i am

Opening Prayer: Help me to always remember, O Lord, that this life is not about me, but about you.  Forgive me when I get that backwards.  Amen.

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15

Journal: How can you relate to Moses in this passage?  Where and how are you asking the question, “Who am I?”  What is God’s response?

Reflection: “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)  It’s a fair question, right?  After all, it’s a huge mission.  Moses had to be thinking: “Wouldn’t there be someone better, someone more qualified than I am to accomplish such an undertaking?  I mean, who I am that I should go and do such a thing?”

     But Moses was asking the wrong question.  You can see it in God’s response.  He didn’t tell Moses who Moses was, he told Moses who God was: “I will be with you.”  The question was not about Moses’ level of competence to perform such a daunting mission, it was about God’s.  Moses was being asked to not trust in himself, but to trust in his God.  

     “Don’t worry about who you are,” God seems to be saying.  “It’s who I AM that counts.  This life is not about you, but about me.  This mission is not about who you are, but about who I AM.”  And when we are finally able to get that straight, everything else kind of falls into place.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: 

My Beloved,

Always remember that this life is not about who you are, but about who I AM. 

Love, 

Abba

be careful

Opening Prayer: I love you, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer: my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3, NIV)

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:12

Journal:  What ways are you most susceptible to falling?  How are careful so that you don’t?  Are you more apt to overestimate your own strength, or underestimate the strength of your opponent?  How do you typically try to protect yourself from the attacks of the enemy?

Reflection: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12)  Sound advice, right?  After all, isn’t it the moments when we don’t think we can fall, when we are actually the most susceptible?  Those moments when we let our guard down because we either overestimate ourselves or underestimate our opponent—both of which can lead to disaster.

     I’ll be the first to admit that there are many times in my life where I think, “I got this,” only to find out that I really don’t.  But there are even more moments in my life when I don’t give my opponent the credit he deserves.  In fact, quite often I do not even recognize that I have an opponent.  I think that all that is going on within or around me is something that I’m coming up with all on my own.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, when I think that way I am playing right into his hands.  The best way for my opponent to defeat me is to convince me that he doesn’t even exist.  Then he can go about his business without any notice or resistance.

     The truth is that we do have an opponent.  Or, more accurately, we have an enemy.  The Enemy.  The devil himself, whose sole purpose is to defeat and destroy us.  His main weapons are lies and deception.  He wants us to believe things—about ourselves, our world, and our God—that simply aren’t true.  He whispers to us a story that we actually believe is one of our own making.  A story in which we are the main characters and all of life revolves around us.  A story in which we are on our own and must take care of ourselves, because no one else will.  No one else really cares.  He whispers to us a story about a God whose heart cannot be trusted, a God who is not good.  And then he encourages us to interpret the events and happenings and hardships of our lives in such a way that it only increases our deepest fears, doubts, and suspicions.  All without ever recognizing or acknowledging that he is the source of these lies.  Thus, every encounter and interaction, every harsh word or hurtful comment just adds fuel to the fire.  We recognize that we have fallen, that our lives are a total mess, we just have no idea how we got there, or how to get back up.  But this fall didn’t just happen.  We were actually led there, without our knowing it.  That is the craftiness and brilliance of our opponent.

     But our God is even more brilliant.  In fact, he (Jesus) is the way and the truth and the life.  And the truth, once we recognize it and believe it, is always the way back to freedom.  For Jesus tells us a totally different story.  He tells us the real story—the true narrative.  He tells us who we really are, and how life was really meant to work, and what God is really like.  Jesus is the only firm place to set our feet.  So let us all be careful to stand firm in him today, lest we fall.    

Prayer

Closing Prayer: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.  Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.  (Psalm 25:1-2, NIV)

help

Opening Prayer: The Lord is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam and the mountain quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3, NIV)

Scripture: Psalm 46:1-3

Journal: What does it mean to rely totally on God as your help?  How do your efforts to help yourself get in the way of that?  What would total surrender to him look like?

Reflection: “The Lord is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1, NIV)  As long as we keep trying to do it ourselves—even just a little bit—we will continue to get in the way of what God wants to do in and through us.  It’s not until we come to the end of ourselves, until we get to the point of total surrender, that we are out of the way enough to offer him the time and space he requires to move and to act.  Finally waving the white flag is a necessary act if we ever want God to be the one to lead and guide—and help.  He typically doesn’t step in while we are still trying to help ourselves. 

