Monday, September 17, 2012

Sep 16-23


Monday: Genesis 37
Tuesday: 1 Samuel 8
Wednesday: Psalm 62
Thursday: Isaiah 66
Friday: Malachi 3
Saturday: Matthew 2
Sunday Hebrews 6

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Psalm 62:1. "I wait quietly before God..."

..."let all that I am wait quietly before God." v5

"God has spoken plainly and I have heard it many times." v11 a

..."pour out your heart to Him." v8

listening prayer and bucket prayer. two things I learned about, experienced and was blessed by at camp this year. I am learning to exercise them in my life.

"if your wealth increases, don't make it the center of your life." v10b

the center of your life, what a simpler way to look at idolatry. Like Driscoll says, what things do my thoughts, emotions, free time and spending money center on? Those are the things that are most likely to be or become idols in my own life. So helpful.

Denise said...

Psalm 62
It is tempting to use honor, power, wealth, or prestige to measure people. We may even think that such people are really getting ahead in life. But on God’s scales, these people are “lighter than a breath of air.” What, then, can tilt the scales when God weighs us? Trusting God and working for him. Wealth, honor, power, or prestige add nothing to our value in God’s eyes; only the faithful work we do for him has eternal value.

Denise said...

Can you define listening prayer and bucket prayer? I'm curious!

Unknown said...

"...but those who choose their own ways... will not have their offerings accepted."

was just talking to the kids about this during family devotions yesterday. How our obedience and surrender are the cornerstones of our intimacy of God. When we go our own way, we choose, in essence, to distance ourselves from God and remove ourselves from His protection and blessing. We can "offer" whatever sacrifices come easy to us (go to church, tithe, whatever) but God desires a surrendered heart and actions that prove it.

Unknown said...

Malachi 3 "For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross." vv2-3

this gets my awe-odometer humming. Can you imagine standing before Him... all things small and insignificant withering instantaneously like singed eyebrows before a fire and only What Really Matters remaining? Wow. What a picture for the mindset I should choose to live in today and every day.

Unknown said...

Mat 2. Going to be pondering Herod today. His being "deeply disturbed" by the news of the birth of Jesus. Makes me realize how when we truly understand God's sovereignty, truly understand our position in Him, truly understand His Lordship in our lives, there is no place for disturbance. We will live at rest that He is in control, that whatever happens, good, bad or in between will bring us one step further on the path He has chosen for us, and that life is not about attaining or maintaining any certain position or status, it is about walking hand in hand with God each step of the way, through the wind and the rain and the joy and the pain.

Unknown said...

Okay, I finally have time to actually reply to your question about the listening prayer and the bucket prayer, Denise. Sorry, weekday mornings are too rushed and then I would get distracted by a million things as the days wore on.

Listening prayer. Coming before God empty and silent. Not trying to think of things to say, actually trying to NOT think. To quieten your heart and remove distraction so that you can "tune in" to the presence and power of God. That may sound "twilight zoneish" but it's very simple, it's just putting into practice the verse "be still and know that I am God." and instead of coming to God with the expectation to talk to Him, we come with the expectation to hear from him and be open to any of multiple different ways He may want to do that. Through thoughts, through scripture, through bringing the words of a song or a memory to mind, or a visual.

Bucket prayer. The way I understood this was visualizing Prayer like a bucket, you pour your words into it, almost like you can just up-chuck into a pail and feel relief that it went where it was supposed to go and not splat all over the bed or the floor. But last night I was at a seminar where Boyd was speaking and he actually brought the bucket up again but was referring to it as the words being the bucket and we need to pour our heart into the words. Very different visual but both are very effective with me. Sometimes I just need to upchuck and be purged, sometimes I need to force myself to admit, pray certain things that I am not "feeling" but that I am willing to be made willing.... so I need to pray the words and have the will to be made willing, to pour my heart into them.

Hope that makes sense.