We Are Hardest on Ourselves

Encouragement came when I needed it and I didn't even know that is what I needed. As I was reading the chapter about Prayer of Tears in Richard J Foster's book Prayer-Finding the Heart's True Home, I found  myself in tears from the words he wrote. Here is a little excerpt:
Be encouraged by the observation of Thomas a Kempis that "habit overcomes habit." You are building new habits of prayer, and patient, kind, firm persistence is what you need with yourself.
Tears came as I read these words. I had been disillusioned and down on myself for my seeming inability to stop and prayer, to go to Him, to rely completely on Him. I was being too critical of myself, not forgiving myself for my humanity but these words brought a peace to my soul. It's okay. I am a sinner, I am human, I am not perfect but I can overcome because I have Jesus on my side. But, that is a life-long pursuit that will not be fully achieved. I can only keep striving to overcome the bad habits with the good ones, to rely and trust in my Father. It is with patience and kindness towards myself that I can continue to be persistent and keep moving forward and growing into being more Christ-like.

Quote for Saturday

As best as I can discern, tears are God's way of helping us descend with the mind into the heart and there bow in perpetual adoration and worship. Richard J Foster Prayer-Finding the Heart's True Home

More to come on this... I am sick and will get back to sharing with you on this.

Are You Digesting God's Word?

Study is a discipline that we in today's culture do not tend to make a priority. How often have I and my fellow bible study friends said we read the lesson right before coming. Reading scripture is the beginning of study but how often do we follow through on what we read. In the book Prayer-Finding Your Heart's True Home by Richard J Foster is a chapter about the Prayer of Examen. At the end of the chapter he suggests that we journal as that tends to help most of us get out our thoughts and feeling and fully digest them. We are eating God's Word but are we fully digesting it and getting all the nutrients it can give us? I am going to commit to making time for journaling each night at 8:30 to examen my day, actions, inactions, words, sins and my readings so I can fully digest and grow as God intends. What will you do to ensure you aren't just eating empty calories but digesting God's word and gaining the nutrients he wants to give you?

Meditation Enlightens

I tried out the form of meditation outlined in the study guide for the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard J Foster. The basic premise of this biblical meditation is to focus on a piece of scripture and go through it imagining it happening. As you do this, you want to try to focus on adding the attention to detail by focusing on all the senses, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. I did this for the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. Thoughts and questions just started coming and I rolled with it. The Holy Spirit showed me how it is impossible for humans to have faith on their own power. Despite all the miracles the disciplines had already seen by the time of the feeing of the 5000, they did not really believe completely that Jesus was the son of God. I have always thought “how could they not believe?” but now am clear on why they could not. They were blocked by their own expectations of who they thought the Messiah should be. They wanted Jesus to be the kind of Messiah that was going to liberate them from the authority of the Roman Empire. They could not understand the truth that Jesus didn’t come to save our bodies and our lives on Earth but came to save our souls and give us eternal life in Paradise. The disciple’s minds were filled up with the darkness of their own misconstrued expectations. But the gift of the Holy Spirit to them changed that. That is what the Holy Spirit does. He clears up our understanding of God’s Word so we can better live out our lives in service to our Lord which will in turn help plant more seeds so that more of God’s children can be reconciled back to Him. What about my expectations? Do they align with your will Lord? If I have expectations that are blocking me from a clear understanding of your Word and will, please shine your light on them so they can be shaped into your truth. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. 

Try out your own meditation time with God’s word and let me know what the Holy Spirit shows you.