A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1

I just finished a six week workout program with my wife. I am happy. Happy that I did it and happy I don’t have to do it anymore. Every day I had to bust my butt and sweat like a pig. It really was miserable. But it has kicked started a good habit and I am going to keep it going…on my terms. The nice thing about working out for six weeks is that I feel different. I won’t say I look much different on the outside, but my core, my joints, my waist, and my mental state feel much better. It was a great way to kick-off 2019.

I am winding this Transform Twenty for your spiritual life down too. Hopefully, some habits have been formed, and a new hunger for a devotional life has been kick-started in your life. You may say, “I don’t notice much difference. What was the use in trying? What is six weeks?”

Well just like the physical workout, spiritually speaking there are indicators that life is better because I decided to meet with God. I call it the pillow test.

Verse for the Day: “Many a man proclaims his loving devotion, but who can find a trustworthy man? The righteous man walks with integrity; blessed are his children after him.” (Proverbs 20:6-7)

Let me explain the pillow test, it is a very simple concept. What is a pillow? The fluffy thing you put your head on at night as you fall asleep. What is so significant about a pillow? It is the moment when the world and all of its noise is shut off, and your mind begins to fire up with the thoughts of the day. Most of the day the duties, the events, the conversations, the social media, the television crowd into our mind and muffle our conscience. But when your head finally hits the pillow you can hear it loud.

I am convinced much of insomnia is bad self-talk. Guilt, alienation, and worry start seeping in keeping you tossing and turning in your bed. The noise of the day works like a dam holding back what you really think, and then when you lie down and your head hits the pillow, the dam is opened and whatever has been hiding and stored up comes rushing in.

When you meet with God regularly his Spirit begins to deal with your guilt through conviction, your alienation with love, and your worry with hope. Another word for this is “integrity.” You become a person that is unified with God and self. A mind that has been walking with God in integrity, hits the pillow and peace results. The pillow becomes a welcomed friend. You dont need medication to stop the mind or four hours of wrestless tossing, peace will rule.

The purpose of devotions is peace. It may not be obvious at first but people will start noticing that you are much calmer, level headed and not needing to prove yourself. You become trustworthy. And it all begins on the pillow!

Ask yourself this:

(1) Do you constantly need to boast, or do people find in you a good listening friend?

(2) Do your kids bother you, or are they free to be who they are around you? Would your kids say you are a person of peace or any little thing will set you off?

(3) Do you toss and turn in your bed at night? Do you dread going to sleep? What keeps you up at night?

(4) What guilt do you need forgiven? What confidence of God’s love do you need to hear? What worry do you need to lay at God’s feet?

BE AT PEACE