Lent Day 12: Praying like Jesus, the Lord’s Prayer

Tags

Christianity, God, Jesus, Lent, prayer, The Lord's Prayer

Today in the Lenten Project we were asked to read Matthew 6: 9-13.  This is where Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray.  This passage begins with these words:

 

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:  (The Message)

Becky writes that the Lord’s Prayer is a perfect Prayer Model for us.

A Prayer Model
     or simply a Prayer Outline.

I wonder how many of us have considered that before?

We speak of the Lord’s Prayer as the “churches prayer”.  We pray it regularly, even religiously, every Sunday.  We are so devoted to it that we will argue with others about the “correct” words–debts, trespasses, sins.  

BUT
     We forget that Jesus used this prayer as an outline for teaching the disciples how to pray.

I have been frustrated about the church forgetting that for a long time.  There are days I simply want to shout:  THIS IS NOT THE ONLY PRAYER–THIS IS ONLY AN OUTLINE OF HOW TO PRAY.

 

 

Becky points out that if we model all prayers in this way that we will cover about everything we need to say in God’s presence, except thanksgiving.

In this prayer:

We praise God
Surrender to his will
ask for our needs to be met
cultivate an attitude for forgiveness
ask for help against temptation
and acknowledge that God is in charge.

Then of course, Becky ask us to consider the tough question:  
When we pray, do we cover all these areas?

It is certainly something to remember as we we all resolve to deepen our prayer lives.  Prayer is about more than just us and our wants and needs.  Prayer is about interacting with God and learning about our place in his Kingdom.

My favorite definition of prayer is from Dallas Willard:

Conversation with God about what we and he are thinking and doing together.

Our prayers, properly shaped, usher us further into God’s will and brings the world closer to his redemption.

Becky reminds us that by using this model we can ensure that our prayers are more about God and less about us.

More about God and less about us.

I like that.  
There is power in that kind of praying.
There is purpose in that kind of praying.
There is freedom in that kind of praying.
There is God in that kind of praying.

This being Sunday, I’ll end with a prayer, not the customary Acrostic Prayer, but the Lord’s Prayer as it is found written in the Message:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above,  so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

To lean more about the Lenten Project you can check it out here:  https://tryingtopray.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/beckys-lenten-project/

 

Advertisements

Lent 11: Trusting God?

Tags

Christianity, God, holy spirit, Jesus, Lent, prayer, Religion, spirituality, Trust

It has been a few days, full of good things since I last posted here.  I met with good friends for study and prayer, and those days always lift me up in great measure.  Then I met with someone who was talking with me about doing something that was very important to me in a very different way.  

I met with him, because I knew that there was value in what he was talking about, but to change what I was doing and give up the control of what I have always done in the past is very difficult.  Those of us who are ministers often complain about how congregations dig in their heels about changing, and we lament that the seven last words of dying congregations are, “We’ve never done it that way before”….

I know where that fear-informed attitude comes from… I have it myself.

Odd, isn’t it that when I see a vision and want the congregation to move on it, then that fear of letting go of control frustrates me, but when someone is trying to help me see a new vision that sense of control is my security blanket.  

Yet I also know that when we let go, and when we trust God, then things can and will happen.  When we let go and trust God, then the Holy Spirit is free to move and whisper and change hardened hearts.  

So today as I read the reflection for Day 11 of the Lenten Project I knew that what I had learned from a friend and the guidance given to change what I was doing, was indeed a word for me…..

Becky asked today for us to meditate on Revelation 1: 8, 17-18.  As is my practice for Lent I read from the Message:

The Master declares, “I’m A to Z. I’m The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive. I’m the Sovereign-Strong….  I, John, with you all the way in the trial and the Kingdom and the passion of patience in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s Word, the witness of Jesus. It was Sunday and I was in the Spirit, praying. I heard a loud voice behind me, trumpet-clear and piercing: “Write what you see into a book. Send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.” I turned and saw the voice.
I saw a gold menorah

    with seven branches,

And in the center, the Son of Man,

    in a robe and gold breastplate,

    hair a blizzard of white,

Eyes pouring fire-blaze,

    both feet furnace-fired bronze,

His voice a cataract,

    right hand holding the Seven Stars,

His mouth a sharp-biting sword,

    his face a perigee 

I saw this and fainted dead at his feet. His right hand pulled me upright, his voice reassured me:  “Don’t fear: I am First, I am Last, I’m Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life is now forever.

