'I now know for sure that there is a long, hard journey ahead of me.  It is the journey of leaving everything behind for Jesus' sake.  I now know that there is a way of living, praying, being with people, caring, eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, and writing in which Jesus is truly the center. 

How do I find it? 

George gave me the answer, 'Be faithful in your adoration.'  He did not say 'prayer' or 'meditation' or 'contemplation.'  He kept using the word 'adoration.'  This word makes it clear that all the attention must be on Jesus and not on me.  To adore is to be drawn away from my own preoccupations into the presense of Jesus.  It means letting go of what I want, desire, and have planned and fully trusting Jesus and his love.'

-Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on intercessory prayer...

Virtually all prayer fueled by the Holy Spirit has two objectives:

• the desire for God to make Himself known through Christ, and
• the desire for people to turn to Him.

When interceding for another, consider praying in a way that would point your requests toward these twin goals.

An example...

this morning, I am praying for Tessa's safety motoring (too fast) around the city, her interaction with co-workers, and later tonight going out on a date with Connor.   When I pray for her, do I simply want safety for her physical well-being?  Or do I want Christ to be revealed to her in a way that will draw her closer to Him?

And...

when I pray for a colleague who is struggling in a relationship, and I pray for their escape from frustration, anger, and disappointment, am I really asking God to make Himself known and to draw my friend into deeper intimacy with Christ? 

FOOD for thought.

Desiring God...

"The reason we do not see God is the faintness of our desire."

-Meister Eckhart

"Be still and know that I am God."

As we wait in stillness, we are given a greater capacity to discern YAHWEH's voice - and the wonderous, terrible, loving, all embracing silence.

We begin to recognize a tone to the voice of God.  Satan pushes and condemns. God drawls and encourages.  With time and experience, we learn the difference. 

Jan Johnson on ....

 Memorizing key portions of scripture...

"...this is the primary discipline for the thought life. We need to know these passages like the back of our hand...constantly turning them over in our minds...to get so familiar with the passage that it would be difficult not to memorize it."

Turning scripture over in our minds...
 
"I worked at getting every word right, but I never turned it over in my mind. But then certain passages became near and dear to me, and I couldn't resist. I'd studied their structure and how they fit together. I'd meditated on them and entered into them. Certain phrases rolled off my tongue with fondness."

Meditating on scripture...

 "...God as a constant presence in my mind, crowding out false idea's, destructive images, misinformation about God, and crooked beliefs...

...we cannot transform our idea's, images, information or thought processes into Christlikeness by direct effort, but we can adopt certain practices to have that effect."

Breathing room...

Sometimes I have to remind myself to breathe.

I need to find more ways just to be.  Not a philosophical existence, 'to be or not to be,' but ways to set down my cares and breathe in a bit of life.  My soul needs airing out now and then to fill itself up again.

Unlike my body, it can't get by on peanut butter crackers and dr. pepper.  It needs trees, flowers, and the night sky - especially the night sky - and stars to wish upon and space to let my mind wander aimlessly.

When I give my soul a little breathing room, everyone I know gets nicer.

Living in transition...

Tumbling out the door into quiet darkness.

We leave behind a trail of tucked corners like mice storing for winter.

He might roll over but doesn't wake.

We are awake and beginning our first conversations of the day.

Our booty is neatly stacked and stored to hybernate until spring.

Four large tubs, chilled & in disarray, align the garage walls.

They are filled with ... days, week and months to come.

11.08/Indy

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."  

-Jeremiah 31:3

1 Peter 1:6 - Inductively

"In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials."

Key words defined:

• greatly rejoice (agalliaco) - to exult, to take delight, be joyful.
• now (arti) - this moment, with no delay.
• distressed (lupeo) - to make sorrowful, to afflict great pain, necessity
• trials (perramos) - a state of pain that tests patience, endurance or belief.

How is God at work in my life?

In this place, this trial..

-I will GREATLY rejoice and take delight in - be joyful.

-I am learning trials come 'in a moment' and they test my patience, my endurance, and my belief's.

-I must remember they may bring sorrow and afflict great pain, but they are necessary.

-I am trusting God in His purpose and plan for me.  

-I feel a force of resistance trying to maneuver out of the this painful, frustrating, and uncertain place, but I will remain steady.

Thinking through my trials....

• I might not understand why until eternity (1 Cor. 2:14).
• Even though my trials are 'various' God is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).
• Trials are one of the ways I grow.  Do I really want to grow?  (Romans 8:28, 29).  

In a nutshell:

God is bending me.  

To force from straight to curved.  To cause to submit.

God is shaping me

 To give definite form or shape.

God is polishing me.  

To make smooth and shiny.  To render finished.

Finish my sentence

When I am afraid...

i lose my temper.

i think too much.

i get annoyed.

