Category: Prayer

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Memories, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

My Birthday Was Yesterday

Well it is saying something that I have outlived both of my parents. My Dad died really young of heart disease. I have outlived my mother by ten years!

This morning I awoke to my typical birthday weather, gloomy, drizzly but also unusually warm. The weather in my heart is good. I am looking for ways this year to please the Lord, my Lord Jesus, risen from the dead.

Instead of my typical morning devotions, I turned today to Thomas R. Kelley’s Testament of Devotion. This chapter is called Holy Obedience. He speaks of George Fox…”the insatiable God-hunger in him drove him from such mediocrity into a passionate quest for the real whole-wheat Bread of Life. The life that intends to be wholly obedient, wholly submissive, wholly listening, is astonishing in its completeness.” He goes on to say “Self is emptied into God, and God in-fills it. In glad, amazed humility we cast on Him our little lives in trusting obedience, in erect, serene, and smiling joy. Nothing else in all of heaven or earth counts so much as His will, His slightest wish, His faintest breathing. And holy obedience sets in, sensitive as a shadow, obedient as a shadow, selfless as a shadow. Not reluctantly but with ardor one longs to follow Him the second half (of the way of obedience).”

Ardor: great warmth of feeling; fervor. intense devotion; zeal. burning heat. Do we follow Him with ardor?

“Self is emptied into God and God fills it.”

 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Revelation 3:14-28 NIV

So I come before You, my Lord, on this my birthday. Left to myself I am always poor, naked, blind, pitiful and wretched. I cannot do Your will without Your indwelling Spirit to empower me. This coming year of my life I want to reflect Your life-giving whole wheat Bread of Life. I want my life to delight You. I desire immediate obedience to Your slightest wish, faintest breathing. May my ardor for You be fanned into a flame. Amen.

 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God

2 Timothy 1: 6a NIV

My family told the story that at my birth the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. I was a ‘blue baby.’ They waited to see if I would “pink up.” When I recovered my father was so delighted he wanted my middle name to be Cherry! My mother made him compromise with Cheryl. Now I just want to follow God in obedience, full of His breath, doing His will.

Kelly wrote “holy obedience sets in, sensitive as a shadow, obedient as a shadow, selfless as a shadow.” What a tremendous image! A shadow, as in formed by the Son of God shining upon us, and we giving an outline that is totally dependent upon His light… He moves, shadow moves.

Oh to “be wholly obedient, wholly submissive, wholly listening.” Sensitive to His every desire. Can I do it? Will I take up the challenge for the entire year or drop it after a month or two? I will take it up and pray to complete it with God’s help! Will you try it also?

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Prayer

Climate Crisis?

The first photo is “Randy Statler sits on a rock to watch people walk to Tower Rock, an attraction normally surrounded by the Mississippi River and only accessible by boat, in Perry County, Missouri, on October 19, 2022. Jeff Roberson/AP Photo”

I love Mary Engelbreit. She captures things succinctly for me.

I do not remember this happening before, but according to weather historians it has occurred once within the last ten years or so. And now, again. Are we awake to what is happening?

I was startled to hear about drought on the Mississippi river. In case you have forgotten, here is the route it takes.

I first heard this on the national news. Here is report from Newsweek.

“The Mississippi River winds 2,350 miles, connecting the center of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico. The National Park System calls the Mississippi River “significant to national trade” and is an avenue to funnel 500 million tons of shipped goods into the U.S. economy. Products most often shipped on the Mississippi are grains, petroleum products, iron and steel, grain, rubber, paper, wood, coffee, coal, chemicals and edible oils.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a nine-foot shipping channel from Louisiana to Minnesota in order to transport the goods up and down the Mississippi River. In some areas of the drought-ridden channel, the Weather Channel reported the waterway was so narrow, barges were at a standstill and backed up for miles.

And then CNN

“The US Drought Monitor says that more than 55% of the contiguous United States – an area that is home to more than 133 million people – is in drought.

“With the Climate Prediction Center forecasting below-average rainfall through at least October 23.”

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/16/us/baton-rouge-drought-mississippi-river-shipwreck-climate/index.html

So if you thought the drought was limited to California and the western states, think again. The earth as we knew it is in trouble. I doubt my parents would ever have imagined this could happen. I can barely imagine this is happening in my lifetime!