John, when he encountered the living Christ, was afraid.  That is so like all the annunciation stories, where every one who sees the angel reacts with strong fear, then with faith.

That’s a real lesson for us.  

 

 

 

Fear does not have to rule us.  We don’t need to grab onto control of everything in our lives and work to make it come out like we want.  There is a better route…. faith, trust, confidence–not in ourselves, not in a political leader, but in God.

 

 

 

 

 

Becky asks:  

We can trust God, trust that God is with us, but do we?  

Are we confident that we are not alone and need not be afraid?

How will you let go of your need for control and just exist confident in the one who saves? 

I know, that for me that letting go and letting God is a continual process.  I give God my trust, and then I take back control.  I give God my confidence, and then I let fear into my heart.  Trusting God is a journey of continual repentance.  It is a good journey to undertake during Lent.  

 

 

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS……

That with all the practice I have had, I am getting better at trusting God.

 

Lenten Project Day 8: giving up the love of your life

Tags

Christianity, God, Jesus, Lent, love, prayer, Religion, spirituality

 

 

 

The Lenten reading today comes from Luke 3: 21-22.  This is from the translation, The Message.

 

After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

Marked by my love, pride of my life. 

Wow.  God’s overwhelming love for Jesus is so great that it is  obvious to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.  That is the kind of love that fills your heart to overflowing.  That is the kind of love that causes your throat to close on the joy when your pride overflows.  

I know that kind of love.  I feel it for my daughter, a woman whom I would be pleased to call friend, but instead I know the eternal joy of calling her daughter.  She is loving.  She is insightful.  She is smart.  She is a far better mother than I ever was.  I learn so much from her.

I know that kind of love.  I feel it for my grandsons.  I know heart stopping pride at their accomplishments.  Tears fill my eyes when I encounter new photos of them on the website.  The anecdotes of their adventures and misadventures make me laugh with joy.  (Sometimes those misadventures make me laugh in recollection and smirk at the thought of natural justice….but that’s another story.) There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep them safe and happy.

And God has that kind of love in an even greater measure for Jesus.

Which makes the ministry to which God calls Jesus so remarkable.

Today those of us following the Lenten project were asked to reflect on how much God loved us that he was willing to send his own Son to teach us, to guide us…

But what fills my heart.… is how much God loves me that he sent His own Son, marked by His love and the pride of His life, to die in order to free me from my sins and bring me into the family of the children of God.

I know a fierce and tender love for my own off-spring.  I would never put them in danger for someone who hated me.  I’d never send them out to do something that would put them at risk in any way, and especially not if that risk was to their very lives. 

But God’s love for me, for the whole world, was so great that he sent his Son, marked by his love and the pride of his life to die …for us.

In the revelation of such a great love all I have to give is humble and grateful devotion.

Lent 6: Prayer & Patience, Hope & Fulfillment

Tags

Christianity, God, holy spirit, hope, Jesus, Lent, prayer, Religion, spirituality

Today in the Lenten Project we were asked to consider the story of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple.  It is a loved, familiar story.  I have preached on it many times on the Sunday after Christmas.  But today, as I have resolved to do for this project, I read the story in The Message.  When you encounter God’s Word, outside of the pattern of the well loved phrases found in the familiar translations, you encounter it in a new way–an eye-opening way.

Luke 2:  22-40   Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law: “Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,” and also to sacrifice the “pair of doves or two young pigeons” prescribed in God’s Law.

In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

God, you can now release your servant;
    release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
    it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
    and of glory for your people Israel.

Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,

This child marks both the failure and
    the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
    the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
    as God reveals who they really are.

Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.

