Renewal

28 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I baptize with water those of you who have changed your hearts and lives. The one who is coming after me is stronger than I am. I’m not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” ~Matt. 3:11-12 (CEB)

“If our problem is really sin- a fundamental breach in human existence- then repentance, not self- improvement, is the first requirement. This is the biblical view of the foundations of morality. The prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul all beckoned their hearers to a new life by calling them first to give up the old in repentance (Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 26:20; Rom. 2:4; 2 Cor. 7:9-10). Repentance is the absolutely inescapable first step of the Christian moral life. Without repentance, the Christian moral life is impossible.” ~From Vision and Character by Craig R. Dykstra

Create in me a clean heart O Lord, and renew a right spirit in me. Show me the areas that need work and repentance. Continue to call to my heart so that I may reach perfection and my eternal home.  Amen.

Unconditional witness

23 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins. ~1John 4:7-10 (CEB)

“Good news becomes bad news when it is announced without peace and joy.  Anyone who proclaims the forgiving and healing love of Jesus with a bitter heart is a false witness.  Jesus is the savior of the world.  We are not.  We are called to witness, always with our lives and sometimes with our words, to the great things God has done for us.  But this witness must come from a heart that is willing to give without getting anything in return.

The more we trust in God’s unconditional love for us, the more able we will be to proclaim the love of Jesus without any inner or outer conditions.” ~From Bread for the Journey by Henri J.M. Nouwen

. Help me today O Lord to love as You would love. May I be a living witness of that love to every person that I meet. Help me to trust that Your love for me is unconditional so that I may better do Your will. Amen

God of love

16 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dear friends, let’s love each other; because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God. Because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.

Dear Friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. ~1 John 4:8-12 (CEB)

“I believe with all my heart that the mystery of forgiveness is the entire Gospel. When you ‘get’ forgiveness, you get it. We use the phrase ‘falling in love.’ I think forgiveness is almost the same thing. It’s a mystery we fall into: the mystery is God. God forgives all things for being imperfect, broken, and poor. Not only Jesus but all the great people who pray that I have met in my life say the same thing. That’s the conclusion they come to. The people who know God well, the mystics, the hermits, those who risk everything to find God, always meet a lover, not a dictator. God is never found to be an abusive father or a tyrannical mother, but always a lover who is more than we dared hope for. How different than the ‘account manager’ that most people seem to worship.” ~From Everything Belongs, by Richard Rohr

Heavenly Father, I am a poor, imperfect, and broken human being. I thank You for loving me. I thank You for the forgiveness you so freely and abundantly give. I thank You that I am not defined by my past. Help me to know more of Your love each day. Amen.

All for Your glory

25 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

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God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ 1 Cor. 1:9 (CEB)

“Jesus was broken on the cross. He lived his suffering and death not as an evil to avoid at all costs but as a mission to embrace. We too are broken. We live with broken bodies, broken hearts, broken minds, or broken spirits. We suffer from broken relationships.

How can we live our brokenness? Jesus invites us to embrace our brokenness as he embraced the cross and live it as part of our mission. He asks us not to reject our brokenness as a curse from God that reminds us of our sinfulness but to accept it and put it under God’s blessing for our purification and sanctification. This, our brokenness can become a gateway to new life.” ~From Bread for the Journey by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Heavenly Father, help me this day to live courageously. Help me to not run from where I have been but to embrace who I have become through trials and mistakes. May the pain I have endured be a blessing to someone today. May I use it all for Your glory. Amen.

The depths of my heart

20 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you — see that you excel in this act of grace also.

I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.” ~ 2 Cor. 8:1-15 (CEB)

“It takes practice to learn not to censor our prayer. But trying to keep secrets from God is like the three-year-old who covers her eyes and declare, ‘You can’t see me.’ God sees into our hearts more clearly than we do. Indeed, God is the one who prompts us to look at what we have swept under the rug of our repressions and rationalizations. The Spirit awakens us to what lies hidden within- sometimes gently, sometimes with a jolt, but always so God can work with our conscious consent to free us for growth.” ~From Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson

Heavenly Father, You know my heart, You know my thoughts, You even know those things I hid from myself. Help me to be true to You that I may serve You more fully. Give me the courage to awaken the depths of me heart. Amen.

Confidence

13 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. ~1 John 5:14-15 (CEB)

“God is active in the world and in our lives in many ways. We may feel the mystery of God as we view storm clouds brewing over a blue ocean. We may experience the love of God when we are comforted by a friend. We may be filled with the compassion of God as we attend a conference on the plight of the homeless. We may be blessed by the peace of God as we study the Bible. God comes to us in both our conscious and our unconscious experiences for God is in all of life.” ~From Journaling by Anne Broyles

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give me that peace which the world cannot give; that my heart may be set to obey all Your commandments, and also by Your power, I am defended from the fear of my struggles, able to rest in quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ my Savior. Amen.

To share our stories

20 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

But remember the earlier days, after you saw the light. You stood your ground while you were suffering from an enormous amount of pressure. Sometimes you were exposed to insults and abuse in public. Other times you became partners with those who were treated that way. You even showed sympathy toward people in prison and accepted the confiscation of your possessions with joy, since you knew that you had better and lasting possessions. So don’t throw away your confidence—it brings a great reward. You need to endure so that you can receive the promises after you do God’s will.

In a little while longer,

the one who is coming will come and won’t delay;

but my righteous one will live by faith,

and my whole being won’t be pleased with anyone who shrinks back.

