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.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 319

Reward is a strong motivating factor for some people depending on their temperament. When it comes to spiritual things like self-control, this reward motivation can be very helpful. Now, this will take some imagination. God gave us an imagination. We can utilize it to help us in serving and glorifying God through our thoughts and actions. My sweet tooth is a constant struggle as you are already aware. But through the power of the Holy Spirit and using my imagination, I am going to imagine my reward for self-control is not only being and looking healthier but that in Heaven, Jesus will come to me and say “you did it!”

2Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 187 & 188

My Saturday turned into a nursing day as my daughter came down with some stomach bug. Thankfully, she seems to be better this morning so we will prepare for her going off to camp later this afternoon and hope that this feeling better stuff sticks around. There is something about my kids being sick that spurs my compassion and my fears. I will do whatever they need to feel better and I will sleep fitfully because of fear of how they are doing in the middle of the night. I am sure I am not alone in this. Most mothers out there are nodding there heads with a been there-done that kind of attitude. I got up once at 4am and went to check on her. Something about seeing how they are takes the fears away. As all this was going on, I was concerned about some spots that appeared on my lower legs and my arm. The Shingles sign at the pharmacy has been on my mind and so my imagination worked with my fear but I stopped myself from continuing this line of thought and prayed for God to take away this fear. Having more knowledge about shingles has helped. They recommend getting the very safe vaccine for ages 50 and up so I have a couple years. I just don’t do well with pain and from what I have heard and seen about shingles it is not something I want to get. Prayer and thanksgiving are the best antidotes to these kinds of “what if” fears. So, I am thankful these spots I have are probably a bug that bite me a few times to many and I am thankful my daughter has a strong immune system and that I know the Lord is watching out for her. Peace has taken over the spots of fear in my heart.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 143

My daughter and I have been reading a book called The Ark, the Reed & the Fire Cloud by Jenny L Cote. It is a story about the flood and Noah’s ark in a really fresh new way. There are two main animal characters Max and Liz who are called by the Maker to follow the fire cloud. They obey and start their journey towards the ark and pick up other animals along the way. The story takes you all the way through the flood, the 40 days and nights of rain and the year long time spent on the ark waiting for the waters to recede. It has been fascinating to read and than wonder what must it really have been like. It is hard to imagine 16,000 animals all coming to the ark, let along living on the ark and than emerging from the ark to a whole new world. I don’t think people put a whole lot of thought into the story of Noah’s ark, perhaps because it is unbelievably amazing to consider but this author imagined it. How did all those animals get to the ark? See if you can imagine how those animals came to the ark and both male and female too!

Psalm 9:1 I will praise you, O Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.