When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.

The questions that Becky poses in the study directed my thoughts to the demands of prayer–patience, trust, hope and even frustration and despair.  All of us who have prayed for something  over a long periods of time have known those emotions.  

But Simeon and Anna haven’t just waited months or years…. they have waited decades and, more than that, a life-time.  

That’s what makes the questions Becky asked so deeply meaningful…

 

 

Can you imagine waiting your whole life to meet the Savior and discovering he came in the form of a tiny child?
 Would you rejoice in song or question how it could be?

For me, when I have prayed over something a long time, I have also often formed an image of how I want that prayer to be answered.  Yet, God always answers in his own time, in his own way and with an eye to giving me a greater blessing.  Sometimes I am disappointed.  Sometimes I am angry.  But in time I do see that God’s wisdom is far greater than my dreaming and scheming.

Becky concludes the study in this way:  

As you move through today think about your faith.  
Are you willing to wait for God’s promises to come true?  
Are you willing to wait for God’s time instead of your own?

If I were to be honest–I’d have to say, “NO”

 But then I also know that I don’t have a choice.  
Whether I put my faith in God or not… God will answer in his own time and in his own way to give me the greater blessing.  He has proven it and proven it and proven it.

So that brings me to what leaped out at me when I read this passage, the translation giving me fresh eyes…..

In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel.

Prayerful expectancy….. those are such hopeful words.  Better than that it is such a hopeful way to live.  

Prayerful expectancy.….it’s a simple solution to life, isn’t it?  We pray….and we expect God to answer.  Simple. No plans.  No schemes.  No agenda for God to comply with.  Just prayer and the hopeful expectancy that God WILL answer–not as we demand, but as he knows will be best.  In his own time.  In his own way.  With the wisdom of the ages.  With the blessing he has intended all along.

Prayerful expectancy…  may it be so in our lives.

 

 

 

Lent Day 5: Light of the World

Today, I declared a snow day.  It’s not that there is too much snow here, but because things got too complicated.  Last night the organist called to say that she was storm-stayed in a city a four hour drive from here.  Then the snow hit here.  The highway between here and where the hastily procured substitute organist lives is in bad shape and she would prefer not to come.  I understand that.  I don’t like to be driving in the snow and ice either.  But today we were marking the start of the Sundays of Lent with a congregational cantata that I wrote called “Tell me the stories of Jesus”…. can’t sing 10 hymns or more without someone to play.  Also there are many (MOSTLY) seniors and to risk them coming and having a slip and fall is not something I want to contemplate.  So I declared a snow day.  Every one can stay home, stay warm and stay safe.

So that gave me time to look at the Lenten Project for today and meditate on the Scripture passage and the questions that Becky asks.

Today the passage was from the Gospel of John 1: 1-5

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.  (The Message)

Today, we were asked to think about the Light of the World.

Amazingly, light is something that I am thinking about today.  In between flurries, the sun is shining brightly and transforming the snow covered landscape into a spectacle of light as the ice crystals in the snow dance and shimmer in the Sun’s glow.  It looks cheerful and inviting which, for a confirmed snow hater, is quite a statement.

There is something about sunlight and how it brightens and alters our world that makes our spirits lift.  But more to the point, there is something about Son-light and how he brightens and alters our world that makes our spirits lift.  “The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.”

That same light floods our world with the power of creation, and the power of redemption.
That same light shines the warmth of God’s love in our hearts.
That same light fills us to overflowing.
That same light glows in us and radiates through us.
But only if we see the light and acknowledge what it is, who it is from and what it means.

Today in the Lenten Project Becky asks us to consider this light.  She asks us to ponder the following questions:

Jesus brings light and life into the world but do we see it?
Have we seen it?
Are we shining it?

Do you remember that hymn from your Sunday School days, “Jesus bids us shine?”

Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light
Like a little candle burning in night
In the world is darkness, so we must shine
You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around
Many kinds of darkness in this world abound
sin and want and sorrow, so we must shine
You in your small corner and I in mine.

