faith, friday

Friday, November 7

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

         

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Scripture Reading for the Day: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Reading for Reflection: Faith is the word that describes the direction our feet start moving when we find that we are loved.  Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp. (The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 
Closing Prayer: Father and God, you know the work, the worry, and the weariness which, day by day, even week after week, weigh so heavily upon my life.  So often I grow fain and fearful, disturbed and doubtful.  I long for real peace and full assurance of faith.  May I so wait upon you in daily prayer and be renewed with spiritual might that I shall fight the good fight and keep the faith.  For Jesus’ sake I pray.  Amen. (Daily Prayer Companion by Orien W. Fifer)

faith, thursday

Thursday, November 6

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

          

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

          

Scripture Reading for the Day: Matthew 14:22-33

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Christians are used to talking about faith as if it were a possession.  We speak of ”having faith,” or sometimes, “keeping faith,” and the last thing we want to do is “lose our faith.”  Thus, by holding on to faith we assume that we have another tool with which to pursue our goals in life.  The Bible, however, rarely speaks of faith as if it were something we own.  It is more typical of the Bible to describe faith as something that owns us.

     Actually, faith is quite similar to another virtue called love.  We usually don’t say a person has love for somebody else; rather, we say that someone is in love.  The difference is more than semantics.  By claiming that we are in love we admit that we have been overwhelmed by a great commitment to another person.  Sometimes it hits us at first sight, and at other times it develops slowly, but at no time could we claim to be in perfect control of the love.  More honestly, we know that love has the power to control us.

     Similarly, faith in God is a wonderful commitment.  It may come slowly or in a moment, but once it truly gets hold of us it changes just about everything.  (Extravagant Mercy by M. Craig Barnes)

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                  
Closing Prayer: In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.  I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.  No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.  Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.  Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.  Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. (Psalm 25:1-7)

faith, wednesday

Wednesday, November 5

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

        

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

         

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hebrews 11:29-40

Reading for Reflection:

Faith as it ripens turns into an almost insatiable appetite, and the awake lion must prowl for God in places it once feared.

                                                                       ~John of the Cross

 

Faith is the yes of the heart, a confidence on which one stakes one’s life. 

                                                                       ~Martin Luther

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                  

Closing Prayer: Lord, I am yours; I do yield myself up entirely to you, and I believe that you do take me.  I leave myself with you.  Work in me all the good pleasure of your will, and I will only lie still in your hands and trust you.  Amen. (The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith)

faith, tuesday

Tuesday, November 4

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

         

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

          

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hebrews 11:7-28

Reading for Reflection:

 

There are two peculiar characteristics of pure faith.  It sees God behind all the blessings and imperfect works which tend to conceal Him, and it holds the soul in a state of continued suspense.  Faith seems to keep us constantly up in the air, never quite certain of what is going to happen in the future; never quite able to touch a foot on solid ground.  But faith is willing to let God act with the most perfect freedom, knowing that we belong to Him and are to be concerned only about being faithful in that which he has given us to do for the moment. (Let Go by Francois Fenelon)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 

Closing Prayer: Father, I thank you for this day, for what it shall bring, opportunities, life, hope, strength.  And for what it may take away.  Teach me to trust you in the comings and the goings of life.  In the name of your Son, Jesus, I pray.  Amen. (Disciplines for the Inner Life by Bob Benson and Michael W. Benson)

faith, monday

Monday, November 3

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

          

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

                                        

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hebrews 11:1-6

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Faith is a way of seeing.  It is a way of opening our eyes to see the world as God sees it.  That is the spiritual journey we are taking—a journey to ask God to open our eyes so we may see what is there—spiritual forces of power that are mighty and invincible, but invisible to the human eye.  We read in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Faith isn’t blind—it is the opposite.  Faith is a spiritual way of seeing what our physical eyes alone will never see on their own.  “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (Hebrews 11:3). (Spiritual Mentoring by Keith R. Anderson and Randy D. Reese)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 

Closing Prayer: O Lord, our God, give us a way of seeing that goes far beyond our surroundings or circumstances; one that allows us to live our lives from the firm foundation of our belief in your deep love and care for us; one that is totally convinced of both your sovereignty and your affection.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

faith, sunday

Sunday, November 2

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

         

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to really believe.  Help me to really believe that your heart for me is good.  Help me to really believe that nothing can separate me from your love.  Help me to really believe that you will do what you say you will do.  Help me to take you at your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Scripture Reading for the Day: John 4:43-54

Reading for Reflection:

 

     What does the word faith mean?  Through the centuries many have tried to define it.  The writer of the book of Hebrews said it is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).  A. W. Tozer said that faith was “the gaze of the soul on a loving God” (The Pursuit of God).  Martin Luther called faith “the yes of the heart.”  And Frederick Buechner said that faith was “the direction your feet start moving when you find that you are loved.” 

     But maybe there is no better definition of the word faith than the one offered in the fourth chapter of John (verse 50).  It says the royal official “took Jesus at his word.”  What a great definition of faith.  Believing that what God has said is true.  Being convinced.  Convinced that he loves us the way he says he does.  Convinced that he is in control and can be trusted with our lives.  Convinced that he will truly care for us and those we love.  Convinced that his heart for us is good.  Convinced. 

     Is there a place in your life right now where you are having to walk by faith?  A place where you are having to believe that God’s heart for you is good even though you have a hard time seeing it in the circumstances?  What does it mean for you to “take Jesus at his word” right now?

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 

Closing Prayer: Lord, I trust in you; let me never be disgraced.  Save me because you do what is right.  Listen to me and save me quickly.  Be my rock of protection, a strong city to save me.  You are my rock and my protection.  For the good of your name, lead me and guide me.  Set me free from the trap they set for me, because you are my protection.  I give you my life.  Save me, Lord, God of truth.  Amen. (Psalm 31:1-5 NCV)

suffering, saturday

Saturday, November 1

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

          

Opening Prayer: Father, I know my wounded and broken places oh so well.  At times they can consume me and keep me from being able to hear your voice.  Help me to see my pain as an invitation to know you more intimately rather than a reason to doubt the goodness of your heart.  Help me to know that through my pain you desire to accomplish something very good in me.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 61:1-3

Reading for Reflection:

“I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.”

                                    ~Robert Browning Hamilton

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 
Closing Prayer: Mysterious and Triune God, I create images of you in my mind, but my vision of you is blurred by my perception of myself.  I have a heart tainted with selfishness so I see you through the lens of what I want you to be and not the lens of who you really are.  Unclutter my faith.  Give me a broader, truer understanding of who you are, even if it will be more frightening and more comforting than I can stand. (A Heart Exposed by Steven James)