Sabbath Rest: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life

Everyday Matters Bible Studies for Women—Sabbath Rest (eBook edition)

© 2014 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC

P. O. Box 3473

Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473

eBook ISBN 978-1-61970-577-7

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Everyday Matters Bible for Women, copyright © 2012 by Hendrickson Publishers. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Due to technical issues, this eBook may not contain all of the images or diagrams in the original print edition of the work. In addition, adapting the print edition to the eBook format may require some other layout and feature changes to be made.

First eBook edition — December 2014

Contents

Copyright

Holy Habits

Introduction

Chapter 1. Remembering the Apples: Our Image-Bearing Identity

Chapter 2. Free Time and Freedom: Victory over the Tyranny of the Urgent

Chapter 3. Bending in Our Favor: Time Teaches Us about Eternity

Chapter 4. Sabbath Habits: Living a God-Paced Life

Leader’s Guide

Other Titles

Holy Habits

Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life

Everyday life today is busier and more distracting than it has ever been before. While cell phones and texting make it easier to keep track of children and each other, they also make it harder to get away from the demands that overwhelm us. Time, it seems, is a shrinking commodity. But God, the Creator of time, has given us the keys to leading a life that may be challenging but not overwhelming. In fact, he offers us tools to do what seems impossible and come away refreshed and renewed. These tools are called spiritual practices, or spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual practices are holy habits. They are rooted in God’s word, and they go back to creation itself. God has hardwired us to thrive when we obey him, even when it seems like his instructions defy our common sense. When we engage in the holy habits that God has ordained, time takes on a new dimension. What seems impossible is actually easy; it’s easy because we are tapping into God’s resources.

The holy habits that we call spiritual practices are all geared to position us in a place where we can allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us, to grant us power and strength to do the things