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.

Hidden moments of daily living

27 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to their custom. After the festival was over, they were returning home, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know it. Supposing that he was among their band of travelers, they journeyed on for a full day while looking for him among their family and friends. When they didn’t find Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them. Everyone who heard him was amazed by his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were shocked.

His mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Listen! Your father and I have been worried. We’ve been looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he said to them.

Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. His mother cherished every word in her heart. Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people. ~Luke 2:41-53 (CEB)

“Hiddenness is an essential quality of the spiritual life. Solitude, silence, ordinary tasks, being with people without great agendas, sleeping, eating, working, playing … all of that without being different from others, that is the life that Jesus lived and the life he asks us to live.  It is in hiddenness that we, like Jesus, can increase “in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and with people” (Luke 2:51).  It is in hiddenness that we can find a true intimacy with God and a true love for people.

Even during his active ministry, Jesus continued to return to hidden places to be alone with God.  If we don’t have a hidden life with God, our public life for God cannot bear fruit.” ~From Bread for the Journey by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Help me this day O Lord in the simple and quiet moments of life. Help me to see that all things can be done for Your glory even ordinary tasks or sleeping and eating. Help me remember that quiet times are needed to be able to bear Your fruit. Amen.

Spiritual Dryness

08 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered over, is truly happy! The one the LORD doesn’t consider guilty— in whose spirit there is no dishonesty— that one is truly happy! When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long— every day, every night!— because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt. “I’ll confess my sins to the LORD,” is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin. That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times. ~Psalms 32:1-6a (CEB) 

“Sometimes we experience a terrible dryness in our spiritual life.  We feel no desire to pray, don’t experience God’s presence, get bored with worship services, and even think that everything we ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is little more than a childhood fairy tale.

Then it is important to realize that most of these feelings and thoughts are just feelings and thoughts, and that the Spirit of God dwells beyond our feelings and thoughts.  It is a great grace to be able to experience God’s presence in our feelings and thoughts, but when we don’t, it does not mean that God is absent.  It often means that God is calling us to a greater faithfulness.  It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God.” ~From Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen

It is good to know Almighty Father, that despite my feelings and thoughts, Your Presence is still with me. The way I feel is not a true reflections of reality. I is good to remember this day that my spiritual disciplines will bring me through the terrible dry spells when they come. Despite my feelings… I am still a beloved child of God. Amen.

Prayer focus

07 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

“When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask. Pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven, uphold the holiness of your name. Bring in your kingdom so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven. Give us the bread we need for today. Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you, just as we also forgive those who have wronged us. And don’t lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. ~Matt 6:9-13 (CEB)

If this idea that prayer consists of attention to God seems strange to us, perhaps it is because we have given up the discipline and no longer really know how to pray. In most of our praying, our attention is neither focused nor on God. What we attend to is largely our own selves, and this in a rather generalized and ambiguous way. Prayer, both public and private, and particularly among Protestants, tends to be almost totally prayer of petition. We have some need, and we pray that it will be met. We are in some trouble, and we pray that God will take it away. Even when we do pray prayers of praise, thanksgiving, and confession, we do so with our attention turned to what we are pleased with, thankful for, and guilty of. We find it extremely difficult to allow our praise, thanks, confession, petition, and intercession to be formed by attention to God, and awfully easy to allow the God to whom we pray to become a mere reflection of our own concerns. At least this is what I experience myself as a prayer and what I perceive in most public worship. ‘Simple attentiveness’ is most difficult. It is also very important.” ~From Vision and Character by Craig R. Dykstra

Teach me how to pray O Lord. Help me to sing of Your praises, tell of Your glory, send petitions, voice confessions and give thanks to You. May this prayer time be a time found focusing on You. Amen.

What is missing

06 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , ,

Stretch out your hand to bring healing and enable signs and wonders to be performed through the name of Jesus, your holy servant.” After they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God’s word with confidence. ~Acts 4:30-31 (CEB)

You see, I’ve done a lot of work for the Church- I’m aware of it. It has been my only thought, my only care. I have raced hard and covered as many miles as the most committed missionary. At a certain point it occurred to me that what the Church lacked was not work, activity, the building of projects or commitment to bring in souls. What was missing, or at least was scarce, was the element of prayer, mediation, self-giving, intimacy with God, fidelity to the Holy Spirit and the conviction that [Christ] was the real builder of the Church: in a word, the supernatural element. Let me make myself clear; people of action are needed in the Church but we have to be very careful that their action does not smother the more delicate but much more important element of prayer.

