Scripture: Psalm 119:9-16
Prayer is very important to me. It is probably the number one reason that I pursued ministry in the first place. When I see people misrepresent prayer, it pains me. It is like someone telling a story about someone very close to you, but telling the story in a way that is untrue and slanders your friend. Prayer is not a magical spell where we can congure up the power of God. Prayer is a deep relationship with the one who loves you. It is speaking and listening.
The Psalmists are people that know this the most. They have conversations with God in any situaton. They get angry wth God, they complain, praise, exhault God because a life prayer is a live of conversation of relationship. In our human relationships we have arguments, laugh, cry, express concerns, and gain advice. Prayer is no different. When we live in communion with God, in relationship with the one who created us we can be honest with Him just as we are with our closest friends.
The Psalmist today speaks about how to encourage the youth to keep a pure or right path. It is to encourage them to pursue a relationship with God. The psalmist speaks of treasuring and meditating on the law and comands of God. This means more than just studying them. To meditate on the
scripture is to relate, engage, and converse with God about what He has said to those in the past and how that relates in our present age. It is not a general statment but how does the comand of God relate to you personally.
Meditation is important in a life with God. It is clearing our minds of all else to focus in on the one thing. In Christian meditation this one thing is God. It is contemplating scripture and walking along with it. When we meditate on scripture we go beyond memorizing it, or understanding it through study. Memorization and study do have their place, do not get me wrong, it is important to understand all we can and to be able to recall scripture at all times, but we should also know the Word of God intimately. The commands cease being laws but become endearing whispers from the lover of our souls.
The psalmist says that God will teach him His ways personally. The there can be an relationship deeper than knowledge. This reminds me of God walking with Adam and Eve in the coolness of the evening in the Garden of Eden. It reminds me of the countless lessons and conversations the gospel writers depict in their narratives of Jesus. The angels said that Jesus was to be called God with us. This is the truth. Jesus came to show us how to walk with God, and to provide the way to enter into the relationship.
Today I encourage you to interact with this psalm. Spend a few moments to consider each of the lines or verses. Imagine what it would look like if you were to engage life with God in that way? Would aspects of your current lifestyle change, ask yourself why or how?
I encourage you to engage with others as well when you enter into a life of prayer. We are communal people. We come together to encourage each other. We are on a journey with God personally, but we are not alone. Places like this allow us all to interact even if we are great distances away from each other. Interact here and I also encourage you to find a group where you can meet personally as well.
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
While we we dead in sin, an enemy of God, under the rule or influence of the adversary God gave us the greatest gift, life.
Have you ever really thought about this? Today I was driving home from work and the pear trees were in full bloom. This drives my allergies crazy, but I love to see the beauty of the coming spring. God caused that tree in some way to bring me pleasure. I did nothing for this to happen, and to be honest I have probably done more to prevent it from happening than encourging its growth, and yet the tree blooms. For no other reason than to bring pleasure to those that can enjoy it.
True there are scientific reasons for the blooming of nature. I know most of these since I have an agricultural degree, but if you boil it all down all the blooming and growing is to bring pleasure. Various creatures eat the fruit and from that eating the have pleasure. If the various fruits avoid consumption then they reproduce according to their kind and again they bring pleasure as a home for a rabbit or shade for our children as they play in our lawns.
Why does our world have a natural beauty that seems to take our breath away when we slow our lives down to enjoy it? It is God’s grace, it is His gift. All of the world is there for our pleasure and our needs. He gave it to us and often we do not even take the time to thank Him for this. To be honest we even fail to acknowledge that He even has a place in this universe.
This failure is our sinfulness, this is what causes death, mainly spiritual death. If we fail to see the beauty of the blooming trees, we die a little spiritually. If this continues our lives slowly and consistantly drop into a shadowed gloom, which can lead into lifestyles that tend to promote death instead of life. Often religion deepens this gloom. When we get into a system that devotes itself to rules, our minds tend to get distracted from the abundant life around us, life that grows and blooms all around us. This is why Jesus came to live among humankind, to teach us how to live. To really live as a free human being. He would often teach using illistrations like sparrows or lillies, these are natural things that bring pleasure. Yet in those teachings we learn something amazing, that God will take care of us even though we do not deserve it, it also comes with a contrasting lesson that he will not stop us from making a mess of everything either. Jesus also came to redeem the world, so that through Him we could have a restored life with God, our families, our society, and even with our enviroment. He came to save the entire world from a deadness of spirit that was setting a course for distruction. He overcame this by dying and then raising from the grave so that those that turn toward him may have a fulfilling and hopeful life.
