Spice Up Your Life

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast Episode 1595. Today's Divo is called Spice Up Your Life. Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is The My Morning Devotional Podcast. Good morning, My Morning Devotional. I love saying my titles with lots of joy. Spice up your life. Welcome to Spice Up Your Life. Okay, that's it. I'm done. I am going to close up this week. Happy Friday, by the way. You made it. You made it to the weekend. It's time to go enjoy your weekend. A nice summer weekend. I hope you are on a vacation or staying at home doing nothing because both are very restful and nice. But I want to talk about Spice Up Your Life with new routines. Freshening the life air, per se. I'm reading from Isaiah 43, 18 through 19, and the NIV version and it says, "Forget the former things." Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you perceive it? I want to talk about how every new season God brings us into. Requires, fresh faith, fresh obedience, and highlight this fresh routines. I have two kids, a third on the way. Married five years, full-time job. Families on both sides. If you want to talk about routines, let's talk about routines. Okay? My life is on a routine. I know exactly where I'm going to be at 9 a.m. on a Sunday. I know exactly where I'm going to be at 8 p.m. on a Monday. Truly, there's not much room for spontaneity right now in this season. Which, let's be honest, can get a little monotonous sometimes. I like new. I like fresh routines. I like spontaneity. I was the queen of spontaneity. And then you want to settle down. And they get you. They put a ring on you. And you fall in love with them. And then you got two babies. And now you got to wake up at 6 a.m. Because you got to pack lunch boxes. Okay? So be careful. Be careful who you fall in love with. Or they might have you pack in lunch boxes every morning at 6 a.m. Okay? Anyways, let's go back to the point fresh routines. We all love the idea of God doing something new in our lives. A new opportunity. A new job. A new ministry. But I do want us to remember something. Every new season that we step into requires new rhythms. And you can't step into what God has next while trying to live exactly the way you did before. And Isaiah, God says in the Bible, "Forget the former things. I am doing a new thing." God was not asking them to erase their memories. He was asking them not to become so attached to yesterday that they missed out on what God is doing today. And maybe God is challenging you today that it's time to break off of the routine of yesterday. Because God's trying to do something new today. And honestly, we can become so comfortable with old routines that we resist the very thing we've been praying for. We ask God for a new season, but we cling to old habits. We ask for change, but we keep living the same way. And it's normal to think this way. I find myself in this rut all the time. But I'm just going to be that friend today to you that encourages you to try something new. Spice up your life. The truth is every season, it has its own assignment. The season that you're in right now has an assignment attached to it. And the routines that served you in the old season, it may not serve you in this next season. And I have noticed that the best way to freshen up your life is to practice a new spiritual routine before you start practicing a physical routine. And to build a new routine that helps you stay close to Jesus in this next season. So take a few minutes and ask yourself, number one, what season am I in right now? And then ask what happens need to change so I can thrive in this season instead of simply survive it. Maybe this season, it requires waking up a little bit earlier to spend time with God. You're going to devote every day this week, just trying it for seven days. Doesn't have to be months and months of a new habit just for seven days. I'm going to wake up at 6 a.m. and I'm going to worship God for 20 minutes. I'm going to read my Bible and pray for 20 minutes. I'm going to pray for other people. Maybe it means, hey, every day this week at 7 p.m. we're going to have family dinners and we're making home cooked meals. And if we don't have the time to make the home cooked meal, we'll bring in talk about who cares. But we're sitting at the table 7 30 p.m. every day this week. Maybe it means saying no to little things that just don't fit your life anymore. What's maybe pulling you away from a healthy routine with God and your family instead of bringing you to it? Maybe it's time to say no. Maybe it means creating space to rest on Saturday. No phones. We're going to Sabbath. Maybe it means calling a friend every Wednesday just to pray with them or to go for a morning swim and a workout session with. Only worship music. Let me just encourage you. Don't be afraid to build new rhythms. God often does his deepest work in the ordinary habits. We practice every single day. Spice up your life. Try something new this week. Try something new this weekend. It doesn't have to be over spiritual. Doesn't have to be super deep. But just try something new. Try something different. If you're married, do it with your spouse. I can tell you right now. I'm about to give birth to this third baby and I told my husband yesterday. We need to pray together. Two minutes every day from now until the baby comes. Because I know this season is going to shift. The pressure is going to be on when this third baby comes. And we need to make sure we are prayed up. So you can do the same thing with you and your spouse with you and your friends. Make it short. Make little short goals. It only has to be a week two weeks so you can actually complete it and see what God can do. And one small change of your routine. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are always at work in us. That you are always widening our paths. You are always ordering our steps. And God, we thank you that you encourage us to step into new seasons. Like I said this week, you don't want us to live in the past. You want us to just throw ourselves into the future. And with the future comes new routines, new rhythms, new parts of our lives that can spontaneously bless us in ways that we never imagined. So Father, allow your Holy Spirit to be with us, to guide us, to speak to us. And God, I pray that as we try out these new rhythms, as we try out these new habits, and as we let go of the old, that you will just give us a fresh outpouring of your joy, God, and that your joy will be our strength, that it will bring such a happiness to our life, that we just look back and say, "I don't know how he did it, but I just feel fresh and new again in this new season that God has brought me." And in Jesus' name I pray. Name it. So there you have it, your five-minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, cheer it with a friend, leave a comment, or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger. We hope you were blessed today by today's devotional, and we got something exciting that we want to share with you. We've been asked over and over again, "Is this a women-only podcast?" Well, our divos are for everyone, but because guys have specific issues that they sometimes want to talk about, our dad's diva-lessy and all of our husbands are producing a new podcast designed just for the men. It's called "The Men's Morning Devotional," and it's out now on all platforms. There's also a link in this episode description, so share it with a dad, you can share it with your husband, your brother, your son, or a friend. That would be blessed.