Looking Above

In this episode, Brooklyn and Karen discuss a form of prayer that you may have never considered, the prayer of rest. In this form of prayer, we enter into the stillness of God’s presence and learn to be with Him. It is a prayer of entering into Sabbath rest by letting go of distractions and becoming increasingly aware of God’s presence. This form of prayer strips us of our need to be productive and teaches us a new trust in God. After listening to this podcast, find a friend or small group and use these questions to continue the discussion:

1. Prior to this spring, what “forms” of prayer were you familiar with? What type of prayers were you most apt to pray?
2. Are there certain types of prayer that feel more or less comfortable to you? (like love languages)
3. Have you ever prayed “genie” prayers, expecting God to grant your wishes? What is the faulty view of God that underlies these prayers?
4. Have you ever prayed “vending machine” prayers, trying to figure out the “exact change” needed to get the object of your desire? What is the faulty view of God underlying these prayers?
5. How does the prayer of rest begin to free us from bondage to wrong views of God and thus change our prayers?
6. Read Psalm 40:1, 4 How does the prayer of rest build trust?
7. Why are we prone to activity instead of waiting on God?
8. Have you been able to achieve a place of stillness and focus and listening in prayer? What has been helpful to you? What have the benefits of that time been in your life?
9. Make a commitment to attempt the prayer of rest each day this week. If you have never done this before, start small (a few minutes). Tell your group what you are committing to. Keep trying, even if you struggle to stay still or quiet.

We have made it to the final episode of the season on rest. In this episode, Karen and Brooklyn discuss restlessness and why we struggle to find our rest in God. As St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You." The world contributes to our restlessness and spews empty promises of rest. But true rest is found in God and in living according to His ways. After listening, it would be highly valuable to sit down and talk with a friend or small group about these questions:

1. What does restlessness look like for you?
2. How do you most often behave when you're restless? - do you go(take a vacation, move, get a new job, change something), do (serve, volunteer, help someone, take a class, add activities) or buy(a new house, a new car, a new outift, food, acquire something)?
3. What lies do you believe about rest that keep you from resting? (Things will fall apart. You need to help others. You need to be worried. Everything depends on your work. Rest is lazy. Prove your worth. It won't be good unless you do it. Etc.)
4. Read Isaiah 28:12 and Jeremiah 6:16. God offers rest, but we are reluctant to obey. Why are we more likely to do what the world suggests than to do things God's way?
5. Has your restlessness ever led you back to God? How so?
6. "Jesus is inviting us to rest. But please understand what this rest is that He offers. It is not rest from life - but rest in life." - Warren Wiersbe

So many of the world's options are to rest from life (an escape), but God offers rest in the midst of life. Why is that the better option?

1. Discuss the story of Jesus and the disciples in the midst of the storm. How did their responses differ? Who are you more like - the restless disciples, or the resting Jesus?
2. Read Psalm 91:1 How do we live in the shelter of the Most High and develop the habit of resting in God? How do we train ourselves to turn to God and maintain a peace amidst a storm? What part does prayer play?
3. Are you an agent of rest or an agent of restlessness? Do you help others find rest? Or are you more prone to working for the enemy? Why is this?
4. What can you do this week to be an agent of rest? How can you help someone else find rest in God amidst their storm?

This season we're talking about rest. In this episode, Karen and Brooklyn discuss sensory rest. Sensory rest involves allowing our senses to take a break from the constant stimulation that assaults your nervous system. I. After listening, it would be highly valuable to sit down and talk with a friend or small group about these questions:

