Big Idea: Sabbath as rest is an act of resistance.
Application: This week, as you stop and work to rest as you Sabbath.
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Prepare for the day.
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View it as a momentum builder for Sabbath.
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Prepare by…
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Go grocery shopping and stock your pantry and fridge.
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Prep your meals.
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Clean or tidy your home or apartment.
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Run any errands or pay any bills that need to be sorted before you can rest.
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Answer all your texts and emails in order to power off your devices.
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Make plans to meet your family or community on the Sabbath.
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Plan out some fun activities for play and delight.
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Prepare for external resistance.
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Pick 1-3 cultural forces to say no to…
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Phone
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Social media
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The internet
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TV and entertainment
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Shopping
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Social obligations
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Sports
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Weekend work
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Chores
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Errands
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People
- Prepare for internal resistance.
- Make space in your day to pray.
- Invite the Holy Spirit to come and illuminate your mind.
- Ask…
- What am I feeling?
- What attachment is under that feeling?
- An attachment is an emotional state of clinging to something we believe we need to be happy and safe.
- Feel that feeling.
- Even if it’s unpleasant, like sadness, boredom, anger, or hurt.
- Be gently present to it.
- Breathe the feeling in, and then out.
- Don’t run from it.
- Let it come to you and roll over you like a wave.
- Offer your feeling to God in prayer and release it back to Him.
- You can use words, or not, but just surrender that feeling back to God for him to do with it as he pleases.
- Finally, wait for God to speak to you.
- See if a word or phrase or image or line from Scripture comes to mind as God’s word to you.
- Write it down and go about your day.
Going Deeper
Reading
Read Part 1 of Sabbath by Dan Allender (pp. 35-97).
Podcast
Listen to episode 2 of the Sabbath series from the Rule of Life podcast by Practicing the Way.
Exercise: A digital Sabbath
Turn off all your devices, including your phone, for a full twenty-four hours, or at least for a good portion of your Sabbath (such as from your evening Sabbath meal until noon the following day).
We recommend you literally put your phone and devices away, out of sight, in order to minimize the temptation to power back on.
This exercise will be hard at first, as your body goes through neurobiological withdrawals. You may even feel “phantom phone vibrations” in your pocket throughout the day. But if you stick with it, these mildly painful symptoms eventually go away and are replaced by an incredibly freeing sense of peace and presence to God and the Sabbath day.
