I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14: 5-6, NRSV
----------
"There are two biblical designations for people of faith that are extremely useful: disciple and pilgrim. Disciple (mathetes) says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always.
Pilgrim (parepidemos) tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ. ...
Jesus, answering Thomas's question ... "How can we know the way?" gives us directions: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
A Long Obedience
"Disciple and Pilgrim", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Discernment
"Discernment will act as a watchdog to keep us from getting lost in the morass of tomorrow's depravity and deception even as we keep pace with its advancements."
Rise and Shine, p. 142.
A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him. Proverbs 28: 11 (NIV)
Rise and Shine, p. 142.
A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him. Proverbs 28: 11 (NIV)
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Praying
Larry Crabb was on Moody's Wednesday Midday Connection talking about the "papa" prayer.
Key points from my notes are:
"Prayer is getting more of God, not getting more from God."
p -- present yourself to God without pretense. be authentic.
a -- attend to God as He is (align your perception of God with the reality of God as revealed in the Bible)
p -- purge whatever is getting in the way of your relationship with God. Ask: what do I treasure more than my intimacy with Him?
a -- approach God to get what He is most eager to give .. Himself.
Key points from my notes are:
"Prayer is getting more of God, not getting more from God."
p -- present yourself to God without pretense. be authentic.
a -- attend to God as He is (align your perception of God with the reality of God as revealed in the Bible)
p -- purge whatever is getting in the way of your relationship with God. Ask: what do I treasure more than my intimacy with Him?
a -- approach God to get what He is most eager to give .. Himself.
Simplify
Dr. Dobson's February 2006 Newsletter excerpt.
My prayer is that a scale-back from a lifestyle of "routine panic" will someday occur. If it ever becomes a movement, it will portend wonderfully for the family. It should result in fewer divorces and more domestic harmony. Children will regain the status they deserve and their welfare will be enhanced on a thousand fronts. We haven't begun to approach these goals yet, but we can only hope that a significant segment of the population will awaken someday from the nightmare of overcommitment and say, "This is a crazy way to live. There has to be a better way than this to raise our kids. We will make the financial sacrifices necessary to slow the pace of living."
Read Entire Newsletter
My prayer is that a scale-back from a lifestyle of "routine panic" will someday occur. If it ever becomes a movement, it will portend wonderfully for the family. It should result in fewer divorces and more domestic harmony. Children will regain the status they deserve and their welfare will be enhanced on a thousand fronts. We haven't begun to approach these goals yet, but we can only hope that a significant segment of the population will awaken someday from the nightmare of overcommitment and say, "This is a crazy way to live. There has to be a better way than this to raise our kids. We will make the financial sacrifices necessary to slow the pace of living."
Read Entire Newsletter
Being and Having: Resisting Becoming Our Successes
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6: 24 (New Living Translation)
---------
"Our successes rather than our failures can become our greatest enemy. This occurs not only when we have to compromise in order to achieve our successes. It occurs more particularly when we become our successes, when our whole life becomes absorbed in what we have achieved and our work merges with the self. As such we will be constantly driven to achieve more. This eventually becomes a destructive force, and we lose ourselves.
Nouwen suggests that in solitude we can "discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the results of our efforts."
The discovery that I am worth more than my successes can be a wonderfully freeing experience. This discovery opens up a space in which I can evaluate, refocus, and be inwardly nourished. In this space I may discover that I need to give more attention to my inner growth, that I need to change aspects of my lifestyle, or that I need to give more attention to those parts of my life that have become neglected.
This discovery will not be without some pain. For to become truer to myself, rather than preoccupied with my successes, will mean learning to live without the intoxication of the praise and affirmation of others."
Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen by Charles Ringma.
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"Our successes rather than our failures can become our greatest enemy. This occurs not only when we have to compromise in order to achieve our successes. It occurs more particularly when we become our successes, when our whole life becomes absorbed in what we have achieved and our work merges with the self. As such we will be constantly driven to achieve more. This eventually becomes a destructive force, and we lose ourselves.
Nouwen suggests that in solitude we can "discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the results of our efforts."
