thwarting

Silence: When we come before God in silence, we submit ourselves to his agenda and abandon our own.  Maybe that’s why we do it so rarely.

Opening Prayer: O God, please foil our plans if they are not your plans for us; thwart our purposes if they are not the purposes of your heart.  For your way is the way to life and love and hope.  Your purposes are the only ones that stand forever.

Read: Psalm 33:10-22

Listen: What is God say to you through his word today?

Reflect:

thwarting

The Lord foils

the plans of

the nations

He thwarts

the purposes of

the peoples

But this foiling

and thwarting

and blocking

and frustrating

is intentional

it is to move us

from our plans

to his plans

from our purposes

to his purposes

Respond: How has God foiled your plans or thwarted your purposes recently?  Why do you think he did that?  Could it be he has something better in mind?

Pray: Ask God to show you his foiling and thwarting of your plans, purposes, and agendas.  Ask him to reveal to you his plans and purposes, so that you can move in communion with his agenda.

We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you. (Psalm 33:20-22)

Rest: Rest in the eternal embrace of the God who sees you, knows you and loves you.

seasons

Silence: Be still and quiet before God as we begin.  Until we make solitude, silence, and pray a priority, we can never hope to be the people and the ministers God created us to be.

Opening Prayer:  Thank you, O God, that you have made everything beautiful in its own time.  That includes the season I am currently in and the season you are inviting into next.  Help me to be open and attentive through them, so that I might hear your voice, see your face, and recognize your work.

Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Listen: What is God saying to you through his word today?  Write it down in your journal.

Reflect:

a season of letting go 

shed your leaves

let them fall

stand bare

stripped of cover

be who you are

for all to see

with only the glory

I have given you

don't reach back

don't try to stick 

the leaves back on 

their time has

come and gone

the new will arrive

as slowly as winter 

turns into spring

just be patient

it is my work

not yours

you can't hasten

the season's coming

you must simply wait

Respond: Which of the pairs from Ecclesiastes resonates with you for some reason?  Why?  What does it tell you about the season are you in?  What is God up to in you through it?  How is it beautiful?  What is it encouraging you to let go of so that it can make room for the new God wants to do in you?

Pray: Ask God to show you what season you are in and what he is up to in it.  Ask him what season he is inviting you into next and what you will need to let go of to get there.

O God, help me to embrace the season you have me in rather than resist it.  Help me to make time and space to understand the beauty of what you are doing.  And help me to let go of anything that keeps me from the season you’re inviting me into.

Rest: Rest in the arms of the one who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

seek his face

Silence: Be still and quiet and seek his face.

Opening Prayer: “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Read: Psalm 27:8

Reflect: Walking with God is about seeking his face—constantly.  For it is the face of love that animates our existence.  It is his face of love that captures our hearts and fills our souls to overflowing.  It is his face of love that reveals to us truth and brings us freedom.

And even though sometimes his face is difficult for us to see, it is always there.  Always!  Just keep seeking, his face is full of love and delight for you.

Journal: Where and how are you seeking God’s face these days?  What is he showing you?  What do you think he is up to?

Pray: My hear says of you, “Seek his face.”

Closing Prayer: Your face, Lord, I will seek.  Help me to see your face.

seek first

Opening Prayer: “Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Philippians 4:6-7, The Message)

Read: Matthew 6:25-34

Reflect: It is so easy to allow the worries of this life to consume us.  We get so busy trying to manage and control our little kingdom that we lose sight of his.  We lose sight of what is important, what is eternal. 

Then along comes Jesus, who tells us not to worry about that which we cannot control.  He tells us not to labor or spin or store away in barns.  He tells us not to seek comfort and ease and earthly security, but instead, to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.  Because if we do that, everything else will take care of itself.  “Only one thing is necessary,” wrote Charles de Foucauld, “that is to do at every moment what is most pleasing to Jesus.”  That’s what really matters.

