Month: January 2011 (Page 3 of 3)

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

There are times when we feel spiritually dry and we need a place of replenishment to quench our thirst; a place that gives life when all around us is desert. An example from the Bible is of Hagar when she fled from Sarai and found a spring in the desert..  This well was called Beer La Hai Roi meaning “The well of God who lives and who sees me”.  She found a God who listened to her and saw here and spoke to her. We have a God who sees us and hears us and is already waiting for us when we go to the well. We need these wells so we don’t stop seeing the God who sees us, stop speaking to the God who hears us, stop hearing from the God who speaks to us. The author goes on to share about the 4 wells of Worship, Word of God, prayer and community. More tomorrow.

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

Jesus is the Man for All Seasons. Even when we are in a winter season, our joy is only thinly hinged on circumstances.  When we go through suffering it can make us either sweeter and softer or sour and harder.  We are told to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we can do this only if He is with us and for us in all things and at all times. He is with us in the loneliest places and can help us capture our thoughts.  In Philippians we are told to hold on and to press on, in other words to persevere. The reward of our perseverance is fullness, hope, fruitfulness, and participation in His nature. When we lack perseverance we are blind and can’t see the big picture from God’s perspective.

Even when we get knocked down, let us get up and remember He is faithfully by our side and let us Persevere!

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

God has set eternity in our hearts and it stirs our deepest longings. It’s like a homing device right in the middle of us. If you are wondering why you are restless it could be your “homing” devise triggering.  Sometimes we mistake our heavenly desire for earthly ones and think we need a new marriage, new job, new church etc. We can fantasize that moving on, and finding something new and beautiful will remedy the ache in side. It might for a short time but then we will be disappointed as it will leave us aching more and more. Eternity is in our hearts. God’ planted a seed of heaven inside of us. We can’t fill it with things but rather on things unseen. The author says he doesn’t think anyone is in danger of being so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, but rather they have become so earthly minded they are not useful to heaven or earth. So let us fix our eyes on Him and eternity that is awaiting us!

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

The author compares our .spiritual lives to that of trees that have a cycle of growth and dormancy. Trees grow seasonally, ring by ring, and that line that marks the ring is the boundary of that season’s growth. We too have seasons of growth and flourishing, followed by a season of dormancy.  Some springs and summers are going to have the right combination of sun and rain, good soil and good climate. Other springs and summers may be dry and scorching, so growth will be stunted.   But unlike trees we can choose where we set our roots. The best choice is near water-as it says in Ps. 1 to delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night.  We have the choice to draw our nourishment from the wicked or from the Word. If we choose the Word, we will be blessed and continuously nourished. Let us be like “a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever you do prospers”.! Even winter can’t destroy us then.

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

As we think of the seasons there is a varying duration and intensity of light from summer to winter. Season to season light waxes and wanes, lengthens and shortens. In spiritual matters we are more apt to seek the light in the hard seasons than the easy ones. When we are most light starved we are most hungry for the light. A good example is Paul and Silas who were in the lowest darkest cell of jail. They had been mobbed, beaten, and shackled, for freeing a slave girl in captivity to an evil spirit.  They could have complained but instead they sang and praised and prayed.  Thankfulness was their testimony!  Maybe their gratitude to God had more to do with influencing the jailer’s family and the prisoners than a sermon!  When are told to give thanks in all things and for all things. That doesn’t mean we pretend that everything in our life is good. It means trusting God that He is able and willing to work all things, event the worst things, together for good.  Let us make a daily practice of being thankful, starting with the small things.  As we do this we will see the world differently and more of our life will look and feel like pure gift. Let us walk in the light!

Devotions based on  Mark Buchanan’s book Spiritual Rhythms
Paul tells us “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”  But how do we do that? It’s all about walking in the light and living there.  Jesus is the Light and light calls for response.  It calls for faith—choosing to believe in Him and to put our full weight in the gift of God. It calls for facing up-choosing to come into the light, to bring our whole selves into the searching brightness of it.  Light exposes and light heals. We may be drawn to the light by the promise of healing. But many flee from it because of the exposure and love for darkness. Why do we think we are better off hiding than confessing, avoiding rather than facing, clinging to our sickness rather than taking the remedy that is available?  In every circumstance there is the light and the dark. May we have grace to choose the light and to please Him above all.

Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book Spiritual Rhythms

When we say we love the King, we must remember that He rules a kingdom.  Are we concerned about advancing His kingdom or are we more concerned about our own.  Jesus often said the kingdom is at hand and He invites us to join Him by believing, repenting, and putting His kingdom first. That doesn’t mean we become busier or build bigger churches, but that we bear fruit for His kingdom where He wills for us. It may not be so visible because His kingdom is hidden often and no one knows where it comes from or where it’s going, just like the Spirit. The Kingdom belongs to the least of these and its secrets are revealed to children.  His kingdom can shine through the mundane and show up in a conversation we may be having with a cashier. It can happen with a co-worker who irritates us. It happens where God’s goodness, kindness and peace is chosen over the alternative!  Maybe God has put us beside someone to help him find the King!  Let us not miss the opportunities and put His kingdom first!

Devotions based on Michael Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

We are continually being invited into greater rootedness with the Lord. The abiding or the rootedness, comes first, or else the fruit tends to be plastic: pretty to look at but bad for nourishment and taste.

Seems like in the winter season of our lives, faith grows deeper and it is also a season for pruning and cutting back those branches that are just leafy but not bearing fruit.  What’s in our soil, or lacking in it, might be weakening our roots and choking our fruit too. Let us ask ourselves what poisons may need scouring out?  False beliefs?  Childhood wounds? Old tapes? Etc.  Root work is important because it gets down to what feeds our hearts.  It is digging under the surface to either remove toxins or to mix in nutrients that will create flourishing.  As we get rid of the toxins we may need to mix in the nutrients of grace, truth, forgiveness, thankfulness etc. Let us bear fruit that is hardy and sweet which comes from sharing His life, His thoughts, His attitudes.

Devotions based on Michael Buchanan’s book, Spiritual Rhythms

Every preposition is important as we read our Bibles and it shades the meaning one way or another. Jesus said you must abide in me, and I must abide in you. Being in Christ is the essence of the loving, transforming relationship He invites us to enjoy. “In-ness” defines the shape of our Christian identities, abilities, destinies. In Philippians alone Paul uses the phrase “in Christ”  18 times …..stand firm in Him, rejoice in Him, hope in Him, glory in Him, have all our needs met in Him etc.  When we fully embrace the life of “in-ness”, all is well and we have peace and bear fruit.  When we don’t our lives become anxious and unfruitful.  The only fruit that glorifies God stems from our abiding in Him and He in us.  Let us align our thoughts, words, deeds with His heart as we enter a new year!