born from above

Opening Prayer: I belong to you, Lord Jesus, do with me as you please.  Be born in me anew today.

Read: John 3:1-9

Reflect: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born from above.’” (John 3:5-7)

Born from above; what a loaded phrase!  No wonder Nicodemus was dumbfounded.  I mean, how is that even possible? 

But of course, Jesus was talking about much deeper things than mere physics.  He was talking about spiritual transformation.  He was talking about how a life is changed, which always seems to involve some sort of new birth—leaving behind our old ways of being and seeing in order to live and see anew. 

The hard part, both for us and for Nicodemus, is that it’s not a process we can control.  We can no more control the renewal of our hearts and souls than we can control the day we are born.  It is all up to God.  It is a work of the Spirit, not something we can manufacture, manipulate, or control.  Flesh can only give birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 

Thus, we must be born of water and the Spirit; it involves both a cleansing and a renewal.  And Jesus is the only one who can do both of those things, all we can do is receive and respond.

It’s what Ezekiel had written about over five hundred years beforehand: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Notice how many times God says, “I will.”  It is he who produces this change, not us.

And it’s also something Paul wrote about years later: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:4-6) The two parts of being born from above are cleansing and renewal, both of which are totally up to God.

Maybe that’s the part Nicodemus struggled with the most.  Maybe he was simply unwilling to surrender his life and his knowledge and his position and his history to God and start all over again.  Maybe he was unwilling to let go of control and become a child again. 

And maybe that’s what you and I struggle with as well.  Surrender is not an easy thing; it takes the ball out of our hands and puts it squarely and wholly in the hands of God.

Journal: What is the Spirit of God doing in you these days?  How is he asking you to surrender to him?  What does it look like these days for you to be born from above?

Pray

Closing Prayer:

"Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me."

— St. Ignatius of Loyola 

 

alive: encountering the risen jesus

 

Eastertide is coming quickly.  If you are looking for a good companion for the journey of resurrection, here's an option: Alive: Encountering the Risen Jesus

big need, big cross, big love

Opening Prayer: Forgive me, O God, when I think I need to be forgiven little.  Help me to see the depths of my need so that I can begin to understand the depths of your love.

Scripture: Luke 7:36-50

Journal: Who do you relate to most in this story?  Why?  Do you realize that you have been forgiven much?

Reflection: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47) In reality, no one has been forgiven little, some just think they have.  The beauty of the gospel is that only when we know how big our need for forgiveness is, will we ever be able to comprehend how big the cross is, and how big the love of God is.  Big need leads to a big cross, which leads to a big love—a bigger love from God, a bigger love for God, and a bigger love for others.  God’s love becomes bigger than we could have ever asked or imagined.

By contrast, the Pharisees had a small love because of how small they perceived their need to be.  They spent their whole lives trying to reduce their need and had somehow convinced themselves that they had succeeded.  But all it did was make them judge more and love less.  Sound familiar?  It does to me.

Most of us think the goal of spiritual life is to reduce the gap between us and God.  We think that if we can just be better and perform better then we might get closer to him.  But the truth is that the older we get, and the more we get to know God, the larger the gap gets rather than the smaller.  Thus, the cross does not get smaller and smaller but bigger and bigger.  And the bigger the cross gets, the bigger love gets.  The bigger the cross gets the more we realize how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God, which makes our love for him grow in return.  We love because he first loved us.  That’s what the “sinful” woman had learned that the Pharisees had not.  Let’s be like her and not like them.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that those who have been forgiven much love much.  Help us to see the enormity of your forgiveness so that we might also see the enormity of your amazing love.

weary and burdened

Opening Prayer: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:1-2)

Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30

Journal: What is the state of your soul these days?  Are you weary or burdened?  What load are you carrying that is not yours to carry?  Why?  Will you come to him, give that load to him, and receive his rest?

Reflection: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Weary and burdened.  Two words that just seem to go together, kind of like thunder and lightning.  Two words that are somehow intimately connected.  And, sadly, the two words I most often hear as I sit with people who are in ministry.  They are tired and weary, and most often because they are loaded down with the burdens, demands, and expectations of ministry.  Some that have been put upon them and many they have put upon themselves.

The word weary comes from the Greek word, kopiaō, which means to be exhausted with toil or burdens or grief.  And the Greek word for burdened is phortizō, which means to load one with a burden or to be loaded down.  So, it appears that weariness comes about as a direct result of being weighed down with the demands, expectations, toil, and pain of life and work.  It is the residual effect of carrying the overwhelming load of the fears and the joys and the pain and the sadness and the hopes and the dreams and the oughts and the shoulds of both ourselves and others.  No wonder we’re so weary!  No one can possibly carry all of that. 

