grace, monday

Monday, November 17

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)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Ephesians 2:1-10

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)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      
Closing Prayer: My gracious heavenly Father, with gratitude I bow before you today.  I rejoice in the little, ordinary things which so often are accepted by me unrecognized and which so frequently pass unnoticed.  For life itself I give you thanks.  For the breath which I borrow from you, I am grateful.  For the strength to pursue a course of active labor, I offer you my gratitude.  In the name of your Son, my Savior, I pray.  Amen. (Daily Prayer Companion by C. Ralston Smith)

grace, sunday

Sunday, November 16

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)

Scripture Reading 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    

                      
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)

whole, saturday

Saturday, November 15

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

        

Opening Prayer: Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours.  You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life.  You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas.  Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence.  Lord, have mercy. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Philippians 4:8-9

Reading for Reflection:

We strive for order, coherence, and wholeness in our lives.  We want certainty.  We long for shalom.  Shalom is a peace that not only recalls all the pieces of one’s life but sees how the parts fit together in a unified and glorious whole.  Shalom involves rest and gratitude; it provides a balance and harmony where all things seem right. (The Healing Path by Dan Allender)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      
Closing Prayer: Almighty God, in this hour of quiet I seek communion with Thee.  From the fret and fever of the day’s business, from the world’s discordant noises, from the praise and blame of men, from confused thoughts and vain imaginations of my own heart, I would now turn aside and seek the quietness of Thy presence.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)

whole, friday

Friday, November 14

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

          

Opening Prayer: Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours.  You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life.  You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas.  Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence.  Lord, have mercy. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Philippians 4:4-7

Reading for Reflection:

 

The biblical word that most fully expresses this theological understanding of community is shalom, sometimes translated from the Hebrew as “peace.”  Shalom is an all-encompassing word covering all the many relationships of life and expressing a vision of what the Israelites conceived of as the ideal of what life was intended by God to be.  In describing shalom, commentators use such words as “wholeness,” “totality,” “well-being,” “the absence of violence or misfortune,” “the untrammeled, free growth of the soul in conjunction with others,” or “harmonious community.”  Or as a report of the World Council of Churches puts it: “Shalom is a social happening, an event in interpersonal relations.”  The report continues, “The goal towards which God is working, i.e., the ultimate end of his mission, is the establishment of the shalom, and this involves the realization of the full potentialities of all creation, and the ultimate reconciliation and unity in Christ. (Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      

Closing Prayer: O God, who hast been the Refuge of my fathers through many generations, be my Refuge today in every time and circumstance of need.  Be my Guide through all that is dark and doubtful.  Be my Guard against all that threatens my spirit’s welfare.  Be my Strength in time of testing.  Gladden my heart with Thy peace; through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)

whole, thursday

Thursday, November 13

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

          

Opening Prayer: Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours.  You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life.  You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas.  Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence.  Lord, have mercy. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Scripture Reading for the Day: John 20:19-31

Reading for Reflection:

 

Think of Jesus’ words to the disciples, “Peace (shalom) be with you” (John 20:19).  Focus on the word peace.  It means wholeness and well-being.  The presence of the living Christ is speaking and breathing well-being and wholeness in the very center of your fear, your vulnerable place.  Stay in this living presence of the shalom as long as it seems right to you.  Let your vulnerable, defended place breathe it in. (Feed My Shepherds by Flora Slosson Wuellner)  

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      

Closing Prayer: In Thy will, O Lord, is my peace.  In Thy love is my rest.  In Thy service is my joy.  Thou art my heart’s desire.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)

whole, wednesday

Wednesday, November 12

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

         

Opening Prayer: Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours.  You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life.  You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas.  Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence.  Lord, have mercy. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Psalm 23:1-6

Reading for Reflection:

 

The Christian journey is a journey in wholeness.  It is what we might call an adventure in spiritual growth.  To talk about spiritual growth, however, is to talk about all of life.  Spiritual growth involves not only the way we “pray” but the way we “play.”  It is concerned with harmony, the balanced use of life energy in a way that the whole person is nourished by the Spirit of God.  Harmony emerges when our work, maintenance, play, and freesense are held together in realistic balance. (Mutual Ministry by James C. Fenhagen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      

Closing Prayer: O Shepherd of my soul, when I dwell in your house, lie down in your pastures, and sit beside your quiet waters something happens deep within me—my soul is restored.  When I eat at your table and have my head anointed with your oil, my cup overflows—and I am made whole.  Thank you.  Amen.

whole, tuesday

Tuesday, November 11

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

          

Opening Prayer: Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours.  You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life.  You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas.  Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence.  Lord, have mercy. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Mark 5:12-20

Reading for Reflection:

 

     What is your name?  What a great question.  A question that, on the surface, seems fairly harmless and safe, but is actually one of incredible depth and insight.  Because a person’s name can tell us a lot, especially in Jesus’ day.  A name was significant because it was meant to convey, not just what a person was called, but who they really were.  It was meant to tell us something about their identity; to give us a hint as to who they really believed themselves to be. 

     So, when Jesus asks the name of this tortured soul, he is really asking, “Who are you?  Who do you believe yourself to be?”  And that is a great question.  An important question.  A question we all, at some point in our lives, must struggle to find an answer for.  Who am I, really?  How do I define myself?  What is it that gives me a true sense of identity?  What am I counting on to give me the worth and the value I most deeply long for? 

     Most of us work our entire lives to find an answer to that question—to try and make a name for ourselves.  The problem is that the name we make for ourselves can never be our true name.  Because our true identity can never be achieved, it can only be bestowed.  And it can only be bestowed by the One who made us.

      “My name is Legion,” says this tortured soul, “for we are many.”  In other words, “I have no idea who I am.  There are so many different voices in here that it’s impossible to tell.”  A legion was around 5,000 soldiers, so obviously bearing that name meant that this man was a mass of chaos and confusion within.  He was everybody.  And because he was everybody, he was really nobody at all.  That is undoubtedly the way he must have felt: insignificant, worthless, unlovable, a nobody.  He was destined for a life of confusion, despair, and loneliness because the truth of the matter is that we all tend to live out of the name we most believe to be true about us.

     This is the man that comes down out of the tombs to meet Jesus on this particular day: a man who spent his life among the dead, cutting himself with stones, breaking chains, and crying out for some sort of relief from his torment.  And while everyone else is running away from him, Jesus meets him right where he is, right in the middle of his pain and brokenness.  And somehow, in the process, Legion is Legion no more—he receives a brand new name and, therefore, a brand new identity and a brand life.  He is completely and totally transformed.  He is made whole. (Being with Jesus by Jim Branch)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      
Closing Prayer: May you experience grace—God acting in your life, in your thoughts, in your feelings, in your rest.  May his face shine upon you.  May his shining face lift up over you as you lie down, as you sleep, and give you the thoughts you need to have.  The blessing of the Trinity rest upon you and everything you are and do.  Let it be so.  Amen. (Living in Christ’s Presence by Dallas Willard)