deeper healing

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you aren’t just concerned with the wounds of our bodies, but also the wounds of our souls.  Your deepest desire is that we be whole again, both inside and out.  Thanks that you always aim at the deepest healing possible.

Scripture: Mark 5:24-34

Journal: What is the deeper healing that God wants to do in you?

Reflection: “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

When Jesus heals, he always heals on the deepest level.  He doesn’t just want to heal the outside; he wants to heal the inside.  He doesn’t just want to stop the bleeding of our body but wants also to stop the bleeding of our soul.  That’s why he kept looking around for the one who touched him; he hadn’t finished healing her yet.  Oh sure, her bleeding had stopped, but she was still far from whole.  That would also require a work in her soul.  He still needed her to know who she really was and how deeply she was loved, so he called her daughter.  “You are no longer unclean, that is not who you are.  You are now my daughter; my dearly loved little girl.  Go from this place and live your life from that beautiful reality.” 

Pray

Closing Prayer: Heal me, Lord Jesus, at the deepest levels, so that I can be whole and free.

 

advent 2024

Two great options for Advent, in case you are looking for a good companion.

his song of love

Opening Prayer: “Cheer up, Zion!  Don’t be afraid!  For the Lord your God is living among you.  He is a mighty savior.  He will take delight in you with gladness.  With his love, he will calm all your fears.  He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:16-17)

Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-17

Journal: What song are you listening to today?  Can you hear the song the Lord is singing over you?  Why, or why not?  What does his song do in you?

Reflection: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

What song do you listen to each day?  Do you listen to the song of those around you who demand that you become like them?  Do you listen to the song of the voices within you who continually tell you that you are not enough?  Or do you listen to the song of the One who made you and wants you to know the depths of his delight and affection?  Because the song you listen to the most is the song that your life will sing to others.

Pray

Closing Prayer: “Is that a joyous choir I hear?  No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.” (Zephaniah 3:17, TLB) Listen to the song of delight and affection he is singing over you today.

plans

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to be about your plans, not my own.  For your plans are to prosper me and not to harm me.  Your plans are the ones that give me a hope and a future.

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11-14

Journal: Who is making your plans these days?  What are they?  What would it look like to submit to God’s plans for you?  Do you really believe they are to prosper you and not to harm you? 

Reflection: If you want to walk with God, you had best check your plans at the door.  Life with him is as beautiful as it is demanding.  It is an amazing dance, an awesome adventure, and a challenging journey.  It is a journey in which we are not in control, he is.  We do not charge ahead with our agenda and invite him to come along.  We follow his lead, he doesn’t follow ours.   

Our job is to stay attentive to his voice, in tune with his will, and aligned with his purposes.  Life with him is about his plans, not our own.  Fortunately, his plans are to prosper us, not to harm us.  His plans give us a hope and a future.  His plans, although they might demand a lot of us, are always for our good, our benefit, and our growth.  We just have to trust in him.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to let go of my plans, so that I might embrace yours.

frustration

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to pay careful attention to my own frustrations, because they might just be there to teach me that my plans are not your plans, and my goals are not your goals.  Help, O Lord, to align my desires with your desires, so that I can do your will, and not my own, all the days of my life.

Scripture: Psalm 33:10-11

Journal: What is your level of frustration these days?  What is causing it?  What is God trying to teach you as a result?  How might your frustration level be connected to having different goals

Reflection: A wise saint once told me that frustration is always a result of blocked goals.  So, whenever we are frustrated, we need to determine what goal is being blocked, and decern whether or not that goal is legitimate.

That’s where prayer and reflection and alignment come in, because quite often the goals God has for us are very different from the goals we have for ourselves.  And when that is the case, he tends to frustrate or thwart our efforts because his plans for us are both best and eternal.

My desires, for example, might be for a life of comfort and ease, when he desires so much more for me than that.  He desires my growth.  He desires that I become humble and godly and loving, and those things never come easy.  In as loving a way as possible, God blocks and thwarts and frustrates in order to make us more into the people he dreamt us to be.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, that you love me enough to thwart and frustrate me when I am settling for less than you desire for me.  Align my mind with your mind, and my heart with your heart, so that I can become more and more like you each day.

shepherd and sheep

Opening Prayer: God, my shepherd!  I don’t need a thing. (Psalm 23:1, MSG)

Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6

Journal: How are you experiencing the Lord as your shepherd these days?  What does it mean that you are his sheep? What is God saying to you today?

Reflection: The Lord is my shepherd; I am his sheep.  He will take full and complete care of me; I do not need to worry.  In a barren land, he finds me green pastures and makes me lie down.  In a dry and arid place, he leads me to still waters where I can drink and be refreshed and renewed.  He guides me in the good way, so I don’t get lost or confused, all for his name’s sake. 

Even when the stench of death surrounds me and darkness overwhelms me, I will not fear for he is right in the middle of it with me, protecting me and directing me with his staff and his rod.  His love and his power bring me so much peace and comfort. 

He sets a table for the two of us to share an elaborate and intimate meal together.  He pours fragrant and healing oil on my head to show me that I am loved and valued.  My heart, just like my cup at his table, is always filled to overflowing with abundance and delight.  He pursues me unceasingly with his goodness and his unfailing love, so that I may live in his house, with him, forever.

Pray

Closing Prayer: The Lord is my shepherd; I have all I need. (Psalm 23:1, NLT)

sanctification

Opening Prayer: O Lord, take away everything from my life that keeps me from being yours and yours alone.  You desire all of me, not just certain parts.  Sanctify me through and through by the power and work of your Holy Spirit, that I may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Journal: What does the word “sanctification” mean to you?  How is that process going?  What in your life is still keeping you from be fully God’s?  Will you give that to him?

Reflection:

a stripping away

a peeling back of the layers

of strength and adequacy 

of self-importance 

and self-sufficiency 

until nothing is left

i stand naked

and alone

before you

and you say

finally

I see you

the real you

and it’s the most

beautiful thing

I’ve ever seen

Pray

Closing Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that once you begin a work, you are faithful to complete it.  Complete your work in and through me, so that I can clearly reflect you in all I do, think, and say.  All for your glory, not my own.