But we aren’t the sort of people who timidly draw back and end up being destroyed. We’re the sort of people who have faith so that our whole beings are preserved. ~Heb. 10:32-39 (CEB)

“We shouldn’t put down people who show great euphoria and excitement after a born again or religious experience. They’re right. Suddenly the world makes sense for them. Suddenly it’s okay, despite the absurdity, the injustice, the pain. Life is now so spacious that we can even absorb the contradictions. God is so great, so bottomless, so empty, that God can absorb even the contraries, even the collision of opposites. Thus salvation often feels like a kind of universal amnesty, a total forgiveness of ourselves and all other things.” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

I love to hear people’s stories. It helps me to remember my own victories over trials. Sometimes it gives me much needed hope for a trial that I am going through. Sharing our stories helps us to put it all into focus. Everything in the end can belong to the overall story.

Heavenly Father, help me not forget my trials. Help me to weave my stories into my present being so that I can stand in wonder at the works and miracles that You have done in my life. Help me to dance in joy when other’s find their way home to You. Help me to sing Your glory when someone claims the inheritance of Your love. Amen.

To grow young

19 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”

He answered, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”

Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.”

Soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?”

He answered, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.” ~Luke 3:10-14 (CEB)

“One of the great lies of our day is that conversion is instant, like fast food. God can zap us and we’re saved. It is all free. It costs nothing. Take it and run. This is what Bonhoeffer calls ‘cheap grace.’ Punch in at church. Grab a sacrament and run. Season your conversation with ‘praise the Lord’ and you’re among the saved.

One of the great truths of our day is that conversion is ongoing. Conversion is the process in which we are given opportunity upon opportunity to accept the free gift of salvation. Salvation is a free gift, yes, but it’s costly. It’s ‘costly grace.’ It costs us our lives lived passionately. The road to conversion is not a fast food line. When Saul was knocked down by that flash of lightning, that was not conversion. That was just God getting his attention. The conversion came as he groped his way in blindness to Ananias, able to see with interior eyes because he had no external eyes to depend on. His conversion continued day after day as he began to give meaning to his new name, Paul. He was still in the process of conversion when he was on his way to Rome in chains.” ~From A Tree Full of Angels by Macrina Wiederkehr

Lord, I don’t want cheap grace. Help me instead to live more passionately, love more deeply and cause such a great stirring that I am forever change. Guide me down the right path Jesus, seeing Your will for my life this day. Help me not to grope around in darkness but shine Your light clearly the path that I am to take. I claim all You promise me and I know that when I dwell in Your presence I am never alone. Amen.

Diamonds

17 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out.

We always carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies. We who are alive are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies that are dying. So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. ~2 Cor. 4:7-12 (CEB)

“Legend tells of a little girl who had an ugly hump on her back. The girl was so deformed that she was either ridiculed or pitied by everyone. When she died, it turned out that the ugly hump concealed angel’s wings. Can it be that all the ugly things in our lives have in them angel’s wings? Can it be that even our sin, our ugly sin, can be turned to good; could it conceal angel’s wings?

This is the glorious promise of conversion: God is able to make all things work together for good. Even the sinful years, the ugly years, need not be wasted but can result in good. Is this not a most comforting assurance? For many of us our ugly years were numerous, and they cause deep remorse. The may have struck at the prime of our lives and ministries. For so long we have grieved them, feeling that many years of ministry were wasted. But the love of God dawns upon us, and with it comes a most amazing promise and a new hope: We cannot redeem, God can; and what we cannot erase, God will.” ~Norman Shawchuck

Just about the time I start mourning the “lost years” that I could have been in service to God, I remember that God knew that I would take this road. It falls into His plan and He planned to use it ALL for His glory. The knowledge that I have gained by taking God’s paths or my own God will help me to reach out to others. Nothing is lost. All is gain in God’s sight.

Heavenly Father, when Satan tries to hold my past against me, remind me that You see me as a might warrior. When Satan tries to tell me I am worthless, remind me that I have always been Your beloved child. For all the loss that Satan waves at me, remind me that You will use it for Your gain. You, O Lord, are a restorer of dreams and I am thankful. Amen

Conversion

16 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.” With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day. The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. ~Acts 2:37-42 (CEB)

“Conversion is going on all the time within us and within the world. The radical change of Christian conversion is also going on within us at all times. While the change of turning toward God may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it is in reality a continual process. We may think that we have turned fully toward God; then we discover another dimension of God, and we now immediately that more conversion is possible and necessary if we are to more Godward in all of life.

Conversion is a lifelong process of turning more and more fully toward God in all that we are, possess, and do. There may be earth shaking moments when we are being formed in the image of Christ at incredible speed and in remarkable ways. But such moments are not the end; there is more to come as we give ourselves to the transforming power of God.

While conversion requires our decision and action, the grace and strength to be changed- to become more than we are- is the gift of God. Conversion is a partnership project. We cannot transform us against our wishes. However, once we invite God’s transforming presence into our lives, the necessary power to change comes with the transforming presence.

It is wise not to try to dictate what our conversion will be like. We cannot know what God has in store for us until we begin to live in harmony and companionship with God. As our understanding of and relationship to God grow, we may begin to see where God is leading us in our conversion. On the other hand, we may experience surprises throughout our lives as God seeks to shape us. It is also wise not to assume that our conversion will look like, feel like, or keep pace with any other person’s conversion. Since we are unique and God is infinite, our conversion experiences will be unique as well. The important thing is inviting God to what the end product will be, but we do know that it will be good when we permit God to be the potter and we agree to be the malleable clay.” A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Rueben P. Job

O God our Father, renew my spirit and draw my heart to You, that my work may not be a burden but a delight; and give me such love to You as may sweeten all obedience. Help me that I may serve You with the cheerfulness and gladness of a child, delighting myself in You and rejoicing in all that is to the honor of Your name; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen- adapted from The Book of Worship

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