When Words Won’t Come

We live in a world where words don’t really matter. They don’t have any meaning. Even all the cusswords have lost their teeth as they’ve quietly seeped into broadcast television. They just don’t matter anymore. They’re just words.

I don’t know much about prayer. I don’t know the right way to do it. I don’t have a three-sentence formula you can pray to unleash God’s blessings or joy. Basically, my entire knowledge of prayer boils down to the knowing that I need to do it. I just don’t know what to say.

But lately, I’ve felt more comfortable with admitting that to God, to starting off my prayers with “I don’t know what to say right now.” He seems alright with that. In fact, I think all along he knew that was coming, which is one of the reasons He gave me the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:26 says
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

I like that verse and in times when my heart feels it’s run dry, I’ll simply say “Holy Spirit, please groan for me.” And I think it does.

The Peace of God

Philippians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

If you’re a worrier like me, in a cold sweat, you’ve muttered this comforting verse.  I don’t want to miss the last sentence. In it, we are promised the peace of God, “which transcends all understanding.”

We are promised that we will not be able to understand the peace of God. No matter how long we walk with him or how often we read his word or how many verses we memorize, his peace will transcend our ability to comprehend it.

That’s a comforting thought for me. In a lot of ways it releases me from trying to figure his peace out. Instead of trying to figure it out, I get to experience it.

And that’s a pretty peaceful idea.

Energizing Visions

Are the great visions of the ultimate peace among all people and the ultimate harmony of all creation just utopian fairy tales? No, they are not! They correspond to the deepest longings of the human heart and point to the truth waiting to be revealed beyond all lies and deceptions. These visions nurture our souls and strengthen our hearts. They offer us hope when we are close to despair, courage when we are tempted to give up on life, and trust when suspicion seems the more logical attitude. Without these visions our deepest aspirations, which give us the energy to overcome great obstacles and painful setbacks, will be dulled and our lives will become flat, boring, and finally destructive. Our visions enable us to live the full life. - Henri Nouwen

Sure Sign of Aging

The Mystery of the Body of Christ

I take a pill every day to fix the thinness or thickness of my blood. I had my blood checked the other day and the results are always different. This day the number on the meter was too large. The nurse said, “break one of the pills in half tomorrow.” I will go back in a couple of weeks to see if she was right. This got me thinking about my body and how it works. I am amazed that God built my body to be on auto-pilot most of the time. I do not have to encourage my liver to do whatever livers do. I do not have to tell my lungs that now would be a great time to exhale. I really do not understand much about how my body functions. I do not understand DNA or stem cells or cholesterol. I do not understand how the parts of my body work together. Do the lungs appreciate the ability of the heart to oxygenate my body by way of blood? Do my knees marvel at how well my fingers can move?

The Bible tell me that I am part of the body of Christ.

Some days I wonder which part I am suppose to be. I wonder if I am functioning the way I am designed to function. Am I suppose to operate on auto-pilot?

I do not understand how the other parts of Christ’s body functions either. Who is the knee and how do they know it? Is there a person that functions like a kidney?

I have to think about this a whole lot more…

Now All Glory to God

Now all glory to God,

who is able to keep you from falling away

and will bring you with great joy

into his glorious presence

without a single fault. 

All glory to him who alone is God,

our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his

before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time!

May God himself, the God of peace,

sanctify you through and through.

May your whole spirit, soul and body

be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who taught his disciples to pray, saying,

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen.

Kingdom Living (What the World Needs to Know)

• To live, die to self.
• To keep, give away.
• To be strong, use your weaknesses.
• To win, lose.
• To perpetually preserve in memory, consume weekly (Lord’s Supper).
• To win an argument, don’t argue.
• To get a lot done, don’t engage in a lot of things. Focus.
• To be effectively active, be still and know He is God.
• To lead well, care about the reject.
• To care about the reject, remember if it weren’t for His mercy you would still be one.

Unfathomability

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

He said He is able to do more than we can imagine or think. As our imaginations grow, God seems to increase our awareness of His unfathomability. So it is with the Creator of all. God is beyond mind. Understanding flees at the same time it hopes.

Warning: Go For a Walk

Moving On

Sometimes we have to “step over” our anger, our jealousy, or our feelings of rejection and move on. The temptation is to get stuck in our negative emotions, poking around in them as if we belong there. Then we become the “offended one,” “the forgotten one,” or the “discarded one.” Yes, we can get attached to these negative identities and even take morbid pleasure in them. It might be good to have a look at these dark feelings and explore where they come from, but there comes a moment to step over them, leave them behind and travel on.” - Henri Nouwen