We begin a new series this week titled “Rebuilding Your Inner World”, and will utilize the resources on RightNow media for the video introductions of each session. The open dialog is captured below.
Growing up, what was your idea of ultimate success?
Today, what kind of success would make you think, I’ve arrived? Would you classify that accomplishment as outer or inner success?
We’re all striving for something more – a partner or a promotion or a breakthrough, or some kind of recognition or influence. We tend to think if we receive or achieve the thing we’re hoping for, then our lives will be just about perfect. In this series with Benjamin Windle, we’ll study the life of Elijah who, despite phenomenal triumphs, experienced abject despair, learning the valuable lesson that inner success is what will ultimately set us up for sustainable outer success.
As you watch, write down how Benjamin answers these questions.
What was the high point of Elijah’s influence as a prophet?
What does ‘chasing chariots’ look like in our culture today?
What two lessons did Elijah learn about outer success?
Show SESSION #1: The Persona (13 minutes)
MAIN IDEA: Our busy lives can hide our issues.
Head Change: To know that outer success doesn’t equal inner success.
Heart Change: To allow ourselves to feel and process our pain, instead of burying it.
Life Change: To rebuild our lives from within so we can live sustainably, instead of exhausting ourselves chasing only external achievements.
Benjamin points out that we’re all reaching for something we believe will fulfill us.
What do you think would happen if you finally obtained what you’re striving or hoping for?
We pick up Elijah’s story at the height of the greatest public successes of his life. It seems all his aspirations have been realized.
Describe what happened on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). Do you think Elijah was arrogant and overconfident, or filled with faith? Why? Share about a time when all the odds were stacked against you yet miraculously you came out on top. Who got the glory?
In this moment of unmatched public victory, Elijah witnessed first-hand the power and might of his miracle-working God.
Besides confounding his enemies on Mount Carmel, which two other tremendous successes could Elijah have added to his highlights reel? If social media was a thing in Elijah’s day, what might he have tweeted after these events?
Elijah must have experienced intense exhilaration at the formidable way God was working through his ministry, yet we discover that his outer victories didn’t equal inner success.
Have you found yourself believing the lie that the success you’re chasing will complete your life? In what ways do you display a carefully designed persona to the world – and are your efforts sustainable? Do you know anyone who lives from the inside out, instead of from the outside in?
Benjamin explains that our busy lives can hide a lot of issues. Despite the huge success of his mountaintop moments, Elijah’s inner life was dangerously close to complete collapse.
Do you think the people who know and love you best would say there is disparity or congruency between your outer and inner life? In other words, do you think others would describe you as someone who nurtures or neglects your soul? Why? What chariot are you chasing? Is the pursuit draining or life-giving?
There truly is a better way to live. Jesus offers you an abundant life of righteousness, peace, and joy.
Are you being pulled by a healthy sense of purpose, or pushed to exhaustion by striving for success? What would the abundant life Jesus offers look like, practically, in your world? What is stopping you from taking Him up on that offer?
Benjamin says, ‘People convert pain into all kinds of things. Often, we don’t want to deal with it – so we bury it deep in our souls. We seal that box shut – and busy ourselves with activity. But a gold coin buried in a timber box is still a gold coin. Our trauma doesn’t erode. It’s patient. Eventually, it will reintroduce itself into our emotions and nervous system until we are ready to process it with God and in community.’
Do you agree? Why, or why not? Has unprocessed pain or trauma ‘reintroduced itself’ in your life? How did you deal with it?
Benjamin goes on to explain how sometimes it’s only when we go through a significantly disruptive moment (in which all we’ve taken for granted about our everyday lives is dramatically altered) that we realise how our busyness has been masking deep internal issues.
If you feel comfortable doing so, share about a disruption that got your attention.
At first glance, we may think the greatest experiences of Elijah’s life were on Mount Carmel. The truth is his most climactic moments happened in the shade of a solitary tree, a dry wilderness, and a dark, silent cave. It was in those hidden moments that God was creating something new in him.
Do you believe God still works this way in our lives? Can you tell a story about how an unobvious, unseen moment changed the trajectory of a life – yours or someone else’s?
Elijah had to learn that his public success didn’t fix the problems in his life, and that his outer achievement would never solve his inner dysfunction. To be strong, healthy, and whole, he needed to rebuild from within.
What would it look like for God to rebuild you from within – this time differently?
BIBLE EXPLORATION
Exodus 1–4 describes how, for the first 40 years of his life, Moses held power and influence as an Egyptian prince. During his next 40 years, God took him into the wilderness to watch sheep. He had no public successes. He must have felt as if his best days were behind him. Yet it was in the wilderness that God revealed Himself to Moses, calling him to step into greater significance.
How has God drawn you away from the limelight and into what feels like a backwater, to prepare you more profoundly for His plans and purposes for you?
Before being transformed by his relationship with Jesus, the apostle Paul had a definitive persona. He writes to the Philippians, ‘I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin – a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.’ (Philippians 3:5)
What are your spiritual credentials? What would your Christian resumé sound like? How might busying yourself with churchy activities be masking some soul turmoil?
In Matthew 23:27 Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of hypocrisy.
In our culture today – and even within our churches – what might be the signs that someone is beautiful on the outside (a ‘whitewashed tomb’) but ugly on the inside?
Read Matthew 6:5–8. Jesus is looking for wholehearted authenticity.
What remedy does He offer for eradicating the false persona created by frenetic activity?
Perhaps, like Elijah, you’re re-evaluating your life because you’ve realised there’s incongruence between your outer successes and the state of your soul. Perhaps you’re in a time of transition or personal reinvention. You may even feel your best days are behind you. Know that there is hope. Your vibrant, busy life may be hiding issues relating to your mental, emotional, or spiritual life, but God wants to rebuild your life from the inside out so you can step into the wondrous plans He has for you.
Select at least one activity below to complete before watching the next session.
Read: This week, read the account of Joseph’s life in Genesis 37–50. Take note of his outer, public successes and of all the ways God drew him away from the spotlight to transform his character.
Write: Set a timer for ten minutes and spend that time freewriting any thoughts that come to mind as you consider the question: What issues is my busyness hiding? Allow God’s Spirit to guide your reflections.
Pray: Write out a prayer, or meet with a friend to pray, asking God to increase your desire for authenticity. Pray that God would teach you how to live from the inside out.