Spiritual Momentum

I love attending the girl's volleyball matches at the school where I teach. Sure, I love football and basketball, but there's nothing quite like a volleyball match. I think a gym full of crazed volleyball fans may be louder than a football stadium that seats 100,000 people. Of course my favorite part of these volleyball matches is watching our students pull out a victory--which they do most of the time. With the intensity of a close match, it's hard to stay in your seat.

I don't know if this is a thing or not, because I don't know anything about the strategy of coaching volleyball. But there's an underlying energy or force that I think is present in lots of different sports, but seems to really be pronouced in a volleyball match. It's that unseen but seemingly very powerful thing called momentum. I know it's a thing because there's a lot written about it. Andrew Hamilton in his Sports Performance Bulletin article "The role of momentum in sports performance" describes momentum in sports as a psychological and competitive state where a team or athlete experiences a shift in confidence, energy, and performance following a key play, scoring run, or turning point.

It seems that in most of the volleyball matches I've watched, one team will score several points in a row, then all of sudden the other team will score several points in a row. It's often back and forth like that until one team emerges as the winner of a set. The other day when a team started making a comeback, I said to the person sitting next to me, "It looks like ol' Mo [momentum] is swinging back the other way."

Scientifically, momentum can be described as the amount of "unstoppable force" a moving object has. If an 18-wheeler and a motorcycle are both traveling down the road at the same speed, the truck is harder to stop because it has so much more mass than the motorcycle. Throwing a bowling ball versus shooting a gun: the ball has more mass, but isn't moving as fast as the smaller mass bullet is moving. The more mass, the higher speed, the more momentum. Snowball rolling down a hill. Piano headed to the sidewalk below. You get it.

Back to volleyball/sports. It seems that momentum builds on itself. Score points, make big plays. Then there are often more points or more big plays. Until. Until, something happens. The other team makes a great save, or there's a fumble, interception or steal. Then momentum seem to "swing" back the other way. Whatever's going on, there's no doubt that this force of momentum is real.

Here's my question: Is there such a thing as Spiritual Momentum? I can't point to a single Bible verse to specifically back it up, but I think we could all agree that progress, energy, drive, moving ahead, gaining strength, emphasizing the positive, overcoming negativity, beating down sin, breaking bad habits and championing Biblical principles are all very real things that can fuel the "unstoppable force" that is our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. And I think we can all agree that when we have been beaten down by sin, get off track in our walk with the Lord, turn away from Spiritual disciplines, feel stuck, or even get burned out on Spiritual pursuits, it can dampen that same "unstoppable" force.

CHALLENGE:

1. What do you think about the concept of Spiritual Momentum?
2. Does Spiritual Momentum play a factor in a follower of Jesus who is pursuing being a Spiritual G.O.A.T?
3. When in your Spiritual journey have you seen your Spiritual walk gain momentum? What happened or maybe what changed?
4. When in your journey have you seen your Spiritual walk lose momentum? What happened or changed?
5. Can you think back to anything that may have triggered a momentum swing or shift in your Spiritual walk?

The Gratitude Train

I'm pretty sure Spiritual momentum is a real thing. I'm not quite a sure that there's really a "Gratitude Train", but if there is, I can think back specifically to a time when I decided to take a ride. Now, I'm not talking about the "Gratitude Bandwagon". That's a trendy thing you often see on social media, where some are constantly and superficially posting how #blessed they are, even when they don't really feel that way or believe they are.

What I'm talking about is a genuine life change that puts real, heartfelt gratitude into prime focus in your Spiritual life. In 1 Thessalonials 5:18, Paul urges believers to give thanks in all circumstances. Colossians 3:15-17 mentions being thankful. The famous and often-quoted Psalm 100 talks about entering God's gates with thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 links gratitude to our time of prayer with the Lord. Colossians 2:7 says that part of an established faith in Christ comes from abounding in gratitude.

The idea of putting gratitude at the forefront of my walk with the Lord and my time with Lord came a number of years ago after I heard a sermon at church on gratitude. At a former church, sometimes the sermons were so moving and powerful, I would have to go home and just be alone with the Lord for a time while I processed what I had just heard. This was one of those times. What I realized was how very little time I spent focused on the things I was grateful for. Sure, I would regularly say "thanks" to the Lord during prayer or while journaling, but it was very bandwagon-esque--just really superficial and without much heart put into it.

I realized that when the Lord would do something amazing in my life or answer a prayer for someone I knew or when someone gave their life to the Lord, I would just give it a brief "Go God" cheer and move on. Genuine, honest, heartfelt, sincere, regular, focused, intentional gratitude were virtually absent in my Spiritual walk. My time with the Lord in prayer was mostly asking for things I wanted for myself or my family or friends. Very little if any time was spent just being thankful.

I sensed that the Lord was challenging me to get off the train I was on and get on the gratitude train. So, for the next 30 days, my entire prayer time was filled with expressions of gratitude and nothing else. Yes, nothing else. I didn't ask for anything. I didn't make any prayer requests for other people. I didn't even try to fake left with a "thank you" when I was really driving right with a prayer request. Strangely (okay, not really strange at all), God managed to take care of everything I needed without me asking for it for a whole 30 days. In Matthew 6:8, Jesus says flat out, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

So, what happened during those 30 days? When I tell you it was life-changing, I'm not overstating it.

