Volume 3 Post/Email 7 – “Disturb us, Lord”
by brian
Below is a prayer Deanna passed along to me some time back. "Disturb us, Lord" isn't your typical, comfortable prayer. May the thoughts and perspective of this prayer be a blessing to us this day. -Brian
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
[Sir Francis Drake]
Volume 2 Post/Email 9 – 1 John 4:13-16
by brian
As we continue on the primary theme of spiritual formation, another great text to ponder concerning union with God is 1 John 4:13-16.
"We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
These words make the profound mystery of God practical and understandable!
These words convey what it means to have a relationship with God, and how this relates to and impacts daily living.
Does God live in me? Do I live in God?
John states that faith (specifically in Jesus) is the avenue to such a union/relationship. "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God."
Furthermore, John makes this otherwise abstract concept more concrete and tangible. "Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
Do I bask in God's love for and affirmation of me each day?
You cannot truly love yourself more than He does! He is wild about you! He delights in you! There are NUMEROUS Scriptures that say so!
Do I reciprocate God's love? Do I show Jesus I love him? Do I tell my Father I love him? Do I tell Jesus I love him? Do I thank Jesus and the Spirit? Do I worship the Father? > An affirmative answer to these type of questions is vital to truly experiencing God (and union with a tri-personal God), and not just having dry knowledge of God, or having what we might describe as an intellectual or academic spirituality.
The other type of questions I need to reflect upon for spiritual inventory and application pertain to my relationships and interaction with people.
Do I love and help others, including those with whom I am different? Do I love, forgive and serve people who have not always treated me with love?
Am I relying on God's love for me and my sinfulness, or disregarding this need and reality? Am I trusting in the transforming power of God's Spirit and Jesus' presence to change inwardly and overcome my unloving attitudes and tendencies toward people?
God wants us to learn, and be ever learning, how to live in union with him.
Through our love for others and from others we experience the loving presence of God - heaven on earth.
Fellowship (loving union) with God is what creates transformation in our lives. Faith in Jesus expressed through prayer to God (in love) and through love for others are tangible acts that help us consciously be aware of this all-important, imperative union.
Think of what your life would be without an authentic relationship with God!
Think of what your relationships would be without the giving and receiving of Christ's love!
First John 4:13 states that God's Spirit is in you, filling you with love and empowering you to love!
We cannot love very long on our own resources. We need the presence of God's Spirit permeating and saturating our lives with His goodness!
Brothers and Sisters - Keep living in God!!! Keep living in love!!!
Continue experiencing formation into the likeness of Jesus!!!
ELGUY!!!
Continue loving your family, including that family member who others and/or yourself finds difficult to love!
Continue loving your congregation, including that brother or sister who others and/or yourself finds difficult to love!
Continue being Christ-like at work, including toward that co-worker or boss who others and/or yourself finds difficult to love!
Resist the temptation to not love! Refuse to be a container of even a smidget of hatred! Resolve to be empty of any ill-will, or even indifference!
To summarize and clarify:
Continue investing your life in people - even people who seem to not appreciate you, value you, your friendship or help, and people for whom it appears that your love and investment is not making any difference.
God's unending love for you and investment in you has made all the difference for you, and your unwavering love for someone with whom you could easily give up on is what could make all the difference in their life and future.
Be a vessel full of God, overflowing with love for God, for yourself, and for others!!!
-Brian
Volume 1 Post/Email 5 – Philippians 3:13-14
by brian
Have you ever been down on yourself, had regrets, and even felt guilt, over something in your past?
I think we all have.
It might be something we said last week or something we did a decade or more ago.
Paul had a past that could have overwhelmed him with guilt. While Saul, he had persecuted Christians in the name of God and righteousness. Once encountering Jesus and learning his zeal was unmerited and unacceptable to God, there was nothing he could do to change his past.
None of us can change the past. Whether it is something we did to hurt someone else, or something someone else did to hurt us. What we can do is what Paul claimed to do.
Philippians 3:13-14 reads, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Like Paul, we can lose the negative baggage and move forward doing God’s will in view of heaven!
Paul distinguishes in 2 Corinthians 7 between a healthy and unhealthy guilt. If we have current sins that we repeat then we should feel a guilt that leads to repentance.
However, an unhealthy guilt is to continue to feel shame and guilt over something for which you have already been forgiven.
Another thing Philippians 3:13-14 teaches against is self-pity. We can choose to dwell on the negative, even making excuses or feeling sorry for ourselves, or we can press on in faith and hope.
May we be reminded this week of God’s redemption of our past and promises concerning our future. May God continue to heal those in need of healing, and may we all seek to be agents of his healing grace and forgiveness to all others.
-Brian