“Oh Lord, forgive us for abusing our planet. Help us know how best to conserve it right now. Show us Your will and Your ways in this thing. Amen”

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
    and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
    and raises up all who are bowed down.
 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
    satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
    and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
    he also hears their cry, and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
    and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Psalm 145:13-21 NRSV

I suppose we have counted on the storms from the Atlantic to provide much of our autumn moisture? This year those storms have barely effected our area of the Ohio River valley. So literally, pray for rain. Especially if you like to ship or to purchase “grains, petroleum products, iron and steel, grain, rubber, paper, wood, coffee, coal, chemicals and edible oils.”

Drought has caused low flows in the Mississippi River, slowing vital barge traffic to a crawl. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Battle, War, Skirmish

Growing up I knew little about warfare. In the neighborhood the girls were relegated to being nurses when the boys played battle games. I never got that. I could make sounds with my mouth like guns as well and sometimes better than the boys could!

I understood my Dad had been a Naval flagman in World War 2. I did not understand what he did during the war until years later when I ordered his service records from the Navy. He was disappointed that his poor health kept him out of the Korean War.

Then I came to religion and the life of faith described so often as warfare. The Charismatic movement sometimes went a little overboard seeing a demon behind every bush. At least they were aware that we are under attack. All the time. I believe complacency just gives the demons more ground in our lives. Too much attention to the devil weakens us by distracting us from the power of Jesus Christ our Lord and the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit, His greatest gift to us.

Hand in hand with my Bible I go to the dictionary for help in understanding.

Skirmish: an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting, especially between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets.

Battle:

1. (Military) a fight between large armed forces; military or naval engagement; combat

2. conflict; contention; struggle

3. (Military) do battle give battle join battle to start fighting

Narnia Preparing for Battle Scene

I thought this was well worded truth about the faith life.

Faith is war.

It’s a fight. A battle. Faith is hard. It’s a fight to trust God when you can’t see him. It’s a fight to believe God is in control when all around us screams life has derailed. It’s a battle to thank Jesus that his steadfast love never ceases and his mercies are new every morning in the midst of pain and sadness. It’s a fight to believe Scripture rather than our eyes and circumstances. It’s a fight to forgive and resist bitterness and believe Jesus can change others’ hearts. It’s straining and wrestling to rejoice always. It’s a struggle to believe that in the end, God will work all this out for our good. To believe that Jesus will have the final word. To believe our sufferings are producing an eternal weight of glory. Faith is a fight to believe that following Jesus is better than sin.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/mark-altrogge/faith-is-war.html

Throughout the Bible there are references to battle. Repeatedly. Most of us go on our way as if those references do not relate to us. 2022 is rife with warfare, especially against those who love Christ Jesus. I pray you will live with your eyes wide open to this phenomenon.

When the time rolls around for our small group to meet, Bob and I experience some of this warfare. He and I co-lead the study and suddenly there will be friction between us, conflict all around us, a multitude of things against us distracting us from Jesus.

Have you experienced this sort of oppression from the enemy of your soul? I have found the best weapon against oppression is to recognize what is happening, push back against the darkness, and return to praising the God of heaven and earth. Psalm 22 says God inhabits the praises of His people. Even if the King James version has the translation slightly wrong we can be assured that Lord is with us and through His resurrection power the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We do not need to relinquish ourselves to the enemy in the heat of battle. Read the book of Revelation and you will learn OUR GOD WINS. Colossians 2:14 declares that we have been freed from our sin and shame.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:13-15 NIV

Battles and skirmishes come often to test what we truly believe. I believe the Truth of the Word that declares God wins! Do not be complacent.

In 1975 I thought someone should update the weapons of our warfare with modern day images. Have a person march into the church with riot gear on and other accoutrements of battle. Now in 2022 that person might get shot if the security force of the congregation was not made aware of what the teaching plan entailed. Imagine the weapons however best to encourage you to fight the good fight of faith and not grow complacent or defeated in your faith.

Posted on in Faith, Just do it, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Suscipe Prayer

Again.

St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote the following prayer. He lived 1491-1556. Suscipe means Take, Lord, and receive. I am drawn to this prayer repeatedly as I tend to want to be in control of my life (like most humans) then realize I have no control over my life. Rev. Gerhardt was right, “Control is an illusion.” He preached that and I argued with him all the way home from church. So here is the prayer by St. Ignatius.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

Why is this prayer important to me? I know God asks for my surrender to Him. Surrender in everything. Surrender of everything. That has been a tough lesson for this Irish German girl! Yet as I yield to His Lordship and sovereignty over me I find riches of peace and blessings I could not have imagined.

I am hoping this post will help you ask the Lord to take all your liberty, all that you have and call your own. May you find this the most fulfilling action you ever take.

