Beyond my understanding

19 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

You surround me—front and back.

You put your hand on me.

That kind of knowledge is too much for me;

it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it. ~Psalm 139:5-6 (CEB)

“If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two, -the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth: The former relating to that great work which God does for us, in forgiving our sins; the latter to the great work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature. In order of time neither of these is before the other; in the moment we are justified by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Jesus, we are also ‘born of the Spirit;’ but in order of thinking, as it is termed, justification precedes the new birth. We first conceive [God’s] wrath to be turned away, and then [God’s] Spirit to work in our hearts. ~From “sermon 45” by John Wesley

Almighty God, Thank you for the good work you do in me every day. I thank You for going before me, coming behind me and walking beside me everyday. Amen

A new day

17 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

 “For your sake I send to Babylon

and bring them all down as fugitives,

 even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

Thus says the Lord,

 who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

 they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

 I will make a way in the wilderness

 and rivers in the desert.

The wild beasts will honor me,

 the jackals and the ostriches,

 for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself

 that they might declare my praise. Isaiah 43:14-21 (CEB)

“We often think of a new day as a point of new beginning. However, we know that new beginnings are available all the time. Life itself provides a constant opportunity to grow, and to grow is to become new, to have a new beginning. How is God calling you to begin anew today? Think for a moment about those areas in your life where new life is waiting to be born.

There is always opportunity for a new beginning in our relationship with God. Because God is infinite, unlimited possibilities for growth and starting anew exists. No matter how intimate the companionship we share with Jesus Christ today, there is room for growth and new beginnings.

While our relationships with others do not have the range or depth or opportunity for growth, there is nevertheless room for fresh beginnings with family, friends, colleagues, coworkers, neighbors, caregivers, and those strangers who serve us day by day in shop, gas station, and restaurant. We have in our possession the key to changing- making new- each of these relationships. What slight or radical change is God calling you to make in relationship with God and with those persons who cross your life path every day? Follow the prompting God gives and launch a new beginning in this new day.” ~Rueben P. Job

Almighty God, send the light of Your Son inot my life anew today. Let Your presence touch my mind and heart with Your mercy, grace, and truth. Direct my thoughts, speech, and steps to the end that I may walk in Your way today and always. In the name of Christ. Amen

In You I trust

15 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. Psalm 25:1-3

“You are the object of all good, the apex of life, the depth of wisdom. Your servants’ greatest consolation is to hope in you above all things. I turn my eyes to you. In you, my God, Father of mercies, I place my trust. Bless my soul and make it holy with your heavenly blessing; let it become your holy dwelling, the place of your eternal glory. Let nothing be found in your temple that may offend the eyes of your majesty. According to the greatness of your goodness and your many mercies, look down on me and hear the prayer of your poor servant, exiled far off in the land of the shadow of death. Protect and keep the soul of your servant, traveling amid the many dangers of life. By your grace, direct him along the path of peace until he is back home in the land of everlasting brightness. Amen.” ~From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

Guided by the Shepherd

14 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 (ESV)

“For a long time, I prayed the words, ‘The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.’ I prayed these words in the morning for half an hour sitting quietly on my chair trying only to keep my mind focused on what I was saying. I prayed them during the many moments of the day when I was going here or there, and I even prayed them during my routine activities. The words stand in stark contrast to the reality of my life. I want many things; I see mostly busy roads and ugly shopping malls; and if there are any waters to walk along they are mostly polluted. But as I keep saying: ‘The Lord is my shepherd. . . .’ and allow God’s shepherding love to enter more fully into my heart, I become more fully aware that the busy roads, the ugly malls, and the polluted waterways are not telling the true story of who I am. I do not belong to the powers and principalities that rule the world but to the Good Shepherd who knows his own and is known by his own. In the presence of my Lord and Shepherd there truly is nothing I shall want. He will, indeed, give me the rest my heart desires and pull me out of the dark pits of my depression.” ~From Here and Now by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Good Shepherd who knows me and claims me as His own, I thank You for Your scriptures that helps me find words when I am at a loss for my own. Shepherd my steps as I move through my routine activities this day. Keep me focused on truth. Help me feel Your Holy Presence when my spirits droop so that I may find true rest for my soul. Amen.

Named

12 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. ~Matt 4:18-22 (CEB)

“Jesus invited Peter and his brother, Andrew, to forsake their business in order to string along with him, and ‘immediately they left their nets and followed him’. Soon Jesus called two other brothers to follow him. ‘Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him’. The Gospel writers reveal a sense of immediacy accompanying Jesus’ call. They recognize a sense of timing. Jesus’ call to our lives is both immediate and timely.

