A few weeks ago, I shared 8 signs that your devotional life—your quality time spent with God in prayer and Bible study—may be caught in a performance trap.

These signs included: being stuck in a rut in your devotional life (or ceasing altogether), not finding it life-giving, having a nagging sense of condemnation about the quality or quantity, not hearing personally from God, and so on. [1]

Having a deep-rooted belief that we have to work to please our Father—instead of realising the truth that we are already pleasing to Him—can affect our ability to connect with God and His Word.

Jesus’ Remedy for the Performance Trap

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance…You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” Rev 2:1-5

The Ephesian Church fell into a lifestyle of performance.

At the start, they were on fire and in love with God.

But gradually, their faith degenerated. Eventually, the church was focussed on doing a bunch of good works. They were busy doing the work of the Lord, but neglecting the Lord of the work.

Jesus gives them a remedy for their position. He tells them to remember, to repent, and to do the things that they did at first.

A key to recognising whether or not we have been caught in a performance trap is to simply ask the question,

‘How does the expression of my love for God compare now to when I first became a Christian?’

Once we recognise that we have fallen into a lifestyle of performance—working to please God without enjoying a love relationship with Him—we can then repent and receive Jesus’ forgiveness.

How wonderful is God’s grace—that through Jesus’ death on the cross we are forgiven. Our slate is wiped clean, and we can begin again. And this is true, not only of our devotional life, but every other area of our life too.

The First Step To Repositioning Our Devotional Lives

One practical way that we can disarm and escape the performance trap is to move from an activity-based devotional life to an outcome-focused devotional life. Let me explain:

Our devotional life is activity-based when its goal is to complete an activity such as:

• Read a passage of Scripture
• Complete our devotional exercise, or
• Spend a certain amount of time in prayer.

These activities are beneficial and bring us closer to God. However, when they become an end in themselves, we have moved into performance.

This can easily be overcome by redefining our goals—our desired outcome for our devotional life.

God Himself initiates true devotional outcomes.

• He wants to have an intimate relationship with you.
• He wants to involve you in His plans and purposes for your life and those around you, through prayer.
• He wants to you to grow and interact with Him through His Word, the Bible.

Devotional activities, tools and methods serve these outcomes, not the other way around.

Let’s take a look at some examples of meaningful goals for your devotional life.

I recommend that you consider choosing at least one outcome related to prayer, and one related to Bible study:

Prayer Goals

**I have an intimate relationship with God

**I regularly have close and meaningful conversation with God

**I am involved in fulfilling God’s plan for my life and those around me through prayer

**I am participating with God to bring ‘breakthrough,’ whether it be in my circumstances, or in the lives of others

Bible Study Goals

**I am interacting with God through reading the Bible and recording what He is saying to me

**I am growing in my spiritual life through practical Bible study

**I am learning more about God and His ways through studying the Bible in-depth.

Choosing A Goal That Fits Your Current Position

The outcome that you choose needs to be relevant to where you are. If you have realised that your devotional life needs resuscitation, for example, then you may start with a very simple and achievable goal, such as meaningful conversation with God. [2]

Author and speaker Keri Wyatt Kent tells of her struggles with devotional time becoming another item to be ticked off on the daily ‘to-do list.’ A simple question a spiritual mentor once gave her that she found helpful was, ‘Where did I create some space for God in my day?’ [3]

I love it!

A basic outcome you could pursue, is simply,

“I am creating some space for God and His Word every day”

However, if you already have an effective devotional life, and are looking for a ‘turbo boost’, you may go for more challenging goals such as learning more about God and his ways through in-depth Bible study.

If you choose simple goals for the stage where you are at currently, you can review and upgrade your outcomes when you are stronger.

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Exercise:

Think about one or more outcomes you would like from your devotional life, taking into account where you are currently positioned.

Choose at least one goal related to prayer, and at least one related to Bible study.

You do not have to choose an outcome from the ones listed above. You can make up your own. It may help to write it out and keep it in front of you.

Take care not to choose activity-based goals. If you are unsure, read the above distinctions again.

I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts or questions on this topic. Leave a note in the comments box below. If the comments box is not visible, click on this link and scroll down.

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Notes:

[1] For more about this read the following post:

8 Signs Your Devotional Life May Be Caught In A Performance Trap

[2] I share about this in the following post:

Does Your Devotional Life Need Resuscitating?

