The List

I pray for strangers on line at a prayer ministry web site.  I always ask for the Holy Spirit to help me with this, because often I find myself unable to focus as I should.  My own cares and distractions leak through the cracks in my concentration and I can only hope that God understands my human frailty enough to hear my prayers anyway.  Other times I really feel the power of God's presence and I am able to lose myself and lift up the needs of the people I am praying for.

Then every so often I come across a prayer request that kind of makes me smile to myself, and although I have taken a vow to "pray without judgment" on this site,  I occasionally shake my head a little.  Like today.  There was a request that listed, and I mean a numbered list, ten requests for their life.  That's not a bad thing, I kind of liked it because it helped me with my focus problem.  The person was following Jesus' instruction to pray specifically for what we need.  But as I neared the end of the list I did that little smile thing when I saw requests for "new cars" (yes plural) and big job promotions and houses (again plural). 

When I see things like that, I wonder if I am supposed to actually pray for those things exactly as requested.  I can't seem to do it.  Instead I find myself praying that God will provide for all the person's needs.  And I also pray for God's presence in their lives and a closer relationship with Him. The list just seems more like a child's Christmas wish list for Santa Claus than a prayer. 

So today I pray for wisdom in praying for others.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will indeed take over where I am at a loss to know how to pray.  I pray for compassion and mercy as I read the most intimate prayers of strangers, and I pray that we all come to be brothers and sisters in Christ, and pray for each other, lifting each other up every day into the Light of God's care and wisdom.
And I hope that's not too much of a list.

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Another Word

I said yesterday that my "one word" to focus on and live by in 2012 is balance.
Today I have another word to focus on.  I seem to need this word today.  The word is light.

I have been troubled by a nagging darkness in my mind.  Some sort of worry and dread.  I know it's job-related.  I fear I have not done enough. I fear trying something new.  I fear that I will disappoint.  I fear that I have blown opportunities with inaction.
I know that fear is wrong.  So today I will remember the word light.

I read a very helpful piece by Norman Vincent Peale today that reminded me of God's light.  God's light dissipates any kind of darkness we experience.  So today I will bring my fears out of the darkness and into the Light.  Please help me, Lord, to do this.
Thank you.

My Word for 2012

I recently read an article in Guideposts magazine by author Debbie Macomber that talked about choosing one word at the beginning of each year to "focus on and live by" throughout that year.   Some of Debbie's former words have been trust, brokenness, and hope. I had never heard of this practice, but since reading the article I have run across several more references to it, including author Julie Garmon, another Daily Guideposts contributor whose blog I have recently found.  She chooses a word too, and this year her word is surrender. (Ah yes, I know that one well.)  It seemed like a good idea to me.

 For 2012 I have chosen the word balance.  (Or it has chosen me.)

 I need to keep myself in check so that I don't run off in one direction for too long and with too great an intensity.  I sometimes get lost in a project, or internet search, or some sort of worry, or any number of other things and then find that I have used up too much of my time on that one thing, neglecting other equally important things.  So I need to balance out my days, and my concentration.

This really needs to be a conscious effort on my part.  In particular, I tend to neglect physical activities and instead pursue cerebral ones.  I neglect household duties in favor of creative pursuits. I put off personal contact with friends and family and stay inside my own head.  None of this is healthy, and I pray to God that He will help me with balance this year.

Lord, please teach me to balance work with play,
balance solitude with connection,
balance mental with physical,
and balance prayer with action.
In Jesus' powerful name, through whom all things are possible,
Amen

End of the Year Thoughts

We are nearing the end of another calendar year.  Although the sun sets on December 31 and rises again on January 1st, as it does every evening and every morning, still there is something spiritual about the new beginning.  The calendar year helps me mark a good opportunity for renewal.

Lord, help me to turn over the hourglass and begin again my commitment to You and all that You have ordered for my life. As the sand begins to sift yet again through the glass, make me new.  Help me to take courage, and to renew my strength.

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Thanksgiving

I must keep reminding myself,
God is not my personal Genie.
I don't get to keep Him for myself
to tend to my personal needs
and be at the top of His to-do list.
God's blessings are not just for me.
Christ died to make sure that God is
for everyone.

And while it is true that we are all
beloved by God,
none of us is "special" to Him.
If we believe we are "special"
then we don't know God at all.
Lord help me to remember that.
Help me to treat all your children with
the same Love and Mercy that You do.
Thanksgiving indeed.
Thank you Lord for the most precious blessing of all.
That You are.
Your name is "I am that I am".
Thank you for being.

All Things Are Made New

Some kind of  thought keeps trying to form in my brain.  Some kind of Truth of God's Kingdom. And the thought is, it's all about your mind.  What you hold in your mind.  "The Kingdom of God is within you."   "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."  "All things are made new".

All things are made new when we choose to be in Christ and see things according to his nature, not ours.   Let's face it, our attitudes are determined by how we choose to view things.   The key word is "choose".

 Angry because of lack?  Or grateful for what we have?  
Sad and desperate because of an ending?  Or hopeful and joyous at the prospect of a new beginning?  
Fearful because of an uncertain future?  Or calm and peaceful because we know God is a faithful Father?

Some days it seems impossible to control our thoughts.  Fear seems so much stronger and bigger than faith when we're caught fast in our tangled ball of troubles. 

But God truly is bigger than all our fears.  Jesus didn't just suggest that we calm down.  He commanded it:

"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear." (Luke 12:22)
"Do not worry about tomorrow." (Matthew 6:34)
"Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me." (John 14:1)

He instructs us, he tells us, "don't let.."  That means we have control over it.
I believe that in the middle of trouble, we can disengage ourselves from the trauma by filling our minds with the glory and promise of God, displacing the fear with faith.  The situation may still exist for awhile, but with practiced faith thoughts, I truly believe we can ease the anxiety, ease the fear, and watch God untangle the yarn of trouble. 

Dear God, please help me remember that you "have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."  Please help everyone who is looking to you for hope today. 
In Jesus' Holy Name,
Amen

What is True?

Just when I find one more answer, I have twenty more questions.
Is the Bible all true? 
Yes, the Bible is all true.
Is it all literal?  All factual?
Ah, there's the question.
True it is.  But Truth is bigger than facts. 
I can't just go knee-deep into the Bible and take it at the literal level.
I have to jump in and totally immerse myself in it to see the Truth it reveals.
If everything we need to know is written down in the Bible, then why did Jesus send the Holy Spirit to explain more to us?  To teach us more about Him? 
I think we make a big mistake when we take the Bible so literally that we are afraid to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and learn more.  And that's More with a capital M.  Divine More. 
I never doubt where the Bible points.  It points to God, the Creator, the one and only God of the universe.
And the entire Bible leads us to Jesus, who shows us the very nature of God. 

I once heard a Christian radio show where the famous host made a statement I'll never forget.  He said, concerning the Bible, "Focus on the essentials, not the incidentals."

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