The Monday Practice

Bringing Sunday’s Message into Your Week

Message Title: Conformed or Transformed? The Worship War In You
Text: Romans 12:1–2
Series: Disruptive Discipleship in a Secular Age

Missed Sunday’s Message? Watch here.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

This spiritual practice guide is designed to help you take Sunday’s message and actually live it out with Jesus during the week. We don’t just want to hear the Word—we want to practice it.

Use this in your personal time with God to reflect, pray, and put the message into motion through everyday spiritual practices. Let this be a tool to slow down, surrender, and be transformed.

SUMMARY: Living Worship in a Secular Age

Romans 12 begins with one of the most disruptive, countercultural invitations in Scripture:

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice... Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:1–2)

This means:
You are already worshiping something.
You're already offering your time, energy, and affection to something.
The real question isn’t if you worship—but what you're worshiping.

And the deeper question is:
Is what you’re worshiping forming you—or deforming you?

Culture is constantly forming us—from the algorithms that know your desires to the advertisements that promise identity. Even AI reflects the reality that you are always being shaped by what you give attention to.

But Paul calls us to live differently—not by escaping the world, but by offering our whole lives—our thoughts, desires, and decisions—as an act of daily worship. Not conformed, but transformed.

And this transformation? It’s not about trying harder or becoming more disciplined.
It’s not about mastering “positive thinking.”
It’s about Gospel renewal—rooted in mercy, not pressure.

Before we ever offer ourselves to God, He offered Himself for us.
You are not your own.
You are loved.
You are called.
And your whole life—ordinary and embodied—is meant to be worship.

PRACTICES FOR THE WEEK

Choose one or more of these simple practices to help you live Romans 12 in real time:

1. Morning Offering Prayer

Before checking your phone or starting your day, pray this aloud:

“God, today I offer my body to You—my mind, my words, my energy, my relationships. It all belongs to You. Form me by Your mercy. Transform me by Your truth.”

Start each day this way. It reframes your life around surrender, not striving.

2. Scripture Before Screens

Each morning this week, read Romans 12:1–2 before engaging with your phone or the news.
Let God’s truth form your mind before the world does.

3. Media Audit or Mini-Fast

What’s been shaping your mind more than Scripture lately?
Take a 3–5 day break from one digital input (Instagram, YouTube, news, etc.) and ask God to reveal what it’s been doing in you.

4. Surrender Journaling

Set aside time this week to journal through this question:

“Lord, the part of my life I’ve been withholding from You is…”
Write it out honestly. Ask God for grace to place it on the altar.

5. Rewrite the Narrative

Name a false story you’ve been tempted to believe (e.g. “I’ll be loved if I’m impressive”), and replace it with Gospel truth (e.g. “I am fully loved in Christ before I perform.”)

6. Sacred Pause Alarm

Set a daily alarm titled: “I am a living sacrifice.”
When it goes off, pause for 30 seconds. Breathe. Pray:

“Lord, this moment belongs to You.”

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS FOR TIME WITH GOD

Use these in your prayer or journal time this week:

  1. What am I currently putting on the altar of my life?
    (Where am I giving most of my time, attention, or affection?)

  2. Where do I feel pulled to conform to the world around me?
    (Is it image? Control? Busyness? Approval?)

  3. What false story am I tempted to live by right now?
    (“I’ll be safe if I succeed.” “I’ll matter if I’m impressive.”)

  4. Where do I sense God asking me to be transformed—but I’ve been resisting?
    (What change do I know is right—but still feels costly?)

  5. Where do I need to let mercy reshape my thinking?
    (What thoughts or patterns need surrender?)

GOSPEL TRUTH TO MEDITATE ON

Write this somewhere visible this week:

“We don’t offer ourselves to earn mercy—we offer ourselves because we’ve already received it.”

Let this truth shape your surrender—not as pressure, but as peace.

CLOSING ENCOURAGEMENT

You are not the main character of your story.
You don’t need to curate, perform, or impress.
You belong to Jesus.
And His mercy is strong enough to form you into someone entirely new.

So this week, choose surrender over striving.
Choose formation in Christ over conformity to culture.
And above all—offer your life as worship.