The discovery that I am worth more than my successes can be a wonderfully freeing experience. This discovery opens up a space in which I can evaluate, refocus, and be inwardly nourished. In this space I may discover that I need to give more attention to my inner growth, that I need to change aspects of my lifestyle, or that I need to give more attention to those parts of my life that have become neglected.
This discovery will not be without some pain. For to become truer to myself, rather than preoccupied with my successes, will mean learning to live without the intoxication of the praise and affirmation of others."
Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen by Charles Ringma.
Transformation
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3
"The moment you were born again, your soul came into union with God, and that union is complete and eternal. Your salvation is not a future addition; it's a present transformation. You possess eternal life right now because you're in Christ. Every child of God is spiritually transformed the moment he is born again."
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
"The moment you were born again, your soul came into union with God, and that union is complete and eternal. Your salvation is not a future addition; it's a present transformation. You possess eternal life right now because you're in Christ. Every child of God is spiritually transformed the moment he is born again."
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
Forgiveness
(Excerpt: Joy Dawson)
The following are eight practical steps that if diligently taken will produce sure forgiveness in our hearts.
"See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God' that no 'root of bitterness' spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled" (Hebrews 12:15).
1. We must realize that it is an act of will. We have to want to forgive. Resentment is a strongly destructive force to our minds, bodies, souls, and spirits.
"A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh, but passion makes the bones rot" (Proverbs 14:30).
2. Realize we will not be forgiven by God unless we forgive others who have hurt us.
"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also Who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses: (Mark 11:25).
3. Think of all God has forgiven us.
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). "As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (Colossians 3:13).
God forgives us instantly, joyfully, wholly.
4. Thank the Lord for any or all of the blessings He has brought to us through the people who have hurt us.
5. Think of the needs of the individuals at the time of hurting us ... needs of their minds, bodies, souls, and spirits. Their needs, then and now, are probably greater than ours.
6. Ask God to give us His supernatural ability to love them and forgive them through us. Acknowledge that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and receive it by faith.
"God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5) “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him ..." (Hebrews 11:6).
7. Ask God to give us opportunities of expressing His love to them both in word and deed.
"But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word and speech but in deed and truth" (1 John 3:17-18).
8. Become an intercessor for them on a regular basis. Pray for God to bless them, encourage them, comfort them, strengthen them and meet their deepest needs.
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
Therefore:
"do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert," (Hebrews 3:8).
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Farewell Thoughts
This is from an article in BusinessWeek about the farewell thoughts of Gene O'Kelly, former CEO of KPMG, who died of brain cancer. You might find his thoughts "thought"-provoking.
(For full story go to BW).
Last paragraph from article:
At KPMG one of Gene's priorities had been to change the firm's culture -- to make it more compassionate, a place where, he would later say, "we felt more alive." He wanted his staff "to get the most out of each moment and day -- for the firm's benefit and the individual's -- and not just pass through it." But as the head of the 20,000-employee company, he had remained relentlessly focused on the future, willing to sacrifice his home life for the satisfactions of the job.In those last few months, though, he came to realize, he says, that his thinking had been too narrow, his boundaries too strict. "Had I known then what I knew now," he says, "almost certainly I would have been more creative in figuring out a way to live a more balanced life, to spend more time with my family." That, says Corinne, was his one regret. He had been getting better at finding that balance before he became sick, she says, but then he ran out of time.
Gene's Final Farewells:
One of Eugene O'Kelly's hopes in the last days of his life was to be able, as he would say, "to unwind" relationships of all kinds. He placed his many colleagues, friends, and family in five concentric circles; those closest to him were in the innermost ring. He began to say goodbye through e-mail, phone conversations, walks in Central Park, over a good bottle of wine. And always on his terms. He wanted the conversations to be positive, to focus on what he had learned. And, for many people, he wanted these encounters to be the last ones. Toward the end, he says, he realized that during his previous life as a business leader he might have been "too consumed by the outermost circle." As he puts it: "Perhaps I could have found the time, in the last decade, to have had a weekday lunch with my wife more than...twice?... I realized that being able to count a thousand people in that fifth circle was not something to be proud of. It was something to be wary of."
