October 2, 2024

Dear Ones,

Hope you will have a wonderful day! Kurt will be stopping by on his way to the lake today. I am going to do food prep and go to my exercise class and Crafts and later Mark is coming here from the Lake and will spend a couple more days with us.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

As we seek to follow the Lord, there are practices that can help us become more like Him and I would like to share some spiritual disciplines that John Mark Comer mentions in his book, Practicing the Way. These disciplines are “acts of loving obedience by which we offer our brokenness and bondage to God for healing and liberation.” (quote by Dr. Robert Mulholland).     1. Sabbath Rest. After working 6 days, doesn’t rest sound heavenly? If Jesus rested after creating the world, surely, He means to us to keep the Sabbath rest. Most of us are over-busy and need a day set aside to stop and rest and open our hearts to worship and delight in Him.

2. Solitude is also an important discipline and opens the way for us to commune with the Lord. Both Al and I are contemplative and spend time in quiet solitude each day. We all need those times to commune with the Lord.

3.Prayer is so important as we talk to God about everything that touches our life and also spend time listening and just enjoy being in His presence.

4. Fasting seems more difficult for as we yield our bodies to the Lord, we are breaking the power of our flesh and opening up to the power of the Spirit, as He increases our capacity to hear Him.

5. Scripture is an important way to be renewed in our minds and to think and feel like the Lord does. We can study and read slowly and prayerfully, out loud or alone, or listen to sermons etc.

6.Community is important for we learn so much in relationships to others who know Him. One church in Mora, MN has a fellowship over a meal each Sunday after the service for all to come.

 7. Generosity is our response to the outflow of God’s love and self-giving to us. As we give to others, we become participants in that divine outflow and experience great joy.

  8. Service to others gives us the opportunity to follow Jesus’ example in giving. It seems our own hearts get mended and freed of entitlement as we help and practice servanthood.

9. Witness is an important spiritual discipline for when Jesus left to go to heaven, his last words to us was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them His commands. (Matt. 28:19-20) Our privilege is to tell others, and we will find our own hearts warmed and enlarged as we do.

Challenge for today: Choose one of the spiritual disciplines to put into practice today.