This Sabbath morning, I set a 15-minute timer to enter Solitude — to simply sit with the Lord. I whispered, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

When I’ve experienced the Holy Spirit throughout my life — even dating back to my dream in 1991 — His presence has always been unmistakable: a radiant warmth, an all-encompassing love, and a bright, golden light that doesn’t hurt the eyes. Every time, I’m overcome with tears. Not tears of sadness, but of holy recognition — the nearness of God touching the deepest parts of my soul.

As I sat in quiet stillness, I prayed, “May I experience Your presence always.” And then I paused. What if I did? Would I always be crying? Would I always be undone in His presence?
Then came the gentle realization — maybe that’s exactly how it should be. To be so tender to the Spirit that His love moves me, humbles me, softens me. To be “a fool” in the world’s eyes, yet fully alive in God’s.
Yes, Lord. Let it be so.

Let Your presence so fill me that tears become worship, that stillness becomes communion, and that every breath becomes an offering of love back to You.

“The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

Come, Holy Sirit – Renew My Mind Each Morning

The Holy Spirit doesn’t only meet us in moments of warmth, tears, or deep Solitude. He also works in us and through our thoughts. And yet, my humanity is real. My fallen nature is real. My mind is not always aligned with His mind. My thoughts are not always His thoughts.

This is why the promise of 1 John 4:4, NLT is so life-giving:

“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory… because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

When we declare this, we acknowledge that although the default rhythms of our world pull us toward anxiety, self-reliance, hurriedness, and sin, the Holy Spirit within us is stronger. His presence gives us freedom — freedom to resist temptation, freedom to overcome fear, freedom to quiet our restless thoughts.

Imagine if each morning began with a simple, honest prayer from your heart:
“Come, Holy Spirit.”

Declare it not as a ritual, but as a posture.
Invite Him to lead.
Invite Him to guide your thinking.
Invite Him to show you His day with renewed eyes, softened ears, and an open heart.

When He who is in you leads your thoughts, you begin to see differently, feel differently, respond differently, and live differently.

May this be our first prayer. Each day. Every morning.
Come, Holy Spirit. Lead my mind and renew my heart.

From the Center Outward – Letting God Shape the Inner Journey

Earlier this week I had a strange dream — one of those dreams that makes you wake up asking, “Lord… what was that?”

In the dream I was asking someone to practice a British accent by saying, “the scrumpets and tea go well with coffee.” It made no sense at all. But then, just as vividly, I saw a diamond shape formed by lines moving either inward toward the center or outward from it. That image stayed with me.

I found myself wondering: Lord, what are You showing me?
Could this be a picture of revelation arriving in grounded, practical ways?
Could it be symbolic of this current season — a season of deep spiritual formation, listening for Your direction, discerning next steps for Formation Church, the businesses, and the projects You’ve placed in my hands?

The more I sat with it, the more it seemed like a visual metaphor for the journey inward — identity, clarity, direction — and then outward: calling, obedience, action.
A life shaped from the center outward, not the outside in.

During my Sabbath, this reflection surfaced again as I journaled about these ancient practices of Jesus that I’ve been immersed in — the rhythms of Practicing the Way, the spiritual disciplines that open us to the divine life of the Spirit.

And suddenly Romans 12:2, NIV came alive in a fresh way:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

These Practices are exactly that — ways in which the Holy Spirit renews our minds, reshaping us from the inside. And when that happens, we begin to see the patterns of this world for what they really are… and the counter-formation of Jesus for what it truly does.

Here is what I’m seeing with clarity this week:

• Sabbath transforms Busyness.
• Solitude transforms Distraction.
• Prayer transforms Distance.
• Fasting transforms Consumption.
• Scripture transforms Scrolling.
• Community transforms Individualism.
• Service transforms Self-centeredness.
• Generosity transforms Scarcity.
• Witness transforms Hypocrisy.

Every Practice, when lived with the Spirit, pulls us inward toward Jesus…
and then pushes us outward toward others in love.

Everything He builds in us begins at the center — Christ in you.
Everything we build for Him must flow outward from that center.