     I guess that’s why Eugene Peterson translates the first Beatitude (in Matthew 5:3) as: “You are blessed when you get to the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” (The Message) Or as a wise saint said many, many years ago: “So long as you hold on to even a little hope of achieving something by your own powers, the Lord does not interfere.  It is as though he says: ‘You hope to succeed by yourself—Very well, go on trying!  But however long you try you will achieve nothing.’”  

     There is no such this as letting go half way.  It is all or nothing.  When will we ever learn?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Forgive me, O Lord, for continually trying to do it on my own.  Forgive me for my refusal to fully let go of control—as if I ever had it to begin with—and totally surrender to your love and care.  Help me to fully trust in you, no matter how scary that might be.  Lord, help!  Amen.

God is enough

Opening Prayer: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)

Scripture: Philippians 4:11-12

Journal: Is God enough for you?  What does it do in you when you truly believe that he is?  What does it do in you when you don’t truly believe it?  Where are you in that journey right now?

Reflection: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether I am well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Philippians 4:11-12, NIV)

     God is enough.  He is everything we need.  Evidently Paul learned this, although it probably didn’t come easy.  Paul knew that circumstances didn’t determine his life, but God did.  And if God determines everything about our lives, then we don’t need circumstances to be pleasant, convenient, comfortable, or favorable.  That’s how Paul could write, “I have learned the secret of being content whatever the circumstances.”  The Greek word used here (in Phil. 4:11) is autarkēs, which means sufficient or enough.  Thus, we are only able to be truly content when we really believe that God is enough.  

     Unfortunately, we don’t always fully believe that.  In fact, sometimes we don’t even believe it a little bit.  And it has an enormous impact on how we live our lives.  If we do not really believe that God is enough, then we have to turn to ourselves, or to others, to fill in the gaps.  That’s where it gets really ugly.  We become anxious and angry and frustrated, or depressed and driven and demanding.  We become the very worst version of ourselves.  

     But if we can ever get to the point where we truly believe that God is enough, then we can rest in his enough-ness.  His enough-ness, and not that of ourselves or our circumstances, allows us to truly trust in him.  If God is really enough, then we don’t have to be.  And we do not have to demand that others be enough for us.  In fact, it frees us up to be able to love them, rather than manipulate love out of them.  If God is enough, then whatever others have to offer us—if anything—is enough because we are not depending on them for our sense of well-being.  If God is enough, then we have enough—however much or little that may be.  And if God is enough, then we are enough in him.  It is his love alone that determines our value and our worth.  We do not have to jockey and posture and perform for everyone.  Our identity is securely rooted in him; it is not tied to what we do, what we have, or how we look.  

     So I pray that, this very day, we will all get to know God’s enough-ness.  For until we get to know him, really know him, we never will know how enough he really is.

Prayer

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

occupied

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to empty myself of all that is not you.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 131:1

Journal: What is your soul occupied with these days?  How can you empty it that God might fill you?

Reflection: “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” (Psalm 131:1)  

     There are no two ways about it, the occupied soul is one that has no room for God.  And it doesn’t even matter how great and marvelous the things are which occupy it.  They are taking up space that was designed for God, space that was created to be filled by him alone.  These things are consuming precious time and energy and attention that needs to be given to the life of the Spirit within and around us.  

     Thus, an emptying is necessary.  Or, at the very least, a stilling and a quieting must take place.  If we want to dwell with God, if we want to enjoy his presence and hear his voice and be aware of his activity in our lives, we must begin the process of calming our souls.  This is likely to involve some silence and solitude and prayer.  It is likely to require a place that is out of the normal traffic flow of our lives, one without noise and frenzy and activity.  We must allow the turbulent waters of our soul to become still and quiet, so we might be able to see what is underneath.  So we might be able to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit as it speaks to us in our depths. 

     The only question is: Will we make the time and the space necessary for this to happen?  If not, we should never expect that our souls would be anything other than occupied. 

