Give us the strength
LORD our God, Thou knowest our sorrow better than we know it ourselves. Thou knowest how easily our fearful soul entangles itself with untimely and self-made cares. We pray Thee: Let us clearly discern their inappropriateness and scorn them proudly, these busy self-made cares. But whatever care Thou dost inflict upon us, let us receive from Thy hand with humility and give us the strength to bear it.
Søren Kierkegaard (b. 1813, d. 1855) was a Christian writer, poet, theologian and philosopher.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wesleyan Devotional
Matthew 5.5-7
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.
Eating and drinking are absolutely necessary for sustaining healthy human life. Without food, and more importantly water, human life is unsustainable. Even more than our need for food and water is our desire. As is clear to anyone who has ever tried fasting or been forced by circumstances to miss a meal or two, the desire for food can quickly become all consuming.
In his sermon ‘Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount II’ John Wesley makes three connections between physical hunger and thirst and spiritual hunger and thirst.
First, he says that “hunger and thirst are the strongest of our bodily appetites.”
Secondly, “from the time we begin to hunger and thirst those appetites do not cease, but are more and more craving and importunate till we either eat and drink or die.”
Finally, “Hunger and thirst are satisfied with nothing but meat and drink. If you would give to him that his hungry all the world beside, all the elegance of apparel, all the trappings of state, all the treasure upon the earth…He would still say, ‘These are not the things I want; give me food, or else I die.” (II.3)
These three insights hold true not just for physical hunger and thirst but also for spiritual hunger and thirst.
First, human beings are created with a strong, unstoppable desire to love God. We hunger and thirst for the living God all our lives (even if we are too stubborn to admit it!).
Secondly, that hunger has been placed in our hearts by our Creator and it will not subside until we feast upon God’s presence. In fact the longer and harder we run from God the more exhausted we become and the more hungry and thirsty we become for God.
Finally, nothing but God can satisfy our hunger for God. All the pleasures of this world (many of them vain and empty) be they money, power, fame, sex, drugs, children, job security- none of these can satisfy the human heart’s hunger for God.
Although this is often a painful state of being for those who are running from God, Jesus calls this state ‘blessed.’ Wesley interprets the word ‘shall’ as a promise, a recognition that the same God who implanted such a hunger within us is also determined to feed us. We have as a promise from God that the hungry ‘shall’ be filled. He goes on to say, “God shall satisfy them with the blessings of this goodness, with the felicity of his chosen. He shall feed them with the bread of heaven, with the manna of his love. He shall give them to drink of his pleasures as out of the river which he that drinketh of shall never thirst-only for more and more of the water of life. This thirst shall endure forever.” (II. 5)
If you are alive you are hungry for God. I challenge you today to prayerfully consider your diet. What have you been eating lately? Is it sustaining you? Are you still hungry?
Peace be with you~
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.
Eating and drinking are absolutely necessary for sustaining healthy human life. Without food, and more importantly water, human life is unsustainable. Even more than our need for food and water is our desire. As is clear to anyone who has ever tried fasting or been forced by circumstances to miss a meal or two, the desire for food can quickly become all consuming.
In his sermon ‘Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount II’ John Wesley makes three connections between physical hunger and thirst and spiritual hunger and thirst.
First, he says that “hunger and thirst are the strongest of our bodily appetites.”
Secondly, “from the time we begin to hunger and thirst those appetites do not cease, but are more and more craving and importunate till we either eat and drink or die.”
Finally, “Hunger and thirst are satisfied with nothing but meat and drink. If you would give to him that his hungry all the world beside, all the elegance of apparel, all the trappings of state, all the treasure upon the earth…He would still say, ‘These are not the things I want; give me food, or else I die.” (II.3)
These three insights hold true not just for physical hunger and thirst but also for spiritual hunger and thirst.
First, human beings are created with a strong, unstoppable desire to love God. We hunger and thirst for the living God all our lives (even if we are too stubborn to admit it!).
Secondly, that hunger has been placed in our hearts by our Creator and it will not subside until we feast upon God’s presence. In fact the longer and harder we run from God the more exhausted we become and the more hungry and thirsty we become for God.
Finally, nothing but God can satisfy our hunger for God. All the pleasures of this world (many of them vain and empty) be they money, power, fame, sex, drugs, children, job security- none of these can satisfy the human heart’s hunger for God.
Although this is often a painful state of being for those who are running from God, Jesus calls this state ‘blessed.’ Wesley interprets the word ‘shall’ as a promise, a recognition that the same God who implanted such a hunger within us is also determined to feed us. We have as a promise from God that the hungry ‘shall’ be filled. He goes on to say, “God shall satisfy them with the blessings of this goodness, with the felicity of his chosen. He shall feed them with the bread of heaven, with the manna of his love. He shall give them to drink of his pleasures as out of the river which he that drinketh of shall never thirst-only for more and more of the water of life. This thirst shall endure forever.” (II. 5)
If you are alive you are hungry for God. I challenge you today to prayerfully consider your diet. What have you been eating lately? Is it sustaining you? Are you still hungry?
