Holy Living

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Getting Used to Him?

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations." - Matthew 12:18

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations.” – Matthew 12:18

Think about where you live. Do you have opportunities to see God in nature? To hear about Him on Christian radio? To attend church? To talk about Jesus without fear of persecution?

During much of His public ministry, Jesus lived in Capernaum. Yet He condemned that town saying that the wicked cities of Tyre and Sidon will have a better chance on judgment day than Capernaum. Why? We have no record that the people of Capernaum kicked Jesus out, arrested Him, or caused Him trouble. Why does Jesus condemn them?

Maybe, for these people who knew Him so well, Jesus was just the guy next door. It’s possible they just got used to Him and when the novelty of His teaching and even His miracles wore off, they went about their business no longer paying attention to the God who lived among them.

In America we have many of the same freedoms of access to Jesus that the people of Capernaum had. Let’s not ever get used to Jesus. Let’s not ever lose the awe that the God of the universe is with us and is involved in our lives – every day. Let’s pray always to see Him with fresh eyes, to enjoy His presence, and to grow to know Him better and better.

“The true lovers of God never get enough of Him.” – Calvin Miller

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Pennies on the Path

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“I cannot cause light. The most I can do is to put myself in the path of its beam.”                                    – Annie Dillard

I had an uncle who lived at the other end of a well-worn path between my Grandmother’s house and his. When he knew the grandchildren were coming to visit, he showed up at Grandma’s door, too. Then he would invite one of us to walk with him on the path to his house. As we walked, we were amazed to find pennies all along the way. Even when I became a young adult and Uncle Walt was gone, I couldn’t resist looking for pennies when I walked that path!

I believe God has taken great delight in putting “pennies” on the path we will walk today. One author calls God’s sometimes unnoticed gifts as “small joys and pieces of beauty”. How many of them do we miss because we are not paying attention? We are watching our feet or worried about the obstacles ahead and missing God’s little gifts along the way.

As we enter this new year, let’s have enough faith in our loving heavenly Father to believe that He has “small joys and pieces of beauty” for us every single day. Then, let’s remember to look for them. If we do, 2016 will be a year filled with surprises, smiles, and praise. Personally, I can’t wait to see what’s next on the path!

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6a NIV)

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A New Day

Israel Trip Deb (378)

“Pay attention to the moment, to all the moments and all the people and every breath you take beneath the ancient sky.” – Lonni Collins Pratt

A new day opens before me, Lord. Fill it

with your glory,
with opportunities to serve,
with new insights, understanding,
with light,
with Your watchfulness and Your smile,
with surprises!

In this day –

show me Your mercy that I may be merciful to others,
show me Your grace that I may be grace-filled in my relationships,
show me Your compassion that I may love others deeply as You have loved me.

I invite You to

delight me,
change me,
use me.

Now, Lord help me to be aware, eagerly to be looking for answers to this prayer all day long.

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” – Psalm 90:14

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Cracked

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“For God . . . made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6

I’m cracked. Really cracked. I have lived enough years now to look back on my life and recognize the bumps along the way that have caused cracks.

Some came as a result of bad decisions I made, others because of decisions other people made that hurt me in some way. Some are there because of my own sinfulness and failures. Many cracks came just because I live in a broken, sinful world and bad stuff happens to us all.

No matter how those cracks got there, I live with them. They are part of me now. That seemed like a sad thought until I realized the cracks are the places in my life where God was able to reach me, to teach me, to remold me, and to fill me with His light.

With that understanding, being cracked is not so bad. The light has to get in before it can shine out! Cracks allow both.

“Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.” 

I have a feeling that you are cracked, too. Let’s thank God for the experiences in our lives that allow His light to come in. Our cracks make us unique light-givers in God’s gallery of broken, but usable, vessels!

“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7

  • Quote from Leonard Cohen
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Sacred Pauses

How often do you think about God?

"Life is not a series of events to be controlled. Life is a way of walking through the universe whole and holy." - Joan Chittister

“Life is not a series of events to be controlled. Life is a way of walking through the universe whole and holy.” – Joan Chittister

Followers of Islam pray five times a day. Jews practice morning, afternoon, and evening prayers. Benedictine monks stop seven times every day for prayer and worship. What about us? I have my morning devotion time, to be sure, but the activity of the day can draw me away from connecting with God unless I intentionally bring myself back to awareness of Him. You, too? God deeply desires for us to be in continual unbroken relationship with Him. It seems He is just waiting for us to respond to His loving invitation.

I’d like to propose a “sacred pause challenge” today. Most likely our work days or our pace will not allow us to pause seven times, but maybe we could make a small adjustment to schedule and pause one time in the middle of things to acknowledge our Creator. We might need a trigger point so we don’t forget: Maybe when we stop for lunch or when we get in the car to go home after work, we can turn ourselves toward God. Here are some ideas of things we could do with a sacred pause:

• Choose a verse from our morning devotional time and reread it a few times aloud.
• Thank God for at least three things.
• Praise God for at least three of His attributes.
• Sing Him a song.
• Take a few deep breaths, quieting the body and mind, then just be still before Him.