(For full story go to BW).
Last paragraph from article:
At KPMG one of Gene's priorities had been to change the firm's culture -- to make it more compassionate, a place where, he would later say, "we felt more alive." He wanted his staff "to get the most out of each moment and day -- for the firm's benefit and the individual's -- and not just pass through it." But as the head of the 20,000-employee company, he had remained relentlessly focused on the future, willing to sacrifice his home life for the satisfactions of the job.In those last few months, though, he came to realize, he says, that his thinking had been too narrow, his boundaries too strict. "Had I known then what I knew now," he says, "almost certainly I would have been more creative in figuring out a way to live a more balanced life, to spend more time with my family." That, says Corinne, was his one regret. He had been getting better at finding that balance before he became sick, she says, but then he ran out of time.
Gene's Final Farewells:
One of Eugene O'Kelly's hopes in the last days of his life was to be able, as he would say, "to unwind" relationships of all kinds. He placed his many colleagues, friends, and family in five concentric circles; those closest to him were in the innermost ring. He began to say goodbye through e-mail, phone conversations, walks in Central Park, over a good bottle of wine. And always on his terms. He wanted the conversations to be positive, to focus on what he had learned. And, for many people, he wanted these encounters to be the last ones. Toward the end, he says, he realized that during his previous life as a business leader he might have been "too consumed by the outermost circle." As he puts it: "Perhaps I could have found the time, in the last decade, to have had a weekday lunch with my wife more than...twice?... I realized that being able to count a thousand people in that fifth circle was not something to be proud of. It was something to be wary of."
First Adam and Last Adam
Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life. Romans 5: 18 (New Living Translation)
------------
"Too many Christians identify only with the first Adam, from whom they inherited physical life. But if you're a Christian, you are now identified with the last Adam, Jesus Christ. The first Adam was tempted to live independently of God, but Jesus was totally dependent on the Father. It's in Him that you have your true identify -- in whom you are saved, sealed, and seated in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6)!"
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
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"Too many Christians identify only with the first Adam, from whom they inherited physical life. But if you're a Christian, you are now identified with the last Adam, Jesus Christ. The first Adam was tempted to live independently of God, but Jesus was totally dependent on the Father. It's in Him that you have your true identify -- in whom you are saved, sealed, and seated in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6)!"
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
Let Us Not Grow Weary
So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)
------------
"Every word of encouragement, every prayer of intercession, every act of helping is seed that will mature to eternal life. ...
The person, though, who looks for quick results in the seed planting of well-doing will be disappointed. If I want potatoes for dinner tomorrow, it will do me little good to go out and plant potatoes in my garden tonight. There are long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence that separate planting and reaping. During the stretches of waiting there is cultivating and weeding and nurturing and planting still other seeds. "Let us not grow weary in well-doing." The task is endless.
Traveling Light
"Let Us Not Grow Weary", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
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"Every word of encouragement, every prayer of intercession, every act of helping is seed that will mature to eternal life. ...
The person, though, who looks for quick results in the seed planting of well-doing will be disappointed. If I want potatoes for dinner tomorrow, it will do me little good to go out and plant potatoes in my garden tonight. There are long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence that separate planting and reaping. During the stretches of waiting there is cultivating and weeding and nurturing and planting still other seeds. "Let us not grow weary in well-doing." The task is endless.
Traveling Light
"Let Us Not Grow Weary", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
Rest
Jesus promised people "rest" if they would come to Him, not an endless list of unrealistic expectations.
Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, p. 333.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11: 28 NIV
Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, p. 333.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11: 28 NIV
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
The Captivating Presence of Grace
David Jeremiah has started a new series of lessons on grace. Some very brief highlights from the first lesson are presented here:
"Whenever grace is displayed it short circuits our whole system of reasoning; it turns all our suppositions upside down. Grace is unexpected and undeserved and catches us off guard.
...
In the Greek language of the New Testament, the word for grace is "charis" ... . At its root, charis means "gift", and is the same word to describe the spiritual gifts in the New Testament. ... So charis became the word for the free gift of God's favor, or God's grace.
