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.

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.

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.

Living out the good news

04 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

Who will harm you if you are zealous for good?  But happy are you, even if you suffer because of righteousness! Don’t be terrified or upset by them. Instead, regard Christ as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it. Yet do this with respectful humility, maintaining a good conscience. Act in this way so that those who malign your good lifestyle in Christ may be ashamed when they slander you. It is better to suffer for doing good (if this could possibly be God’s will) than for doing evil. ~1 Peter 3:13-17 (CEB)

“Any serious attempt to practice a simple but radical discipleship is certain to bring opposition today. We, as Wesley before us and as the saints before him, also know the struggle of internal and external opposition. In a time when division, violence, lust, and greed are the acclaimed way of life, the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the attempt to live out that gospel will stir up opposition within and without.” ~From A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader by Rueben P. Job

Help me this day O Lord, to stand against any opposition that might come my way. Especially bolster me if that opposition comes from within me. Help me to do good this day. 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.

Behind and below

01 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Where could I go to get away from your spirit?

Where could I go to escape your presence?

If I went up to heaven, you would be there.

If I went down to the grave, you would be there too!

If I could fly on the wings of dawn,

stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—

even there your hand would guide me;

even there your strong hand would hold me tight!

If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;

the light will become night around me,”

even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!

Nighttime would shine bright as day,

because darkness is the same as light to you! ~Psalm 139:7-12

“Our desire for equilibrium can become an idolatrous attempt to deny a large part of what life is about. The advertising industry achieves a good deal of its success through the message that if only we opt for this or that product, our needs and longings will be satisfied. We learn that life is not yet perfect, but we can fix it by obtaining the right house, floor polish, insurance policy, or therapy. In other words, we are encouraged to believe that there is something wrong with us if things are out of kilter and that life is meant to be lived on a plateau of happiness. The psalms give the lie to this kind of thinking by encouraging us to robustly deal with life as it really is and to find God in disorientation as well as harmony.

 

It is both a relief and a challenge to comprehend that there is no place where God is not. Psalm 139 speaks of the attempt to escape the Creator by soaring into the heavens, going into the depth, or sinking into the horizon where sea and sky meet. The sense that God is behind, in front, and above, laying a hand upon the one who feels searched out and known, makes the omnipresence of the Creator into a felt reality. I pray this psalm and I have to ask ‘Who am I? How can I respond to this all-encompassing presence of God?’ In my time and place I am on holy ground, and as I allow myself to be held in that moment of awareness, I must respond with what is truly in my heart. I tell God that I am afraid, relieved, filled with gratitude, or overwhelmed by a sense of being invaded.” ~From “Sing a New Song” by Elizabeth J. Canham in Communion, Community, Commonweal

Heavenly Father, Thank You for being behind me and going before me. Thank You for knowing the depths and the heights of my life. Thank You for fencing me in even when I thought that I just wanted to be free. Thank You for this time and space to know You more fully. Amen.

The knowledge of joy

30 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

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

In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

The Word was with God in the beginning.

Everything came into being through the Word,

and without the Word

nothing came into being.

What came into being

through the Word was life,

and the life was the light for all people.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light. ~John 5:1-5 (CEB)

“Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: ‘In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.’

The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death.” ~From Here and Now by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Thank You Heavenly Father for shinning into my darkness. Thank You for overcoming the world with Your light of Truth. May I walk through this day with the confidence of a beloved child of God. Amen.

To love with God’s compassion

27 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

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

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed! He is the compassionate Father and God of all comfort. He’s the one who comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble. We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God. ~1 Cor. 1:3-4 (CEB)

“If there is one notion that is central to all great religions it is that of ‘compassion.’ The sacred scriptures of the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Christians all speak about God as the God of compassion. In a world in which competition continues to be the dominant mode of relating among people, be it in politics, sports, or economics, all true believers proclaim compassion, not competition, as God’s way . . .

Compassion, to be with others when and where they suffer and to willingly enter into a fellowship of the weak, is God’s way to justice and peace among people. Is this possible? Yes, it is, but only when we dare to live with the radical faith that we do not have to compete for love, but that love is freely given to us by the One who calls us to compassion.” ~From Here and Now by Henri J. M. Nouwen,

Almighty God, form whom every good prayer comes, and Who pours out on all who desire it, the spirit of grace and supplication: Deliver us, when we draw close to You, from coldness of heart and wandering of mind, that, with steadfast thought and kindled affections, we may worship You in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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