Month: May 2011 (Page 3 of 4)

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, This Sacred  Moment

How do we discern the Spirit’s presence in our lives?  Sometimes we forget to give full rein to the Spirit and to follow His lead, and not our own. “A selfless response to God’s call in this sacred moment is a reliable indicator that we are living in the Spirit and stoking the Spirit’s fire in our lives.” Whether we are talking about Spiritual formation or spirituality, the H.S. plays a decisive role. Isn’t it neat that God gifts us with His Spirit without measure?  Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and that also means freedom from the ego and freedom for the enrichment of others and the community. The life lived in the Spirit is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit found in Gal. 5. The first 5 traits are the fruit of selflessness.  TO live in the Spirit is to experience a life of joy and peace that is rooted deep within our hearts, not just superficial exuberance.  Patience is another trait that expands our hearts. It gives us the ability to accept delay or tolerate trouble and suffering with trustful surrender.  It also is expressed in the willingness to persevere and persist. Gentleness is another fruit found in those who no longer have to get their way or control and manipulate. It is putting everything into God’s hands and saying, “Let it be done to me according to your will.”  Self-control is about interior freedom instead of being weighed down by ego demands. How freeing it is when we can become empty of self and let His joy, peace, patience, gentleness and self-control be expressed in our lives.

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, This Sacred Moment

At the heart of Jesus teaching is denying and losing one’s life for the sake of others. A good example is Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity. As a priest, Haase never met women so committed to a life of such self-lessness for the sake of others. He experienced joy and happiness just being with them and seeing their lives of compassion and concern for others. As they imitated Christ’s example they were freed from the selfishness of the ego.
Jesus also reminds us the uselessness of worry and anxiety .( Matt. 6:25-34)  and to trustfully surrender to what is before us in this present moment.  Faith overcomes fear and anxiety as it is focused on the Lord and not the ego. We are told to selflessly respond to the present moment when our ego would rather postpone a response because of personal inconvenience etc. But we need to be watchful for an encounter with God in any and every ordinary moment. Let us be selflessly open to Him in this sacred moment.

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, This Sacred Moment

I wonder how often we are hindered from responding to God’s call in our lives by an emotional attachment to self-concern, self-image, Self-gratification, or self-preservation.When we are self-concerned we are focused on ourselves and our own interests that obstruct a selfless response to what is sacred in this moment. At the time we might ask ourselves, What’s in it for me? And then if we don’t like the answer we decide not to respond at all.An excessive focus on our self-image can also hinder us. We might have an over-concern for what people think of us and not be our true self. It gives God great pleasure when we become what He created us to be rather than duplicating someone else’s path to holiness.When our ego is invested in Self-gratification, it may show up in and indulgent lifestyle that lacks self-control or is fixated on pleasure, power and possessions. It is the opposite of self-emptying for the sake of others. Sometimes we must meet the need of the sacred moment by stepping out in faith immediately at great risk. It may not be convenient but we need to be on God’s time table. When Jesus called the disciples they left their nets and responded on the spot!Another ego obstacle to selfless openness is its obsession with self-preservation. We are afraid of losing control and of moving beyond our comfort zone, as the ego strives for safety and comfort. But God calls us beyond what is comfortable, pleasant and easy and challenges us. The rich man that came to Jesus was possessed by his own possessions and didn’t respond to Jesus invitation. We have a choice we can be like Peter who got out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus and be a wave-walker. Or we can choose the other alternative to be a deck-hugger. The first way is freedom from the ego and openness to God’s call to us!

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, This Sacred Moment

The spiritual practice of ongoing discernment is often intuitive and we may ask ourselves what would Jesus do and how would He do it? We are told to be awake, be watchful and the author names 3 practices that help us to be alert.

1. Prayer. Daily consistent prayer is so important and helps us be aware of the closeness and call of God in our everyday ordinary lives.  We need to be attentive not just when God may speak in our prayer time but also afterwards…our daily devotional time should drain into our daily activity!  2. Spiritual direction. It is helpful to meet with a spiritual director to share how we are seeing God and hearing His voice in the midst of our joys and struggles, what we are hearing and learning in our prayer times, clarification when needed etc. Each of us has a unique path to holiness and sometimes we need help to hear and respond to God’s voice. 3. Trustful surrender. This is more difficult as we accept and trustfully surrender to whatever happens at each moment. Our ego will protest as it wants to control and manipulate the present moment into a circumstance more agreeable and less stressful. But as we trustfully respond to our present situation rooted in the belief that “all things work together for good for those who love God, (Rom. 8:28) we experience His grace and grow in holiness.

