Lord, I often find myself not taking time to spend with You because I’m so busy with personal and worldly affairs. I let things distract me from what is really important.
In order to grow closer to You on a daily basis, I need to avoid some of the distractions and entanglements of the world. I need to be less focused on the stresses and cares that come up over the course of each day because they distract me from Your will and purpose for my life.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise.
“My prayer for you, Jack, is that, through an ongoing communication with God, you’ll fall in love with Jesus. And you’ll see Him as the King in your life and relish His goodness, faithfulness, and wonderful direction for you. Then you’ll find strength and wisdom for every turn in your path throughout every day.
“When you become a man of prayer, your communication with the Lord will become your first instinct in every situation. I pray that, in time, it will never occur to you not to pray. Now do you understand what it means to pray continually?”
From Finding the Safest Place on Earth, my latest book.
Before the service started last Sunday (Father’s Day), I sensed God might be sending me into a new ministry.
“Where do You want me to serve You, Lord,” I asked.
“On your knees,” He answered.
The battle in my heart can only be won through Christ’s work within me, remaking my desires, rewiring my mind, and renewing my heart. It’s hard to put Jesus first. I desire to hide God’s truth in my soul, but the world and my interaction with it want to be first instead.
Christ, who loved me first, will also help me put Him first thing in my day, my thinking, and my life.
I first met Daniel (not his real name) in a Gideons Bible Study at my county jail one Sunday in 2015. He was in custody for an unspeakable crime he’d been committing for the past year. He shuffled through the door of the small meeting room with his head down as I was explaining salvation to the six men in the room.
I turned and asked him if he were a born-again Christian. He said, “I’d like to be, but I need to forgive myself first.” I told him I’d great news for him. It was God who’d forgive him, not himself. I continued explaining salvation and led the seven men through the ABCs of being born again – Admitting your sinful nature and your many sins, Believing Jesus died for your sins, and Choosing Him as your Savior and Lord.
All the men had their heads down as we prayed the prayer of salvation. When I lifted my head and looked at Daniel, I was amazed. The face of this person, who’d entered the room looking like he’d lost his last friend, was aglow with joy. I’ve never seen anything like it before or up to this day. He’d been redeemed in an instant and his vile sin forgiven.
The Holy Spirit led me to start meeting with Daniel during the remaining time he had in the county jail. I wanted to make sure Daniel was really born-again and to disciple him in his new faith. The courts gave him a twelve-year sentence for what he did. He’d serve eight years and be on parole for four.
Daniel has been calling me at least once a month from prison for the last eight years. The Holy Spirit took him on as a project, and his faith has grown exponentially. Again, I have never seen anything like his transformation. It encourages me to see how faithful Jesus is to someone who has a close personal relationship with Him.
Last night, Daniel called me from prison for the last time. This very morning he is being released and will be living in a Department of Corrections facility to start his parole before he moves on to his own housing.
Hallelujah! God has been faithful to this wayward son who asked to be redeemed eight years ago. Daniel is now both redeemed from his sins and released from the prison system that kept him captive for eight years. Last night he told me he was filled with joy but also anxious as he enters back into society. You could pray about that anxiety if the Holy Spirit moves you to do so. He’ll need those prayers to get back on his feet.
Why did C. S. Lewis submit himself to the constant demands and badgering of Mrs. Moore (Minto)? Perhaps it was part of his schemata to forget himself, to not think too highly of himself, to be a servant of Christ.
When I can accept every accusation and insult without anger or resentment, then I am in the place where I am in Christ and not in myself or of the world. He is everything. I am nothing.
Faith demands that we act on nothing more than a promise. Faith is illogical; it is unreasonable. It rests on what is unseen and what cannot be calculated by human reason.
Once we hear God’s word, we are to obey it, with no other evidence to direct us, with no other proof to go on. It takes much faith to have faith.
In my five trips to Ireland, I always end up in Dublin, and I always go to Phoenix Park, and I always sit on the same bench on the Khyber Road within the park. This is what I wrote after my first trip in 2016 as I sat on that bench.
Sitting on a White Bench on the Khyber Road
The wind blows from behind me, but I don’t know where it comes from. And it passes by me into the trees on the other side of the pass, but where it goes and if it stops someplace after that, I don’t know.
So it is with the Holy Spirit.
A Beta Reader is someone who reads a new book by an author and gives their take on it. It’s not being an editor or proofreader, which are paid positions. And it’s not purchasing the book or having any other financial requirements.
The name of the book is FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH. It’s a Christian story, without heavy theology, that explores where to find the safest place on earth and how to stay there. Those topics are revealed through a dialogue between an alcoholic named Jack and a mysterious teacher and mentor named Manny. It’s 40,000 words and an easy read.
Most of us have addictions of one kind or another, so the story gives insights to just about anyone, not just alcoholics.
If you’re willing to be a Beta Reader, please contact me at:
patrickday@pyramidpublishers.com
and I’ll send you a manuscript as an attachment to a return email.
Thanks for your consideration.
Patrick Day