Renew, Refresh, & Revive Like Jesus
But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
What does taking time to withdraw and pray look like in your life?
I hope you are better at it than me. When I hear the birds chirping before daylight and I don’t have enough energy to open my eyes yet, my mind starts thinking. It sounds something like this:
“What day is it? Yesterday, I . . . , oh, it’s Tuesday, I have to. . ., No, Mysty, stop and rest in God for a few minutes.
Yes, that’s sad but true! I have to mentally stop every thought and thank Him for another day, for all He is doing and going to do in the lives of my friends, family, clients, neighbors, and strangers I don’t even know yet!
The more I read and understand the Bible, the more I see how much I need to be more like Jesus in His habits and attitude. He understands the distractions and needs of the people around Him are so great, he has to physically retreat from their presence to an isolated place to find renewed strength.
The mental and physical energy it requires to be a caregiver pouring into the lives of others and maintaining a sense of order is exhausting. He shows us it’s okay to be alone and pray.
It is the only way to reconnect with our Father in Heaven and find the strength we need to start it all over again. You and I have different stressors pressing in on us daily. But He had the weight of the world on His shoulders.
The more He showed His love and concern, the bigger the crowds grew and the greater the need. Can you just imagine having the ability to heal someone physically and spiritually and facing rejection of what you are offering day in and day out?
In a way, we health care providers do this on more than one level. But so do parents of disobedient children who won’t listen!
How sad for Jesus. Looking into the poor pitiful, sinful souls of each person he met and knowing who will be with Him in eternity and who is only after His gift of healing had to wear on His heart and increase His burden.
All the more reason, to withdraw and pray.
When our burdens become too much to bear and our efforts to reach others are rejected, we can follow His example to renew, refresh, and revive. . . physically and spiritually.
How to Renew, Refresh, and Revive Like Jesus
I want to take a minute to use an adapt a “tree and root” coaching approach by Michael Arloski, with the power of Scripture, so You and I can truly accomplish what we set out to do today.
It’s not hard to picture Jesus as the Vine. He says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.”(John 15:1)
- He is the vine. The solid growing reason for and strength of our faith. When He was in the flesh on this earth He sustained weak flesh with intense prayer, worship, and connection with His Father above.
- We are the branches, that grow and are pruned as needed, by Him, to bear more fruit.
- The roots of the vine are our relationship with Him and the Father.
- The tiny hairs off the roots are the physical and mental action steps taken to nourish and absorb vital nutrients needed to sustain the vine and branches. The source of mental nutrition is the Word of God, in the Bible, and Prayer for our spiritual health and His garden goodness for our physical health.
He found a quiet place—I don’t know what this looks like for you. In my house it’s early morning before the noise of my world crashes in on me with full force. You know your quiet place, find it and secure it for just a few minutes. Take a moment to read and absorb the passage in John 15.
Some themes that stand out to me are:
- The people in Jesus’ life that do not experience a true heart change will leave him at some point.
- The people who stay with Him and love Him to the end will still mess up, doubt the mission, and let fear consume them (picture the disciples scattering when He went to the cross).
- The Pharisees taught cleanliness comes from following rituals and traditions, Jesus taught His word makes them clean. The heart of the law that pointed to Him. (The Word became flesh and dwelt among them (John 1:14).
- The strength to pour into others and serve well comes from Jesus, apart from Him we cannot continue to be effective.
- The only people (branches that wither and die) who deconstruct and walk away from their faith are the ones who never truly knew Him and His almighty power to heal, sustain, renew, refresh, and revive in the first place.
- The love of the Father in heaven sustained Jesus’ weak body on earth and withdrawing to pray was more precious to him than food.
- The heart of Jesus’ commandments is love. Loving God and loving others by meeting their needs and sharing His great love with the people in our sphere of influence (bear much fruit).
- Friends are not servants but dedicated life-giving examples of sacrifice day in and day out so that laying down our lives points to Jesus.
If you and I do not take the time to withdraw and pray like Jesus, we are separating our fruit bearing branches from Him as the vine. The result of that will be pruning. Staying close to God by reading the Bible daily also gives us the energy required to be effective. It’s an energy we cannot sustain on our own.
After reading the passage repeatedly for at least 30 minutes, look at the call to action below and decide how you want to grow in your faith today.
Call to Action:
What is one thing that spoke to you today and why does it matter to you, your health, and your family?
Take one of the statements above and pray for God to lead you to a sustainable way to frequently withdraw and pray.
The physical ability to renew, refresh, and revive our spirit matters to us in our health journey, our weight control journey and our lives. When we take the time to invest in our mindset, God really moves in a powerful way.
If you need clean healthy recipes to get you started, I’ve got you covered, check out the garden here! Let me know more about you what you’re looking for in wellness ideas here:
I look forward to serving you and simplifying health faithfully!
Mysty