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, This Sacred Moment

As Christians we need discernment to hear God’s voice not only for our major decisions but also in our daily everyday lives. Discernment is like a pair of glasses that corrects the vision of our ego with all its self-concerns.   It is constantly assessing each sacred moment and wanting to know what Jesus would do and how He would do it. Three important principles are:

1. The building blocks of His kingdom are the duties and responsibilities of our present state in life.  As we make good decisions freely and wisely in good faith, it will lay the foundation for the Lordship of Christ in our lives. Our ego tells us to go somewhere else, perhaps an exotic place, and that we cannot become holy in our present situation. But the present moment is sacred and our part is to empty ourselves for the benefit of others.
2. Holiness is orientated toward a healthy lifestyle, not a lifestyle that is destructive and unhealthy. We need to pay attention to the issues of our sleep, food, exercise, and leisure, as well as, our emotional health and psychological stability. Sometimes we grow up feeling God’s call will be undesirable and we will become a doormat for someone else. Healthy Christians cannot give what they do not have so we need to pay attention to our own needs too..
3. Ongoing discernment requires a commitment to a church community. Christian holiness is not a solitary and individualistic affair.  We are to be united into a Christian community with its responsibilities and opportunities for outreach. As we worship together and reach out, we experience the depth of His will and ways. When we ignore church leadership and are individualistic in our faith we miss the wisdom of the community.  ,

Yes, we can become holy right where we are and let us be open to discerning His voice to our hearts.

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, The Sacred Moment

The call of God is like a knock on the door of the present moment in which we find ourselves.  Maybe it is a desire to do a good deed that seemed to come out of nowhere, or a word of advice or encouragement by our spouse etc. Our response to such knocks shows how close we are to God and holiness. Unfortunately, we are often unaware of that knock until we look back and reflect in hindsight. God’s knock can be loud or so soft that it is like an intuitive feeling.

God is always knocking on the door of our experience, and if we live in selfless openness we will have our hand on the doorknob ready and willing to take time to open it. Every time we choose to empty ourselves as Christ did, we enrich the life of another and help His kingdom come. We are coworkers for His kingdom and we are on a mission. We need to ask ourselves: What does my commitment to Christ challenge me to do right where I am?  What is the unmet need of this sacred moment and how would Jesus respond to it. “A Christian without a sense of mission is a stunted Christian.”

Devotions based on Albert Haase’s book, Te Sacred Moment

Just like the man who changed a flat tire for an elderly woman he didn’t know, holiness is about selfless openness and response to God’s call in the present moment.  Holiness is the lifelong journey out of slavery to our own ego to looking beyond ourselves, our concerns, our interests, and our worries.  It begins with selflessness. “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.( Phil 2:4) The ego wants to control and manipulate everything and everyone within its range of influence. But instead, a selfless openness will respond to whatever the present moment is asking of us. This is an invitation from God to forget ourselves and enrich the life of another. It should be the motivating force and insight behind our selfless acts. We can see why every moment is sacred for it is an expression of God’s will for us. His call to us might be to meet a neighbor’s need, to change a tire for a stranger, to send money to a mission etc. It can be challenging when the present moment might call us to uproot and move or let go of something we cherish.  Like Abraham Let us be alert to what is going on around us so that we don’t miss His calling for us in each moment!

Devotions based on Albert  Haase’s book This Sacred Moment

This book is all about becoming holy right where we are. It is hard to find the words to really describe what it means to be a holy person but we can think of people who exemplify a holy life;  Dietrich BonHoeffer, Eliszabeh Fry, Mother Teresa and others. The dictionary says holy means, “devoted to the service of God; saints and holy men.”  Jesus command is to love God and our neighbor, and the Sermon on the Mount gives us a lot of ways to put that into action. The beatitudes attack the agenda of our ego which focuses on our self-concern, self-image, self-gratification and self-preservation. We all need to make a choice between the false attractions of the world (earthly treasures) and the eternal ( treasures of heaven).  If we chose heavenly treasures it means putting our concerns in the hands of God and trusting He will meet our needs. We are challenged to be nonjudgmental and to treat others as we want to be treated. We are not to love only in words but in actions. The flesh life ( Gal. 5:16-26) is consumed with the agenda of the ego and may lead to addictions, to seeing others as competitors and rivals, to outrageous demands, to putting exaggerated emotional investment in possessions etc. But the life of the Spirit blossoms with love and the fruit of the Spirit. Life according to the Spirit is a selfless life that forms the heart of holiness.

Devotions based on Scot McKnight’s book, One.Life

 As followers Jesus we are called to repent and have real behavioral change in our lives. That doesn’t mean just feeling bad about our sins but turning around 180 degrees and starting over by living justly and lovingly. Think about it: we may say we are sorry to our friend for gossiping about him but we must quit talking behind his back!  Concrete change! Our behavior should reveal His love!  Also, to be His follower means embracing the cross every day –to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. ( Luke9:23) That will affect every dimension of our lives.  Scot makes 5 suggestions to live the cross-life. 1. Talk to God constantly by worshiping God and by seeking His will and by interceding for others. 2.Listen to God constantly. Listen to what God says to us as we read the Word and die to our voice to hear His. 3. Commit to kingdom work locally by asking the Spirit to empower us and by entering into fellowship with others. 4. Keep Jesus’ Kingdom vision before us all the time. …Love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and our neighbor as our selves. 5. Tell others about Jesus rather than talking about ourselves all the time. We have only One Life…may it count for Him