From the Desk of Steve Shultz:
Dear Elijah List and Elijah Streams friends!
Below is a great, FRESH WORD through Jennifer A. Miskov.
Each day, we hand-pick the "best of the best" words for you.
Hey, here is a quick message from Danny Silk for this end-of-the-year GIVING TIME.
Now is TRULY the VERY BEST TIME FOR YOU TO GIVE to receive a year-end Tax Receipt for 2018.
These are crucial days for us to raise money to fund this ministry into 2019.
Thanks so MUCH for your generosity.
If you would like to give to the ongoing work of this ministry you can donate online, or by postal mailing your donation to:
Elijah List Ministries
528 Ellsworth St. SW, Albany, OR 97321
Thank you and God bless you!
Steve and Derene Shultz, Founders
Elijah List Ministries
"Receive the Gift of Rest"
Jennifer A. Miskov, Redding, CA
The Sabbath rest is one of the most rewarding gifts we've been given. If God needed to rest after six days of creating the world and everything in it, then we can follow in His example. Too many times though, we overlook this gift of rest that is built into the rhythm of abundant life offered to us by God.
Is There Purpose in Our Busyness?
| "The more you practice cultivating space to listen and be present for God to move in your life, the easier it gets. |
There's something numbing about keeping ourselves busy and running around from here to there—it gives the illusion of importance. If someone asks me how I am doing and I tell them that I am super busy, does my busyness make me feel important because I have so many things to do? If I am not busy does that mean I no longer have worth, am loved, have value, or am important?
I think if we're honest, filling up the moments of our lives with stimulation, busyness, going from one place to the next, checking our social media accounts, and driving with one hand on the wheel while we eat fast food in the other on the way to another meeting, is a normal part of some of our worlds. What's the true benefit of working overtime again and again, striving to get more so we can continue to be encaged in the hamster wheel, running faster and faster to nowhere? At the end of our lives will we be satisfied?
I am not saying that we can't fill our schedules up or that if we do have full schedules it means something is wrong. What I am saying is this: as we enter toward the end of this year, let's take a step back to re-evaluate our commitments to make sure that what we are intentionally investing our time into are things that we are born for and that are building the Kingdom of God. What was ours to carry in one season may not be the same in the next.
As we dive into the new year, we must be able to choose the best over the good and let go of the silver to embrace the gold (Hebrews 12:1-2). Too many times it's those good things that fill up all the space in our lives leaving no room for the best to enter in...until we are courageous and willing to let go.
A Lesson on Rest
This summer I learned a very important lesson on rest. I decided to take a small sabbatical time of rest and refreshing in Maui after running hard for 6 years with my ministry and entering into our 7th year. While there, I felt like God was inviting me to extend my time on the island more than once. The first extension was easier to say yes to. But then when I had to decide in the second month whether to stay yet another month, I struggled. I had to choose whether to come back to the mainland in October to teach and fulfill other obligations, or stay another month in Maui extending my time of rest, surf, play and to be refreshed for a conference in Virginia in November that I felt was significant.
I didn't want to let down all the people I had committed to. Would they think I was a flake? Would they think I was irresponsible? I am a person of my word and I felt I would be letting so many people down. I still hadn't secured housing for my time on the mainland, so I would have to sleep on a couch for a month. All the while doors kept opening for me to stay longer in Maui.
Would I do what I felt I should do or would I follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and give my soul the attention it needed? What would I choose if I knew I wouldn't let anyone down and they would understand my need for soul-care? Would I trust that God would provide for me still? What season did God have me in and how was I to position my life accordingly? The real question I needed answered was: What was God saying in the midst of all this noise in my head? (Photo via Pixabay)
I knew deep down that... (continue reading)