Pray

Closing Prayer: O Lord, forgive us when we become occupied, when we get too full of ourselves that we get a little too big for our britches.  Forgive us when we fall in love with our own observations and opinions and begin to take ourselves far too seriously.  Forgive us when we begin to think that we can handle things on our own, or make things happen for ourselves.  For when we do these things, we take up all the space and leave no room for you to move and to act.

     Humble us, O Lord, and make us like little children in the arms of their mother.  Not children who are needy and demanding, but weaned children who are still and calm, safe and secure—fully satisfied in you.  Content to just be held in your loving embrace.  For that is what our hearts—and yours—most deeply long for.  Amen.

wisdom

Opening Prayer: Give us a God-listening heart, O God, that we may know you and your wisdom, rather than just the wisdom of this world.  Amen.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

Journal: What is wisdom to you?  What is wisdom under the sun?  What is wisdom under heaven?  How do you tell the difference?

Reflection:  What is wisdom, really?  The answer to that question, I suppose, depends on who you ask.  At least that’s what the book of Ecclesiastes would lead us to believe.  Because in the book of Ecclesiastes there are two key phrases that need to have special attention paid to them: under the sun and under heaven.  Those two phrases are meant to guide us through the wisdom of the rest of the book.  Under the sun refers to seeing things from the world’s perspective, while under heaven challenges us to see all things from God’s point of view.  Thus, when we talk about wisdom under the sun, we come up with a much different definition and description than when we talk about it under heaven.     

     In our day, and in our culture, the wise seem to be those who can articulate their thoughts the most compellingly and sell them the most convincingly.  But is that really wisdom, or merely salesmanship?  Is the voice of wisdom the one that is loudest and strongest and most passionate—or even the most articulate?  Is the voice of wisdom the one that claims to know all, the one that claims to be wise?  Or is the voice of wisdom the one that is soft and quiet and gentle; the one that is humble and far less sure of itself?  After all, wasn’t it Socrates who said, “The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.”?

     I think we all have a desire to be seen as wise by those around us, maybe that’s why we so often raise our voices; in order to convince our world—and maybe even ourselves at times—that we actually know what we are talking about.  But is that true wisdom?  Something tells me that true wisdom doesn’t really care about being thought wise.

     So, in our quest for wisdom, we might be wise to pay careful attention to what voices we listen to.  Are they merely the loudest and strongest and most articulate?  Or are they the voices that ring with the Spirit of grace and the truth, the Spirit of love and peace and compassion?  Those are the voices that are under heaven rather than merely under the sun.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Give us wisdom from above, O God—wisdom under heaven—that we might know you and know how you want us to live.  Amen.

have mercy

Opening Prayer: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord: O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2, NIV)

Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8

Journal: What is mercy to you?  How are crying out to God for mercy these days? 

Reflection: What is mercy, exactly?  It is a word we often use, but what does it really mean?  And what are we actually asking for when we ask someone to have mercy on us?  The blind man in Mark 10:47 begged Jesus for mercy.  And the tax collector of Luke 18:13 stood at a distance with his eyes downcast and beat his breast as he asked God to have mercy on him.  But what is mercy?

     The dictionary would tell us that mercy is compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power.  It is compassion, pity, or benevolence.  The cry for mercy is a cry for unmerited favor.  But those just seem like words on a page that fail to capture the true emotion and posture of someone begging for mercy.  For this request does not come lightly, it comes out of the depths.  It is what happens when we are desperate, powerless, or at the end of our rope.  We ask for mercy when it becomes evident that there is no other alternative, no other way out, or through.  For if there was another alternative, if there was some other way, surely we would try it.  

     The person begging for mercy is the one who has come to the end of himself, and is totally dependent on someone greater to enter in and act benevolently on his behalf.  Therefore, the cry for mercy is one that comes from a posture of total humility, dependence, and surrender.  You don’t beg for mercy if you have hope that somehow you might be able figure it out or muscle your way through on your own.  It involves a realization of both the gravity of our own situation, as well as our utter powerlessness to do anything about it.

     The beautiful thing is that when we do eventually cry out in desperation for God’s mercy, he responds, “Finally!  This is music to my ears.  I have been waiting and waiting for you to come to the end of yourself and turn to me.  Now we’re getting somewhere.  Now the real work can begin.”

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”