Episode 107: Spiritual Downtime

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth, and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness.

Do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate

upon Your holy and divine Scriptures at all times, O Lord

of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Forever. Amen.

If I. Was to pose the question.

At what moment in your day or routine do you tend to think

deep and thoroughly, reflecting on your life circumstances,

issues, plans, etcetera? Would your answer be?

When walking, resting with a cup of coffee and reading the

newspaper. Oh, I don't know, that's, that's

an old age newspaper. But showering, maybe when you're

in bed, maybe at church during services.

Now, themes are what we sometimes can refer to as down

times, right? Times where you can relax and

think. There are times where and when

the mind and the body are somewhat clearer.

Well, at times our spiritual lives entail down times as well.

Times to ponder on our circumstances, especially the

negative ones. Those circumstances that cause

us a lot of confusion, heartache, broken hearted as

well. At times.

Disappointments. Frustration they cause.

Discouragement. Helplessness, Hopelessness.

Stress, disappointment, a feeling of defeat, failure.

Now we can either be reactive or proactive during these down

times, the spiritual down times. We can either feel sorry for

ourselves and seek attention and sympathy, and at times maybe

even give up and throw in the towel, giving in to life's

precious giving in to our own faults and foolishness.

Or we can understand and always remind ourselves that it's a

part of life and that tomorrow is another day, another day

graciously gifted to us by God. As we read in Psalm 11824.

Today is the day the Lord has made come, and let's rejoice and

be glad, regardless of the circumstances.

It's a time, a blessing, an opportunity to draw closer to

Him, to have a relationship with Him, to intense intensify our

relationship with Him, share with him in his life and his

mercies and his grace and compassion, correcting the

wrongs. We can use these times to

reflect on where things turned around, When did it go down,

When did it go wrong? When did it crumble?

When did it fail? It is a time to reflect on the

Why am I where I am at? Why are things not the same?

For example, why am I angered quickly now?

Why am I frustrated? Why am I deserted by family,

friends, relatives? Why am I alone now?

These are life's issues in general, but looking at the down

times of the spiritual life that we live as Christians, some of

those examples would be why is my prayer or my prayer life not

healthy, not regular, not effective, not fulfilling, and

et cetera? Why am I not engaged in all of

the aspects and duties of my Christian life and relationship

with God being called His child? Now, I'm not going to give you

verses on why am I not, but I want to focus on the down times.

What do we do during these down times?

How can we make most of these down times that we have?

Well, first and foremost, the Scriptures teach us what we need

to do at all times, and we're focusing on our down spiritual

times. When you feel down spiritually,

I'm not spiritually active, I'm down, I'm frustrated, I'm tired

spiritually. Saint Paul writes to the

Ephesians in his epistle, chapter 5, verses 15 to 16.

That is Ephesians 515 to 16. Therefore, be careful how you

walk, not as unwise men, but as wise.

Now listen, Making the most of your time, because the days are

evil, Making the most of your time.

Not specified is it? But allow me to specify those

times. The good times, the bad times,

the up times, the down times, the successful times, the

failure times, the sad, the joyous.

And you add those times. That is coming to your mind.

Be wise, Saint Paul writes, not feeling sympathy for yourself

and sour grapes and giving up. No, no, be wise and know that

whatever the times are, whatever circumstance we are going

through these spiritual down times, well that time itself is

a gracious gift of God who created time.

Praise and glory be to His name. We read in Genesis chapter one

verse one in the beginning. There's a time God created it.

So that time that you have, regardless of what

circumstances, joyous, down, up, right, left, whatever it is,

think and remember and encourage yourself to say, well at least I

am being blessed with this time, with this opportunity, because

time is from God, praise be to His name.

Be wise, be wise, and make the most of that time.

Take it as a time to correct the wrongs, to let go of the

wickedness. Make use of the time to learn

from your sufferings, mistakes and foolishness, stubbornness,

pride and bad decisions. Be wise, writes Saint Paul to

the Ephesians. Be wise in your decision making,

your choices, your conclusions that will most definitely affect

your future and possibly the future of others who are near

you. Family, friends.

Again, be wise beloved, be wise to be brave and humble to admit

to your wrongs during these down times.

