SIMPLY REJOICING 1: Arise and Exalt Your Creator

KEEP YOUR FOCUS TOWARD JESUS 
This devotion post is based on the book SIMPLY REJOICING by Patsy Lewis, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.

TUESDAY, May 27  Bold Prayers

From The Circle Maker  by Mark Batterson

“ Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers….God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers.  He is offended by anything less.  If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.  Why?  Because they don’t require divine intervention.”

          The first two words that came to my mind when I consider Bold Prayers are change and challenge.  Most of my prayers are so rote and routine, intercessory prayers for the sick and hurting, prayers for safety, prayers for strength.  But a prayer that goes out on a limb, a prayer that stretches me, that causes me to 'bite off more than I can chew' alone?  Not usually!  

          What are some goals that I might make that would require bold prayer?  My list of steps for achieving such goals should begin with prayer and end with pray HARD! Like a good BOLD sandwich, filled with the hearty meat of challenge and change, that begins and ends with prayer!  A sandwich that might be bigger than I can chew alone, but will require me to seek God's assistance.   Something to consider, but first I need to spend a little time in prayer to discern just what that hearty filling of challenge might be.  

Another addendum!  Talked with Kathy about Silas' friend, Roy.  She said there is a Thrivent church group also coming for one week beginning in June.  Roy is probably part of that one!  So...maybe we'll meet Roy 'on the job'!

MONDAY, May 26  Read! Learn! Ponder!

          The last of Lewis’ yearly goals is to be open to learn; to read new books on a regular basis.  This is a goal I just can’t keep up with.  I don’t spend enough quality time reading books that make me think.  Don’t get me wrong, I read some….but too often late at night when I can’t really grasp the content because I am falling asleep.  I just finished reading Michener’s The Source.    It took me 3 months to finish the 1075 pages.  But I did dog-ear pages as I went along so I could write down a few memorable quotes.

          Books present themselves in a variety of manners.  An off-hand catch at an RV park stand, recommendation from a friend, or just an impulsive buy from the newsstand or Amazon.  Yet I think God is at work in our choices.  There is something in them that God wants us to see and think about.  I can’t believe how many times something will come up in my daily life and I will have ‘just read about that’!  Not chance nor coincidence!  God at work preparing me.   

          So, out of order, as I usually start with a quote or scripture, I’ll end today with one of those Michener lines.  I was going to use one about the blindness religious fury inflicts upon us, but then I saw the following and felt, perhaps, that this discernment is what I am talking about.  Whoa….did God just point my eyes to this passage?

          “If our desire is to uncover God’s wishes, we must develop minds that can penetrate shadows, for the mists produced by living obscure the truth and you cannot discern it unless you sharpen your wits.”

Addendum to Sunday:  We met a man named Silas working in the store at Lake McDonald lodge.  I am guessing that Silas is  retired, a national park volunteer.  Silas saw our Habitat shirts and asked if we worked with the group.  After our affirmation, he told us his friend from Arizona is coming up for the new build (he was a little confused on the process, but we think we will meet Roy on the 1st of June!)  God at work?  What led us to THAT little store?    In the meantime, we witnessed our Creator God busy for milleniums on our hike in the park.  From chiseled peaks to hanging valleys and towering waterfalls to the new shoots of life coming forth through lingering snow.  Majestic!  God! 

Avalanche Lake with its hanging valley and rim of waterfalls.  Creator God at work! 

SUNDAY, May 25   Watching to Rejoice!

Luke 21:36 GNT

Be on watch and pray always……

          Be alert to God at work.  Be watchful for times when coincidence is really God!  If we are actively LOOKING for God-acts, we will be filled with praise for all that we see. 

          This is the third challenge put forth by Lewis in this chapter:  to watch throughout the day to see Jesus at work in my world.  But Lewis adds that we need to ASK God to show us, to open our eyes to SEE!  This kind of vision will reveal God-truths every day.  Our praise and rejoicing will be contagious. 

          Today Rick and I are driving into Glacier National Park.  While I am sure that we will witness God-glory in terms of Creation majesty, I may have to actively watch to find God at work among the people we encounter.  I do ask God to keep the bears at bay while we are on the trail!  

SATURDAY, May 24

Keep Your Focus Toward Jesus – Daily Word 

        Today focuses on the second of four goals author Lewis made under the umbrella of ‘Watching’.  This goal involved reading the Gospels in chronological order, especially alert for Jesus’ call to watch or rejoice.  It caused me to ask….does such a Bible exist?  What is it called?  I did a short search for a chronological reading of the Gospels all meshed together into one.  At first I only found two such Bibles: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order by F. Legard Smith  and  Reading God’s Story – A Chronological Daily Bible by George Guthrie.  A later search on Amazon revealed many more!  One simply called THE STORY!

          Many people wrote they didn’t like the chronology framework.  They couldn’t look up familiar verses.  The Psalms were intermeshed with the stories they referenced.  The Gospels were all meshed.  (That’s the part I would like to read!)  It is an interesting concept and one I might have to explore…..when I have better internet connection! 