Most of you will read this on the 17th of March, which is a day to honor St. Patrick of Ireland. Though I am not fully Irish or Catholic I love this day. I love this day because Patrick loved life and loved life with God. He went to a culture that worshipped nature, and he realized that that was not totally wrong. He knew that if God created nature and used nature to illistrate His love and grace, that these “pagan” Celts could understand and love God the creator. Patrick used nature himself to speak to these people. He taught from a common shared passion, and through his approach the Celtic people embraced God through Christ. They embraced life and grace and spread that message across Europe in a time when the rest of the world was sinking into a shadowy gloom. They brought light and life. We too can bring light and life in Christ.
Today as you pray I encourage you to pray out of doors. Pray with God in world he created out of love and grace. While you pray remember that while we we in a state of spiritual deadness God took it upon Himself to redeem you and everything around you!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Scripture: Pslams 107:1-3, 17-22
I work in a retail business. One of the questions I ask hundreds of times each day is, “can I help you?” It is amazing what those four smple words can do for the sales in a retail business. I often see individuals walking around lost, looking but not finding, getting frustrated. Those four simple words seem to lift the burden they have off their shoulders. Sometimes they just need to be asked before they are able to hit the restart button so they are able to find it for themselves. Other times they need you to come along side them to find what they are looking for. There are even a few times where you may hve to help them through the process of understanding what they need.
Who ever would have thought that retail would become spiritual? We are often wondering around lifewith a glazed look on our faces lost inside ourselves, not knowng what to do. The children of Israel were like that in their desert wonderings. They complained that they didn’t have food, and the snakes came. They cried out for deliverence and the Lord provided salvation for them. God himself through Moses took them to what they needed.
This Psalm remembers that point in history. The writer remembers that their ancestors were lost and needed to find salvation. And that each generation needs to be reminded of the times where God provided help and hope. We become the “customer service” associates when we engage in that reminding process either in our own lives or in the lives of others.
One of the most powerful excersizes I engaged in, in my spiritual journey with Christ was a spiritual autobiography. It wasn’t a very deep literary work, but it gave me a chance to examine my life and those people in my life who helped me become who I am today. During that process I found how important my grandpa was to me. Now my grandpa probably wouldn’t say that he was very important in encouraging me to become a minister, but this man taught me things every day as I ran through the field to jump into the tractor to ride wit him. He shared life with me, if I wated to ride he was there to be with me. If I had a question he tried to give an answer, if he didn’t know he would simply say so and start singing a song or telling a joke.
The other thing I learned is that my little sister, who passed away when she was 10 years old, was and is still a great encouragment to my spiritual growth. Death is hard it causes us to question many things. But through my own personal greiving process I found God everywhere I turned. God became more than just a far off diety that gave us rules, but a friend who I cussed out and made up with.
I am not saying I am a saint, I have made more mistakes in my life than most people. The thing is, just as the author of this psalm states God does provide deliverence from distruction. He provides a way for us to turn our lives around and make the best out of a bad situation. Often the consequences remain from our actions but with God’s help we can find a way to get through it.
God created the entire universe and called it good. The story says that He placed humanity right in the center to enjoy His creation with Him, as they walked in the cool of the evening. God wants us to have a live filled with joy. So often we don’t know the differece between joy and pleasure. We want pleasure because it is more fun right away. Joy comes along with pain, endurance, and pleasure. Even in the garden the joy of the evening’s walk came after a day’s work.
Where do we find hope and joy? Who helps us see through the distress of our bouts with the snakes? How can you say to others “how can I help you?” to others so we can join with Christ in the redemption process. I encourage you all to engage in a spiritual autobiography and engage with this scripture as you remeber where God has helped you along the way.