Unsplash by Billy Pasco

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Journal, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Writing Life

Reviewing a Journal

Because of the arthritis in my hands I began to journal on my iPad a few years ago. I have kept the habit of a paper journal by printing out those ideas and pasting them in a spiral bound journal. This involves printing out ones I have not printed, arrange by date, cut and paste, etc. For several years, I have sadly dropped the habit of reviewing my journal. When we got ready to travel this month I decided to take the latest journal and review it. I will read through it. Praise God for how He sees me through situations. Mark poetry I likely did not organize in poetry binder, etc. with marker.

Mitchell Luo

Sometimes this yields themes for this blog. Most times it is just for my comfort and remembrance. We are told to rehearse the works of God and praise Him. But do we? I often fail at that task. I remember some highlights, but I drop the minutia that can change the course of my thoughts and arrange my victories in the daily battle against darkness.

Recently I was pondering that warfare. I am sometimes engaged in small struggles that remind me following Jesus is not “all unicorns and rainbows.” If you examine those times in your own life you will likely see that there are recurring patterns in the attacks. When I can recognize, and say ‘oh no, here comes THAT again’ I am better equipped to defeat it. Putting on my armor, praying, raising high the sword of the Spirit, taking every thought captive to Christ Jesus, doing my part not to surrender by means of apathy. If, however, I have not been paying attention I can get swept under a current of negativity and hopelessness before I realize what hit me.

Have you examined your life by a similar means? Some other method? Many recommend making a timeline of your life with God. Note the occurrences that have impacted you. Reflect on where your awareness of God was at each of those times.

Campfiregrace.com

Yes, look back at what has happened and how you went through each thing. We are not to be permanently looking back, but it is helpful to review our life and His participating Presence at each stage.

Journal before I get hold of it with photos and glue stick!

A Prayer to Thank God for His Sovereign Control

Father, we praise You for the delicate way You powerfully align our lives to Your creation. Thank You for the waters and mountains that remind us of You. Forgive us for overlooking Your presence in every aspect of our lives, and bless us to notice and give glory to You, for You are our healer. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

(Meg Bucher) https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/thank-you-prayers-to-give-thanks-to-god-and-the-lord-jesus-christ.html

Psalm 124 NIV
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

Find a way to review your life with God. No matter your age, no matter how many times you have done it, making a timeline with God is a great exercise.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Traveling

Water Prayer

[First photo by r m dutina]

While traveling in the Smoky Mountains one year I bought what could be a flower vase. It was pinched in the middle giving it two ‘spouts.’ The longer I looked at it and handled it the more it became a vessel for my prayers. We were always near the running water of the spring rivers be it the Little Pigeon or “one of the 2,100 miles of rushing mountain streams and rivers that flow through the park.” I would show you a photo, but when we downsized I let the vase/pitcher go. 😦 sigh

Here was part of my inspiration

And so my morning prayer gradually became

Jesus, I pour out this water
before the undivided Trinity:
Let my living be this day
an offering and thanksgiving.
This day caress me.
This day possess me.
Open my ears and eyes
to Your Love for us.

Try making a ceremony around your prayer time. I have taught that many ways. When you get a drink of water, say a prayer, turning your attention to the Holy One. Are you a coffee addict? Dedicate each sip to the Trinity. 

Keep a glass near the water faucet and try a water prayer of your own. Or use mine. 
The idea is to turn your heart and mind to Him who loves you best.

Our soul is like a stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other area of our life. When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because our soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature; and all else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream. Therefore we are in harmony with God, reality, and the rest of human nature and nature at large.

Dallas Willard in Renovation of the Heart
Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Writing Life

Best Laid Plans

Well the new computer said I had to restart to install updates. I hit the button and went off to eat breakfast. I really wanted an early start on writing Have had so many interrupted writing days lately. Wanted to get ahead for when we travel next month.

Came back after breakfast and still spinning though it said 100% complete. Started a load of wash. Still spinning. Updated paper journal. Still spinning. By now I was getting aggravated (one of my mom’s favorite words) . Over 45 minutes had passed.

Salvador Dali’s Melting CLock

At Bob’s suggestion asked online what the deal is. Seems Windows 11 is having massive trouble with these updates. Well that does not help me WRITE TODAY!! Turned off computer. When I turned it back on updates started all over. At the moment 63%. So here I am writing on the laptop. Perhaps this is planned practice for when we travel?

Then I thought of this quote and found it on https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-emotional-footprint/201602/man-plans-and-god-laughs

“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” is an old Yiddish adage meaning, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” Despite our most careful planning, the Road of Life is unpredictable.