Just as the snow sparkles and reflects the light, we are to sparkle and shine and reflect the light of Christ into the world.  We are called to add our small light to his big light and together to illumine the world with a love that will never die, a hope that believes boldly, and a joy that chases away the shadows.  We can only do that if we see and know the light.

This being Sunday let us join in an acrostic prayer:

Jesus bids us shine:

Jesus, Light of the world
Envelop us, we pray, in your love
Shine in our hearts until we are warmed through with your love
Urge us to step forth into your light and be your people
Shine through us and illumine our world

Begin now to do a new thing in us
Indicate the ways in which we must grow
Direct our thoughts and our hearts heavenward
Shine through us and illumine our world.

Urgently direct us
Send us forth in faithfulness

Shine through us and illumine our world
Heal us and make us whole
Inspire our living to reflect your goodness
Nurture our faith and cause it to soar
Empower us to live by your Spirit and shine through us.  Amen.

Lent Day 4: Justice, kindness and walking with God

Tags

Christianity, God, holy spirit, Jesus, Lent, prayer, serving God

We all claim to love the verse from Micah 6: 8….

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? 

This is a calling from God, to a people who have turned their back on God’s mission.  God is saying to them:  
“sacrifices are not going to cut it.”  
“Tithing is not going to save you from my anger.”  
“I called you out to be my people, whom I love and through whom it is my intention to love, gather in and bless the world.”

 

I have been thinking a lot about the calling to the church.  Becky in the reflection on today’s Lenten Project meditation on this Micah passage, writes:  These three things are what we need to do to live God honoring lives. 

                   Seek justice
                   Love kindness
                   Walk humbly with God.

But do we?  We as individuals and we as the congregations of the called, do we?

Are we more in love with our status as leaders, elders or deacons—than with the calling to serve God?

Are we making gods out of our favorite pew, the stained glass windows, or the silk flowers that must always sit on the piano—rather than humbly walking with  our God?

Today I read this passage from The Message.  This is how it spoke the truth of this word from God:

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

DO WE…..

Do we take God seriously? 
Do we love him and honor him? 
      Do we fear him and obey him? 
                 Do we think about how he asks us to treat others? 
 Do we answer the call to go out into the streets and meet with the sinners—those hurting people whose behavior is so baffling and even frightening to us?

This morning before I began today’s meditation in the Lenten Project I was reading the blog from the Chief of the Least. I am learning to never be amazed when God keeps bringing the same themes into my life. 

I am beginning to understand how this is the work of the Holy Spirit speaking to me in soft whispers and slap up-side-the-head reminders.  It is as if the Spirit is saying, “what God asks is important stuff—Listen!”

You can read the whole of what Bryan was saying, by checking out this link: 

http://www.chiefoftheleast.com/2013/02/15/lets-not-waste-our-vapor-on-safety/

This is what Bryan wrote that caught my attention: 

But it’s hard to reach people with your back turned to them.

It’s easier to cry “anathema” from a proud hill than enter uncomfortably into the valley that’s cursed. Only armed with the counter intuitive swords of intercessory prayer, sacrificial love, and words of peace.

The world’s default is darkness. And we have the only illumination that will quell it.

God never called us to safety. He called us to salt and light living, but not safety. Even in a sanitized bubble existence, germs and cancer can reach us there. Old age will reach us there. The question then is not how or when we die, but what we die for.

As we journey through Lent we are reminded that Jesus came to die for us.  As he walked humbly with God and as he took God seriously he cared for the outcast, he brought justice, peace, and mercy into fractured lives… and then he died for all of us who so desperately need that justice, that peace, that mercy.  Can we do any less?

Sadly we can—and we do.

I like Becky.  I do.  I admire her deep commitment to the church.  I appreciate the way she speaks what the Spirit is saying.  I marvel at the ways in which the prophetic gifts flow through her…..

BUT…

She asks some darn tough questions.  I have noticed it these past few days and I rather suspect that as we journey through Lent, those questions will just get tougher.  Those questions make me look at myself and question my calling—not that I am called, but if I am living it out in the way God has asked.

