Knock Yourself Off Rhythm

Today I was told to check out a blog at stevenfurtick.com. His blog post was really short and sweet, but it had me thinking the rest of the day. I had a HUGE mid-term this afternoon and instead of taking full advantage of the two hour break I had before class to study, I was processing what this guy's post meant. Here's a little of what it said: 


"Athletic trainers will often tell you that you need to shock your body by varying up your training regimen. Otherwise your body will get stuck in a rut and your gains will be minimized, even though you’re still working hard.

In the same way, I think it’s good to occasionally shock your spiritual system by doing something outside your rhythm. Engaging in a spiritual practice that’s unfamiliar to you or simply varies up the routine you’re accustomed to.

If you’ve been in the New Testament for a while, spend some time going through the prophets. If you love free-form prayer, try praying according to a pre-set structure, or maybe even write out your prayers.

Fast.
Spend 24 hours in silence.
Read the Bible in 90 days.
Study one word of a verse per day.
You get the idea.

Find the God-given rhythm that works for you.
But don’t let that rhythm become a dull drumbeat of predictability"

To be quite honest, this is exactly what my spiritual system needs. I was processing all this and trying to figure out what all this looks like for me and I thought to myself, "You are lukewarm. You don't care. You are numb." I don't know how I got HERE. How I let myself get to the place where I am. I know God loves me. And I know that I love Him. There are days that I feel so close to Him and then there days when I intentionally push Him away for no reason at all. I feel spiritually dead in a lot of ways and I know that I need to shock my spiritual system so this dead heart can start beating again. So after reading the blog post above the idea of reading the Bible in 90 days really got my attention. I've read the Bible all the way thru before, but it definitely wasn't in 90 days! That seems insane! I don't feel like I have the time to do that, but I feel like it would knock me off rhythm. Right before class today I calculated that I would have to read about 12 pages of my Bible a day to finish in 90 days. So when I got home tonight I grabbed some paper clips and marked my Bible in 12 page sections and then I started Day 1.

Reading 12 pages a night doesn't seem so bad, but for me, I HAVE to take notes. So as I read the first 14 chapters of Genesis, I wrote a summary of each chapter. It took almost an hour to do, but I noticed so many things in those 14 chapters that I had never noticed before. I was engaged and focused on the text in ways I never have been before. 

Do I think I'm going to be successful in this 90 day challenge? I'm not so sure. I don't want to fail at it. I think it's what I need, but I'm not sure if I can discipline myself.  I think this challenge will lead to great things and I think I will grow more in love in God in the process.