Open to God

26 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God. ‘Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” ~John 6:42-51 (CEB)

“If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives. And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about how that will happen. Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.” ~From In Pursuit of the Great White Rabbit by Edward Hays

Open my eyes O Lord, to see You in the world around be. Open my heart to fill Your love. Open my ears to hear Your whispers of love to my heart. Amen.

Friend to my soul

13 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over. “So he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?”

They got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying to each other, “The Lord really has risen! He appeared to Simon!” Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread. ~Luke 24:28-35 (CEB)

“I didn’t want it to happen but it did. Before I knew it, anxiety found its way into my restless heart and robbed me of the peace promised to all who place their trust in God. Ah, so that is the reason for my anxious heart: I forgot to trust in God!

Many demands upon our time and many opportunities waiting to be explored often fill our lives too full with activities and distractions. When this happens it is not surprising that we grow anxious and lose out sense of peace and tranquility. Today remember that God and God alone is able to care for all that exists; we can trust our smallest and largest concern to the wisdom and love of God. Peace, hope calm, and joy are the fruits of placing our confidence in God. May these gifts be yours in abundance.” ~Rueben P. Job, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

Almighty God, You who are the source of my life, strength, and ministry. In Your presence alone I find help, hope, and life. Send me out as a healing reminder of Your love to all whose lives I touch this day. I offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

To see Christ in the world

12 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

Though he was in the form of God,

he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.

But he emptied himself

by taking the form of a slave

and by becoming like human beings.

When he found himself in the form of a human,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore, God highly honored him

and gave him a name above all names,

so that at the name of Jesus everyone

in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow

and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ~Phil. 2:5-11 (CEB)

“For many of us . . . the great and poignant challenge is precisely to see God on earth. . . . We labor to discern meaning in the mess of hectic days, to find God in the torque of stressful work, demanding family life, and complicated friendships. And when the days of travail are upon us, when suffering consumes our energy and despair spreads its unwelcome scent around us, how can we live faithfully before God in the chaos of God’s apparent absence? Paul’s image is apt: We see God on earth as if through a glass mirror, but darkly (1Cor. 13:12). It is not simply that what we are able to see is a mere reflection of the real thing. This reflection is also distorted, obscure, maddeningly enigmatic.

Jesus lived to its fullest our pained bewilderment. A terrible longing to see God surges through those shattering words the crucified Messiah recalled from the Psalter: ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1). This cry of desolation, unthinkable from him who so intimately knew God as ‘Abba,’ reveals how completely Jesus is one with us in our need to see God nearby when the mists of the incomprehensible or intolerable overtake us. But more is revealed in Jesus’ anguish than his solidarity with suffering humanity. His darkening passage into death illumines with the intensity of a lightning bolt God’s pledge to be unconditionally present for us. In that molten moment, the cross of God’s most intense presence, the birthplace of a new creation. In this new creation, the One who chose to become one with us establishes the astonishing possibility of our becoming one with the risen Christ. By grace through faith, we may even share the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil 2:5) and therefore also begin to see life with the vision of Christ. As we experience a deepening participation in the mind of Christ, our capacity to see God on earth is expanded, although not without continued struggle.” ~From “Editor’s Introduction” by John S. Mogabgab in Weavings March/April 1998

Lord Jesus, You demonstrated faithfulness in all of life, even to death on the cross. Grant unto me grace and strength to follow you faithfully all the days of my life. Amen.

The night shift

11 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

You are the one who lights my lamp—

the LORD my God illumines my darkness. ~Psalm 18:28 (CEB)

“There is always a night shift and sooner or later we are put on it. The praise does not cease with the fading of the light, but goes on through the spiritual night as well as the spiritual day. And if you are picked for the night shift- well, praise the Lord. Lift up your hands in the dark sanctuary of your soul when you are tempted to wonder what is the good of it all, and praise the Lord! And the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, will bless you from Zion.” ~From The Fruits of the Spirit by Evelyn Underhill

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good. Amen. –Thess. 2:16-17 (TEV)

When I call You to me

10 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

The LORD proclaims, the LORD who made the earth, who formed and established it, whose name is the LORD: Call to me and I will answer and reveal to you wondrous secrets that you haven’t known. ~Jer. 33:2-3 (CEB)

“How shall I call upon my God, my God and my Lord, when by the very act of calling upon him I would be calling him into myself? Is there any place within me into which my God might come? How should the God who made heaven and earth come into me? Is there any room in me for you, Lord, my God? Even heaven and earth, which you have made and in which you have made me – can even they contain you? Since nothing exists would exist without you, does it follow that whatever exists does in some way contain you? But if this is so, how can I, who am one of these existing things, ask you to come into me, when I would not exist at all unless you were already in me? Not yet am I in hell, after all, but even if I were, you would be there too; for if I descend to the underworld, you are there. No my God, I would not exist, I would not be at all, were you not in me. Or should I say, rather, that I should not exist if I were not in you, from whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things? Yes, Lord, that is the truth, that is indeed the truth. To what place can I invite you, then, since I am in you? Or where could you come from, in order to come into me? To what place outside heaven and earth could I travel, so that my God could come to me there, the God who said, I fill heaven and earth?” ~From The Confessions by Saint Augustine

Almighty God, you who are the source of my life and strength. In Your presence alone I find help, hope and life to sustain me this day. Help me in turn to be a healing reminder of Your love to all whose lives I touch this day. Amen.