1. Do you think you have a naturally high or low tolerance to sensory stimulation? Which of your senses is most likely to be overstimulated?
2. In what season of your life have you felt the most sensory overload?
3. Do you put on "comfy clothes" when you get home? What other examples can you think of of ways you may try to rest your senses without even being aware that it is what you're doing?
4. Respond to this quote: “We accept the health benefits of avoiding junk food, but we rarely consider the effects of the junky cluttered sensory impressions we receive from our choices of entertainment of living environment.” (Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, p 89) What type of "junk food" have you been allowing to bombard your senses?
5. What evidence of sensory exhaustion can you see in your life right now? Think through each of your senses. Which senses are most in need of a rest?
6. How does sensory exhaustion affect you mentally? Physically? Relationally?
7. God gave us our senses so that we could interact with and receive information from the world around us. In what ways could we better care for our senses, so they are best able to serve us?
8. How might constant sensory stimulation lead to a spiritual dullness?
9. Read Isaiah 30:15. Reflect on this phrase, "In quietness and confidence is your strength." How does quietness produce spiritual strength? How might depriving our senses lead to greater strength?
10. Is it possible that we are intentionally (or unintentionally) crowding God out of our lives, by filling our environments with so much noise and sensory stimulation that we are no longer able to see and hear Him? What steps are you willing to take to lessen your sensory input?

This season we're talking about rest. In this episode, Karen and Brooklyn discuss creative rest. Creative rest is not doing arts and crafts, it actually involves appreciating God's handiwork. If the weather is nice, you should sit outside or take a walk while you listen to this episode. After listening, it would be highly valuable to sit down and talk with a friend or small group about these questions:

1. Are you more of a mountains or ocean person?
2. Think about the most beautiful or breathtaking thing you've ever seen in creation. Describe it to the group. What were your emotions when you first saw that thing/place?
3. Do you think you have lost appreciation for the simple beauty of creation as you have gotten older? What is still able to captivate you?
4. What about your life is the most creatively draining? (When do you have to think outside the box, trouble shoot, or be creative?)
5. Respond to the idea that wasted time is not a waste.
6. Do you ever feel like the darkness and sin in the world are overwhelming? How do you cope with that?
7. Read Psalm 19:1-4. How does creation point you to God?
8. Respond to this quote from Sacred Rest, "His presence is how He connects us to His rest. It is part invitation and part prescription." (Dalton-Smith, 99)
9. Do one of these options this week: a. Set aside an extended time for creative rest. Make a plan and do it; b. Practice the flow-break rhythm. Set a timer and take a break every ninety minutes to two hours.

This season we're talking about rest. In this episode, Karen and Lindsey sit down to discuss emotional rest. They discuss the dangers of hiding and inauthenticity and the necessity for authentic expression of emotions. Learn how empathy can both be a blessing and a curse when it somes to emotional rest. It would be highly valuable to sit down and talk with a friend or small group about these questions:

1. Have you ever thought about how social media affects your emotions? Consider it now. What do you think the effect is?
2. Discuss empathy. Are you someone who is highly empathetic? How do the emotions of others affect you? Are you able to recognize when you are absorbing someone else's emotions and making them your own?
3. Respond to this quote: "Research show that introverts are more likely to be affected by others' positive emotions whereas extroverts tend to be more affected by others' negative emotional expressions. Women tend to be vulnerable to absorbing the stress and negativity of those around them." (p.62-63 Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD)
4. Can you give an example of a time you entered into the emotions of a friend or loved one (either positive or negative emotions) similar to Karen and the older gentleman? How is this Scriptural? What was the outcome for you? What was the outcome for them?
5. Do you have a group of friends with whom you can be emotionally authentic? What does this look like?
6. Do you regularly feel like you are managing your emotions? Where do we cross the line from managing our emotions (so we have appropriate responses in different situations) to hiding and being inauthentic with our emotions? Relate your own hiding to how Adam and Eve hid.
7. Read Exodus 14:14. Discuss the gift of cessation. How does ceasing bless us in relation to our emotions?
8. Read Matthew 11:28-30 and Philippians 4:6-7. Discuss the gift of exchange. What is God promising in these verses? Why do we not take Him up on this offer more regularly?
9. Try journaling this week. Spend a few minutes at the end of each day and be authentic with God as you share your emotions with him. Ask Him to exchange your negative emotions for rest and peace.