In regard to the calling to

Seek Justice
Love Kindness
& Walk Humbly with God

Becky asks:

Do we do that?
      Are we noticing injustice?
            Do we love and practice kindness to those we meet?
                  Do we humbly come before God daily asking for guidance and to offer thanksgiving?

Those questions have pushed me to thinking about my own commitment to serving the world—the world, not just the congregation where I am the minister.

Every time I moved I involved myself in projects in the community, projects that were MY ministry, not the congregations.  That has been important to me.

In the past I have served with Victim Services, where I learned more about Spousal and Family Abuse than I ever wanted to know.

In the past I have served with the Help Line, where I was the voice of warmth and welcome and non-judgmental listening.  I learned so much about the loneliness of people, about the desperation they feel and the hopelessness.

While here, I served with the Legion, and was able to share what I knew about the pain of war vets, and in some of the conversations over a beer in the club-house learn more about how those struggles have affected daily life.

But, I stopped being the Legion Chaplain as my life got complicated…. family sorrows, financial worries, health problems were very consuming for me and something had to give.

But now… as I wonder where God is calling me next, in terms of serving the church, I am also wondering what he is asking of me in my service to the community.  What is currently tugging on my heart is to work with a ministry to the homeless or to the Food Bank…. I keep thinking that I’ll figure it out where I next go to live…. But darn that Becky, her questions are making me wonder if I should start NOW.  Even if God plucks me up and moves me to Timbuctoo or Tuktuyuktuk (yes that is a real place) that agency will have had help even for a little while.

Yes indeed, Becky asks hard questions.  Isn’t that the nature of a prophet?  And isn’t that also what friends do for friends?

So I continue to ponder and pray and meditate on her final question:

How can you live your life in such a way that it models Micah’s statement and shine God’s light into the world?

May the question disturb you as much as it disturbs me.

To find more about Becky’s Lenten Project please check out this link:

http://www.ministrytomotherhood.com/2013/02/12/the-2013-lent-project/   

 

 

Lent, day three: God calling

Tags

Callling, Christianity, God, holy spirit, Lent, Moses, prayer

One of the things that I determined to do this year was to be more open to and attentive to the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit.  Today’s Lenten Meditation asked questions that reminded me of that resolution.

First though, the Lenten project directed my attention to God’s call to Moses as he tended sheep in the mountains of Midian.  There at the base of Mount Horeb, God called to God from a burning bush.

What Moses noticed wasn’t that the bush was burning, but that the bush was burning, but not burning up.  It was never consumed by the fire.  

Would he have given the bush a second glance if it had burned up?

How long did it take before he was attentive enough to notice what was actually happening?

Those are questions that I try to focus on as I read Scripture and pray.  I often find myself saying, “What is happening here? ”  and far too often I find myself needing to go back and re-read something because I missed what was important.  It makes me wonder, how many other times have I missed what was important and didn’t go back to take a second look at what God was trying to tell me.

But Moses did go back and take a second look.

Then, when he did so he had a holy encounter with the God of creation, the God of his ancestors.  That encounter rocked the foundations of his world, and Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

How often are we aware of just how great our God is?  
How often do we fall to our knees in awe, wonder and yes–even fear?  
Isn’t being attentive to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit what makes those very encounters possible?

Those are the kinds of encounters that we need to have with God.  Those encounters sustain our faith, send us forth, and give us the courage to say yes to God’s asking.

These are the questions posed in the Lenten Study:

Would I hear God’s cal if it happened to me?
Am I willing to serve?
Am I willing to listen?
Do we still see burning bushes in our lives?

 

I know that when my life gets cluttered, full of the distractions of work and pleasure then I don’t hear God as well.

 I know it right now.

Since I started this Lentern journey, I have been reading and studying in the morning, and that’s a good thing….. but, I have also undertaken a project to clear out my book shelves.  Some books to keep, others to give away…. and in the process I am re-reading books that I haven’t read in years.

 
Murder mysteries.  
Adventure stories.  
Epic sagas.