If action is missing and there is prayer, the Church lives on, it keeps on breathing, but if prayer is missing and there is only action, the Church withers and dies.” ~From Letters to Dolcidia: 1954-1983 by Carlo Carretto

Almighty God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit open my eyes, ears, hearts, and very life to Your presence so that today I many worship and serve you in faithfulness, be blessing and healing reminders of Your love to all whose lives I touch. In Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

Prayer

05 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , ,

When Jesus finished saying these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you.  You gave him authority over everyone so that he could give eternal life to everyone you gave him. This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I shared with you before the world was created.

 

“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

“I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. ~John 17:1-11 (CEB)

“Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the Presence. It is, further, a way of living in awareness of the Presence, even enjoying the Presence. The full contemplative is not just aware of the Presence, but trusts, allows, and delights in it.” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

I thank You Heavenly Father for the Sacred moments where I can feel Your Presence in my life. Help me to continually seek You in all the work I do and in the prayers I pray. Amen.

Invitation

30 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ~Rev. 3:20 (CEB)

“Maybe we are not used to thinking about the Eucharist as an invitation to Jesus to stay with us. We are more inclined to think about Jesus inviting us to his house, his table, his meal. But Jesus wants to be invited. Without an invitation he will go on to other places. It is very important to realize that Jesus never forces himself on us. Unless we invite him, he will always remain a stranger, possibly a very attractive intelligent stranger with whom we had an interesting conversation, but a stranger nevertheless.” ~From With Burning Hearts by Henri J. M. Nouwen

May I hear You knocking this day O Lord. May I remember to slow down and invite You in. I do not to walk life’s journey without You. Please walk along with me this day. Amen.

Taken, blessed, broken and given

29 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

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

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ~ 1 Cor. 11:23-26 (CEB)

“To identify the movements of the Spirit in our lives, I have found it helpful to use four words: taken, blessed, broken, and given. These words summarize my life as a priest because each day, when I come together around the table with members of my community, I take bread, bless it, break it, and give it. These words also summarize my life as a Christian because, as a Christian, I am called to become bread for the world: bread that is taken, blessed, broken and given. Most importantly, however, they summarize my life as a human being because in every moment of my life somewhere, somehow the taking, the blessing, the breaking and the giving are happening.

I must tell you at this point that these four words have become the most important words of my life. Only gradually has their meaning become known to me, and I feel that I won’t ever know their full profundity. They are the most personal as well as the most universal words. They express the most spiritual as well as the most secular truth. They speak about the most divine as well as the most human behavior. They reach high as well as low, embrace God as well as all people. They succinctly express the complexity of life and embrace its ever-unfolding mystery. They are the keys to understanding not only the lives of the great prophets of Israel and the life of Jesus of Nazareth, but also our own lives. I have chosen them not only because they are so deeply engraved in my being, but also because, through them, I have some into touch with the ways of becoming the Beloved of God.” ~From Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Help me this day O Lord, to become the bread for the world. May I be a blessing to someone that I meet along the journey this day. May I remember to be a blessing I must give of myself and that I do this all for Your glory. Amen.

Invitation

28 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , ,

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. ~Luke 22:14-23 (CEB)

“I have always been intrigued with Luke’s choice of words as he describes the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the eve before his suffering and death (Luke 22:14-23). According to Luke, Jesus said that he ‘eagerly’ desired to share the meal with the disciples. Could it be that he needed to be with those closest to him as they affirmed God’s presence and plan for him and the disciples? To spend quality time with those we love is a wonderful gift of healing and strength to all of us, and Jesus deserved this holy fellowship for comfort and strength.

Of did Jesus want to say something more to the disciples? He did declare again that it was his last meal until the kingdom of God would fully arrive. He did tell them that he was providing a new covenant for them and for the world. And perhaps most significantly, he told them by words and acts that his life and theirs were cradled and safely sheltered in God’s care.

Today Jesus invites you and me to come to the table. We are now invited to sit with Jesus, to listen to him speak to us, teach us, and bless us. In holy time and holy place he reminds us once again that his body is given for us and that his blood is poured out for us. What good news it is that the sacrifice of his life replaces the darkness of my life with the purity and light of his own.

Perhaps you are not able literally to be at the table with Jesus every day. But in your time of prayer as in your time of work and leisure you can remember that Jesus eagerly desires to be with you. And wherever you are, you may hear his words, ‘I have eagerly desired this time with you,’ and then accept his invitation to holy fellowship.” ~A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Rueben P Job

Dear Jesus, I thank You today that You desire to be with me. Despite my sins You have sought me out. You loved me knowing all I had done… and knowing all that I would still do. Help me to be in the holy time with You. May I give of myself completely as You have given me all of You. 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.

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