of solitude create space in our lives for God to speak to us, to lead us, and to transform our lives from the inside out.

    May God grant you the grace to joyfully respond to His invitation into deeper relationship with Him, so that you might receive the “rest for your soul” that He promises. (Matthew 11:28)

Click here to see the Spiritual Formation Opportunities Booklet