the grace of God, day 3

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
I am sure that there is in me nothing that could attract the love of One as holy and as just as You are.  Yet You have declared Your unchanging love for me in Christ Jesus.  If nothing in me can win your love, nothing in the universe can prevent You from loving me.  Your love is uncaused and undeserved.  You are Yourself the reason for the love wherewith I am loved. (Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 32

Scripture for the Day: Titus 3:1-7

Reading for Reflection:

The grace of God says to you and to me, "I can make last place more significant than first place.  I will use prostitutes to teach others about gratitude.  I will use lepers as examples of cleanliness.  I will take men who persecute the church and make them pillars.  I will take the dead and give them life.  I will take uneducated fishermen and make them fishers of men."  God's grace does not exist to make us successful.  God's grace exists to point people to a love like no other love they have ever known.  A love outside the lines. (Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli)

 

     Grace means that there isn't anything you can do to make God love you any less.  What will drive you crazy is the discovery that there isn't anything you can do to make him love you any more, either. (Hustling God  by Craig Barnes)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed
 
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
And Grace will lead me home.
 
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.


Closing Prayer:
Father, I love You Whom I do not know, and I embrace You Whom I do not see, and I abandon myself to You Whom I have offended, because You love in me Your only begotten Son.  You see Him in me, You embrace Him in me, because He has willed to identify Himself completely with me by that love which brought Him to death, for me, on the Cross. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton)

the grace of God, day 2

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
I am sure that there is in me nothing that could attract the love of One as holy and as just as You are.  Yet You have declared Your unchanging love for me in Christ Jesus.  If nothing in me can win your love, nothing in the universe can prevent You from loving me.  Your love is uncaused and undeserved.  You are Yourself the reason for the love wherewith I am loved. (Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 32

Scripture for the Day: Ephesians 2:1-10

Reading for Reflection:

Cheap Grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution [forgiveness] without personal confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate [in the flesh].
     Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble.  It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.  Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and is grace because it gives a man the only true life. (The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed
 
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
And Grace will lead me home.
 
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.


Closing Prayer:
Father, I love You Whom I do not know, and I embrace You Whom I do not see, and I abandon myself to You Whom I have offended, because You love in me Your only begotten Son.  You see Him in me, You embrace Him in me, because He has willed to identify Himself completely with me by that love which brought Him to death, for me, on the Cross. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton)

the grace of God, day 1

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
I am sure that there is in me nothing that could attract the love of One as holy and as just as You are.  Yet You have declared Your unchanging love for me in Christ Jesus.  If nothing in me can win your love, nothing in the universe can prevent You from loving me.  Your love is uncaused and undeserved.  You are Yourself the reason for the love wherewith I am loved. (Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 32

Scripture for the Day: John 1:14-18

Reading for Reflection:

Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving.  It is a self-existent principle inherent in the divine nature and appears to us as a self-caused propensity to pity the wretched, spare the guilty, welcome the outcast, and bring into favor those who were before under just disapprobation [unacceptable to a just God].  Its use to us sinful men is to save us and make us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God's kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed
 
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
And Grace will lead me home.
 
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.


Closing Prayer:
Father, I love You Whom I do not know, and I embrace You Whom I do not see, and I abandon myself to You Whom I have offended, because You love in me Your only begotten Son.  You see Him in me, You embrace Him in me, because He has willed to identify Himself completely with me by that love which brought Him to death, for me, on the Cross. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton)

chosen by God, day 7

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: Romans 8:28-39

Reading for Reflection:

An adventure is, by its nature, a thing that comes to us.  It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing that we choose. (Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton)

Thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

chosen by God, day 6

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: John 6:35-51

Reading for Reflection:

Whether a man arrives or does not arrive at his own destiny—the place that is peculiarly his—depends on whether or not he finds the Kingdom within and hears the call to wholeness—or holiness, as another might say.  The man who hears that call is chosen.  He does not have to scramble for a place in the scheme of things.  He knows that there is a place which is his and that he can live close to the One who will show it to him.  Life becomes his vocation. (Journey Inward, Journey Outward by Elizabeth O’Connor)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

chosen by God, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: 1 Peter 2:1-10

Reading for Reflection:

I have always enjoyed the part of the prayer that suggests to us that we are taken by God, that we are chosen.  “You did not choose me, I chose you,” we are told Jesus said to His friends once, and I claim it for myself as often as I feel I can get away with it.  I remind myself of the hope of it when the darkness comes, and celebrate the astonishment of it when the Light is all around me. (Living Prayer by Robert Benson)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

chosen by God, day 4

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: John 15:9-17

Reading for Reflection:

This longing that wells up in us, though, does not spring into existence on its own.  "God is always previous," is the way the theologian Von Hugel put it.  "You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you," is the way Aslan put it, the lion in the Narnia Chronicles who called Edmund and three other children from England into the magical land of Narnia.  The way the apostle John put it was, “We love because he first loved us."

     Maybe, too, that is why we long.

     "God's yearning for us stirs up our longing in response," says Howard Macy in Rythms of the Inner Life.  God's initiating presence may be ever so subtle—an inward tug of desire, a more-than-coincidence meeting of words and events, a glimpse of the beyond in a storm or a flower—but it is enough to make our heart skip a beat and to make us want to know more." (Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)