fear, day 6

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

Opening Prayer:
O Lord our God, help us to live our lives with the faith and courage necessary to live by love and not by fear. Forgive me when my seeing and my thinking get so distorted that I allow fear to control me and make me its slave—even when I don’t fully realize it. Seize my heart and soul with your perfect love in such a way that it drives out all fear and gives me the freedom to truly love, rather than manipulate, those in my life and world. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)


Psalm for the Week: Psalm 27

Scripture for the Day: Isaiah 41:8-10

Reading for Reflection:

“There is nothing like it on earth,” said the old preacher, “when the spirit of God comes pouring through, and he has poured through me in fair weather and foul, for sixty-four years.”

     “Have there been dry spells?” asked the rector.

     The preacher pushed his plate away and Lottie rose to clear the table.  Father Tim smelled the kind of coffee he remembered from Mississippi—strong and black and brewed on the stove.

     “My brother, dry is not the word.  There was a time I went down like a stone in a pond and sank clear to the bottom.  I lay on the bottom of that pond for two miserable years, and thought I’d never see the light of day in my soul again.”

     “I can’t say my current tribulation is anything like that.  But in an odd way, it’s something almost worse.”

     “What’s that?”

     “When it comes to feeding his sheep, I’m afraid my sermons are about as nourishing as cardboard.”

     “Are you resting?”

     “Resting?”

     “Resting.  Sometimes we get so worn out with being useful that we get useless.  I’ll ask you what another preacher once asked: Are you too exhausted to run and too scared to rest?”

     Too scared to rest!  He’d never thought of it that way.  “When in God’s name are you going to take a vacation?” Hoppy had asked again, only the other day.  He hadn’t known the truth then, but he felt he knew it now—yes, he was too scared to rest.

     The old preacher’s eyes were as clear as gemstones.  “My brother, I would urge you to search the heart of God on this matter, for it was this very thing that sank me to the bottom of the pond.”

     They looked at one another with grave understanding.  “I’ll covet your prayers,” said Father Tim. (At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Isaiah 43

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
And the waves shall not overcome you
Do not fear for I have redeemed you
I have called you by name, you are mine

For I am the Lord your God (Ladies repeat)

I am the Lord your God (Ladies repeat)
I am the Holy One of Israel—your Savior

Men                             Ladies
I am the Lord              Do not fear
I am the Lord             Do not fear
I am the Lord              Do not fear
I am the Lord              Do not fear

When you walk through the fire, you’ll not be burned

And the flames, they shall not consume you

Do not fear for I have for I have redeemed you

I have called you by name, you are mine


Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus,
Help me to hear your words, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” and to believe them in the deepest places of my heart. Help me to live my life by those words this day. For your sake and by your Spirit and in your name. Amen. (JLB)