Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ~Matthew 5:8
Nearer to God’s heart:
Hope-filled,
Encouraged,
Accepted.
Hope-filled,
Rested,
Accepted
Thankfully.
Rested,
Encouraged
Thankfully…
Nearer to God’s heart!
The nearer we get to God’s heart, the more we can see him. How would you describe being nearer to God’s heart? I look forward to reading your insights in the comments!
Maybe you noticed there was only one Blog posted last week. As thunder roared and lightning flashed and rain fell in Holland, Michigan, I was busy praying. I needed to get out back to California by Friday at noon for a Prayer Retreat that I was co-leading. Through the night, I wondered when the storm would end! Thursday, I waited for the storm to end! But reality set in when the travel agent called to tell me the flight was canceled. It didn’t matter when it ended; I wasn’t going anywhere.
I prayed for “plan b.” Thankfully, I didn’t have to wonder or wait very long before my travel agent called with a new itinerary. If I flew out Friday morning at 5:45 am with a stop in Detroit, I could be in California before noon. That could work. I just needed to step back for a moment in order to ask God how to make it work. I wondered and waited.
For months I had been asking God to give me a glimpse of my “prayer story” to share at the Retreat. We all have a unique rhythm to our prayer lives based on our unique relationship with the Author and Perfecter of our faith. For as long as I can remember, my prayer life has consisted of asking questions of God.
Why is this happening, God?
How long will I have to endure, Lord?
When will I be absent from the body, but present with you?
These are the kinds of questions that make wondering and waiting an integral part of prayer. These are the kinds of questions that make prayer a conversation. What is God inviting you to wonder about and wait for?*
*Take a few moments to “comment” on what you are wondering about and waiting for I will pray along with you.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
~Matthew 22:37-39
Two commands that cannot be kept apart from prayer.
Take time to prayerfully search your own heart as the Psalmist encourages us to:
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
~Psalm 139:23, 24
Talk to God about any anxiety or offensive way that is keeping you from loving him with all your heart, soul, mind and even your strength.
Take time to prayerfully consider who your neighbor is. Who is God calling you to love as you love yourself? Who is God calling you to serve sacrificially?
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________*
Gracious God, I ask for the physical, emotional and mental strength to love others as Christ first loved me by sacrificially giving His life for me. May the Holy Spirit lead me in the everlasting way of ministering in the strong name of Jesus, Amen and amen.
*I would count it a privilege to pray for these people along with. Just leave their names any any other comments for me and I will respond prayerfully!
This is the day!
Lord, you have made it.
I will rejoice,
Filled with gladness.
Lord, you have made it…
Moment by moment,
Filled with gladness
Alive in Christ.
Moment by moment,
I will rejoice
Alive in Christ.
This is the day!
~based on Psalm 118:24
Late last night, I couldn’t sleep. As I was processing some of what was going on in my life, I thought about the conversation Jesus had with a rich young man. At midnight I got up and started reading Matthew 19:16-28. I realized the young man wanted Jesus to tell him what “to do,” but Jesus was, in fact, inviting the young man into a whole new way of “being” not “doing”.
I find myself missing motherhood. In this role, I knew what I had to do…laundry, baking, making dinner at lunchtime because there would be no other time after school and even planning birthday parties. (Did you notice the list did not include cleaning?) Now, I am simply being a mother but from afar.
By one o’clock, I realized I was struggling with the fear of leaving the familiar. It seemed to me the rich young man knew how to be rich but wasn’t sure how to follow Jesus. I have to confess, I am more familiar with how “to mother” than how to be a mother. And if I am honest with myself, like the rich young man, I am more familiar with how to do the right and good things rather than how to be a true follower of Jesus.
Before I finally went to bed, I prayed…
Lord, thank you for graciously inviting me into a whole new way of “being.” Amen and amen.
Through the years, I have heard pastors describe believers as “Easter-People.” I have read devotions in which I am described as an “Easter-person.” But what exactly does that mean? In terms of the Church calendar Easter is not just a day; Eastertide is the fifty days between Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. So am I now an Easter-person who will become Pentecost-person soon? Labels can be tricky.
Today as I was reading in the Psalms, I stopped when I came these words: “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!” These are Easter words! King David wasn’t an “Easter-person” as we are. He lived before the time of Christ…before Easter! But Easter words were part of his prayer life and I would guess part of his vocabulary.
Being labeled an “Easter-person” isn’t a bad thing; I know I am in good company. But more than anything I want to be a person who uses Easter words regularly and prayerfully. No matter when they lived or will live, Easter-people believe in their hearts and proclaim with the mouths as King David did:
“The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!”
~Psalm 18:4
The best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God,
knowing that that goodness can reach down to our lowest depths of need.
~Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
These words convict me to never stop coming to the Lord to find rest for my soul in the goodness of God. Moreover, I am inspired to learn from the Lord how to live a praying life!
One day he was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said,
“Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”
~Luke 11:1-4, the Message
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