They are gripping tales, by some of my best loved authors.  And I am reading them in every spare moment, even and especially those precious evening moments that I used to spend in God’s word and prayer.  And I know that I am missing those intimate moments where I encounter his word, pour out my heart, pray for others, and affirm that my trust is in him.  I have stopped looking at the burning bush, I have stopped listening for the still small voice.

It is such a small thing.  And yet it is a crucial thing.  What’s worse is that it I knew it was happening.  I told myself to pick up the Bible, but I needed to know what was going to happen in the next chapter, and I chose the other.

So much for my resolve to be more attentive to the Holy Spirit.

 

So today I reaffirm my resolve to look for the Holy God present in my ilfe…… and see where it will lead me.  

Shield and Reward–Lent Day 2

Tags

Christianity, faith, God, Jesus, Lent, prayer

Today I have been reflecting on the passage of Scripture for the second day of Lent.  I have chosen for this project to read from The Message, as it’s language is so plain, and often blunt.  Jesus could be plain and blunt as well, and I thought it would be a good exercise to encounter God’s word as a call to sit up and take notice.  The Lenten journey is a good time to allow God to be blunt and plain as he speaks to me.

Today’s Lesson:  Genesis 15: 1-6

After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I’m your shield. Your reward will be grand!”

Abram said, “God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I’m childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?” Abram continued, “See, you’ve given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all.”

Then God’s Message came: “Don’t worry, he won’t be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir.”

Then he took him outside and said, “Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You’re going to have a big family, Abram!”

And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”

The questions that were posed for pondering were:

Do you see God as your shield and reward?
Do you believe God’s promises and feel God’s investment?

Wow, those questions are not as simple as they appear.  
It would be so easy to just say “YES” and be done.  But there are deep issues to consider here.  Issues of fear.  Issued of doubt.  Issues of a surrendered heart.  Issues of trust.  

The question here is:  What is at the heart of my faith?

Is God my shield and reward?  

Do I see God as my protector?  Do I believe that God is blessing me?

Yes….BUT

Yes….BUT…. does that really mean no?  What is it about having faith despite the circumstances we see around us that is so difficult?

Abram, struggled with that same faith.  He believed the promise of God…BUT he sometimes tried to take control of the situation for himself.  What counted for him was that he kept coming back to that promise.  Kept reaffirming his faith as he patiently (and not so patiently) waited on God’s timing.

Is God my shield and reward?  Do I see God as my protector?  Do I believe that God is blessing me?

Yes….BUT

Yes, but there are days when I struggle with fear and doubt.  There are days when I consciously and deliberately have to keep reminding myself that God is taking care of me and that God will reveal his plan for the blessing that is to come.  On those days my prayer is, “I believe, help my unbelief.”  There are days when I have to say over and over again, “I will put my faith and trust in God.”

And that leads me to the second question the study poses for pondering….

Do you believe God’s promises and feel God’s investment?

Do I believe God’s promises to be true?  To be truthful….. not always.  But what I do know is that God has always taken care of me in the past.  That alone gives me the confidence to say that God does care for me in the present and will care for me in the future. After all scripture does say, “I am the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”  For me it is all a matter of keeping my eyes on God.  

Do I feel God’s investment?  There are days when the answer is a resounding “YES”.  More than that, I can see God’s investment in me, my life, my ministry.  I can see his blessings, and oh they are so many.  God has given me a lot.  Can I give him the kind of faith and trust that goes along with confidently stepping forth into whatever he calls me to do next?

That is the real focus of Lent, isn’t it?

Stepping out into what God is calling us to do.  

Abram did it, and it was counted to him as righteousness.  That faith points us to Jesus who stepped out in faith and God was his shield and reward.  I know it may not have looked like it in the Garden of Gethsemene as Jesus prayed to not have to go through with what God was calling him to do.  I know it didn’t look like it as Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb.  But that wasn’t the end of the story…..not at all.