Because remember during our down times we just spoke and these

are the times that we we need to use to reflect on why am I,

where am I at? And when we identify in

humility, we admit and confess our wrongs, our faults, our

foolishness, and our sins. Most importantly, because that

is when God hears from heaven and will forgive our sins and

will correct our wrongs and will wisen our foolishness.

Second Corinth Chronicles chapter 4 verse 17 when we make

use of the time that God has graciously provided us with,

gifted us with wisely. When we ponder on our

circumstance and wise and where and how that way is when God

hears from heaven and will forgive our sins and He will

help us to correct. Just as Christ lifted those who

are down, beloved, so too we should be wise and use our down

times to also allow Christ to lift us up and believe and stand

firm on that. The secular term down and out

and not just merely referring to financial positions is somewhat

paraphrased down and prepared to be lifted in Christendom terms

according to Isaiah chapter 42, verse 3.

Isaiah 42:3

Listen to this, beloved, if you are going through these down

times because of various circumstances and we're talking

spiritually now, listen to this. Take a heart, believe, trust,

Isaiah writes in chapter 42 verse 3A.

Bruised Reed. He that is Christ, praise be to

his name, will not break and a faintly burning Wick or a

flickering Wick he will not quench.

So during those spiritual down times when your circumstances

are trying to break you and that hope that is flickering, Christ

will not quench. So if you're feeling down in

your life again, don't just feel pity and seek sympathy and

attention. Use this time to examine,

identify and correct while being prepared to be lifted up by He

who is lifted on the cross. For your sake.

We have hope. We have the promises.

He has never left us or forsaken us.

That's how we feel sometimes during those down times.

We feel that not only the world and friends and family have

forsaken forsaken us, but the enemy plays with our minds too,

trying to tell us any and and convince us that yes, your Lord,

your God has also left you. Will your God listen to you and

hear you well? Our reply should be first and

foremost to the enemy away from me, Satan, in the name of my

Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ. And then our reply should be,

yes you fool, yes, you deceiver. My Lord has promised that He

will never leave me nor forsake me, because my Lord is the High

Priest who can feel sorrow with me, go through my pain when I

have sinned and I am down and out.

Why? Because He was tempted by you, O

deceiver. He was tempted in every way by

you. But you know what?

He crushed you. He hammered you, He slam dunked

you. And if you're saying, well, that

was the Lord Jesus Christ, he is God, that is your God, well, I

will say I am the brother of Jesus Christ.

I am the son of the one true God, creator of heaven and

earth, who cast you down from heaven because you rebelled.

Oh, you fool, I have that same power because I have been

clothed with that power from my baptism.

Now, if you're going to attack me personally, oh, you fool, you

deceiver, we're talking about Satan, by the way, if you're

going to attack me, yes, I am a fool.

I'm a human being because of you.

Obviously, I sometimes tend to put my guard down and allow you

to take over. But hey, let me tell you

something. Just as my Lord prayed for Simon

in the Garden of Gethsemane and he said that you wanted to sift

his soul, you wanted to sift him, but he prayed for Simon,

and the most that you could do and accomplish was to crucify my

Lord. Well, let me tell you that

crucifixion was to your shame and your defeat and your demise.

Christ has also prayed for me, that prayer, that high priestly

prayer in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to John,

you are quite aware of, oh, you deceiver, you fool Satan.

That was for me. I am down because of my

foolishness, because of my stubbornness, because of my, my

stiff neckedness, stiff neckedness.

I am down, but he's going to lift me up.

That's the approach we should have, beloved.

Because what we do is when we're down, we even kick ourselves

further. We take away the hope we we

quench that flickering light, we do it to ourselves.

Christ won't do that because the scriptures say, beloved, a

bruised Reed. He will not break, he will not

break and I faintly burning Wick, he will not quench Isaiah

42 three. So whatever circumstance you're

going through today, beloved again, examine it, identify it

and correct it while being prepared to be lifted up by he

who is lifted on the cross for our sakes.

Praise and glory be to His name now, and that all times and

forever. We hope you enjoyed this week's

message. Please don't forget to rate and

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TR EE forward slash double edged sword.

Until next time, God bless you all.