But Jesus tells us that we do not have to.  He says, “Come to me.  Do not try to carry that load yourself.  Give it to me; I will carry it.  Take my load yoke upon you, not the one you have made for yourself, and not the one the world or the culture has made for you.  My yoke is easy, which literally means well-fitting, and my burden is light.  Attach yourself to me and I will do the heavy lifting.  Come to me and give me your burdens.  If you do, I will give you rest.  I will renew your strength and restore your soul and help you to recover your life.  But you must come to me and let go of the burden.  It is mine to carry, not yours.”

Pray

Closing Prayer: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message) 

knock, knock

Opening Prayer: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Scripture: Matthew 7:7-11

Journal: What kind of God do you think is waiting in the other side of that door?  How does that impact your knocking?

Reflection: What kind of God do you think is waiting on the other side of that door?  Is it a God who is too busy and preoccupied to be bothered?  Is it a God who is distant and disinterested in answering for someone like you?  Is it a God who gets irritated and frustrated when someone knocks?  Or is it a God who takes his sweet time answering, if he answers at all?

But what if God is different from all those pictures.  What if he’s a God who has actually been excitedly waiting for you to come and knock.  What if he’s a God who really wants to see you, to talk to you, and to welcome you.  What if he’s a God whose heart is so full of love and affection for you that he can’t wait to open the door and sweep you up into his great arms of love.

When my two grandsons come over to our house, they run from the car to the front door.  They can’t wait to knock because they know the heart that’s waiting on the other side of the door.  They know what kind of reception they will get.  So they rush to the door and press their noses against the glass on either side of it with big smiles and full hearts.  And as they knock, they jump up and down in anticipation of the welcome that’s to follow.

But what’s going on in their hearts pales in comparison with what’s going on in mine.  I’m so full of love and affection these two little guys that I can’t get the door open fast enough.  And when I open it, they leap into my arms and wrap me up in their embrace.  Needless to say, when this happens my heart is so full of love that I’m about to burst.  And God never fails to remind me: “You know that’s how I feel about you, right?  So, come.  Run.  Knock.  I can’t wait to open my door, my arms, and my heart to you.”

Pray

Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to get a clear picture of exactly who it is on the other side of that door, because the picture I have of you will impact everything else in my life, particularly how I ask, seek, and knock.  Help me to know you as the good and loving Father that you truly are.

thy will be done

Opening Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Read: Matthew 6:9-13

Reflect: Has prayer become a tactic?  Has it become something we use simply to try and further our own plans and agendas?  Has it become a way of trying to get God to fall in line with our will, rather than a place where we seek his?

Prayer is about submission, not manipulation or coercion.  It is a place where we surrender our schemes, plans, desires, and agendas in order that we may follow his.  It is about aligning ourselves with God’s will, rather than seeking our own.  Thus, it has a lot more to do with listening than it does with speaking.

Journal: What is prayer to you?  What does your practice of prayer look like these days?  How much of your time in prayer is devoted to seeking his will rather than seeking your own?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

two sighs

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive us for the things that make you sigh.  Forgive us for the situations and circumstances that are far from what you intended them to be.  Forgive us for the attitudes, behaviors, patterns, and dysfunctions that are far from who you intended us to be.  Touch and transform our lives so we can be who and what you created us to be.

Scripture: Mark 7:31-8:13

Journal: Are there things in your life that make Jesus sigh?  What are they and what would it look like to allow Jesus to touch them and make them whole?

Reflection: Two encounters, two sighs.  Both are filled with tons of meaning.  The first happened as Jesus prayed over a man who was deaf and mute.  And the sigh that Jesus uttered on that day was actually more of a groan, at least that’s a much more accurate translation of the Greek word Mark used (stenazō).  Which begs the question: What in the world made God-in-the-flesh groan?

What made him groan was seeing a life that was not at all what it was intended to be.  What made him groan was seeing the brokenness and pain and struggle of one whom he had made in his image, to reflect his beauty.  That’s what broke God’s heart.  In other words, our pain makes God sad.  So sad that it makes him groan, so Jesus groaned.

The second sigh occurred when Jesus addressed the unbelief of the Pharisees, who were demanding a miraculous sign even though he had already given so many.  In fact, he had just fed well over four thousand people with just seven loaves and a few small fish.  You would think that would’ve been enough, right?  But no, they were demanding even more.  The fact is, they did not want to believe.  That made Jesus groan as well.  But this time the word used is even stronger word, anastenazō.  This word means to groan deeply, or a groan that comes up from the depths of your being.  There’s probably not anything that made Jesus sadder than unbelief, and the Pharisees were experts in the field.

But what about us.  What in our lives causes Jesus to sigh?  What about our lives brings a groan up from the depths of his being?  What are the things that cause us to live lives that are far less than what he desires and intended for them to be?  In what ways is unbelief living and active in us?  Maybe it’s time to ask Jesus to touch and transform those places.  Because my guess is that those things cause us to groan as well.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Touch us and heal us, Lord Jesus.  Heal our brokenness and heal our unbelief.  Help our live to be all you created them to be.