It’s that simple. How about choosing one of these to practice at least once today then maybe tomorrow and the next day, too? Once we develop the habit of a midday sacred pause, we could add another and another until we are in touch with God throughout our day – every day. He will be pleased and we will be blessed!

“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.'” – Isaiah 41:13

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Running to Jesus

“I will run past everything to be united with You.” (anonymous prayer)

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“When you are running toward Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry or fear. As long as you are running, you’re safe.” ― Francis Chan

What do we need to run past today? The troubling email? A distressing medical appointment? A wayward child? A financial stress? A needy friend? A demanding boss? It’s not that we won’t deal with any of those things, but we need to connect with Jesus first.

Picture a long passageway. As you move along it, there are problems or people calling for your attention – just a moment of time, just a short side road. But you know that Jesus is at the end of this path, waiting patiently for you to come to Him. See Him? Now run! Run to Him, past everything that calls to you, past the problems, anxieties, demands of life. Run to Him to be loved, forgiven, nurtured, and directed. Then turn around and attend to all these things one-by-one as He walks beside you.

Sometimes it’s not that what we do is wrong, it’s just that we too often do it without Jesus, without direction, without connecting first to the only One who can make a real difference in each situation we face. Let’s run to Jesus. Sitting quietly in His presence is the most important thing we have to do today. Really, it is.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1, Amplified Bible)

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Hanging Around the Holy

I didn’t know holiness was catching, did you? But maybe, in some way, it is.

“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.” – Oswald Chambers

In Exodus, God gives Moses detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle and all its furnishings and utensils. In 29:37 God says that whatever touches the consecrated altar will be holy. Then in 30:29, He says the same thing about the anointed furnishings and utensils, “ . . . whatever touches them will be holy.”

What things today seem to be holy in God’s eyes?

  • His church
  • Christian friendships
  • His Word
  • Prayer
  • Confession
  • Spiritual reading
  • Worship
  • Songs, hymns, and spiritual songs
  • Nature/creation

These are the kinds of things that are probably comparable to the altar in the Old Testament in terms of conveying holiness. The sacrifice on the altar granted forgiveness, but the proximity to holy things and holy people gave the growth in relationship to almighty God.

Do we want to be holy? Close to God? Knowing His mind and heart? Receiving His gifts? First, we claim forgiveness through Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice on the altar of the cross. Then, I think we need to hang around the holy. As we do, we find that we breathe it, we catch it, we grow in it, and we want more of it.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

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Obsession

. . . I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:8a)

I remember recognizing that there were obsessions in my life that should not be there. It became clear that I should not obsess about anyone or anything except Jesus – not family, not weight, not work, not world events, not health, not “to do” lists, not money, not clothes – just Jesus. I committed to making Him my magnificent obsession from that day forward. When I asked Him how to actually put that lofty ideal into practice, here are the things that came to mind:

The glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. - Irenaeus

The glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. – Irenaeus

• Pray without ceasing: Acknowledging God’s presence with me always. Not necessarily engaging in verbal communication all the time, but having heart talk that never ends.

• Always be thankful: Discovering the amazing power of gratefulness – the way it can turn me around from sad to glad in about 30 seconds, the way it takes my focus off the problems and onto Him.

• Confess sin: Learning that confession is a privilege. It is a way of making sure there is nothing between me and God and that surety allows me to live constantly in a state of forgiving and being forgiven. I love it when He reminds me that I have something to confess; it is His way of showing me how much He values the relationship that we have developed together.

• Don’t run ahead of God: Taking my time, slowing down. This is a command designed especially for me and people like me who want to take charge. God reminds me that my “taking charge” sometimes interferes with His bigger plan. So I have to stop to listen and to make sure I move forward when, and only when, He says to do so.

These healthy habits are helping me remain connected to my true Obsession, the only safe one I can have. Maybe they will help you, too.

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Who are you without . . .?

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

I Featured imagehave been experimenting with centering prayer – the kind of prayer where I simply sit in the presence of God and just be with Him and invite Him to be with me. If you have ever tried this, you know it is hard. Hard to let the mind be quiet. Hard to let the worry list go. Hard to not bring kids, husband, or responsibilities into the mental space. But when we learn to do it, we begin to discover who we are without all the entanglements and responsibilities of life.

What began to tug at me were these questions: Who am I without ties to children, parents, husband, work, friends, and the tug of the world around me? Who am I without responsibilities, schedules, titles, goals, and “to do” lists?

The answer to those questions is the person who will stand alone before God when there is nothing left on earth for me to do. My only responsibility then will be to be. Centering prayer is a way for me to prepare for that day. I don’t want to be in God’s presence and be surprised by how shriveled my soul is because I spent my entire earthly life in doing and not in being.

Thank You, Father in Heaven, for inviting me to be still and to know You by simply putting myself in Your presence with no distractions. The growing soul that comes from knowing You and inviting You to be with me is a blessing beyond my ability to measure or express. Thank you!