Process of faith

07 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

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

Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ~John 6:32-35 (CEB)

“The Biblical promise that if we truly seek, we shall find God is the basis for the journey of the spiritual life. In spite of the difficulties along the way, the times of dryness when nothing seems to be happening, the discouragement and distraction that come to us all, and the times of falling back and wondering if we have made any progress at all, the journey is one from which we cannot turn back. The testimony of the saints of all the ages is that the journey is worth it; that God really is love; and that the love God offers is the most important reality that can be known by any of us. Such knowledge enables a person to have tremendous power to take what happens, to surmount great difficulties, and to grow in the face of tragedy and deep disappointment.

The fruit of the spiritual life is not easily attained. The process of growing in grace is sometimes difficult. It requires persistence which never comes easily for any of us. The old part of us, the part that wants to go it alone and maintain control, keeps asserting itself. There are times when we want to go back to being unaware and half dead. God requires honesty from us, and such honesty can be painful. Because God knows us better than we know ourselves, pretending will not work. God’s knowledge of us demands that we come to terms with who we really are. ~From Reformed Spirit by Howard L. Rice

May I see this day O Lord that You are the basis of this journey I seek. Without You I am nothing. Through You I can be more than I see myself being. Help me today to do the hard work that brings me closer to who You want me to be. Amen.

To see Christ through our poverty

05 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness ‘sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ~Matthew 5:1-11 (CEB)

When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs.  The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognizes the Christ who lives in other people’s.   Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others’.  We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people’s pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.

By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us.  But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God. ~From Bread for the Journey, by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Heavenly Father, give me courage this day to speak from my heart the things that need to be said. Where I see poverty help me to speak out of my own experiences so that I may lead others into Your light. May I not leave anyone in darkness today. Amen.

To see God’s dwelling place

04 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

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

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness ‘sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ~Matthew 5:1-11 (CEB)

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich?   Poverty has many forms.  We have to ask ourselves:  “What is my poverty?”  Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence?  Each human being has a place of poverty.  That’s the place where God wants to dwell!  “How blessed are the poor,” Jesus says (Matthew 5:3).  This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.

We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it.   Let’s dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden. ~From Bread for the Journey, by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Help me to see where You dwell in my life this day O Lord. If I cannot find You this day, help me to see what is blocking my sight. Help me to look to You for my security, my safety and my self-confidence. Amen.

Focus

03 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

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

 

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint. ~Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

How can we stay in solitude when we feel that deep urge to be distracted by people and events?   The simplest way is to focus our minds and hearts on a word or picture that reminds us of God.  By repeating quietly:  “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want,” or by gazing lovingly at an icon of Jesus, we can bring our restless minds to some rest and experience a gentle divine presence.

This doesn’t happen overnight.  It asks a faithful practice.  But when we spend a few moments every day just being with God, our endless distractions will gradually disappear. ~From Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Heavenly Father, help me this day to focus on Your will for my life. Guide me and direct me in the way I should go so that I may not tire or grow weary. Amen.

Hiddenness

30 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side. Think about the things above and not things on earth. You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. ~Col 3:1-4 (CEB)

“One of the reasons that hiddenness is such an important aspect of the spiritual life is that it keeps us focused on God.  In hiddenness we do not receive human acclamation, admiration, support, or encouragement.  In hiddenness we have to go to God with our sorrows and joys and trust that God will give us what we most need.

In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness.  We want to be seen and acknowledged.  We want to be useful to others and influence the course of events.  But as we become visible and popular, we quickly grow dependent on people and their responses and easily lose touch with God, the true source of our being.   Hiddenness is the place of purification.  In hiddenness we find our true selves. ~From Bread for the Journey by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Help me this day O Lord to keep my eyes on You. Let me not be swayed by earthly things that cause me to lose who I am. Help me to stay true to Your work trusting that You will see to all my needs. Amen.

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.

Create in me a clean heart

26 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , ,

Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sin!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
Return the joy of your salvation to me
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
You don’t want sacrifices.
If I gave an entirely burned offering,
you wouldn’t be pleased.
A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.
You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
Do good things for Zion by your favor.
Rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness—
entirely burned offerings and complete offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar. ~Psalm 51

“O God, I surrender to you the habits and sins that, like frost, chill my soul and cause your life-giving energy to cease its flow in me. Uproot me from the weed patches of evil wherein I have chosen to sink my roots. Plant me instead in your field of righteousness.

 Direct the searchlight of your love into every crevice of my life that I may see to journey from this long winder of sin, to once again flourish in the summer of your goodness and love.

Send the gracious showers of your forgiveness to break the long drought of spiritual aridness that has shriveled my soul, and grant, my Lord, that I may become more like you and less like my shadowy self.

This day I pledge to you and to myself that I will begin even now to pursue right thinking and right living, but my God, I need your help. Amen.” ~Norman Shawchuck

Made to follow

25 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , ,

After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” ~Mark 1:14-15 (CEB)

Whenever we see a person whose life is exemplary in every way, we are drawn to live like that. When we see clarity and purity of motive, generous attitude, unobtrusive service, righteous acts, and righteous motives, we want to turn our lives in that direction. It is easy to understand the obedient response of those who heard Jesus call the disciples, crowds, and sinners in general to repent and believe. Here was purity and righteousness beyond compare calling all to repent, or to turn their lives in the direction that his life modeled so well.