...
... mercy and grace work together, one protecting us from what we deserve and the other blessing us with what we don't deserve. ... Mercy releases us from the penalty of our sin; grace gives us abundant blessing besides."
No wonder it is called Amazing Grace!
Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost,
but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.
John Newton
"Whenever grace is displayed it short circuits our whole system of reasoning; it turns all our suppositions upside down. Grace is unexpected and undeserved and catches us off guard.
...
In the Greek language of the New Testament, the word for grace is "charis" ... . At its root, charis means "gift", and is the same word to describe the spiritual gifts in the New Testament. ... So charis became the word for the free gift of God's favor, or God's grace.
...
... mercy and grace work together, one protecting us from what we deserve and the other blessing us with what we don't deserve. ... Mercy releases us from the penalty of our sin; grace gives us abundant blessing besides."
No wonder it is called Amazing Grace!
Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost,
but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.
John Newton
What a Pain
“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’”
— 1 Chronicles 4:9
Can you imagine someone whose name is "Pain"? He's mentioned in today's Scripture. Why would a mother give her son the name "Jabez," which in Hebrew means "pain"? Just think of the razzing little Jabez got from his playmates.
Yet, Jabez didn't let his name get him down. In fact, Scripture says he was more honorable than his brothers. It even says that when he cried out to God, the Lord blessed him, and granted his request to be kept from harm. As a wheelchair user, I can understand a little of the stigma that Jabez must have faced. It's not fun to be looked on as different, even to the point of having your name become synonymous with your handicap, like someone saying, "Hey, crip." (That happened a lot in the hospital when older teenagers who were paraplegics teased us, younger quadriplegics.)
But I believe that being different — even having a stigma — can drive us closer to God.
Have you felt the sting of social stigma? Of negative stereotype? You may never have felt the pain of being called names like “Metal Mouth” (that’s what Rocky, my classmate, called me when I wore braces in 9th grade), but there may be something about your abilities or appearance that you wish you hadn't been landed with.
Can you, like Jabez, turn it around for good and not let it get you down? Can you let it push you into the arms of Christ? God has a special love for you; so look to him in your pain. Whether it be physical or emotional, you may find that you'll be as blessed as Jabez.
* * * * *
God, when life is a real pain, teach me to come to You with my hurts. And help me to be like Jabez and concentrate not on the negatives but on how to live honorably.
Walking by Faith
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith. Colossians 2: 6, 7
"For some, the concept of walking by faith seems indescribable. But it's actually quite clear and practical: Walking by faith simply means that you function in daily life on the basis of what you believe. Living out God's truth in your thoughts, words, and actions is the same as walking by faith. One benefit of consistently applying God's Word in your life is that your faith-walk will grow stronger."
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
"For some, the concept of walking by faith seems indescribable. But it's actually quite clear and practical: Walking by faith simply means that you function in daily life on the basis of what you believe. Living out God's truth in your thoughts, words, and actions is the same as walking by faith. One benefit of consistently applying God's Word in your life is that your faith-walk will grow stronger."
Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Walking
The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17
"As you walk according to the Spirit, take care not to sit in the Spirit (put your mind in neutral and wait for God to do it all), or run in the Spirit (become excessively busy in the Lord's service trying to do it all by yourself). Walk with the Spirit and He will accomplish great things as you do His will.
Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson
"As you walk according to the Spirit, take care not to sit in the Spirit (put your mind in neutral and wait for God to do it all), or run in the Spirit (become excessively busy in the Lord's service trying to do it all by yourself). Walk with the Spirit and He will accomplish great things as you do His will.
Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson
Gratitude: Express Thanks on a Daily Basis
"Gratitude is the best barometer to measure a church."
From Aaron's sermon yesterday three keys to acting more like the one than the nine in Luke 17: 11-19.
------------------------
Philippians 2: 14-15
From Aaron's sermon yesterday three keys to acting more like the one than the nine in Luke 17: 11-19.
- Remember God gave us everything we have.
- Make positive comparisons. Help those less fortunate.
