Category Archives: Devotional

The Transforming Power of Prayer ~ James Houston

I used to think that prayer was a spiritual exercise – something that needed to be worked at, like running or vaulting. But I was never any good at sports, and perhaps I would never be any good at prayer either. After years of feeling useless and guilty, I began to realize the truth of a comment made by one of the early Fathers of the church, Clement of Alexandria. He said that “prayer is keeping company with God.” This began to give me a new focus on prayer. I began to see prayer more as a friendship than a rigorous discipline. It started to become more of a relationship and less of a performance.”

~ James Houston

Quote taken from, Between Heaven and Earth by Ken Gire copyright 1997 by Ken Gire

http://www.geocities.com/middletownsdachurch/images/prayer.gif

Celtic Prayer

Lord of my heart, give me vision to inspire me, that, working or resting, I may always think of you.

Lord of my heart, give me light to guide me, that, at home or abroad, I may always walk with you.

Lord of my heart, give me wisdom to direct me, that, thinking or acting, I may always discern right from wrong.

Lord of my heart, give me courage to strengthen me, that, amongst friends or enemies, I may always proclaim your justice.

Lord of my heart, give me trust to console me, that, hungry or well-fed, I may always rely on your mercy.

Lord of my heart, save me from empty praise, that I may always boast of you.

Lord of my heart, save me from worldly wealth, that I may always look to the riches of heaven.

Lord of my heart, save me from military prowess, that I may always seek your protection.

Lord of my heart, save me from vain knowledge, that I may always study your word.

Lord of my heart, Save me from unnatural pleasures, that I may always find joy in your wonderful creation.

Lord of my heart, whatever may befall me, rule over my thoughts and feelings, my words and action.

 If you’ve read through this today may I suggest you go back now and pray it and if you can, pray it out loud. Blessings!

Life Together ~ Bonhoeffer

This is a quote from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the section on Community:

Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.

Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

Life Together. Copyright 1954 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Meeting God in Quiet Places ~ F. LaGard Smith

Wherever we are, God is always close. But as Jesus himself demonstrated, there is something about quiet times and quiet places that helps us to get closer to God. That special solitude provides a time of rest and renewal from a secular world that is busily ignoring God. It is a time of remembering who we are and why we are.

In the Cotswolds, I experience daily the words of that great hymn written by I. B. Sergei:

My God and I go through the fields together.
We walk and talk, as good friends should and do.
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter.
My God and I walk through the meadow’s hue.

He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be.
When all was but a dream of dim conception,
To come to life, earth’s verdant glory see.

For those who walk hand in hand with Jesus, every day is a holiday – a holy day before God. Some of us are specially blessed to have a life more conducive to the peace and quiet of holy days before God. But as someone who finds himself thrust back each year into the harsh reality of big-city madness, I know that the greater challenge is to find God in the midst of a metropolis. To see his hand in the inner city and among the urban sprawl; to find time for him in an already-overbooked schedule; to find a quiet place amid a constant bedlam of noise.

If we don’t take the time to remember, we’re in danger of forgetting his blessings. Therefore, take a few moments every day, if possible, or perhaps plan ahead to spend an afternoon walking in prayer with him. Whenever you feel your hand slipping from his, take some extra time to remember all that he has meant to you. And why not write down some of his special blessings throughout the year?”

This is the village of Buckland in the Cotswolds. I was so excited to stumble upon it with “Dear” and Katie in 2004 after reading this devotional by F. LaGard Smith. The book is “Dedicated to the people of Buckland, who have opened their hearts and homes to make me feel a part of the village.” We strolled around Buckland and it made me want to re-read the book. This book was one of those “treasures” that I happened upon in my thrift store shopping. I found it at the Senior thrift shop on Whidbey Island in the little village of Langley, Washington. If you ever visit Washington take a ferry to Whidbey Island and enjoy the many quaint towns and beautiful scenery this Island affords. Whidbey Island is one of those places on earth that you can feel closer to the Lord just by being there. May you walk hand in hand with Jesus  wherever you are today, in the hustle and bustle, or in a serene and quiet place.

Meeting God In Quiet Places copyright 1992 by F. LaGard Smith, Published by harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 97402

Future Grace ~ John Piper

There are certain books that I keep on my nightstand that I only read a chapter at a time. Future Grace by John Piper is one of these. This is a quote from Chapter Thirteen.

In God’s Place, At God’s Pace, By Future Grace

Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of God’s guidance. It springs up in our hearts when our plan is interrupted or shattered. It may be prompted by a long wait in a checkout line or a sudden blow that knocks out half our dreams. The opposite of impatience is not a glib denial of loss. It’s a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience – to wait in his place, and go at his pace. And the key is faith in future grace.

…God is ruling the world. He is ruling history. And it is all for the good of his people and the glory of his name. ‘From of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him’ (Isaiah 64:4) The power of patience flows through faith in the future, sovereign grace of God.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. (Lamentations 3:25)

Blessings on your day as you live in faith for our future grace!