[1] For further information about Keri, see http://www.keriwyattkent.com/

The article can be found here: http://www.navpress.com/magazines/archives/article.aspx?id=10236

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© Helen Calder 2011 Enliven Blog http://propheticpeople.com/

On team with David McCracken Ministries

Parched and exhausted, our hero staggers along in the desert. Suddenly, he spies an oasis—water and palm trees—not too far away. Discovering a final burst of strength, he drags himself towards the vision that represents freedom, only to find it is a mirage.

In a movie, two friends are wandering in the Australian outback, thirsty, disoriented and exhausted. Suddenly one of them spots a four-wheel drive. He gets in and finds to his amazement that a slurpee—frozen cold drink—is sitting in the console waiting for him.

His mate looking on cannot believe his eyes. His deluded friend is sitting on the desert sands miming the whole thing.

The audience laughs.

The Deception Of A Mirage

A real mirage is not like the hallucinations we see in cartoons or movies. It is an actual visual phenomenon.

A mirage can occur in extreme heat, such as is produced in the desert, or as we more commonly experience, on a scorching highway or tarmac.

Layers, or ripples of air of different densities rise up from the ground. Sunlight encounters these ripples and bends, or refracts, upwards. What we see looks like water, but is in fact a reflection of the sky. [1]

The danger of a mirage in a desert is its potential to lead someone in a different direction from where he or she should be going—further away from the source of real water.

The Power of Prophetic Vision

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10

A true prophetic vision for our life is a picture of God’s plan for our lives. It is our guiding purpose.

We may receive a prophetic vision from God for our lives in many ways, whether through:
· The desires He places in our hearts (Ps 37:4)
· Scripture that has a significant meaning for us personally
· Recognising the gifts and abilities God has invested in us (1 Peter 4:10)
· Prophetic revelation—prophecies, dreams, visions (1 Tim 1:18)
· An inner sense of God’s call or purpose
· A cause that burns in our heart—a problem that we desire to be a part of the solution for
· The witness of Christian leaders and people that are close to us (1 Tim 4:14)

A prophetic vision for our lives can come suddenly, such as Paul’s call in Damascus (Acts 26:16-18) or it can emerge slowly as we walk by faith (Prov 3:5-6)

Counterfeit Prophetic Vision

A counterfeit prophetic vision appears real, but is a false and misleading picture of God’s purpose for our future.

The Bible warns us of false prophets and false prophecies. Most of us would like to believe that we have enough discernment not to be deceived by a false personal prophecy. [2]

However, like a mirage, counterfeit vision can be also created by a very subtle distortion of the true vision the Father has intended for our lives.

I have come to realise that I am indeed vulnerable to these subtle distortions, through personal weaknesses that the enemy knows only too well.

Like the mirage, a counterfeit vision can distract and lead us away from God’s true purpose, causing us to settle for less than God’s best.

For many of us, this is the true danger.

At worst, it can lead us into deception and away from God’s plan altogether.

Some Causes of Counterfeit Vision

A mirage is caused by light that is bent, or refracted. Likewise, ‘refractors’ that exist in or around our lives can distort God’s vision for our personal future.

Some of these refractors are:

1. Our Personal History

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor 5:17

God sees us according to our destiny. However, the enemy wants us to live out of our history.
Counterfeit vision can occur when deep down you believe that history will repeat itself—that the failures, rejections, or frustrations of your past will inevitably be a part of your future,

2. Fear

‘What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.’ Job 3:25

Fear can affect our vision as we continually foresee a negative outcome. Fear causes you to hold back. The danger of fear is that what you see, you inevitably head towards.

This can include fear that words spoken over us by others or ourselves hold truth.

3. Low Self-Esteem

‘When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
…”But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”’ Judg 6:12,15

Low self-esteem can warp our vision of God’s intended purpose for our lives. We don’t see ourselves as God sees us—therefore, we don’t rise to fulfil our destiny and fall short of God’s best for our lives.

4. Unbelief

‘Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD. So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert.’ Ps 106:24-26

The call of God is always going to be bigger than what we can comfortably achieve on our own. Unbelief will cause you to waver between the true vision of God and what you deem ‘reasonable’ or ‘achievable.’

5. Pride

‘Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.’ Prov 16:18

Pride can distort our God-given vision, causing us to move too quickly and presumptuously.

6. Enticement

‘Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.’ 2 Tim 4:10

Worldly enticement is like a mirage that leads us away from the call of God.

We are presented with a tempting, alternative picture of how we can use our gifts and talents to gain recognition or success in an arena that is not God’s intended purpose for our lives.

