unseen

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you are always at work, even in the most difficult and trying of circumstances.  Help me to trust the unseen things you are doing in me, knowing that they are the things that are eternal.  Amen.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Journal: What is God doing within you these days?  How is he using the circumstances of your life to achieve for you and eternal glory?  How will you keep your eyes fixed on the unseen rather than the seen?

Reflection: In the spiritual life, it is the unseen that is important, not the seen.  It is what God is doing under the surface, in and through us, that matters the most.  The things that look hard and bad on the surface, are quite often the things that are the best in the long run, for they “are achieving for us an eternal glory” that we cannot yet see.  They are producing unseen qualities deep in our hearts and souls that will, at some point, make themselves visible.  They are making us more like Jesus.  Those are the things that are eternal.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help me to trust you, Lord Jesus, no matter what.  Amen.

perspective

Opening Prayer: Remind me this day, O Lord, that this life is about you, not about me.  The quicker I can learn that truth, the better.  Lord, have mercy!  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 103:14-16

Journal: How do these verses help you keep things in proper perspective?

Reflection: It’s amazing how quickly things can get out of perspective when we actually start believing that this life is about us, rather than about Him.  That’s why we need a constant reminder that we are dust.  Not we are like dust, but we are dust.  We are like a flower in a field that is here one day and gone the next.  And, to add insult to injury, our place remembers us no more.  Ouch!  That realization is not meant to demean or discourage us, but to set us free.  It is meant to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously.  God is the only One who is from everlasting to everlasting.  This life is about his kingdom and his glory, not our own.  And the sooner we can realize that, the better. 

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, help me to stop always making things about me.  Please!

uncovering my iniquity

Opening Prayer: When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.  Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord”—and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:3-5)

Scripture: Psalm 32:3-5

Journal:  How is God’s hand heavy upon you these days?  How are you living falsely?  How have you twisted or distorted God’s truth?  How does living falsely wear you out and run you down?  What would it look like to undercover your iniquity?  What is the result?

Reflection: Iniquity is the perversion of God’s good and perfect intentions for my own benefit.  It is twisting his truth to meet my needs.  The reason I typically try so hard to cover up my iniquity is because I am determined to hide my falseness.  And when I do that, it takes its toll on me.  It is not until I am willing to bring my falseness and manipulation and distortion of God’s good and beautiful truth out into the open that I ever have any hope of living at peace with both him and myself.  That’s because God is actually willing to forgive the iniquity of my sin.  And that’s something worth rejoicing about!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, that you forgive the iniquity of my sin.  Wash me clean this day and help me to rejoice in your forgiveness.  Amen.

unconditional trust

Opening Prayer: Help me to trust you, O God, regardless of what is going on in my life.  Regardless of what suffering comes my way.  For you are God and I am not.  Have mercy on me!  Amen.

Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11

Journal: What does your level of trust in the Lord usually depend on?  What would it look like to trust him no matter what?

Reflection:  It’s amazing how much my trust in God is conditioned upon my own ease and comfort.  The minute things get hard I’m like, “What the heck!”  But trust in God cannot be conditional, or it is not trust in God at all, but only trust in our own circumstances.  In the hard times, our faithfulness, and our confidence in God’s goodness, is put to the test.  It shows what we are really made of.  It shows who, or what, we really trust.  Do we really trust in God, or are we simply using him to serve our own purposes?  Is life about him, or is life about us?

If we live in constant fear of what we might suffer, or in constant bitterness over what we already have suffered, the answer is readily apparent.  Our trust in God is totally conditional.  Thus, we don’t really trust him at all.

Help us, O God, to trust you in all things—no matter what.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Help us to remain faithful to you, O God, even when things are not going our way.  For you are always faithful to us.  Amen.