Living The Life of God’s Chosen Ones

 

Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Here it is in one passage, Christianity 101, 201, 301 and 401! Now to go and do and be what we were chosen to be, holy and beloved ones. Grace and blessings on you today!

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ ~ John Piper

 

Yesterday I went to the dentist. My dentist is a sweet lovely young lady but I do not like going to the dentist! They put this thing in my mouth to hold it open and I thought I was going to die…I couldn’t flex enough to swallow.

I, being the shy person I am, pulled it out of my mouth and handed it to the dentist and said, “This isn’t working for me, I’ll just open my mouth wide for ya!” Since I made it through the appointment without crying or passing out I decided to reward myself with a trip to my favorite store in Washington, Goodwill. What’s the point of this story… “wait for it.”

Goodwill has afforded me many books I wouldn’t be able to pay full price for (at least in the quantity that I hoard books) Yesterday I gleaned several good books. One of them was Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper. I just have to share part of his Acknowledgements with you. It’s something we can all identify with if we belong to Christ.

I owe the writing of this book to Jesus Christ. He died in my place, the righteous for the unrighteous. God counted him, who was sinless, to be a sinner, so that in him I, who am a sinner, could be counted righteous. He opened the blind eyes of my heart and brought me to faith and repentance. By his Spirit he has come to live in my heart through faith, and is slowly working his character into my stubborn will. Not only that, but this Jesus Christ created the world, including me, and holds it in being by the word of his power. Every breath I take, every beat of my heart, every moment of seeing and hearing, every movement of my mind, is owing to the sustaining grace and creative power of Jesus. All other acknowledgments and thanks are secondary and dependent on this one.”

I actually had bought and paid full price for this book in Camarillo 2 weeks ago. Before I cracked it open to read, I found out one of the ladies in my Bible Study group was going to be baptized. I decided to gift the book to her for her baptism. A book called Seeing and Savoring Christ seemed like an appropriate Baptism gift.  I’m “tickled pink” that I got to replace my copy today at a bargain price. I also picked up 3 devotional books by Hannah Hurnard and a book called “What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew ~From Fox Hunting to Whist ~ the Facts of Daily Life in 19th~Century England by Daniel Pool. Ahh, but I digress…”all of this is secondary and dependent on this one.”

Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV)

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the fistborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Blessings on you as you See and Savor Christ today!

Colossians ~ Kierkegaard

 Colossians 1:9-14 (NASB)

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Excerpts From the Prayers of Kierkegaard

To Will One Thing

“Father in Heaven! What are we without You! What is all that we know, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if we do not know You! What is all our striving, could it ever encompass a world, but a half-finished work if we do not know You: You the One, who is one thing and who is all!

So may you give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may You grant perseverance to will one thing: amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing.

You that gives both the beginning and the completion, may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may You give to the old a renewed remembrance of their first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.”

From: Devotional Classics, Edited by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith

http://www.nga.gov/press/2004/168/assets/168-018-lrg.jpg

Francis Ridley Havergal ~ Like a River Glorious

I was introduced this week to Francis Ridley Havergal by Abigail. She has authored a lovely piece on  Havergal that you can find here. I was so excited to find out that she is the hymnwriter of a favorite of mine from Russian Baptist Days. Like a River Glorious is so beautiful when sung with soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. It takes me back to the times when we sang these beautiful hymns in four part harmony.

Like a River Glorious ~ Francis Ridley Havergal (1836 – 1879)

Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the sun of love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Dying for want of water

This is the last week of my Women’s Bible Study on Personal Revival. I’m always sad to come to the end of these studies. Over the course you meet new people, develop friendships, learn with each other, pray for each other and then it’s over for the summer. I’ll remind myself and hopefully encourage you to continue in your daily devotion of following God wholeheartedly with these suggestions from my Study Book.

1. Prepare Your Heart

* “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!” (Psalm 100:4). Worship Him; praise Him for who He is; express thanksgiving for what He has done.

* Ask God to show you anything that could hinder your fellowship and communion with Him. Confess any sin He brings to mind.

* Ask God to quiet your heart, to open your ears, and to speak to you through His Word. Ask His Holy Spirit to be your Teacher. Commit yourself to obey whatever He shows you.

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. “(Psalm 119:18, 34, NIV)

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5, NIV)

“That which I see not teach thou me: If I have done iniquity, I will do no more.” (Job 34:32, KJV)

2. Listen to God

Select a chapter or passage of Scripture. ….Read through the passages thoughtfully and prayerfully.

[There are all kinds of study suggestions for you to go deeper into a passage or chapter of the Bible. Use the method you like. ]

3. Respond to God

During and following your time in the Word, respond to God in prayer and praise…

“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Seeking Him ~ Experiencing The Joy Of Personal Revival ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss & Tim Grissom with Life Action Ministries

I think the point is to start somewhere. Find a place and a method that works for you. Do whatever you can to spend time in God’s Word, intimate time with Him springing from what the Holy Spirit is teaching you from the Word. Seek Him, learn from Him, love Him and spread the Word!

http://www.biblebelievers.com/pace_cartoons/pace013.jpg