PRAYING SCRIPTURE I learned how to pray Scripture from Jeanne Guyon, a 17th Century Christian mystic. For example, read the Parable of the Tenants in Luke 20:9-18. It’s a rather straightforward story of a king who planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers, and then went away. He sent three different servants at three […]
AN APPOINTMENT WITH GOD I attend a noon prayer gathering at our church on Mondays when I’m in town. At this last Monday’s session, a woman named Ellen casually used the term “an appointment with God” when mentioning what I thought was her morning prayer time. At the conclusion of a robust time of prayer, […]
DYING TO SELF It is this dying to self that is so difficult. That great mystic, John the Apostle, lived his life here on earth as if he were made for a different world. And he was, as we all are. In the beginning was the Word, and in the end is the Word, whom […]
SOLITUDE You can’t add a desire to be closer to God on top of a busy life. He won’t fit where there is no space. You need to take something out to let Him in. You need to say “no” to parts of your life and put in the “yes” of Jesus Christ. It might […]
EXTREME WEATHER I watch World News Tonight every evening at 5:30 p.m. For the past two months, the breaking news has included a segment on extreme weather every broadcast, sometimes the lead story. Bitter cold, tons of snow, ice storms, torrential rains and flooding, high winds and tornadoes, vast fires. It does not stop, night […]
MY SUBARU AND THE HOLY SPIRIT I love my Subaru. When my car touches the center line to the left, it warns me with a beep, as it does with the edge line on the right. It keeps me between the lines and in the correct lane. If I start backing up and something is […]
THE GOD OF A THOUSAND CHANCES “Today is the day I will pray at every turn,” I have vowed more mornings than I can count. To me, this means to pray whenever I stop doing one thing and turn to another. But then I forget mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or after supper; and give up for that […]
WHAT WOULD JESUS HAVE ME DO HERE? I think it no accident that Judas betrays Jesus in the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew and Peter disowns Him ten verses later. Judas knew who Jesus was and conspired to rid the earth of Him for monetary gain. Peter only wanted to distance himself from Jesus so he […]
THE END OF OUR SELF SUFFICIENCY The secret of knowing God’s complete sufficiency is in coming to an end of everything in ourselves and our circumstances…stop seeking sympathy for our difficult situations…it is a necessary condition for blessings…then we will turn from our circumstance to God. – Streams in the Desert, April 8 I copied […]
PRAYING TREES I am looking out the patio doors of our timeshare on Pelican Lake in Brainerd, Minnesota. The water is perfectly calm and three tall trees are lifting their branches to heaven as if to say, “Bless us and keep us, O Lord; be gracious to us and give us peace.” I feel like […]