Practicing the Presence of God, pt. 2

Today we continue reading through our list of 'advice' from Brother Lawrence on practicing the presence of God...

1. Think of God often -  develop habits of keeping your attention on God.
2. Have conversations - speaking and listening - with God in small ways while you do your work.
3. Invite God to teach you in whatever circumstance you find yourself.  Imagine Him there beside you, pointing out the significance of events and the needs of people.
4. Stop what you are doing periodically to worship God.  This doesn't need to be obvious--it can be done in secret--but, either way, find some way to stop your activity so that you may concentrate completely on God.
5. Taking an inventory of your heart.  Where are you weak?  Ask God for help as you grow in maturity in that area.

Practicing the Presence of God

Some advice from Brother Lawrence...

What are some ways we might practice the presence of God?

1. Acknowledging the fact that God is intimately present to us at all times.
2. Getting rid of those activities and attachments that do not lead to God.
3. Doing whatever we do for God rather than for ourselves.  This applies most readily to our ordinary work.
4. Relying increasingly upon God's grace - God's activity in our lives.
5. Adoring God constantly.  Think upon His goodness and beauty, and let it move you to worship.

to be continued...

Pride

Pride causes us to think we can do more than we can and convinces us we deserve special treatment, recognition, or honor.  Pride causes us to think less of others and too much of ourselves.

Pride is a distraction.  It causes us to bypass important and pertinent issues because we are focused on ourselves.

Are there bits & pieces of PRIDE at work within my heart? 

Reveal to me LORD - that you oppose those who are proud, but draw near to the humble.

About life's bizarre twists and turns...

You do the same mindless thing 10,000 times with no consequence. The next time something freaky happens that alters your life.


We never know how close we are to circumstances that change everything. It is not pessimism to demand of oneself a readiness for the unexpected. When contemplating my recent surgery, I asked God what kind of a man I should be in this messy period of convalescence.

I heard heaven offer these "bullets":

• Don't complain
• Accept offerings of service graciously
• Ooze with thankfulness
• Listen for things you would not have heard under other circumstances.

Each day I'm trying to do these things.

---Gordon MacDonald

Which one is the hardest for you?

Me? Accept offers of help...

When God calls us...

to something, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable as a wrong size in the dressing room.  It may gap in strange places and pinch in others.  We may find ourselves wanting to send it back for a more reasonably-sized dream, one that doesn't cause so much discomfort.

But that is a HUGE mistake.

"God hands us an extra-large vision by design.  He is not just interested in what we can accomplish for him, but in who we are becoming along the way.  As we struggle to grow into what and who God calls us to do and be, we are changed and shaped more and more into the likeness of Christ."

-Holley Gerth

FEAR knocked.      FAITH answered.    

NO ONE was there.

Faith is...

TELLING YOUR STORY.

-Kyle Idleman

Lord,

As I walk through this day, open the eyes of my heart to the evidence of Your presense.  It might be something as simple as experiencing a sweetness about knowing You.  It could be something I'll read that moves me or a word from a friend that has the touch of holy on it.  Or it might be something powerful that will bring me to my knees in awe of You.  Allow me to see You.

I know there are seasons when You call us to live by faith alone. 

Alone. 

When no matter how great our desire to see, feel and touch you overwhelms us, you choose not to show Yourself to us in tangible ways.  Help me to hold on tight during those times.  Help me to trust You in the silence.  Help me to treasure even the smallest glimpse. 


"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

-1 Corinthians 13:12,13

Waiting on God in the silent places of the soul is an active waiting that contains a seed of expectancy and hope.  We wait with the kind of anticipation a night watchman feels as he waits for the morning sun to signal the end of his watch.

No matter how many hours of darkness he has to wait through, the watchman knows from experience that morning will come.  He is alert to the dangers of the night while every fiber of his being leans toward that coming.  His eyes have become practiced at recognizing the first ray of sunlight on the horizon.

This is how we wait for God---with longing, with expectancy, with alert awareness, our whole self straining to catch the earliest possible glimpse of this God who comes.  In so doing, we open ourselves to the possibility of being met by God in the silence that follows the storm.

-Ruth Haley Barton

"The LORD was not in the wind. . . the LORD was not in the earthquake. . . the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence."

-1 Kings 19:1-12

nottambulo

Confession: I am a nottuambulo (Italian).  I am a night owl.

What would you do IF you couldn't sleep?

Because I am able to read, write, and ponder late into the morning hours, I have learned to appreciate this precious quiet time.  For a long time, I tried to lie in bed and count sheep, but that proved impossible for me.  Usually it is all I can do to just get dressed for bed at ten o'clock, let alone think about retiring for the night and sleeping at midnight.

So I have come to accept that I am an active person...at night.  I like to be somewhat domestic during this time (folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher are common tasks I like to accomplish), but most of the time,

I'm simply reading, writing, and pondering ...life.