Escaping Counterfeit Prophetic Vision

Recently I have recognised at least two of the factors I have mentioned above affecting my vision. If you can identify with any of these, the following action points may help: [3]

1. Refresh your desire for pure vision, to see as God sees.
2. Recognise the things that are distorting your vision.
3. Repent of seeing less than God’s best for your life
4. Renounce the counterfeit vision—acknowledge and verbally dismiss it
5. Reveal any issues that have been hidden; find a safe person to share with
6. Restore—do whatever you need to do to get healed up in areas that I’ve mentioned above
7. Refocus on God’s vision for your life.

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Notes:

[1] For more information on the fascinating science of mirages, see the following:

http://www.light-science.com/desertmirage.html

[2] Related posts that you may find helpful are:

How Can You Tell A Personal Prophecy Or Dream Interpretation Is From God?

How Do You Weigh Up What The Prophets Are Saying?

[3] Related posts that you may find helpful are:

The Gift Of Prophetic Vision: See What Heaven Sees

How Your Perspective Can Impact Your Destiny

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Do you have any experiences to share or questions and ideas related to this topic? I would love to hear from you—leave a comment in the box below. If the comments box is not visible, click on this link and scroll down.

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© Helen Calder 2011 Enliven Blog http://propheticpeople.com/

Now on team with David McCracken Ministries

Last week I posted my 100^th blog article since starting the Enliven Blog in July 2009!

As I reflect back on the journey, one blog post stands out above all others in terms of the impact it had on me personally at the time of release.

That post was, ‘How Your Prophetic Song Can Release The Power Of God.’

In it I wrote,
‘It has been said that ‘desperate times call for desperate measures.’ In God’s Kingdom, however, desperate times call for extraordinary measures.’

The Crisis

What I did not share was that The Hunk and I were facing our own desperate times—a financial crisis.

I had been without paid work for nearly a year, after transferring from a paid role to a volunteer one at our church. Repeated attempts to find a part time job had been unsuccessful. In the meantime, my husband had been valiantly working to support our household on his sole income.

Every week we continued to go backwards, until we could go no further—we did not have enough money for our next house payment. Unless a miracle occurred, we faced losing our home and a great deal more.

In spite of this crisis, our faith remained surprisingly buoyant. We recalled previous times that we had come to the end of our own resources and watched as our Heavenly Father had brought miraculous intervention.

A Prophetic Song of Praise

At this time, I was asked to run a workshop for our worship team on ‘Prophetic Song.’ During the training session, I shared Biblical examples of how prophetic song can be pivotal to breakthrough.

Something happened in my heart as I joined with our team in prophetic worship that Thursday night. I knew that God was calling me to spend specific time praising Him for breakthrough.

My husband was away over the next few days training for a new job. Being a commission-only role, with no set salary, we had no idea how his new job would work out for us financially.

The Hunk’s absence that weekend gave me the time I needed to focus on God. I put together a collection of praise songs on CD. I sat at our keyboard. I spent hours praising my Father, singing songs that expressed faith and gratitude for His love, provision, help and power.

I also wrote what I was learning about the power of prophetic song in the blog post, ‘How Your Prophetic Song Can Release The Power Of God.’ The following Tuesday evening I published it online.

Breakthrough Begins

Wednesday morning following the release of the blog post, I had a vivid dream before waking.

I received a phone call from a minister overseas. He expressed thanks to me for publishing the post about prophetic song and shared that it was of great significance.

As our conversation closed, I asked him, ‘Where are you from?’ He replied clearly, ‘Einstein.’

I woke up aware that I had just received a dream from God. The word ‘Einstein’ seemed to have particular importance, but what did it mean? I wondered if I should look it up on the Internet to find out.

I went to our computer and noticed that a close friend who was one of my prayer leaders had just sent an email.

In the email, she mentioned some signs that spiritual warfare was taking place in her world and closed by saying,

‘You don’t have to be Einstein (to figure out what is going on).’

When I read the word ‘Einstein’ I was electrified. That morning, inspired by an urgency of the Spirit, I hurried to our church to be early for the weekly staff meeting.

As I rushed into our church carpark, our pastor was outside having a conversation when he saw me and called me aside. He shared that an opening for a part time paid administrative role had come up and invited me to take the job.

I now had paid work.

In the meantime, the Hunk was starting his new job and that very day won the first of two prizes of petrol vouchers—a welcome supply to help meet our immediate needs.