The comfort of tears

09 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”

They replied, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus began to cry. ~John 11:33-35 (CEB)

 

“We took him too much for granted. Perhaps we all take each other too much for granted. The routines of life distract us; our own pursuits make us oblivious; our anxieties and sorrows, unmindful. The beauties of the familiar go unremarked. We do not treasure each other enough.

[Eric] was a gift to us for twenty-five years. When the gift was finally snatched away, I realized how great it was. Then I could not tell him. An outpouring of letters arrived, many expressing appreciation for Eric. They all made me weep again: each word of praise a stab of loss.

How can I be thankful, in his gone-ness for what he was? I find I am. But the pain of the no more outweighs the gratitude of the once was. Will it always be so?

I didn’t know how much I loved him until he was gone.

Is love like that?” ~from Lament for a Son by Nicolas Wolterstorff

There are times O Lord that the most comfort You can give me is to know that You weep when I am sad. Thank You.

Love revealed

07 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

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. ~1 John 4:9-10 (CEB)

“I am beginning to now see how radically the character of my spiritual journey will change when I no longer think of God as hiding out and making it as difficult as possible for me to find [God], but, instead, as the one who is looking for me while I am doing the hiding.” ~From The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Heavenly Father, thank You for seeking me even when I wish to not be found. Thank You for relentless searching me out and calling to my heart. Thank You for continuing to woo me through life’s struggles. May the work I do this day show my love and adoration for You. Amen.

The Vinedresser

05 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. You are already trimmed because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything. If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.” ~John 15:1-8 (CEB)

“God desires that we be abundantly fruitful and acts to help this happen. With enduring faithfulness and intimate knowledge of our capacities, the heavenly Vinedresser provides opportunities for us to shed the excess burdens that inhibit our full maturation in God’s service. ‘Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit’ (John 15:2). The Bible sometimes describes this process of intensive nurture using the image of a parent exercising constructive discipline with a child. The purpose is not to erase our uniqueness or subdue our vitality, but rather to give us a share in God’s own holiness (Heb. 12:10) and thereby to become ‘fully-developed, complete, with nothing missing’ (James 1:3).

Pruning can certainly be uncomfortable. It strips us of what is non-essential to the power of God’s life rising within us. But it also gathers and focuses energies previously dispersed in draining distractions or even apparently worthy commitments. Pruning concentrates the savor of the fruit we bear, for it proceeds from inward peace and promotes outward goodness. Therefore the effect of the Vinedresser’s skilled hands is always a power of life greater than that which we would or could choose on our own.” ~From “Editor’s Introduction” by John S. Mogabgab in Weavings September/October 2001

Heavenly Father, give me strength as You prune me for growth. Help me to fully develop so that I may share in Your holiness. May I allow Your power to work through me to be greater than I could be on my own. Amen.

When I fall

03 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. ~Romans 8:28 (CEB)

“In learning to accept the consequences of living as a Christian, most of us trip on the cracks and ‘fall flat on our face’ once in a while. Fortunately we do not all have to experience that literally! We eventually learn that ‘for those who love God all things work together unto good,’ we relax a bit. Until we repeatedly experience the truth of that statement, the words are only words we have heard, but as we struggle to ascend the ‘upgrades’ in our lives and find that the view from the top of the mountain was well worth the effort, the words become convictions” ~from Symbols of Inner Truth by Carole Marie Kelly

Thank You Heavenly Father for always picking me up when I fall on my face. Thank You for always loving me as I learn the truths You are trying to show me. Thank You for the mountain top experiences that help me to get through life’s valleys. Amen.

Seasons

02 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Examine me, God! Look at my heart!

Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!

Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me,

then lead me on the eternal path! ~Psalm 139:23-24 (CEB)

“The seasons of our life will condition our response to the God who encounters us in the psalms. Again Psalm 139 is a good example. When I feel that I am in a precarious place, I will be relieved to know that God surrounds me, but when I am caught up in prideful ambition, I may wish that a distance could be placed between us. The palm raises my awareness of what is going on for me at that moment and, in the process, puts me in touch with the Source of my life. It offers no magic ‘fix’ but sets me to the task of figuring out the most appropriate response to the One who loved me into being. Often that response will be an invitation to change.” ~From “Sing a New Song” by Elizabeth J. Canham in Communion, Community, Commonweal

Lord, You know me by name. You know my heart like no one else. You never let me stray from You for very long before You start calling me back. As the Source of my life, help me to align that life with Your will today. Amen.

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