- Avoid complaining and grumbling.
------------------------
Philippians 2: 14-15
14Do everything readily and cheerfully--no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! 15Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night (The Message)
14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe (NIV)
Knowledge Applied
1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
And this must be our attitude too. Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it."
Knowing God, p. 22-23, J.I. Packer.
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
in obeying your decrees!
Psalm 119: 1-2, 5
-------------------------------
And this must be our attitude too. Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it."
Knowing God, p. 22-23, J.I. Packer.
The Song of the Animals
Title: The Song of the Animals by Elizabeth Elliott
A very tall man, wrapped in a steamer rug,
kneeling alone by a chair. When I think of my
father, who died in 1963, this is often the first
image that comes to mind. It was the habit of his
life to rise early in the morning--usually
between 4:30 and 5:00 --to study his Bible and to
pray.
We did not often see him during that solitary
hour (he purposed to make it solitary), but we
were used to seeing him on his knees. He had
family prayers every morning after breakfast. We
began with a hymn; then he read from the Bible to
us; and we all knelt to pray. As we grew older,
we were encouraged to pray alone as well.
Few people know what to do with solitude when it
is forced upon them; even fewer arrange for
solitude regularly. This is not to suggest that
we should neglect meeting with other believers
for prayer (Hebrews 10:25), but the foundation of
our devotional life is our own private
relationship with God.
My father, an honest and humble disciple of the
Lord Jesus, wanted to follow his example: "Very
early in the morning…Jesus got up, left the house
and went off to a solitary place, where he
prayed" (Mark 1:35).
Christians may (and ought to) pray anytime and
anywhere, but we cannot well do without a special
time and place to be alone with God. Most of us
find that early morning is not an easy time to
pray. I wonder if there is an easy time.
The simple fact is that early morning is probably
the only time when we can be fairly sure of not
being interrupted. Where can we go? Into "your
closet," was what the Lord said in Matthew 6:6,
meaning any place apart from the eyes and the
ears of others. Jesus went to the hills, to the
wilderness, to a garden; the apostles to the
seashore or to an upper room; Peter to a
housetop.
We may need to find a literal closet or a
bathroom or a parked car. We may walk outdoors
and pray. But we must arrange to pray, to be
alone with God sometime every day, to talk to him
and to listen to what he wants to say to us.
The Bible is God's message to everybody. We
deceive ourselves if we claim to want to hear his
voice but neglect the primary channel through
which it comes. We must read his Word. We must
obey it. We must live it, which means rereading
it throughout our lives. I think my father read
it more than forty times.
When we have heard God speak, what then shall we
say to God? In an emergency or when we suddenly
need help, the words come easily: "Oh, God!" or
"Lord, help me!" During our quiet time, however,
it is a good thing to remember that we are here
not to pester God but to adore him.
All creation praises him all the time--the winds,
the tides, the oceans, the rivers, move in
obedience; the song sparrow and the wonderful
burrowing wombat, the molecules in their cells,
the stars in their courses, the singing whales
and the burning seraphim do without protest or
slovenliness exactly what their Maker intended,
and thus praise him.
We read that our Heavenly Father actually looks
for people who will worship him in spirit and in
reality. Imagine! God is looking for worshippers.
Will he always have to go to a church to find
them, or might there be one here and there in an
ordinary house, kneeling alone by a chair, simply
adoring him?
How do we adore him? Adoration is not merely
unselfish. It doesn't even take into
consideration that the self exists. It is utterly
consumed with the object adored.
Once in a while, a human face registers
adoration. The groom in a wedding may seem to
worship the approaching bride, but usually he has
a few thoughts for himself--how does he look in
this absurd ruffled shirt that she asked him to
wear, what should he do with his hands at this
moment, what if he messes up the vows?
I have seen adoration more than once on faces in
a crowd surrounding a celebrity, but only when
they were unaware of the television cameras, and
only when there was not the remotest possibility
that the celebrity would notice them. For a few
seconds, they forgot themselves altogether.
When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on
a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring
spontaneously to my lips--other than words like,
"Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It's cold.
