Pt Three: Getting Out of a Rut

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

I pulled something out of the fridge this week and begin to eat it. It tasted funny so I checked the expiration date. Just a month past. Ugg! I tossed it in the trash can. Expired and stale isn’t good. Feeling like your life is in a rut isn’t either.

Sometimes your life and your daily routines are fine, but it’s your attitude and how you perceive things that can put you in a rut. I recently received a call from someone in our church who was really discouraged and feeling like he was in a rut. After a lot of listening and a long conversation, I could see that it wasn’t his routine; it was his attitude—especially toward one particular area of his life. The Lord had just ministered something powerful that jumped off the pages of the Bible to me, and as I was talking to him I instantly knew that what the Lord had shared with me was for him. I asked him to go get his Bible and then walked him through a few verses and shared some insight. The lights went on and—I am not kidding—within a minute of sharing, he sounded like a new man. He could see that his attitude had become skewed and infected his perspectives of everything in his life. This is why God’s Word is called “quick and powerful.” It is!

But sometimes people are in a rut for other reasons. Sometimes it’s because there are elements of their routine and disciplines (or lack of them) that are not good and need serious change. I urged you to first begin to commune with God. When you sincerely do this, God sheds light and illuminates things you need to change. As you pray, He then strengthens you—empowering you to make the changes. I also urged you to begin to squeeze in those good changes you know you should be making—at least a little and be consistent. At the same time, wean yourself little by little from the bad things, moving them out of your routines as the Lord strengthens you to resist and rebuke temptation.

By this time, and by doing these things, you will have a clear idea of what you need to build into your life and what you need to eliminate. You are already beginning to work it. Now you have to take it to a higher level. You need to build a support plan. You need to be as bold as you ever have been and lay out a vision. Ask yourself: “What changes do I absolutely believe that God wants me to make that get me on a right path and out of this rut?” You need to write it down. You need to think, “Okay, if I actually executed this, I would be doing ____” and list those five to ten things. From there think, “And these are the things that have to stop in my life—that need to be gone.” You need to write these things out. Put it on something you can pull out every day and look at as you go into prayer.

Why should you do this? The Lord tells us why in the Habakkuk 2:2-3 “Then the Lord said to me, “Write the vision in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else. But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

Knowing what you want and being able to look at it and own it is powerful! Holding it in your hand and praying over it is even more powerful. Do this and you are on your way out of your rut! Next time: The execution of that plan…

Romans 8:9 “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.”
In His love,
Pastor Tim