the bizarro world

Opening Prayer: Forgive me, O Lord, when I get things backwards and begin to think that this like is all about me, rather than all about you.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 131:1-3

Journal: How does Psalm 131 resonate within you?  How does it disrupt or disturb you?  What is God trying to say to you today?

Reflection: The Psalm 131 I know and love: “My heart is not lifted up, O Lord, my eyes are not raised too high.  I do not occupy myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.  But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord now and forevermore.”

The Psalm 131 I usually see: “Look how hard I try, O Lord, to do awesome things and make everyone think I’m awesome—for you, of course (wink, wink).  If anything great and marvelous is going to happen, I must be a part of it.  I am a driven workaholic, and proud of it.  So I keep running and I keep pushing because everything will fall apart if I don't.  O God, aren’t you glad I’m around to do your work for you?  Lucky you!”

To truly follow Jesus, I must lay down my pride, my agenda, my opinion, my need to be right, and my sense of indispensability.  I must let go of my need to be needed and my desire to be applauded.  After all, is trying to be liked by everyone really kindness at all, or just needy manipulation in a clever disguise—self-love?

Still and quiet my soul, O Lord, and wean me of all that is no you.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Still and quiet my soul, O Lord, and wean me of all that is no you.

on his terms

Opening Prayer: The call to follow you, Lord Jesus, is a holistic one.  We do not get to choose which areas we want to follow you in and which ones we don’t.  You demand all of our lives, not just certain compartments of them.  You demand that we live life on your terms, not our own.  Give us the courage to do just that.  Amen.

Scripture: John 21:18-19

Journal: Whose terms are you living your life on these days?  Why and how is that true?

Reflection: “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:18-19)

We tend to live life on our terms, when life with Jesus is really about living life on his terms—a life of total and complete surrender, not merely using him to make ourselves bigger.   If we are truly following Jesus, we don’t get to determine the nature, content, or direction of our lives, that role belongs exclusively to him.  We can either follow him, or follow ourselves, but we can’t do both.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, do not let us fool ourselves, when we live our lives on our own terms, we are not really following you at all.  Help us to fully heed your call to follow you, no matter where it may lead.  Amen.

rubbish

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, continue to teach me how to empty myself of all that is not you, so that I can be filled to overflowing that all that is you.  Amen.

Scripture: Philippians 3:7-11

Journal: What are you desperately hanging onto that keeps you from stepping into a deeper relationship with Jesus?  Will you let it go, so that he can give you himself in some new and mysterious and beautiful way?

Reflection: All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life.  Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung.  I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. (Phil. 3:7-8)

Life with Jesus always challenges our addictions.  It asks us to let go of the things and the patterns and the ways we have grown used to and familiar with, in order to receive something new and beautiful from him.  Most people, in fact, miss the new because they are unwilling to let go of the old. 

Help us, O Lord, to drop any plans and agendas and comforts and preferences that keep us from be fully and completely yours.  Help us to consider them rubbish—dog dung—compared with the surpassing value of knowing you.  For how can I ever expect to be made new, if I am unwilling to let go of the old?    

Pray

Closing Prayer: "Lord, deliver me from the small loyalties of habit or tradition that would keep me from the larger loyalties of the Spirit." ~John Killinger

why me

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, that you care enough to draw us into your great heart of love.  What a gift!  Give us the wisdom and the grace to receive that gift each day.  Amen.

Scripture: John 6:44

Journal: How did God first draw your heart to himself.?  How has God been drawing you lately?  What is your response?

Reflection: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44)

Why me, O Lord? 

Why did you choose to lay your hand of love on me?  Why did you give me this amazing life?  Why did you grace me with deep intimacy and love?  Why do you continually draw your mouth close to my ear and whisper words of delight and affection?  Why did you give me this beautiful and loving and incredible woman to share my life and love with?  Why did you give me such wonderful children, and now grandchildren, to love and be loved by?  Why did you bless me with deep, rich friendships and vibrant, life-giving ministry over the last 45 years?      

And why on earth do you desire relationship with me in the first place?  Why do you allow me to share your very life?  Why do you choose to actually live your life in and through me?  Why do you allow me the intimacy and the privilege of sharing in your suffering?  Why do you want me to live in ecstatic union with you? 

Why me, O Lord, why me?

Pray

Closing Prayer: It’s you, Lord; it’s all you.  You are the drawer, the romancer, the pursuer.  Draw our hearts to yourself this day and every day.  Amen.

clothe me

Opening Prayer: Forgive me, O Lord, for always trying to dress myself.  Forgive me for trying to make people believe that I am something more than I really am, which really makes me less.  So much less.  Forgive me for all of the ways I pretend and project and posture.  Help me, O Lord, to have the courage to stop dressing myself and allow you to dress me.  Clothe me, O Lord.  Amen.

Scripture: Isaiah 61:10

Journal: How are you trying to clothe yourself these days?  How well is that working for you?  How long can you keep it up?  Will you let God dress you instead?

Reflection: “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness....” (Isaiah 61:10)

We spend most of our lives trying desperately to look a certain way, in order to convince ourselves and our world that we are actually worth loving.  This “dressing ourselves,” as John so beautifully described it (John 21:18), takes many forms—appearance, performance, possession, etc. 

The problem is that anything we can dress ourselves with—no matter how beautiful or expensive or hard earned—is really nothing more than “filthy rags” or “fig leaves.”  It is merely a covering, a hiding place, camouflaging what really lies underneath.  Thus, we spend our lives living falsely, desperately hoping that we will never be found out.  Needless to say, living this way is utterly exhausting.

The beauty of the gospel, however, is that we do not have to dress ourselves; God offers to do it for us.  All we have to do is take off all of the falseness and pretense, stand naked before our God, and allow him to clothe us.  God says, “I will dress you.  Let me clothe you in the garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness; they fit you perfectly.  They make you who you were created to be.  Thus, when you allow me to dress you, instead of constantly trying to dress yourself, it will result in you living a life of joy and delight, rather than a life of fear and shame.”   

Pray

Closing Prayer: Dress me, O God, in the garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness.  For only then will I be who I was created to be.  Amen.

sufficient

Opening Prayer: Forgive me, Lord Jesus, when I try to live out of my strengths, rather than out of weakness.  Forgive me when I try to rely on myself, rather than on your grace.  Forgive me for not believing that you are enough for me.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Journal: Where in your life is God saying, “My grace is sufficient for you”?  Is God's grace really enough for you?

Reflection: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is make perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

“My grace is sufficient for you.  It really is.  Whatever you are going through, whatever burden you are carrying, whatever situation you are struggling with, whatever thing you cannot fix.  Whatever uncertainty you are facing, whatever battle you are fighting, whatever challenge is before you.  Whatever demon you can’t conquer, whatever pattern you can’t break, whatever hole you have dug for yourself, there is always hope because my grace is sufficient for you.  I can take your weakness and your powerlessness and your brokenness and your vulnerability and display my power.  Trust me.” ~Jesus 

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive us for not believing that your grace alone is sufficient for us.  Help us to genuinely believe that you are all we need.  Amen.