Not only does Jesus call us to join ranks with him; he also names us. In recruiting Peter, Jesus said to him, ‘You Simon, . . . you are to be called . . . Peter’ (John 1:42). Gospel vignettes remind us that we must name Jesus for ourselves. Nathanael named Jesus ‘the Son of God. . . the King of Israel’ (John 1:49). In the early chapters of the Gospels, so many people are naming and being named. We too might allow Jesus to name us, to tell us who we really are. Naming someone defines the person, allows the person to take on an entirely new identity. When Jesus lays claim upon our lives, we are given a new name.

Why is all this naming necessary? For one thing, the ancients felt that a person had no distinct identity until he or she was named. This thought prevails among Native Americans today. I once named a young Native American man. The process of choosing the right name for this young man took two years, so carefully must the family discern who he will be- for the family and for the tribe. His name determines his destiny.

When john’s disciples broke ranks to follow after Jesus, he asked them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They responded, ‘Where do you live?’ Jesus asked who, they responded where. There spirituality was unformed. They looked for grace in ‘things and places.” Jesus offered them grace in a living, loving relationship. Jesus still asks the ‘who’ questions- not merely ‘what’. ‘What are you?’ is a doing question with a doing reply: But ‘who” you are invites a being response. ‘Who’ inquiries into the soul of us. Who are you? What name has Jesus given you? What name have you given Jesus? ~Norman Shawchuck

Heavenly Father, You have called me out by name. You saw in me more than what I was. You call me by what I can be. I stand amazed at what You have claimed in me and I pray for the strength to live up to what I see through Your eyes. Amen.

Washed by grace

07 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ~Hebrews 10:22 (ESV)

“Life is not a game we win, and God is not a trophy we merit. No matter how ‘good’ we are, we are not good enough for God. On the other hand, no matter how ‘bad’ we are, we can never be outside of God. We can only hope in each instance to come to such a consciousness of God that no lesser gods can capture our attention and no trifling, self-centered gods can keep us from the fullness of awareness that is the fullness of Life. It is the project of life, this coming to Wholeness, this experience of Purpose beyond all purposes, this identification with everything that is.” ~From Illuminated Life by Joan Chisttister

Draw me ever closer Lord to a true heart in full assurance of faith. Protect my heart Lord from an evil conscience. Help me to remember that I am a new creature washed pure by You. Amen.

The sacrafice of a broken heart

06 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ~Psalm 57:17 (ESV)

“Faith is not belief in an afterlife based on today’s moral litmus test. To the contemplative ‘bad’ and ‘good’ makes no matter. Each has the capacity to become the other. Out of bad much good has come. It is often sin that unmasks us to ourselves and opens the way for growth. Mature virtue is tried virtue, not virtue unassailed. Great good, on the other hand, whatever its effect, has so often deteriorated into arrogance, into a righteousness that vitiates its own rightness. But both of the, both bad and good, lived in the light of God, blanch, are reduced to size in the face of the Life that transcends them.” ~From Illuminated Life by Joan Chittister

Heavenly Father, I stand amazed at how You can take my brokenness and turn it into beauty. I thank You for allowing me to see myself through the light of Your eyes. Thank you for putting my world into perspective. Amen.

Taste and see

05 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it. ~Psalm 34:1-14 (ESV)

“You called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness; you lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and I burned for your peace. ~From The Confessions  by Saint Augustine

Almighty God, You never gave up on me. You have pursued me, wooed me, You have gently turned me towards Your Love. I will never be the same now that you have touched my heart. Guide my steps so that I may never stray again away from Your love. Amen.

Confidence

04 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ~Heb. 3:12-14 (CEB)

“Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off.’ You can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.

The first step is to recognize the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. ~From Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Heavenly Father, Help me to remember this day my original confidence in You. May I not be swayed by passing trials. May I not be effected by moods of uncertainty but step forward in faith. Amen.

To truly see

28 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? ~Mark 8:34-37 (CEB)

“Spirituality is about seeing. It’s not about earning or achieving. It’s about relationship rather than results or requirements. Once you see, the rest follows. You don’t need to push the river, because you are in it. The life is lived within us, and we learn how to say yes to that life.” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

Heavenly Father, help me to see with my spirit so that I may hear Your words speaking to my heart. Help me to have a full relationship with You. Help me to be Your hands and Feet in the world. Amen.

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