growth

Learning to Pray Ceaselessly

eric — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:30:29 -0500

For hundreds of years, Christians have quietly repeated fragments of Scripture or short prayers throughout the day to remain present to God. As the Russian Christian writer Anthony Bloom put it, “God is never absent . . . We complain that He does not make Himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three-and-a-half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer ‘I am busy, I am sorry’ or when we do not answer at all because we do not hear the knock . . . we are a great deal more absent than He ever is.” Having a simple refrain to call upon during the day helps us maintain connection to Christ and tunes the heart to hear him knocking at its door.

In the Crowded Mind: Learning to Pray Without Ceasing By Cameron Lawrence

From the article at InTouch.org

Teach Me Your Ways, O Lord

eric — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:41:15 -0500

Psalm 25:4-5 (ESV)
⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

4,000 Years of Communication with the Heavenly Father

eric — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:57:43 -0500

I was thinking about adoption this morning. How, as Christians, those who acknowledge and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that we have been adopted by the Heavenly Father; that is, God.

The Bible spans approximately 4,000 years of human history and God's interaction with mankind. We have a written account of God's character which remains consistent from one book to another while being written from the perspective of 40 people that penned 66 books that make up the Bible as we have it today.

"⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵ to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[a] Father." ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." — Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)

We have a Heavenly Father that has adopted us as sons and daughters through the final payment for our sins through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have a God that has taken the time, over thousands of years, to get through to mankind; to tell us that He wants a relationship with us.

Don't you think that a God pursuing you and making every effort to get through to you is worth responding to?

Please don't spend all your time waiting for God to "call your phone", so to speak. He already has. He's just waiting for you to respond.

If you just need to respond more often, read your Bible, pray and get involved in a local Bible-studying church.

Just respond.

Don't Stare at Your Meal. Eat it!

eric — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:36:10 -0500

My son has a sweet tooth. Okay, he has a full set of Sweet Teeth. I warmed up the remainder of the baked cinnamon and cream cheese bread breakfast dish my wife makes that we love to eat. My son had eaten his portion, but my daughter, our middle one, hadn't eaten all of her's and said she was finished. My son knew this was a great time to offer to take care of that for her.

Jokingly, I said, "You can't eat that. You just have to sit there and look at it." He smiled, knowing I was kidding him and fixed his eyes on that bowl. It was his sole focus. Of course, I told him to go ahead and he gladly finished it off.

After seeing him staring at that bowl of food, it hit me. How often does give us spiritual food that we just stare at instead of eat? How often do we go to church events, pray for things, hang out with other brothers and sisters in Christ, but we never eat? We never read our Bibles and we aren't consistently applying it to everyday life. We just sit there and stare at the food in the bowl thinking that should tide us over for the week until we can come back and stare at another meal.

A body that doesn't eat doesn't grow, but wastes away. Make sure you eat well this week.

1 Peter 2:2-3
² "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."

Sacrificing Our Needs

eric — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:35:04 -0600

I've learned today that God will ask us to sacrifice when WE are in need, for someone else who is also in need.

He will ask you to give, when what you have to give is what you were depending on; the very object you desperately need.

This leaves you wholly and completely dependent upon Him. You are more open to what He wants for you in your education of who He is and in what way HE wants you to be blessed.

Will I trust him with all I am and all I have?

Will you?

Don't Forget Your Spiritual Breakfast

eric — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:52:50 -0600

I gave the "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" speech to our oldest children this morning when they wanted to pick at their breakfast instead of eat it. (It's frosted mini shredded wheat. What's not to like?)

My proud speech: "Do you know what the most important meal of the day is? Breakfast. You need it to get you going in the morning and help you make it through the day. It will give you energy to run, play, and think. It is very important."

My wife and I got the kids ready and I dropped them off for school as is our priority most mornings. I knew I needed to read my Bible this morning and spend some time with God. In that still quiet voice that he used with Elijah on the mountain, He kept reminding me: "Spend some time with me."

I kept putting that time off for getting some small things done and knew I needed to stop and talk with Him this morning. I stopped what I was doing, and started to read from Nehemiah 1 and how he was in a constant conversation with God through out his day.

Then God used my Breakfast Speech against me:
"Do you know what the most important spiritual meal of the day is? Breakfast. You need time with me to get you going this morning and to help you make it through the day. I will give energy to run, to play and to think about things like you should."

It was an awesome reminder to make time for God, this morning. Now that I've started my spiritual breakfast I need to carry that over with other spiritual meals throughout the day. If I typically eat three physical meals a day and sometimes snack, it doesn't take that much more to do so spiritually, either.

So, don't forget to eat your Spiritual Breakfast and Spiritual Meals today.

It doesn't take much time and your day will have more energy and strength to make it through your day, everyday.