So I guess the real question is: What am I seeking these days?  How and where has worrying about my life kept me from living it?  And what would it look like to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness?

Journal: What’s consuming your life and thoughts these days?  What would it look like to give it all to Jesus, to seek him first?

Pray: Give Jesus your worries and concerns in prayer today.  Let them go.  Now give your heart and mind (and prayers) to his kingdom and his righteousness.  Seek him, not yourself.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can’t seek your kingdom and your righteousness unless you give me the ability to.  Give me the strength and the courage and the grace to be about you today and not about me.

grave clothes

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you brought me from death to life.  Free me now from the things that bind and hinder me from the life and the love you desire me to know and experience.

Read: John 11:43-44

Reflect:

“Lazarus come out!”

The dead man came out,

His hands and head

Wrapped with strips of linen,

And a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them,

“Take off the grave clothes

And let him go.”

It reads like a poem.  Because we know, all too well, exactly what he means.  He’s talking to us too.  The things that bind us and keep us from the life he desires for us must be removed and left behind.  Yes, he has raised us from death to life and brought us out of the tomb, which is glorious indeed, but still there is work to be done in order for us to live fully and freely.  Walking with God in newness of life means leaving the grave clothes behind.

Journal: What still binds you?  What grave clothes do you need to leave behind in order to live fully and freely in the newness of life Christ is offering you?

Pray: Ask God to show you how you still need to be unbound, so that you can live fully and freely in him.  Listen to what he says.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, free me from anything and everything that binds me and keeps me from the life and the love you want me to experience.

thorns

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to understand that weak is strong in your kingdom.  My weaknesses are meant to help reveal your strength.  Forgive me when I try to hide them rather than embrace them.  They are actually invitations to a deeper life with you.

Read: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Reflect:

the deeper the need

the bigger the grace

the deeper the weakness

the greater his power

the deeper the desperation

the more vibrant his life in you

the deeper the thorns cut

the sweeter the revelations become

 

i guess the thorns

ain’t so bad after all

Journal: How is Jesus inviting you to discover his grace in your weaknesses?  Be specific.  What is your thorn these days?  How is God using it to make you more dependent on him?

Pray: Ask God to help you embrace your weaknesses so that you might reveal his power.  They are opportunities, not obstacles.

Closing Prayer: Forgive me, Lord Jesus, when I try to hide my weaknesses so that people will think better of me.  Because my weaknesses were meant to help display your power.  When I refuse to be vulnerable and embrace my weaknesses, I make life about me rather than about you.

last

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I get it backwards so often; please forgive me.  Forgive me when I make this life about me, rather than about you.  Forgive me when I seek praise, acclaim, and admiration more than I seek you.  Forgive me when I try to climb up, rather than following you on your downward way.  Help me, O Lord, to always have in mind the things of God, rather than the things of men.  Have mercy on me. 

Read: Matthew 20:1-16

Reflect: When we start to think we are more deserving of the attention, affection, recognition, or renumeration that others are getting, we need to pay careful attention.  Because we are falling into the trap of comparison, which never turns out well in terms of the kingdom.

On the one hand, we see people we don’t think we’re as good as, which makes us incredibly insecure.  And on the other hand, we see people that we think we’re better than (sadly) but who are getting more recognition, affection, or renumeration than we are, which makes us frustrated, envious, and jealous.  It’s a no-win game.

So, Jesus comes along and tells a story to show us what kingdom living is really all about.  And the point of the story is this: In the kingdom of God the first are last and the last are first.  Walking with God is not about jockeying and posturing, but about going to the back of the line.  It’s about lifting others above ourselves.  It’s about celebrating others, not competing or comparing.  At the back of the line is where we will find Jesus.

Journal: Where do you find yourself in this story?  What does God want to say to you about that?

Pray: Ask Jesus what the last shall be first needs to look like in your life.  Ask him to be specific.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to know the beauty and the joy of making myself last, less, and least.