I'm not feeling terribly spiritual...." Who can
go on and on like that morning after morning, and
who can bear to listen to it day after day?
I need help in order to worship God. Nothing
helps me more than the Psalms. Here we find human
cries--of praise, adoration, anguish, complaint,
petition. There is an immediacy, an authenticity,
about those cries. They speak for me to God--that
is, they say what I often want to say, but for
which I cannot find words.
Surely the Holy Spirit preserved those Psalms in
order that we might have paradigms of prayer and
of our individual dealings with God. It is
immensely comforting to find that even David, the
great king, wailed about his loneliness, his
enemies, his pains, his sorrows, and his fears.
But then he turned from them to God in paeans of
praise.
He found expression for praise far beyond my poor
powers, so I use his and am lifted out of myself,
up into heights of adoration, even though I'm
still the same ordinary woman alone in the same
little room.
Another source of assistance for me has been the
great hymns of the Church, such as "Praise, My
Soul, the King of Heaven," "New Every Morning Is
the Love," "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "Glorious
Things of Thee Are Spoken," and ''O Worship the
King." The third stanza of that last one delights
me. It must delight God when I sing it to him:
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the
plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
That's praise. By putting into words things on
earth for which we thank him, we are training
ourselves to be ever more aware of such things as
we live our lives. It is easy otherwise to be
oblivious of the thousand evidences of his care.
Have you thought of thanking God for light and
air, because in them his care breathes and
shines?
Hymns often combine praise and petition, which
are appropriate for that time alone with God. The
beautiful morning hymn "Awake, My Soul, and With
the Sun" has these stanzas:
All praise to Thee, who safe hast kept,
And hast refreshed me while I slept.
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless light partake.
Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.
Adoration should be followed by confession.
Sometimes it happens that I can think of nothing
that needs confessing. This is usually a sign
that I'm not paying attention. I need to read the
Bible. If I read it with prayer that the Holy
Spirit will open my eyes to this need, I soon
remember things done that ought not to have been
done and things undone that ought to have been
done.
Sometimes I follow confession of sin with
confession of faith--that is, with a declaration
of what I believe. Any one of the creeds helps
here, or these simple words: "Christ has died;
Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Lord, I
believe; help my unbelief."
Then comes intercession, the hardest work in the
world--the giving of one's self, time, strength,
energy, and attention to the needs of others in a
way that no one but God sees, no one but God will
do anything about, and no one but God will ever
reward you for.
Do you know what to pray for people whom you
haven't heard from in a long time? I don't. So I
often use the prayers of the New Testament, so
all-encompassing, so directed toward things of
true and eternal importance, such as Paul's for
the Christians in Ephesus: ''…I pray that you,
rooted and founded in love yourselves, may be
able to grasp…how wide and long and deep and high
is the love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:17, 18). Or I
use his prayer for the Colossians, "We pray that
you will be strengthened from God's boundless
resources, so that you will find yourselves able
to pass through any experience and endure it with
joy" (Colossians 1:11). I have included many New
Testament prayers in a small booklet entitled And
When You Pray (Good News Publishers).
My own devotional life is very far from being
Exhibit A of what it should be. I have tried,
throughout most of my life, to maintain a quiet
time with God, with many lapses and failures.
Occasionally, but only occasionally, it is
impossible. Our Heavenly Father knows all about
those occasions. He understands perfectly why
mothers with small children bring them along when
they talk to him.
Nearly always it is possible for most of us, with
effort and planning and the will to do his will,
to set aside time for God alone. I am sure I have
lost out spiritually when I have missed that
time. And I can say with the psalmist, "I have
found more joy along the path of thy instruction
than in any kind of wealth" (Psalms 119:14).
Copyright© 1989, by Elisabeth Elliot
all rights reserved.
A very tall man, wrapped in a steamer rug,
kneeling alone by a chair. When I think of my
father, who died in 1963, this is often the first
image that comes to mind. It was the habit of his
life to rise early in the morning--usually
between 4:30 and 5:00 --to study his Bible and to
pray.