Saul Levine, M.D.

Things will have to be cleaned up on this post for certain! And then updates worked and I am back on the desktop. Yikes. I am not in charge of this blog. Each day I give it over to the Lord. I ask Him to bless the content and the readers, that is you!

We all get frustrated and irritable when things do not go our way. My goal is to shorten the time when this happens and get back to putting my attention upon Jesus as quickly as possible. As Thomas R. Kelly wrote,

Lapses and forgettings are so frequent. When you catch yourself again, lose no time in self-recriminations, but breath a silent prayer for forgiveness and begin again, just where you are.

The Light Within

Would you try that right now? Read the quote above and give yourself a moment to do it. Breath a silent prayer and begin again with Him who loves you best.

Offer this broken worship to Him and say: “This is what I am except Thou aid me.”

The Light Within

I usually pray, “Left to myself I will always mess it up.” Jesus said, “Of myself I can do nothing.” John 5:30a

Help me remember, Lord

As lawn guys go thundering past my window I pray you will keep me focused upon You, Lord God. Help me stay in Your Presence regardless of what the day brings or does not bring. I agree with Kelly, “we are owned men and women.” Have Your own way in and through me. Amen.

Posted on in Prayer

Praying for Florida

The opening image is “Hurricane Ian is seen in a satellite image at 9:10 a.m. ET on Sept. 26, 2022.”

The prayer requests here are collecting for Hurricane Ian and the Florida residents. As of today I am praying for people in Destin, Santa Rosa, Clearwater, Boca Grande, and Naples.

Since weather forecasters try to tell us what might happen, we all know they have no control over the actual weather. Please join me in prayer for those who may be hit by this storm.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Family, Just do it, Listen, Music, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Known and Unknown

I believe one reason we fear silence and stillness is we do not want to know ourselves and what God has to say about us. If we could only trust Him in a small way we would learn that He loves us more than we love ourselves. In fact, He treasures and adores us.

The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

Zephaniah 3:17 NRSV
Stefan Kunze Upsplash

The writings of Oswald Chambers contained in the book noted below were excerpted from articles published by God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. The articles were taken from his classroom lectures and Bible studies and published in the school’s periodical God’s Revivalist.

What does the Bible mean when it says to be an example to the flock of God? You must be a walking example of what you believe, in every moment of your life, known and unknown. You must bear the scrutiny of God until you prove that you are indeed a specimen of what He can do. Then He will send you out to disciple all nations.

Oswald Chambers, September 18 selection from “Devotions for a Deeper Life”

Every moment known and unknown. Things done in secret. I do not think this refers just to shameful things. Our deepest wounds are often kept private. The healing the Lord may give from those wounds is also usually given in private. The deep formation of a disciple usually takes place in private.

But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6 NIV

Your Father who sees in secret. He hears every whisper or shout of a prayer. Your Father knows you inside and out. He will not require that you share with others what He does in your secret place of prayer. There may however, come a time when you want to shout His work from the rooftops.

Matt Hanns Upsplash

Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured my attention writing in The Cost of Discipleship when he emphasized that we each walk alone with God.

Every man is called separately and must follow alone. 

Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, Discipleship and the Individual

Many of us admire other Christians but we know little or nothing about what it takes for them to be public Christians. We have no clue what happens between them and the Trinity in private. No idea the depth of their wounds or the strength of the healing times the Lord has sent to them. All most often occur in private.

You interact with your Father in a private place, even if you are kneeling in a sanctuary packed with other people. We can share our experiences with others but we are essentially alone with Christ in our walk. Yes, He encourages fellowship with those who are like minded, but in the final analysis we are each alone with Him. He reads our heart. He corrects our course. He convicts us when we go astray. He gives us His righteousness. He suffered and died for our salvation and for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV)

Public, private, the deepest things occur in a private place with your Holy Trinity God.

Steffany Gretzinger in her song “Forever Amen” sums it up for me. “I was made to love You. Let me hear the sound of Your voice…”

I would strongly encourage you that when you hear the sound of His voice, go running to a quiet place. Listen up! For unlike human parents, the Father does not waste His breath. He speaks to us with power, love, meaning and transformative powers.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Be Astonished

To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

During an evening walk with Lucky, when I was way beyond tired, delightfully astonished to find this praying mantis on a neighbor’s car.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4: 4-7 NIV

Present even your fatigue! Keep watching for those treasures in plain sight! Reminders of His care and the glory of His creation.

Praying Mantis outside office window at last home