in God

Opening Prayer: Find rest, O my Soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 

Scripture: Psalm 62:1-2

Journal: How do you try to find rest?  What would it look like to find your rest in God alone?

Reflection: “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.”  There is so much about this verse that I love—not the least of which is the idea of my fearful and anxious soul actually being able to find true rest.  But just how is this rest, which my soul so deeply longs for, supposed to come about?
     It is supposed to come about in God.  And not just in God, but in God alone.  It comes about when I am finally willing and able to give up my own efforts and formulas and strategies, and simply climb up into the heart of God and stay there.  It comes about when I finally stop trying so hard and simply learn to abide, or dwell, in him.  For God does not want me to just live for him, or even to live with him.  What he really wants is for me to live in him.  That is the sweet spot.  That is where the real rest lies.  And it has a lot more to do with being than it does with doing.  It is when God lives in me and I live in God.  That is when my soul will be able to finally find rest.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help me, O God, to learn how to live my life in you.  For that is the only way my soul will ever find true rest.  Amen.

and know

Opening Prayer: Lord God, help us to be still and to know that you are God, for both are necessary.  

Scripture: Psalm 46:10

Journal: How good are you at being still?  Do you have much stillness in your life?  How good are you at knowing he is God?  How does being still help you to know that he is God?  How, where, and when will you do both of those today?

Reflection: The words of this ancient prayer teach us a great spiritual truth: It’s not just “be still,” but “be still and know that I am God.”  Both are required.  

     It is being still that makes it possible for us to know that he is God.  It helps us to make space and time for that knowing to take place.  But being still on its own is not enough.  In fact, the being still part doesn’t do a whole lot of good without the knowing he is God part.  

     It is a beautiful thing that God longs to be known.  In fact, that’s where we get it from.  He made us for the purpose of knowing he is God.  Not just intellectually knowing him (that’s part of it), but spiritually, emotionally, and relationally knowing him as well.  God wants us to know him intimately.  And when we do—when we know to the core of our being that he is God—it changes everything.  Everything else comes into perspective.  Everything else falls into its proper place.  

     So let us take the words of this ancient prayer to heart today.  Let us be still and let us know that he is God.  For being still is of some value, but being still and knowing that he is God is of value for this life and the life to come.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, that you desire us to know you deeply.  Help us to be still this day and turn our hearts and minds and souls to you in prayer, so that we may truly know that you are God.  Amen.

least complicated

Opening Prayer: Forgive us, O Lord, when we make things more complicated than they really are.  Help us to delight in your word and meditate on it day and night, so that we might be more like a tree planted by streams of water and less like chaff that the wind blows away.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6

Journal: What is your life like these days?  Do you feel more like a tree planted by streams of water, or like chaff that the wind blows away?  Why?  What will get you to the life you most deeply desire with God?  Will you do it?

Reflection: Life with God is a lot less complicated than we make it out to be.  Take the words of Psalm 1, for example.  If we wish to live lives that are fruitful and alive and vibrant; if we really wish to be like a tree planted by streams of water, there is a simple way to do just that—delight and meditate.  Otherwise, we will be like chaff, blown around by the wind.  

     It is a simple case of A, plus B, equals C.  The problem lies in our unwillingness to do A and B.  The psalmist makes it very clear that if we delight in God’s law (A), and meditate on it day and night (B), we will be like a tree planted by streams of water (C).  So the question is not if the formula works, the question is are we willing to do what it takes to get the result we most deeply desire?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Plant your words within my heart, O God, that I might meditate on them throughout the course of this day.  That way I can live my life firmly planted in you, rather than being blown around by the winds of mood and circumstance.  Amen.

be still

Opening Prayer: Lord God, whatever it takes, whatever it may cost, whatever else I might have to say no to, help me to be still today and know that you are God.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 46:10

Journal: How will you be still today and know that he is God?

Reflection: “You know that be still and know that I am God thing?  That was not a suggestion.” ~God

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Forgive me, O Lord, when I start to believe that being still and knowing that you are God is not a fruitful or productive thing to do.  Forgive me when I simply refuse—due to an over-exaggerated sense of my own place or importance in the world—to stop and set my heart and mind on you.  Forgive me when I am unwilling or unable to stop all of my trying and striving and simply spend time with you—the lover of my soul.  You deserve better than that.  Amen.

overflow

Opening Prayer: Fill me to overflowing, O God, with your grace and your goodness and your love, that I might pour those things out on all who cross my path today.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 23:5

Journal: What is your heart and soul full of right now?  How will you make space and time to be full of God and his goodness and love?