We did not often see him during that solitary
hour (he purposed to make it solitary), but we
were used to seeing him on his knees. He had
family prayers every morning after breakfast. We
began with a hymn; then he read from the Bible to
us; and we all knelt to pray. As we grew older,
we were encouraged to pray alone as well.
Few people know what to do with solitude when it
is forced upon them; even fewer arrange for
solitude regularly. This is not to suggest that
we should neglect meeting with other believers
for prayer (Hebrews 10:25), but the foundation of
our devotional life is our own private
relationship with God.
My father, an honest and humble disciple of the
Lord Jesus, wanted to follow his example: "Very
early in the morning…Jesus got up, left the house
and went off to a solitary place, where he
prayed" (Mark 1:35).
Christians may (and ought to) pray anytime and
anywhere, but we cannot well do without a special
time and place to be alone with God. Most of us
find that early morning is not an easy time to
pray. I wonder if there is an easy time.
The simple fact is that early morning is probably
the only time when we can be fairly sure of not
being interrupted. Where can we go? Into "your
closet," was what the Lord said in Matthew 6:6,
meaning any place apart from the eyes and the
ears of others. Jesus went to the hills, to the
wilderness, to a garden; the apostles to the
seashore or to an upper room; Peter to a
housetop.
We may need to find a literal closet or a
bathroom or a parked car. We may walk outdoors
and pray. But we must arrange to pray, to be
alone with God sometime every day, to talk to him
and to listen to what he wants to say to us.
The Bible is God's message to everybody. We
deceive ourselves if we claim to want to hear his
voice but neglect the primary channel through
which it comes. We must read his Word. We must
obey it. We must live it, which means rereading
it throughout our lives. I think my father read
it more than forty times.
When we have heard God speak, what then shall we
say to God? In an emergency or when we suddenly
need help, the words come easily: "Oh, God!" or
"Lord, help me!" During our quiet time, however,
it is a good thing to remember that we are here
not to pester God but to adore him.
All creation praises him all the time--the winds,
the tides, the oceans, the rivers, move in
obedience; the song sparrow and the wonderful
burrowing wombat, the molecules in their cells,
the stars in their courses, the singing whales
and the burning seraphim do without protest or
slovenliness exactly what their Maker intended,
and thus praise him.
We read that our Heavenly Father actually looks
for people who will worship him in spirit and in
reality. Imagine! God is looking for worshippers.
Will he always have to go to a church to find
them, or might there be one here and there in an
ordinary house, kneeling alone by a chair, simply
adoring him?
How do we adore him? Adoration is not merely
unselfish. It doesn't even take into
consideration that the self exists. It is utterly
consumed with the object adored.
Once in a while, a human face registers
adoration. The groom in a wedding may seem to
worship the approaching bride, but usually he has
a few thoughts for himself--how does he look in
this absurd ruffled shirt that she asked him to
wear, what should he do with his hands at this
moment, what if he messes up the vows?
I have seen adoration more than once on faces in
a crowd surrounding a celebrity, but only when
they were unaware of the television cameras, and
only when there was not the remotest possibility
that the celebrity would notice them. For a few
seconds, they forgot themselves altogether.
When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on
a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring
spontaneously to my lips--other than words like,
"Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It's cold.
I'm not feeling terribly spiritual...." Who can
go on and on like that morning after morning, and
who can bear to listen to it day after day?
I need help in order to worship God. Nothing
helps me more than the Psalms. Here we find human
cries--of praise, adoration, anguish, complaint,
petition. There is an immediacy, an authenticity,
about those cries. They speak for me to God--that
is, they say what I often want to say, but for
which I cannot find words.
Surely the Holy Spirit preserved those Psalms in
order that we might have paradigms of prayer and
of our individual dealings with God. It is
immensely comforting to find that even David, the
great king, wailed about his loneliness, his
enemies, his pains, his sorrows, and his fears.
But then he turned from them to God in paeans of
praise.
He found expression for praise far beyond my poor
powers, so I use his and am lifted out of myself,
up into heights of adoration, even though I'm
still the same ordinary woman alone in the same
little room.