          In the meantime…..be alert!  Be watchful for God at work!  Be ready for reasons to rejoice and cheer!   (Sorry…. No picture forthcoming today!)

FRIDAY, May 23 

Keep Your Focus Toward Jesus – Daily Conversation

Luke 10:22  GNT

“No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

    

          Good communication with God should include daily prayer.  But a conversation goes two ways.  So often our prayers become time to tell God what we want and need.  And the conversation ends.  We need the listening time as well!  Time to hear God and what God needs and wants!   

          Sometimes I think when I draw my prayer mandalas, I’m not really praying.  I try to concentrate on the names of those I am praying for while I pencil their names, or color around them.  And while that is important, perhaps the biggest purpose of the prayer drawings is if I use the time to LISTEN!  What is God telling me today?  As my thoughts circle around and wander, is God speaking through them? 

          Two way conversation.  Two way prayers.  It will help keep our prayer focus on God and really improve communication.  

Prayers following drive up to Montana

AWAKEN with PRAYER

THURSDAY, May 22   Awaken with Prayer – The Trinity

“God is beyond us as the Father, among us as the Son, and within us as the Spirit…All efforts to explain the Trinity of God…cannot adequately describe the Godhead…..But the wonder of it causes a wise person to reverence even more the greatness of God.” (Robert Coleman in The Heart of the Gospel)

     “Beyond, Among, Within!”  - That’s the amazing wonder of it all!  In spite of our questions, our doubts, and our sporadic faith, we believe in the greatness of God.  We believe in the Creator’s majesty, the grace of forgiveness through Christ, and the steadfast presence of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot see any of the Trinity with our eyes, but the evidence can be overwhelming. 

     The Trinity allows God to appear in every form imaginable.  The Trinity allows us to recognize God in every aspect of our lives.  The Trinity gives us reason to celebrate and  rejoice! 

WEDNESDAY, May 21  Spirit Wind

Genesis 1:2  GNT

…the Spirit of God^[a] was moving over the water. ( [a] or the power of God; or a wind from God; or an awesome wind.)

     The third part of our Trinity Prayer is the Spirit.  The Bible starts with the Spirit of God, Jesus is baptized with the Spirit present, the disciples are promised the gift of the Spirit when commissioned. 

          It was the footnote in the Good News translation, an ‘awesome wind’, that reminded me of yesterday’s discussion at our Habitat build.  Supervisor Steve took the time to explain the energy efficiency of these homes in terms of air infiltration.  He talked of the winds roaring through the gap from Glacier NP and the effect on a home NOT built in this manner.  The wind penetrates the house wall as if a 6” hole were left in the side.  These homes are built as if the hole were only ½” in size on a 100 square foot wall.  Air has the uncanny ability to seep into EVERY little pocket and space available.

          But isn’t that something like the Spirit?  Isn’t God able to infiltrate every little aspect of our life, present for our support and assistance?  The only difference is….this is a GOOD wind!  We want the Spirit wind to penetrate the house of our life!  If we try to block God out it just doesn’t work! How God-Efficient have I built my life?  Do I need to air things out a little? 

TUESDAY, May 20   Selfie Photo

“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood….No one has seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.”  (John 1:14,18  MSG)

          God-Expression.  Flesh and blood.  Plain as day.  Robert Coleman in The Heart of the Gospel calls Jesus a ‘photograph’ of God.   How often do we want ‘photographic proof’ of something?  ‘Show me a picture!’  Well, God pulled out his Creation Camera and took a picture.  What does God look like?  JESUS!  Coleman’s photo in modern terms becomes the first ‘selfie’ ever taken!  God took a selfie of his being, and it looks just like Jesus!!  What more proof could we want?? 

MONDAY, May 19   Trinity Prayer

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth – all you see, all you don’t see….God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! (Genesis 1:1, 31 MSG)

     I am going to use a new book for the next few months.  I think I started once before perhaps, as I have already posted a Trinity Prayer page.  This prayer is used by author Patsy Lewis to start each day.  It is a reminder prayer that our Creator God is in EVERYTHING, that Jesus is our personal ‘photograph’ of God, and the Spirit is present 24/7 to sustain us.  My re-write of Lewis’ prayer is included within my Scribble design, but I will allow that it is difficult to read!  So, to make it easier….

Good morning, Lord!

I awake this day to celebrate your presence as Creator God:

Maker of all the beauty, the wonder,

The intricate balancer of our world,

With everlasting love as  Father-Mother, Nurturer.

I awake this day to celebrate the Son:

Your presence in a form we can recognize,

Touch, and engage.

The one who suffered as we suffer,

And died to end all suffering.

I awake this day to celebrate the Spirit:

The constant, living, indwelling of you within and through us.

I awake to celebrate the Trinity

And to see God in all I encounter and do this day. 

     All God made is and was good!  We must open our eyes and look, open our hearts and prepare to receive God!  What a great way to start a day!  Praise God!