Faith
     stepping out in faith
               trusting God in the journey
                                      THAT IS MERELY THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY

My story is not finished.  There are still many miles, days, years to walk.  What God will ultimately make of me has not yet been revealed.  Where God’s pathway leads is as yet unknown.  But I will never know unless and until I take that first step of faith and choose to walk with God where ever he may lead me.  

 

 

So today, I affirm my faith.  I will walk with God and trust him to reveal his promise.  And may it be said of me, as it was said of Abram…

And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”  Amen.

 

 

Becky’s Lenten Project

Tags

Christianity, Jesus, Lent, prayer

Hi all.  I am about to start a Lenten Project that has been put together by Becky, a friend of mine and the inspiration behind the blog fromministrytomotherhood.

I am including the link below, if any of you want to join me on this journey.  I will from time to time be updating you on my daily journey through Lent and the insights that God has given me as I have embraced what the scriptures are speaking to me.

May you have a Lent that is blessed and fruitful as we journey with Jesus to the Cross.

Much peace.  Ena

 

http://www.ministrytomotherhood.com/2013/02/12/the-2013-lent-project/  just keep clicking on the links until you find the PDF file.  It is a lot to print out, so you may want to save it in a file on your computer and study from there.  Blessings on your Lenten journey.  

Transfiguration and Transformation: on the mountain with God

Tags

acrostic prayer, Christianity, God, Jesus, mountain top, prayer, Religion, spirituality

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday when we read the Scripture Lesson of Jesus being transfigured, changed until he glows, as he meets on the mountain top with Moses and Elijah.  Although it is not stated, perhaps because it goes without saying, he also met there with God.  We also read the Exodus account of Moses on the mountain top, receiving the 10 Commandments, and how when he comes down he is so, altered by his experience of the presence of God that his face glows.  On that mountain top Moses and Jesus have what George Fox (founder of the Quakers) calls a real and vital experience of God. 

I am pretty certain (100%) that Jesus always knew that real and vital experience of God, and that he frequently withdrew to a private place to pray in order to stay immersed in that intense relationship. 

I have also been reflecting on my own relationship with God in the light of these readings.  Given the uncertainty of my own life at the moment, and the events that seem to rock the foundations of my life, there are people who ask me how I am and when I respond, “I am fine,” or “I’m good”  the query my response.  “Really,” they say with a deep undertone of skepticism.  “Really”  I respond.  And I am.  I am  discovering that there is something about this relationship that I am developing with God that transcends the reality of my life. 

I am not living in denial, 
 but I am fine.  
I know that God has not yet revealed his plan for the next stage of my life, 
but I do believe that God will reveal it when the time is right.  
I do know the depths of grief, and the despair of financial worry, 
but I know that God walks with me on the path. 

Those moments that I spend with God:  the Scriptures, the devotional books, the prayers for myself and others, and the practice of silence and centering prayer, they are nourishing me.  When I see what those times away did for Jesus, and how time with God caused Moses to glow with the radiance of God’s Spirit, I believe that it is those moments on the mountaintop with God that are making my confident living possible.  And so I rejoice.  I am glad that I have a real and vital relationship with God—it makes a difference in my soul.

Out of this flows this week’s acrostic prayer:  Mountain top encounters

My soul yearns for you and in my very being I seek to know your love
O Holy God, reveal yourself to me, that I may reveal myself to you
Until I know you, live in your grace, walk in your love and glow with your Spirit
Now and forever my delight is in you
Teach me the meaning of grace, immerse me in your splendour
Align my will with yours
Immortal God, I immerse myself in you
Now and forever my delight is in you.

This is the place where we meet
Opening my heart to you as fully as you open your heart to me
Praising you for you have touched me with your love and filled me with your grace.

Eternal God, I rejoice in being your child
Needing your daily guidance
Cherising your love
Open to your grace
Unfettered by the masks I present to the world
Needing your daily guidance
Til I become more and more Christlike in my spirit
Eternities gifts flowing through me, using me to touch your world with grace
Reaching through me to care for others
Sending me forth with an eager heart to do your will.  Amen.

thanks to Google Images for the photos