Several days later we received a large gift to help towards some family expenses.

And a day after that someone pressed an envelope into my hands at church, saying God had instructed her to give it to us. It was filled with cash.

It was also proving obvious that income from my husband’s new line of work would far exceed what he had earned in his previous role.

Within a week our situation had turned completely around and we were in awe at the love and power of God.

The Power of A Prophetic Song of Praise

A song of praise is a powerful prophetic tool that

• Celebrates victory in the face of apparent defeat.
• Declares God’s ability in the circumstance of your inability
• Thanks God for answers that have not yet been sighted

It is prophetic because it gives voice to the word that God has spoken to you, concerning His outcome for your circumstances and life.

Intimacy and Obedience

I hesitate to share a testimony like I the one I have above, because there is always a danger that people will imitate a method in order to gain a result.

You see it is not about a method. It is not even about a principle (although the principle of prophetic praise is powerful).

It is about relationship with God and obedience to His word.

In 2 Chron 20, King Jehoshaphat responded in faith to a prophetic word that God would route the powerful armies that were coming against the nation of Judah.

Jehoshaphat sent out musicians and singers at the head of his army to praise God. As they began to sing and praise, the enemy armies turned on each other. The prophecy—that God would defeat the enemy without Judah having to fight—was fulfilled.

However, this was the only time in the Bible a battle was won in this precise way.

The key to breakthrough is not about a method, it is intimacy with God. And out of that intimacy, let the faith rise, let the praises start to flow.

If my story inspires you, I encourage you to spend time with God. Ask your Heavenly Father how you should respond in your particular situation.

And then, do whatever He tells you. (John 2:5)

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Notes:

For teaching on the topic of prophetic song, I encourage you to view the following blog post:

How Your Prophetic Song Can Release The Power Of God

To leave a note or share your own story, leave a comment at the bottom of this post. If the comments box is not visible, click on this link and scroll down.

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© Helen Calder 2011 Enliven Blog http://propheticpeople.com/

Now on team with David McCracken Ministries

In the same way that we have different gifts, talents and personalities, each of us has a unique way that we best learn and study.

When I attended a course on how to train people in groups, I was taught to make allowance for individuals’ different learning styles. [1]

This is why I don’t just talk during my training sessions; I also incorporate visual aids and other media, give opportunities for practical application and encourage questions and discussion.

Schoolteachers are taught about learning styles and encouraged to incorporate them into their classroom environment.

What would happen if we began to apply these same principles to discipleship, Bible study and our devotional life?

Do You Know what Your Learning Style is?

You may relate to one of these 3 main learning styles:

1. Visual—you learn best by seeing—reading, diagrams, visual media and other visual aids.

2. Auditory—you learn best by hearing—lectures, audio media, discussions.

3. Kinesthetic—you learn best by doing—hands on, activities and an emphasis on practical application.

The Visual style can be broken into two further categories: Visual and Reading/Writing. [2]

At the end of this post I will give you a link to an online questionnaire to help you discover your primary learning styles.

How Using my Learning Style Renewed my Devotional Life.

I have shared recently how our devotional life—vitally connecting to God through prayer and studying the Bible—can suffer when we feel we have to do it out of duty, to please God or people. [3]

A few years ago, I became exhausted and my devotional life waned—especially Bible reading, study and journaling.

When I was picking up the pieces of my life, I reflected on where I had gone wrong.

One of the things I noticed was that I had been trying to conform to a set method of journaling for my personal Bible study.

The method I had been using did not come naturally to me.

My personal learning style is primarily visual. Being creative, I also need an unstructured way to record what I am learning from the Bible.

I put aside my A5 lined journal, purchased an A4 unlined notepad, and began to use diagrams and mind-maps to visualise what I was learning about a Bible passage or topic and to record what God was saying to me.

Life began to flow back into the time I spent with God’s Word!

Devotional Methods are Tools, not Rules.

It is vital that we understand that devotional methods, such as journaling styles, are not rules to be followed.

Instead, they are tools that we can choose to use—if they suit our unique wiring—that can help us connect to God and His Word.

There is a common misconception that one particular devotional or journaling method is better than others.

For example, some churches provide SOAP journals for all of their congregational members.[4]

SOAP is a simple and effective devotional tool that everyone can (and should) learn. However—let’s not stop there!

The limitation of SOAP journaling is that it assumes a Reading/Writing learning style. And this does not come naturally to many of us.