Peace be with you~
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A Prayer for the Day
Thou Are Our Only Hiding Place
O Lord Jesus Christ, the birds have their nests, the foxes their holes, and Thou didst not have whereon to lay Thy head, homeless wert Thou upon the earth, and yet a hiding place, the only one, where a sinner could flee. And so today Thou art still the hiding place; when the sinner flees to Thee, hides himself in Thee, is hidden in Thee-then he is eternally defended, then “love” hides a multitude of sins.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Christian writer, poet, theologian and philosopher.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the birds have their nests, the foxes their holes, and Thou didst not have whereon to lay Thy head, homeless wert Thou upon the earth, and yet a hiding place, the only one, where a sinner could flee. And so today Thou art still the hiding place; when the sinner flees to Thee, hides himself in Thee, is hidden in Thee-then he is eternally defended, then “love” hides a multitude of sins.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Christian writer, poet, theologian and philosopher.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Daily Devotional
Matthew 5.1-3
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit. What does it mean to be poor in Spirit? I know what it means to be poor in the flesh. A great many American’s live paycheck to paycheck struggling with poverty and all the hardships that come with it. Few would claim that being poor in the world is a blessing.
I’ve always considered the poor in Spirit to be those who were not enjoying a deep spiritual communion with God. As Christians we claim that a great richness of spiritual blessings await those who pursue an active relationship with God the Father through God the Son by the power of God the Spirit. To live in communion with the Holy Spirit is indeed ‘blessed.’ But how can one be called blessed who does not have a spiritual relationship with God
In his sermon ‘Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount’ John Wesley wrote that the poor in Spirit are those who have come to realize that they are sinners, those who have come to see with painful clarity that they are living in spiritual poverty. The poor in spirit are those who are “convinced that [they are] spiritually poor indeed; having no spiritual good abiding in [them].” (I.4)
Here we may pause again to wonder how it is that spiritual poverty would lead one to claim the kingdom of Heaven. According to Wesley, this spiritual poverty is a gift and represents the first step towards the Kingdom of Heaven. “Real Christianity always begins in poverty of spirit” (I.1)
Once we have realized that we are poor in spirit, that we are sinners in need of God’s grace and helpless to gain the riches of the spiritual life ourselves we have already begun to call out to God for salvation. Poverty of spirit leads to a painful longing for something more and that longing finds its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.
There are many among us who live daily with a poverty of spirit, a longing for something more without realizing just what it is that they are missing. The poor in spirit are our neighbors, our friends, our children, and sometimes…we ourselves.
Let us pray that through our life at New Covenant the poor in spirit might be drawn deeper into the spiritual riches of the Kingdom of God.
Peace be with you~
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit. What does it mean to be poor in Spirit? I know what it means to be poor in the flesh. A great many American’s live paycheck to paycheck struggling with poverty and all the hardships that come with it. Few would claim that being poor in the world is a blessing.
I’ve always considered the poor in Spirit to be those who were not enjoying a deep spiritual communion with God. As Christians we claim that a great richness of spiritual blessings await those who pursue an active relationship with God the Father through God the Son by the power of God the Spirit. To live in communion with the Holy Spirit is indeed ‘blessed.’ But how can one be called blessed who does not have a spiritual relationship with God
In his sermon ‘Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount’ John Wesley wrote that the poor in Spirit are those who have come to realize that they are sinners, those who have come to see with painful clarity that they are living in spiritual poverty. The poor in spirit are those who are “convinced that [they are] spiritually poor indeed; having no spiritual good abiding in [them].” (I.4)
Here we may pause again to wonder how it is that spiritual poverty would lead one to claim the kingdom of Heaven. According to Wesley, this spiritual poverty is a gift and represents the first step towards the Kingdom of Heaven. “Real Christianity always begins in poverty of spirit” (I.1)
Once we have realized that we are poor in spirit, that we are sinners in need of God’s grace and helpless to gain the riches of the spiritual life ourselves we have already begun to call out to God for salvation. Poverty of spirit leads to a painful longing for something more and that longing finds its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.
There are many among us who live daily with a poverty of spirit, a longing for something more without realizing just what it is that they are missing. The poor in spirit are our neighbors, our friends, our children, and sometimes…we ourselves.
Let us pray that through our life at New Covenant the poor in spirit might be drawn deeper into the spiritual riches of the Kingdom of God.
Peace be with you~
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