• I realized and started appreciating all the basic things in my life that God took care of, most of which I took for granted.
• As I begin to think back on all the major things God had done in my life, it helped strengthen my faith. Thinking of all the times God had come through for me helped me to trust that He would continue to come through for me throughout our journey together.
• I began to have a heart for others like I'd never had before. As I was thankful for what He had done in their lives, it helped me to see them more as God sees them. Listen, when you can begin to see other people in your life the way God sees them, that will change how you love on and serve others.
• I found that I was expressing gratitude as I went throughout my day, not just during my regular prayer time.

Was that a Spiritual momentum shift for me? It absolutely was. And that happend more than 20 years ago. And gratitude is still an "unstoppable force" in my life in general and more specifically in my Spiritual journey.

CHALLENGE:

• How important in your life is gratitude and expressing thanksgiving to the Lord?
• Does your time thanking the Lord seem shallow? How? Why?
• How would your prayer life be different if you incorporated some sincere, heartfelt gratitude to the Lord?
• Is God calling you to put more focus on gratitude and thanksgiving?
• What would have to change for gratitude to become a more significant part of your prayer life and daily life?

Easy Gratitude

Okay, time to get specific. If we do nothing else in these devotional challenges, we make lists, talk about bullet points, and get specific. If you're following along with the devotiional challenges in chronological order by week, you just finished a comprehensive overhaul of your prayer life, where you listed specific people and situations to pray for and maybe even divided those up into groups to make the list more manageable. You can feed off the "momentum" you started last week (see what I did there?) and make a list of things you are grateful for. I've given you some kickstarter questions below to help you.

CHALLENGE:

1. What are some things in your life that you usually take for granted that the Lord provides? (food, shelter, school, job, family, friends, life itself, etc.)
2. What are some Spiritual markers in your life that you may not have thought about being thankful for? (Salvation, recommitting your life to the Lord, a camp, a sermon, a Bible study, etc.)
3. What are some opportunities that have opened up for you that the Lord may have had a hand in making happen? (relationships, internships, college, jobs, small groups, etc.)
4. Who are people in your life that the Lord has placed there to help you with your Spiritual journey? (Parents, youth pastor, mentors, teachers, coaches, etc.)
5. What are some attributes of God that you see manifest in your life that you are grateful for? (faithfulness, goodness, grace, mercy, love, patience, forgiveness, etc.)
6. How can you add a regular time of sincere, heartfelt gratitude for some of these to your time with the Lord?
7. How can you be reminded during the day to take time to be thankful in the moment?

Challenging Gratitude

Not all gratitude has to be for things that make us smile or that came easy. Sometimes hard seasons of life, tragedies that we've had to face, setbacks in progress we were making, or relationships that didn't go right don't immediately make us think of the concept of being grateful. You may have a health or physical issue you've been dealing with your whole life? Maybe your family has fractured, due to losing a loved one or a result of divorce. It could be that some things in your life have been completely unfair. You may be going through those right now, and you can't imagine getting on the other side of whatever's going on, much less be grateful for it.

I want to share a quick story with you and then ask you something. When I was in 9th and 10th grades, I was one of those short, fat, smart kids who always did their homework and never got in trouble at school. There were a number of older boys at my school that constantly made fun of me, called me names, at times even physically bullied me. Most of my freshman year, I walked around school just trying to lay low, not be noticed, and avoid getting stopped in the hall or seen at my locker. I may have gone into the boys' bathroom 3 times the entire year, mostly out of fear. In French class one day, one of the boys that I often referred to as the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" wanted to demonstrate a move he had seen over the weekend on a professional wrestling show. So he suplexed me (look it up) off a wooden desk onto a concrete floor. Knocked the wind out of me and I was seeing stars for a few minutes. I just remember the teacher shaking her head and chuckling as I lay there on the floor.

I have lots of stories like that. I could go on and on. But, do you know that from time to time I actually thank God for the "Four Horsemen"? Seriously. I am grateful--not for the sore arms, punches to the groin, slams to the ground, or the name-calling. But for what all of that produced in me. It made me resilient. It made me appreciate a day of peace without random violence. And it made me determined to study hard and work hard, even if my motive at the time was just to be more successful than all of them. But do you know what else it did for me? God used that to make me into someone who fiercely stands up for injustice.

I can't tell you how many times over the years the Lord has crossed my path with young men who had been dealt a tough hand in life, who were out there just trying to beat the odds to survive, who already had 2-1/2 strikes against them. I don't think I ever would have had a heart for those kids had I not gone through being one of those kids. God redeemed that. Just as He did in the life of Joseph that he so beautifully articulated in Genesis 50:20: "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."

CHALLENGE:

Now, here's my question and some follow-ups:

1. What are some things you've experienced in life that might make it difficult to be grateful?
2. Would you ask the Lord to help you understand why you went through what you went through?
3. Could you maybe ask the Lord for a glimpse into how He is going to redeem that?
4. Would you be willing just to say, "Lord, I want to thank you now for something I might not be able to be truly grateful for until I'm much further down the road."
5. Changing your perspective on things that challenge our gratitude could be both difficult and life-giving? Who is someone you could sit down with and talk through anything in your life that's challenging? Would you reach out to that person and setup a time to talk before another day of your life goes by?