Rephrasing Psalm 8

(based on Psalm 8) Lord God of heaven and earth, it's easy for me to think only of: "what am I that you are mindful of me?" but as I listen to children's praise songs on iTunes and reflect on this Psalm, i pray you will SILENCE our "Foe and Avenger" who wants us to feel small, wasted, weak and washed up. Your word which is truth says "you have crowned me with glory and honor," that I am "just a little lower than the angels. I have dominion over the works of Gods hands and you have put all things under my feet." it doesn't feel that way based on my current circumstances... so I ask by the power of your Holy Spirit in me, be "the lifter of my head!" I pray this too for my brothers and sisters in you who are also feeling this way!

Amen. So be it.

Prayer of Consecration for the New Year

from Hannah Whithall Smith's, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (1872).

This classic is just what I need to be reading at the beginning of this new year, at this point in my journey of realizing that there is still a part of my heart that is guarded against trusting implicitly in God's goodness. All around me is a world full of Christians she describes:

"You have found Jesus as your Saviour.... You have carefully studied the Holy Scriptures.... but in spite of it all, your souls are starving and dying within you, and you cry out in secret, again and again...." ch 1

But she insists this is not the way it has to be.

"...the Scriptures do set before the believer in the Lord Jesus a life of abiding rest and continual victory, which is very far beyond the ordinary run of Christian experience; and that in the Bible we have presented to us a Saviour able to save us from the power of our sins as really as he saves us from their guilt."

And here's what it boils down to:
1. Entire surrender to the Lord and
2. Perfect trust in him.

(so simple, and yet, so very difficult!)

"He made you, and therefore he understands you, and knows how to manage you; and you must trust Him to do it. Say to him,

'Here, Lord, I abandon myself to thee. I have tried in every way I could think of to manage myself, and to make myself what I know I ought to be, but have always failed. Now I give it up to thee. Do thou take entire possession of me. Work in me all the good pleasure of thy will. Mold and fashion me into such a vessel as seemeth good to thee. I leave myself in thy hands, and I believe thou wilt, according to thy promise, make me into a vessel unto thy own honor, 'sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared for every good work'

"Next, you must lay off every other burden....everything that concerns you, whether inward or outward....We know we are helpless as regards the future, but we feel the present wa in our own hands, and must be carried on our own shoulders.... Most people...take their burdens to Him, but they bring them away with them again, and are just as worried and unhappy as ever. But I take mine and leave them with Him, and come away and forget them. If the worry comes back, I take it to Him again; and I do this over and over, until at last I just forget I have any worries, and am at perfect rest."

Oh, this strikes me first as pollyanna. But I read on about what it means to become like a little child as Jesus spoke of and in my heart of hearts, and as a mother of two boys I adore and would do anything for, it makes sense!

"He is our Father, and He loves us, and He knows just what is best, and therefore, of course, His will is the very most blessed thing that can come to us under any circumstances. I do not understand how it is that the eyes of so many Christians have been blinded to this fact. But it really would seem ais if God's own children were more afraid of His will than of anything else in life, --His lovely, lovable will, which only means loving-kindness and tender mercies, and blessings unspeakable to their souls!....Heaven is a place of infinite bliss because His will is perfectly done there, and our lives share in this bliss just in proportion as His will is perfectly done in them. He loves us, --loves us I say, --and the will of love is always blessing for its loved one."

So, there it is, the secret: Entire Abandonment and Absolute Faith.

"No matter what may be the complications of your peculiar experience, no matter what your difficulties, or your surroundings, or your "peculiar temperament," these two steps, definitely taken and unwaveringly persevered in, will certainly bring you out sooner or later in the green pastures and still waters of this life hid with Christ in God. You may be perfectly sure of this."