The good news is that we can live those exemplary lives. We can repent- turn our lives toward God. We can turn away from everything that keeps us from God and from living within God’s reign. You and I can repent and believe. But it is not always easy. To repent, or to turn our lives in another direction, requires our will, our effort, and our faith as we call on God to supply the strength to turn toward God in all aspects of our living. And to believe in the unseen Companion who calls us to goodness and fills us with goodness is difficult when all those visible companions tend to discount the divine companionship promised to all who believe.

What will it mean for you to repent and believe? Only you can fill in the details. But Jesus promises the power and presence to enable you to live the good life, a life in harmony with God. ~A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Rueben P. Job

Almighty God, as you have sent Jesus to be for us light and truth, send now Your Spirit upon us to grant us grace and strength to follow in his footsteps this day Amen.

To walk in wholeness and truth

19 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate in the north city wall is a pool with the Aramaic name Bethsaida. It had five covered porches, and a crowd of people who were sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed sat there. A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty- eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me.”

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Immediately the man was well, and he picked up his mat and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

The Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It’s the Sabbath; you aren’t allowed to carry your mat.”

He answered, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk. ‘”

They inquired, “Who is this man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” The man who had been cured didn’t know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd gathered there.

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, “See! You have been made well. Don’t sin anymore in case something worse happens to you.” The man went and proclaimed to the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the man who had made him well. ~John 5:1-15 (CEB)

“Thirty-eight years is a long time to be unwell. After so long, you might get used to being sick, and develop some strong habits to keep yourself infirm. After all, when you are stuck in a closet of ill health- and everyone around you is also used to being unwell- then being sick seems like the thing to do. If you decide to get well, all the other infirm people will complain about it.

This is the way it was for the man described in John 5:1-15. He felt at home in his infirmity, as did all the others who occupied the surrounding porticos. They were all unwell, and they spent all their time waiting but not seeing that their most serious illness was that they were ‘at home’ in their ill health. They would have felt quiet naked had they suddenly found themselves exposed to wellness. And so Jesus had remind this man that there was another alternative: ‘Do you really want to get well?’

The man’s response tells it all, as he reels off a long list of excuse:

I don’t have anyone to put me into the water.

When the angel comes to stir the water, someone gets there ahead of me.

So you see, all I can do is remain unwell for another year.

But I am faithful. I have been waiting for thirty-eight years.

Go ahead! Blame circumstances, blame the angel, blame the other sick people around you for not letting you in first. . . .  Do you realize the waters that need to be stirred are inside you? Just once why don’t you get up and get there first? If you listen carefully at this moment, you may just hear Jesus saying to you in the portico of your heart, ‘Get up! . . .  Pick up your mat and walk!” ~Norman Shawchuck

Heavenly Father, You know my lists and my excuses. Open my eyes this day to see past my perceived stumbling blocks to wellness. Help me to feel Your Presence I seek to get my feet underneath me so that I may walk in Your ways of wholeness and truth. Amen.

To be whole

18 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate in the north city wall is a pool with the Aramaic name Bethsaida. It had five covered porches, and a crowd of people who were sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed sat there. A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty- eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me.”

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Immediately the man was well, and he picked up his mat and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

The Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It’s the Sabbath; you aren’t allowed to carry your mat.”

He answered, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk. ‘”

They inquired, “Who is this man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” The man who had been cured didn’t know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd gathered there.

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, “See! You have been made well. Don’t sin anymore in case something worse happens to you.” The man went and proclaimed to the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the man who had made him well. ~John 5:1-15 (CEB)

“Do you want to get well? is a shocking question. Of course I want to be well! But then on closer reflection I am forced to ask, Do I really want to get well? At times I am so attached to my illness (today we could also say addiction) that I prefer illness to health. Possibly my illness (addiction) keeps me from facing the real problem or my real self. My illness could be the crutch I have used to hide or circumvent deeper spiritual problems.

The question also shocks because it reminds me that I am a participant in my road to health. God may indeed bring miraculous, sudden, or slow healing with or without the benefit of modern medicine. But it appears that God does not bring healing unless I desire to be whole. So once again I am reminded that I am partner with God. I am asked to participate in the healing process. Even in the miraculous healing I am asked to be a full participant.

In the passage where this question is posed Jesus gives instructions to ‘take up your bed and walk.’ The mental desire to be well now shifts to a physical act. I am asked to take some specific actions to open the doors to healing. Do I want to be well? Yes, yes, even if it means taking up my bed and carrying what has been carrying me. I am indeed helpless on my own and I am indeed invincible with God. God does have the ability to make me whole once again. In obedience I will take up my bed and walk on the pathway to wholeness.” ~A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Rueben P. Job

Heavenly Father, open my eyes so that I may see the bonds that keep me from being free. I want to truly walk in Your ways and feel Your healing hand on my life. I desire to be whole. Amen.

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