Another source of assistance for me has been the
great hymns of the Church, such as "Praise, My
Soul, the King of Heaven," "New Every Morning Is
the Love," "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "Glorious
Things of Thee Are Spoken," and ''O Worship the
King." The third stanza of that last one delights
me. It must delight God when I sing it to him:
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the
plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
That's praise. By putting into words things on
earth for which we thank him, we are training
ourselves to be ever more aware of such things as
we live our lives. It is easy otherwise to be
oblivious of the thousand evidences of his care.
Have you thought of thanking God for light and
air, because in them his care breathes and
shines?
Hymns often combine praise and petition, which
are appropriate for that time alone with God. The
beautiful morning hymn "Awake, My Soul, and With
the Sun" has these stanzas:
All praise to Thee, who safe hast kept,
And hast refreshed me while I slept.
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless light partake.
Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.
Adoration should be followed by confession.
Sometimes it happens that I can think of nothing
that needs confessing. This is usually a sign
that I'm not paying attention. I need to read the
Bible. If I read it with prayer that the Holy
Spirit will open my eyes to this need, I soon
remember things done that ought not to have been
done and things undone that ought to have been
done.
Sometimes I follow confession of sin with
confession of faith--that is, with a declaration
of what I believe. Any one of the creeds helps
here, or these simple words: "Christ has died;
Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Lord, I
believe; help my unbelief."
Then comes intercession, the hardest work in the
world--the giving of one's self, time, strength,
energy, and attention to the needs of others in a
way that no one but God sees, no one but God will
do anything about, and no one but God will ever
reward you for.
Do you know what to pray for people whom you
haven't heard from in a long time? I don't. So I
often use the prayers of the New Testament, so
all-encompassing, so directed toward things of
true and eternal importance, such as Paul's for
the Christians in Ephesus: ''…I pray that you,
rooted and founded in love yourselves, may be
able to grasp…how wide and long and deep and high
is the love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:17, 18). Or I
use his prayer for the Colossians, "We pray that
you will be strengthened from God's boundless
resources, so that you will find yourselves able
to pass through any experience and endure it with
joy" (Colossians 1:11). I have included many New
Testament prayers in a small booklet entitled And
When You Pray (Good News Publishers).
My own devotional life is very far from being
Exhibit A of what it should be. I have tried,
throughout most of my life, to maintain a quiet
time with God, with many lapses and failures.
Occasionally, but only occasionally, it is
impossible. Our Heavenly Father knows all about
those occasions. He understands perfectly why
mothers with small children bring them along when
they talk to him.
Nearly always it is possible for most of us, with
effort and planning and the will to do his will,
to set aside time for God alone. I am sure I have
lost out spiritually when I have missed that
time. And I can say with the psalmist, "I have
found more joy along the path of thy instruction
than in any kind of wealth" (Psalms 119:14).
Copyright© 1989, by Elisabeth Elliot
all rights reserved.
Exquisite Love
How exquisite your love, O God! Psalm 36:7 (The Message)
"The Hebrew word chesed, narrowly translated as "love," is a large word. No single word in our language is adequate to translate it, so we revert to the use of adjectives to bring out the distinctive quality and broad reach of this love: steadfast love, loyal love. ...
Chesed is often used in biblical revelation to designate God's love. But we humans, who have been created in the image of God, are also capable of loving this way, even though we never seem to get very good at it. Chesed is love without regard to shifting circumstances, hormones, emotional states and personal convenience."
Leap Over a Wall
"Love is a Large Word", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
"The Hebrew word chesed, narrowly translated as "love," is a large word. No single word in our language is adequate to translate it, so we revert to the use of adjectives to bring out the distinctive quality and broad reach of this love: steadfast love, loyal love. ...
Chesed is often used in biblical revelation to designate God's love. But we humans, who have been created in the image of God, are also capable of loving this way, even though we never seem to get very good at it. Chesed is love without regard to shifting circumstances, hormones, emotional states and personal convenience."
Leap Over a Wall
"Love is a Large Word", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
Happiness
"Happiness, like winning, is a matter of right thinking, not intelligence, age, or position." Come Before Winter, p. 239.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
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