So let us teach, encourage, model and provide resources for Bible study that incorporate all learning styles.

And let’s validate the unique ways that people connect with God, rather than endangering their relationship with Him by leading them into performance.

Marlene Le Fever, who teaches about learning styles, tells the moving story of an old African-American man who approached her at the end of a session.
“Teacher!” he said. “Iffen somebody’d a tol’ me when I was a kid that God made my mind right, I’da’ done something for my Jesus.” [5]

Using a Questionnaire to Discover Your Personal Learning Style

You are created to uniquely connect with God and His Word, the Bible.

Do you know what your learning style is? Sometimes, we are aware of our primary learning style but can also benefit from using a questionnaire to help us confirm this or discover our secondary learning style.

I have included a link below to an online questionnaire that can help you discover your learning style. [6]

Following are the basic learning styles and some ideas of how to make the most of these in your Bible study and in journaling.

Ideas for Bible Study Using the 4 Main Learning Styles

VISUAL – You learn by seeing

• Journal using diagrams and pictures. Try mind-mapping your Bible study
• Make use of colour coding, indexing and highlighting in your journal
• Bible teachers that use vivid (picture) story telling will suit you
• Use your imagination when reading Bible stories (create an internal movie of the scene)
• Parts of the Bible have been filmed using the NIV text—try Matthew or Acts on DVD. Ask at the Christian bookstores what is available
• Illustrative Bible study tools and dictionaries
• Locate good teaching DVDs

AUDITORY – You learn by hearing

• Read portions of Scripture aloud to yourself
• Process what you are learning in the Bible verbally—you can do this through praying about it, sharing with others or simply musing your thoughts aloud
• Try a conversational journaling approach, where you talk with God about what you are learning and write what you ‘hear’ Him saying to you (e.g. prayer journaling)
• Listen to the Bible on MP3 or CD—purchase or download free from the Internet
• As above, but Bible teaching (Ensure that the teaching is sound and not slanted towards a particular doctrines or agenda)
• iPod or MP3 player while walking, using public transport, doing housework, etc

READING / WRITING – You learn with words

• Traditional forms of devotions may suit you
• Try daily devotional booklets
• Practice journaling (SOAP or similar)
• Selective Bible reading (character studies, books, portions)
• Sequential Bible reading (read the Bible in a Year – look-up or One Year Bible formats)
• Bible teaching or study books
• Use written study tools such as commentaries, dictionaries—in text form, software or online

KINESTHETIC – You learn by doing

• Find a good devotional that includes Bible references and reading, and includes life application principles
• Teaching and study tools that have practical life application will suit you.
• Write ‘action points’ in your journal from your Bible studies or teaching that you receive. This will help translate what you learn into everyday life. Follow them through
• Teaching with real-life case studies and stories will be helpful
• Cross-reference devotional and instructional teaching in the Bible to historical Biblical accounts of actual characters. For example, a study on wisdom—who demonstrated wisdom in the Bible and what did they do?
• When studying with others, discuss real life situations and case studies. Try role play.

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If you have found this article or recommended resources helpful, I would love your feedback, as I am in the process of developing further studies and resources to aid people in this area. Do you know what your learning style is? Are the above lists helpful, or do you have other ideas?

Please contact me using the comments section of this blog or use the contact form here to email me. If the comments section is not visible, click on this link and scroll down.

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Notes:

[1] Cert IV in Assessment & Workplace Training

[2] In 1987, a researcher called Neil Fleming split Visual, which originally included learning through reading, into two categories: Visual and Reading/Writing. Visual encompassed learning through diagrams and symbols, whereas Reading/Writing referred to the traditional, text-based style of learning. This distinction is helpful in examining fresh approaches to devotional study. Fleming, N.D. and Mills, C. (1992), Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection, To Improve the Academy, Vol. 11, 1992., page 137.

[3] See the following posts:

Does Your Devotional Life Need Resuscitating?

8 Signs Your Devotional Life May Be Caught In A Performance Trap

[4] I recommend the SOAP method of journaling personally. See the following post:

When Your Devotional Life Is Dry: How To Fall In Love With The Bible Again

[5] Le Fever, M. Learning Styles, Reaching Everyone God Gave You 2002.  Cook. p 11,

[6] Take the VARK learning styles questionnaire online at
http://www.vark-learn.com/

For more information on learning styles, see also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles

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© Helen Calder 2011 Enliven Blog http://propheticpeople.com/

Now on team with David McCracken Ministries