Reflection: It’s a simple rule of life: Our lives will overflow with whatever they are full of.  If we are full of anxiety and insecurity and fear, that’s what will pour forth from our lives.  If we are full of anger and frustration and impatience, that’s what those around us will get a healthy dose of.  If we are filled with dysfunction and need and scarcity, how can we expect that those in our lives would get anything but that?

     But if we are filled with the very life of God, if we are full of his grace and his goodness and his love, if we are saturated with his Spirit and his character and his life, then that is what will pour out on all who cross our paths.

     So the question becomes, what are you full of today?  What is occupying your heart and soul?  Because whatever it is, that is what will pour forth from your life.  Count on it.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord, you are my shepherd, therefore I shall not want.  You are more than enough for me and for those I love.  Help me to live my life out of that abundance.  In the name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

progress

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, what do you want our lives to look like?  What is progress to you?  Please show us, or else we will never really know.  Define spiritual progress for us, so that we will always be on the same page with you.  Amen.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:15

Journal: How are you progressing in your spiritual journey?  How do you define progress?  How do you think God defines progress?

Reflection: “Be diligent in these matters; give yourselves wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15)  How do you define progress in your spiritual life?  And more importantly, how do you think Jesus would define it?  Think about that for a moment.  In fact, make a list of both and see how similar—and how different—they are.  

     Were the words poor in spirit or meek or merciful on your list?  How about hungry and thirsty or pure in heart or persecuted?  How about least or last or selfless or humble?  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control make your list?  The fact of the matter is that Jesus’ definition of progress in the spiritual life is often much different from our own, so it is probably a good idea for us to try and get on the same page.  That way we can actually look at our lives and determine whether we are, in fact, becoming more like Jesus or not.

     The older I get, the more I am coming to believe that when I think about myself less, I am actually just beginning to make some progress.  When I care less about what other people think and care more about what God thinks.  When I begin to let go of what I know and begin to embrace the fact that I really don’t know much of anything.  When I am more content with being unseen and unnoticed—because I am fully seen and fully noticed by Jesus—rather than always trying to be the center of attention.  When I finally start to listen more than I speak.  When being loving becomes more important than being right.  When I stop climbing up and allow Jesus to lead me down.  When I stop wondering so much about who I am, and become more concerned with whose I am.  

     Those are the types of things I’m trying to pay attention to these days.  What about you?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us never to define progress as the world around us—even the Christian world—defines it.  Show us who and what you want us to be, and help us to be that.  Amen.

pride

Opening Prayer: My heart is not proud, O Lord, and my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.  But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 131:1-3

Journal: Where and how does pride manifest itself most in your life?  What is at the root of it?  How do you fight it?

Reflection: “My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty,” say the words of the ancient prayer.  Which lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that pride is one of the biggest enemies of the spiritual life.  That’s because pride, when present within and among us, occupies a significant amount of our inner space.  Thus, when we are filled with pride, we are so full of ourselves that there is no room for God’s Spirit to move and to act.  Our eyes become so consumed with ourselves that we can’t really see him.  There is no way for our souls to be still and quiet like a weaned child with its mother because we are so busy trying to prove to ourselves and our world that we are worth loving.

     There are several words translated pride in the scriptures.  Here in Psalm 131:1, the word is gabahh.  It means to be high or exalted.  In the book of Proverbs, the word most often used is ga'own, which means elevation, arrogance, or exaltation.  And in the New Testament, the main word is hyperēphanos (James 4:6), meaning showing oneself above others, or overestimating one’s importance.  It literally means to outshine others.  Wow, that sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?

     The truth is that pride is just fear in a clever disguise.  Fear is what lies beneath.  In fact, the older I get, the more I realize that underneath every episode of pride in our lives, there is just a frightened little boy or girl looking for approval and acceptance.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: My heart is not proud, O Lord…My heart is not proud, O Lord…My heart is not proud, O Lord…O Lord, help my heart to not be proud.  Amen.