10 ideas to “Un- Rut” yourself By David Arrol Macfarlane

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?...” Isaiah 43:19

While God is a God of the “new” we are often a people of the “old”, the familiar, predictable, and can end up in a rut of irrelevance without even realizing it. Someone said to me: “David, a rut is just a grave with the ends knocked out!”
When our oldest daughter, Susan, was in junior kindergarden they used to march around with “musical instruments” at the end of every class. While each time the children had a choice of lots of noise makers Susan always went for the same “shaker” (a plastic bottle filled with rice). This made me realize that nearly from birth our human “default” setting is to find a familiar “rut”. But to be relevant and effective we need to “un-rut” ourselves so as to be open to what new things the Lord might have for us.

Here are ten ideas that can help “un-rut” you.

1. Lighten up! Laugh lots. My philosophy of life is: “I take God seriously but not myself”. When I get them reversed I am in trouble.
2. Read widely. Try finding new interests and ideas.
3. Become curious. Ask lots of questions – that is how we expand our understanding.
4. Change your routine. Take a different road home. Order a new item on the menu. Go somewhere you have never been just to see things from a different perspective.
5. Take time to think. Solitude in prayer and the word recharges our batteries and opens us up to what God wants to say to us today.
6. Enlarge your circle. Purposely mix with interesting friends who “stretch” you.
7. Be healthy. Just as exhaustion depletes our openness to new ideas so rest, food and exercise can get us back on the “cutting edge”.
8. Write. Putting our thoughts, hopes and dreams down on paper can help us see the future in fresh new ways.
9. Develop a creative “spot”. In my home office I put up only pictures of people and painitings that inspire me and I took down all the others.
10. Keep passionate. Just as a great fire if untendered will be reduced to embers so it is in our spiritual life. The good news is that even embers can be brought back to life with some loving care!
To contact David Arrol Macfarlane: 519 503 8380 or arrol.mac@hotmail.com

Personal Renewal is What Counts
by David Arrol Macfarlane
“I want more of God” is a great statement because it can be the seed of a personal revival. Authentic faith means that we walk daily with a healthy spiritual hunger for more of the Lord in our life - a desire to live a renewed life, stay revived and have a fresh soul awakening. Often the Lord has used one ordinary “revived” person to spark a move of God that spreads like a forest fire throughout an area or even engulf a nation. Remember that God used an “inadequate” Moses to change the course of history for Israel, a “fearful” Jonah to bring the ungodly Ninevites to God, or a “fearful” Gideon to free his people. In Argentina, where I grew up, the nation went from less that 1% protestant when I was a boy to where, today, I have heard it reported that some 14% of the population have become evangelical, with many pointing to one layman, Carlos Anacondia, as the person most used to bring about this significant spiritual awakening.
Three tourists went to Wales in the early part of the 20th century to seek out the world renowned “Welsh Revival” which had awakened the churches throughout that nation, where thousands came to Christ and major positive social changes resulted from it. Not knowing where to go to find this revival the tourists went up to a bobby (policeman) and asked: “Could you please tell us where we can find the Welsh Revival?” To which it is reported that the policeman answered: “Sirs, the Welsh Revival is inside this uniform”. He meant that he had been revived by Christ. Revival is always first and foremost personal. If you are revived, God can use you as the spark to start an area-wide revival but, even if He didn’t, you will always benefit greatly from living passionately for Christ.
John the Baptist spearheaded a spiritual awakening in the first century. Here is how Jesus remembered him: “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light” (John 5:35). May this be how Christ will remember you and me.
David Arrol Macfarlane is Director of National Initiatives for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and is a frequent speaker at conferences, city-wide events and churches across Canada. Contact David at 519 503 8380 or arrol.mac@hotmail.com