She closes ch 4 with another prayer of consecration:

"Lord Jesus, I believe that thou art able and willing to deliver me from all the care and unrest and bondage of my Christian life. I believe thou didst die to set me free, not only in the future, but now and here. I believe thou art stronger than sin, and that thou canst keep me, in my extreme of weakness, from falling into its snares or yielding obedience to its commands. And, Lord, I am going to trust thee to keep me. I have tried keeping myself, and have failed, and failed, most grievously. I am absolutely helpless. So now I will trust thee. I give myself to thee. I keep back no reserves. Body, soul, and spirit, I present myself to thee as a piece of clay, to be fashioned into anything thy love and they wisdom shall choose...I trust thee utterly, and I trust thee now."

Can you pray this with me for 2008? WIll you? I dare you!

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

for Charlotte

especially lord, i pray for shalom, peace, and transcendence when the world around charlotte seems to be crumbling!

i pray that you will give her a miracle of inner peace, and assurance that you are sovereign and good no matter what is what she needs right now! be near her now. let her sense your presence and give her a supernatural calm.

Reflecting on 2006

This year I learned to..
In walking with God, I grew most in…
Another way I saw myself growing was…
One of my best adventures was…
I saw/knew God was doing something when…
A real gift from God was…
Something I really enjoyed doing more of was…
One of the happiest memories I’d like to freeze in my mind…
I was really brave when…
Something God took from me this year was…
I’m still trying to learn what God wants to teach me through this hard experience…
The best word of advice or encouragement I can remember is…
Something I’m looking forward to in this new year…

Chapter 5 Beatitudes: Lucky are the Unlucky

Nearly every book I've read in the past 5 years includes this quote from CS Lewis:

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea." (quoted in ch 5. p111)

It has become a kind of mantra for me, this offer of "a holiday at the sea." I keep reading this theme over an over as I pick up old books, or buy a new one, or attend church, or listen to a book on tape, or turn to my Bible. This week Isaiah 55 had great - immediate - meaning for me. It is this same theme. I'd never seen that before.

We are so spoiled in our comfortable lives. We settle for so little by having so much. God I really don't want to settle for mud pies. And yet, I'm not sure what it means to head off with you for this holiday right now... I mean, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with my days here while I wait and learn to draw nearer to You. There's so much that can be done. And I don't feel equipped to make much difference.

And then tonight, J & I watch this French movie, THE CONDUCTOR. Inspirational. Simple. Beautiful. A man makes a difference through art in the lives of boys who no one else had any hope for.

My ego is struck again by the truth that I don't have to make a big difference. Just a difference in the lives of those who's paths I cross. I want them to see the reality of a personal Creator God who faithfully loves us and wants us all to do our best at getting ready to come on a holiday with him.

Chapter 4 Temptation: Showdown in the Desert

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Chapter 3 Background: Jewish Roots and Soil

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Respond to this quote:

It was against this background that I, like other Jews, would have judged Jesus' statements about legalism, about Sabbath-keeping, and about the temple. How could I reconcile my repspect for family values with a comment like, "If anyone comes to me and doesn not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters...he cannot be my disciple"? What could Jesus possibly mean?...Jesus' offer to forgive a person's sin seemed to them as bizarrely inappropriate as a private individual today offering to issue a passport or a building permit. Who did he think he was, preempting the entire temple system?

Chapter TWO- Birth: The Visited Planet

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

Respond to this quote:

If Jesus came to reveal God to us, then what do I learn about God from that first Christmas? ....[He's] Humble, approachable, underdog, courageous.

Just a little something personal...when I was in college, my church friends and I did a reader's theatre from The Visited Planet reading it quoted in this book brought back sweet memories. I think I have the script in my library still!

Chapter One THE JESUS I THOUGHT I KNEW

What do you think of this quote?
"Today. people even use Jesus' name to curse by. How strange it would sound if, when a businessman missed a golf putt, he yelled, "Thomas Jefferson!" or if a plumber screamed "Mahatma Gandhi!" when his pipe wrench hit his finger."

What quote stands out as one you most identify with?

What quote is most profound to you?

here's a great one...

Prayer of detachment
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.