Digital Detox by Wendy SpeakeSample

Day Five

The Most Important Conversation of All

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:12; Matthew 6:5–6; Revelation 5:12

As I prepared for my first annual social media fast, I was particularly excited to spend more time in prayer. Unfortunately, for the majority of the year, talking with God takes a back seat in my life because I’m too busy talking with everyone else. I get distracted and I forget. However, when I fast, I remember. When I take a break from the constant chatter online, I am reminded how desperate I am for the most important conversation of all. 

Scottish minister Andrew Bonar once said, “Fasting is abstaining from anything that hinders prayer.” If your prayer life has atrophied from underuse, you can use time you free up during a social media fast to flex your prayer muscles again. Since you’re offline, you won’t be tempted to do it in a way that will be seen or liked by others. Quietly, in your private place of prayer, you can humbly engage with God again, not only for your own benefit but also on behalf of others.

When our heads are bowed before the Lord and not our screens, revelation and transformation pour into our lives and into the lives of those we’re interceding for. 

Online chatter is loud and distracting, but a time is coming, and fast approaching, when the online world and the rest of this world will pass away. At that time, we will find ourselves standing before the Lord. The eternal chorus of our dance will be, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12). A day is coming when all other songs will cease, and this one will echo on for eternity. 

Dear Lord, Thank You for giving me a way to communicate with You today—privately and prayerfully. It’s a humble, unseen practice that won’t get me “likes” online, but it’s the conversation I’m most desperate for. Thank You also for the opportunity to pray for those I know and love. Impress Your will for them upon my heart, and drive me to my knees on their behalf. What a privilege it is to talk with You, in Jesus’s name. Amen.