Today church can be a routine. Even spending our own time with God can become a routine - morning or night devotion. What if we are missing our next level of faith or our breakthrough because we keep doing things the same way. Change only comes by doing things differently. Are we stuck in a routine with our time with God? We need to ask ourselves if we are truly following Him or are we following what everyone else is doing because it's tradition and "works."?
To give you an idea I just reflected on how I do things compared to how it can be different.
AT CHURCH: Arrive, sit, worship, listen, leave.
SMALLGROUP: Arrive, listen, worship, say something agreeable, close off, have coffee, leave.
OWN DEVOTIONAL TIME: Watch multiple sermons. Sing a few songs maybe. Read a daily devo. Say a simple prayer - mostly concerning me.
AT CHURCH: Ask God to show me if there is something He needs from me in the service today.
March in prayer before service
Pray for individuals before service or during worship
Jump. Lift hands. Sing/speak in tongues. Scream. Rebuke.
Convo with pastor perhaps....
SMALLGROUP: Ask the Holy Spirit to show me what He needs from me in the small group. Should I say or do something different? Challenge people around me? Say what I feel the Spirit says even if people may not agree with me cause they may not be on my level.
Speak in tongues more often.
Pray before I make a decision. Pray before I start my work.
Be still before the Lord.
Have a heart to heart - personal things - with God.
Meditate or memorize and repeat scripture.
Study on a specific word in the bible to get its depth.
Pray about the sermon you heard. Meditate on it. Learn from it. Spend time feeding on it.
Be brave to be different.
Learn to follow or trust the Lord with tiny instructions in daily routine. What to say? Where to go?
Remember you do not have to do what everyone else does just because that is how it has always been done.
Inspiration For This ~ Michael v Vlymen: Spiritual Warfare: