In step

[RiverOL]

Driving Back the Dark
For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. —Psalm 18:28 NKJV

Darkness flees when we pray! Demons tremble when we pray. Heaven moves when we pray, and angels receive assignments when we pray. Prayer affects three realms: the divine, the angelic, and the human. Without it, demons rule uncontested. (See Ephesians 6.)
You and I cannot make contact with God without prayer. If we don’t make that connection, no matter how sincere our intentions, we will not see a change in the circumstances of our lives.

God has stationed watchmen on the wall. I call them Esthers and Nehemiahs… hopefully, people such as you. Many people of this planet have figuratively been scratching their heads, trying to find an answer to the crises that continually grip our world.
That answer is in your hands and mine—we just have to fold them together and beseech God in prayer.

 

[RiverOL]

Holy Week (7)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead. The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. He isn’t here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would.

Come, see the place where his body was lying. Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised to life and is on his way to Galilee. Go there, and you will see him. That is what I came to tell you.” The women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went near him, held on to his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid! Tell my followers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”
(Matthew 28.1-7)

Reflect:
Jesus is alive! Happy Easter! Matthew’s account includes another earthquake, the visit of the angel and the empty tomb. But the emphasis is not on factual proof for the resurrection, but on the impact of these events for Jesus’ confused and grief-stricken followers. They are full of mixed emotions – fear, doubt, joy and assurance. Matthew reminds us that it is the women who were last at the cross and first at the tomb and they are the first to see the risen Jesus.

Respond:
The passage mentions hurry twice, but let today be a day without hurry- a day to enjoy and reflect upon the risen Jesus. He is risen – hallelujah!

Midday Meditation:
Easter is not a time for groping through dusty,
musty tomes or tombs to disprove
spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal.
It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope,
a day to banish doubts and
seek the slopes where the sun is rising,
to revel in the faith which transports us
out of ourselves and the dead past
into the vast and inviting unknown.
(Author unknown)

Evening Reflection:
Grant me, O Lord my God,
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Get Finally Unstuck

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity—Proverbs 17:17

“I’ve got this.” It’s a phrase used often by men, in one form or another. We say it to ourselves; we say it to others. And, most times, we have got whatever “this” happens to be. Every once in a while, though, we encounter something we cannot handle, something we haven’t “got.” Of course, that doesn’t always diminish our willingness to make our “got this” claims still. You see, “I’ve got this” often originates from our need to project images of manliness and self-sufficiency. And so, “I’ve got this” can become a stubborn habit. Even when it becomes obvious to us (and maybe everyone else) that we, in fact, haven’t “got this,” we sometimes continue right on in our stubbornness, telling ourselves that—from now on—we simply must try harder.

The truth is, some things are too big for us. But, because truth isn’t always welcome, we often cry out to God instead: “Why can’t I get beyond this?” “Why won’t you help me?” Well, brother, he has helped. He’s given us what we need to overcome even seemingly intractable problems.

“. . . though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

While some things are too big for us alone, none is too big for Holy Spirit-infused communities of men—standing together, praying together, holding each other accountable, keeping one another encouraged.



Is there something you’ve always wanted to do, but can’t seem to get around to doing? Is there something you’d desperately like to stop doing, but cannot? It is against such things that we must bring the power of community. So, now’s the time. Get control of your pride, put a name to that thing, and ask your brothers for help.

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude
Morning Encounter:
Introduction
There are any number of psychology manuals and self-help books that will tell you the benefits of positive thinking, counting your blessings, looking on the bright side, choosing to see the best in every situation. The spiritual discipline of gratitude may have some of the same impact on mental health, but it is a different thing altogether. Its focus is on the giver- the God who is the source of all beauty, goodness and joy in this life and the one to come. Let’s use this week as an opportunity to become more grateful, and in doing so, to open our eyes to the evidence that our father loves us beyond measure.

Read:
Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad. Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here. Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.
Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise. You know the teachings I gave you, and you know what you heard me say and saw me do.

So follow my example. And God, who gives peace, will be with you.
The Lord has made me very grateful that at last you have thought about me once again. Actually, you were thinking about me all along, but you didn’t have any chance to show it. I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with[a] whatever I have. I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything.
Philippians 4:4-13

Reflect:
Few of us are naturally grateful. Gratitude is an attitude that must be ingrained by constant practice, by making minute by minute choices to give thanks for large and small mercies. Whatever is happening around us, we can be ‘glad because of the Lord’ (v. 4).
Paul is an example of someone who has mastered his thoughts. His contentment is hard won, and given his experiences, pretty surprising. But what he had learnt is that when we give thanks to God as a matter of course, it leads to peace and it makes us strong.

Respond:
Compile a list of twenty things you have to give thanks for God for today. Keep the list with you and use it as a prompt for your prayers over the rest of the week, adding to it whenever you can.

Midday Meditation:
‘Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.’
(Sarah Ban Breathnak)

Evening Reflection:
“If we think we will have joy only by praying and singing psalms, we will be disillusioned. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will be joyful, that is, full of joy. And what about our problems? When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.”

 

[RiverOL]

Take up the Banner
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. —Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV

In light of what we are discovering about the power of prayer, here is another of the saddest Scriptures in the Bible: “He [God] saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isaiah 59:16 NKJV [insert mine]).

God found no one to stand in the gap…no one to intercede. What a tragedy! Today, God is still looking for that man or woman who will stand in the breach and pray.

When the children of Israel sinned in the wilderness and fashioned a golden calf, danced before it, and denied God’s sovereignty, God threatened to destroy them. Moses fell on his face before Jehovah God, and the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 106:23:

• “Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them” (NKJV).

God’s Word is rife with examples of intercessors that prevailed against the Enemy and secured the promises of God—all through prayer! Will you take up the banner of prayer today?

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (2)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
God will bless you, if you don’t give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.
Don’t blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn’t use evil to tempt others. We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.
Don’t be fooled, my dear friends. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing. He wanted us to be his own special people, and so he sent the true message to give us new birth.
James 1: 12-18

Reflect:
Most of us are taught at an early age that it is polite to say ‘thank you’ when someone gives you something. James writes here that, ‘every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father’ (v.17). It is right that the recipient of our gratitude should be God, no matter what the gift. This doesn’t mean we can blame God for the bad too (v. 13, 14), but that everything good comes from his hand.

Respond:
‘Lord, thank you that you are the giver of good gifts, that you pour out grace and mercy and love in generous abundance. Show me how you have blessed me and give me a grateful heart.’ Amen.

Midday Meditation:
‘The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank. The converse of this proposition is also true … . The great saint may be said to mix all his thoughts with thanks. All goods look better when they look like gifts … . It is the highest and holiest of the paradoxes that the man who really knows he cannot pay his debt will be forever paying it … . He will be always throwing things away into a bottomless pit of unfathomable thanks.'
(G. K. Chesterton, St Francis of Assisi)

Evening Reflection:
‘LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
You make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance…

I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.’
Psalm 16:5-6,8

 

[RiverOL]

The Requirement: Love
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35 NKJV

When love is absent, all else is empty, without value. In his booklet The Mark of a Christian, based on John 13:35, theologian Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer wrote:
Our love will not be perfect, but it must be substantial enough for the world to be able to observe or it does not fit into the structure of the verses in John 13 and 17. And if the world does not observe this among true Christians, the world has a right to make the two awful judgments which these verses indicate: that we are not Christians and that Christ was not sent by the Father…. Love…is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world.
Your very grasp of God’s Word has no worth if love is not present. Your discipleship can be called into question by the very world we are trying to influence if love is missing from all we say and do. It all has no value without God’s agape—sacrificial love at work in your life.

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (3)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus went along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men with leprosy came toward him. They stood at a distance and shouted, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
Jesus looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”

On their way they were healed. When one of them discovered that he was healed, he came back, shouting praises to God. He bowed down at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was from the country of Samaria.
Jesus asked, “Weren’t ten men healed? Where are the other nine? Why was this foreigner the only one who came back to thank God?” Then Jesus told the man, “You may get up and go. Your faith has made you well.”
Luke 17:11-19

Reflect:
There’s something a little shocking about this story. How could those nine men have been so ungrateful? I wonder what each of us would have done in the same situation, though. Or how many of God’s kindnesses to us even over the last few days have gone un-thanked. Jesus healed all ten men, but the Samarian has been made well in a deeper sense. His gratitude has drawn him close to God, and he will never be the same.

Respond:
Take some time to repent of ingratitude. Thank God that his love and mercy are not dependent on our good behaviour.

Midday Meditation:
‘Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gives… Our fall was, has always been, and will always be, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other.’
(Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts)

Evening Reflection:
‘Pride slays thanksgiving…A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.’

 

[RiverOL]

Amazing Love of God
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. —John 13:34–35 KJV

The reason God sent His Son to earth can be summarized in six words: For God so loved the world. Jesus came to earth because of love—the Father’s love for His fallen creation. We can now be restored to a loving relationship with Jehovah-Yasha—the Lord my Savior—because of Jesus’ death on the Cross. Now we are no longer enemies, but beloved friends.
In 1882, a blind Scottish preacher published a song that spoke of longing for the One from whose loving hands we could not be removed. The cleric was George Matheson; his message as timely today as it was then:

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

The heart of man begs to be loved despite our weaknesses and failures, to be completely accepted, highly esteemed, and to know that we have significance to someone. You and I want someone to be there to lift us up when we fail; to watch over us with kindness and compassion. That is the agape kind of love that God, the Father, has for you, His beloved child.

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (4)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
God’s love never fails.
He rescued Israel from Egypt.
God’s love never fails.
God used his great strength
and his powerful arm.
God’s love never fails.
He split the Red Sea apart.
God’s love never fails.
The Lord brought Israel safely
through the sea.

God’s love never fails.
He destroyed the Egyptian king
and his army there.
God’s love never fails.
The Lord led his people
through the desert.
God’s love never fails.
Psalm 136: 10b-16

Reflect:
The people of Israel would often rehearse the evidence of God’s faithfulness to them through their history. As Christians, we have been grafted onto this root, and these stories are our stories too. When we look back, there is much to be grateful to God for, and the practice of recounting history, whether ancient or immediate, will strengthen our faith and deepen our worship. Backwards looking gratitude is a great way to restore our perspective on the present. Our God is the same yesterday, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Respond:
What are the big moments in your life when you saw God at work, when he intervened or showed you his love in tangible ways? When have you seen him provide? When have you experienced his presence most vividly? Express your gratitude to God for these times now.

Midday Meditation:
‘Gratitude is the memory of the heart.’
(Jean Baptiste Massieu)

Evening Reflection:
‘Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.’
(1 Kings 8:56,57)

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (5)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
I am creating new heavens
and a new earth;
everything of the past
will be forgotten.

Celebrate and be glad forever!
I am creating a Jerusalem,

full of happy people.
I will celebrate with Jerusalem
and all of its people;
there will be no more crying
or sorrow in that city…
I will answer their prayers
before they finish praying.

Wolves and lambs
will graze together;
lions and oxen
will feed on straw.

Snakes will eat only dirt!
They won’t bite
or harm anyone
on my holy mountain.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Isaiah 65: 17-19, 24-25

Reflect:
There are times in life when we look around us and all we can see is good grounds for filing an official complaint with whoever’s in charge. Sometimes suffering and pain fills the screen. When this happens, all we can do is cling on for dear life for the hope of eternity. Jesus has given us a future that will be good. There will be ‘no more crying or sorrow’ (v. 19); there will be celebration and gladness (v.18). Let’s choose to keep our eyes on the horizon, giving thanks to God that in him we have ‘an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade’ (1 Peter 1:4).

Respond:
Memorise Isaiah 65:17: ‘I am creating new heavens and a new earth. Everything of the past will be forgotten.’

Midday Meditation:
‘If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.’
(I Corinthians 15:19-20)

Evening Reflection:
‘Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.’

 

[RiverOL]

One Word to Start Over

. . . for by your words you will be justified,
and by your words you will be condemned—Matthew 12:37

Men sin. We all do. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Fortunately, it’s not our sin that keeps us from God’s forgiveness. It’s our unwillingness to recognize it, to deal with it, which does that. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We must, therefore, confess . . . and regularly.

That is easier to say, of course, than to live. Confession is hard. Giving voice to words describing our sin is hard. We often think that just saying them, naming our sin, will somehow make it more real. We think naming our sin will put more of its taint upon us. Brother, it’s real. Its full taint is upon us already. And there’s no path to forgiveness and taint removal, except first through confession. But it’s not actually confession if we never say the words—if we obfuscate or talk around the sin. Naming it, simply and plainly, pulls it up and out of the tangle of denial and confusion. It places our sin in the open, where we can see it, where we can paint a target on it, where we can finally bring the power of the Holy Spirit and community against it.


Reduce your struggle with sin to one word: Pride. Self-centeredness. Hard-heartedness. Indifference. Resentment. Rage. Greed. Dishonesty. Lust. You choose your word. Be honest. Once you have it, say it aloud. Gather some brothers. Pray for courage, then go around, each man saying only their one word. Pray again, this time againstthe words spoken. When the time is right, go deeper and explain the meanings behind the words.

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (6)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
Fig trees may no longer bloom,
or vineyards produce grapes;
olive trees may be fruitless,
and harvest time a failure;
sheep pens may be empty,
and cattle stalls vacant—
but I will still celebrate
because the Lord God
saves me.

The Lord gives me strength.
He makes my feet as sure
as those of a deer,
and he helps me stand
on the mountains.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Reflect:
Grape-less vineyards and empty sheep pens stand for the most extreme disaster scenario Habakkuk could conjure. He is saying even in the face of a failed harvest, he will choose to celebrate God’s salvation. There are always things we can find to be grateful to God for, things no possible circumstance could change or take away from us, but we have to make a choice. We have to decide to look at those things and not at what has gone wrong.

Respond:
Thank you, Father God, for your salvation, for your love, for the strength and peace you give me moment by moment. Thank you for your Holy Spirit within me, for Jesus who gave his life for me, for the coming of your kingdom, for your goodness and kindness and mercy. Amen.

Midday Meditation:
‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’
(Job 1:21 (NIV))

Evening Reflection:
‘One act of thanksgiving, when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations.’
(St John of Avila)

 

[RiverOL]

Overcoming Adversity
Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. —Philippians 3:13 NKJV

When faced with adversity, you and I can do one of two things: we can accept it as our lot in life, or we can overcome it through the peace of God and His Word. At a trying moment in my life, I realized the Enemy was out to destroy me and my ministry. It was then that I did what God had told me to do: I traveled all the way to Israel to meet with then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Doing God’s will gave me the peace to overcome adversity. I began to worship God, to praise and exalt my Creator. Praise dispelled the darkness and allowed the light of God’s love to shine in and His peace to flood my being.
Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is having the courage to face the conflict and make the right choices. This is true in your life, too. Peace and worry cannot occupy the same space. One forces the other to vacate. Your prayer should be:
Help me to wait patiently for the very best You have for me. Help me not to be ruled by fear but to lay hold of Your peace.

 

[RiverOL]

Gratitude (7)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw the large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed everyone who was sick.
That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is like a desert, and it is already late. Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the villages and buy some food.”
Jesus replied, “They don’t have to leave. Why don’t you give them something to eat?”

But they said, “We have only five small loaves of bread and two fish.” Jesus asked his disciples to bring the food to him, and he told the crowd to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples, and they gave it to the people.
After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftovers.
There were about five thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.
Matthew 14:14-21

Reflect:
Huge crowds of hungry people and a very tiny picnic: the sums don’t add up. But Jesus takes what there is and blesses it. Most translations say he ‘gave thanks.’ And then everyone is fed: a miracle. Jesus always thanked God before eating, but this is an extraordinary example of gratitude, because on the face of it, there isn’t enough. But there is always enough of God. Do you believe that? Can you give thanks, knowing you will be fed and sustained by him?

Respond:
Look for the gifts of God in this day. Where you see lack, or insufficiency, or shortfall, thank God in anticipation of how he will provide, and for what he has already given you.

Midday Meditation:
‘O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Still may we dwell secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.’
(Isaac Watts)

Evening Reflection:
'Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control, let go of my own way, let go of my own fears. Let God blow His wind, His trials, oxygen for joy's fire. Leave the hand open and be. Be at peace. Bend the knee and be small and let God give what God chooses to give because He only gives love and whisper a surprised thanks. This is the fuel for joy's flame. Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will. And I can empty. I can empty because counting His graces has awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I can empty because I am full of His love. I can trust.'

 

[RiverOL]

Peace in Storms
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. —Colossians 3:15 NLT

Chicago businessman Horatio Spafford wrote one of the premier hymns about peace. On November 22, 1873, tragedy struck when a ship carrying Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters to England collided with the British ship Lochearn. Anna and the children’s nanny struggled to get the children from their staterooms to the deck of the ship. The lifeboats were unusable, for they had been painted and had dried fast to the railing of the ship. As panic seized those onboard, her daughter, Maggie, stepped beside her mother and said, “Mama, God will take care of us.”

Another daughter, Annie, added, “The sea is His, and He made it.”
Only twelve minutes after the two ships rammed, the Ville du Havre sank to the bottom of the Atlantic, taking with it 226 people. Anna Spafford and 56 others survived. She was found bruised and unconscious lying atop a board floating in the Atlantic. The nanny, Nicolet, and the Spafford’s’ four daughters were among those swept to a watery grave, their bodies never recovered.
How can you have peace in the midst of the storms of life? Peace is determined by your focus. If you focus on the problem, then peace flees. If you focus on the Problem-solver, you will be flooded with God’s peace, which helps to calm your anxious heart.

 

[RiverOL]

Life in the Kingdom
Morning Encounter:
Introduction:
This week we are peering into the Kingdom of God. As insiders in God’s Kingdom our view should be a 360º widescreen experience, but many of us live this earthly life as outsiders looking in, thrilled when we catch an occasional glimpse of the rollicking, joyful, creative communion of the Trinity. Let’s see if we can fling wide the door and join God’s party!

Read:
I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? . . . Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them. God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields . . . He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” . . . But more than anything else, put God’s [kingdom] first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.
(Mt 6:25-33, excerpted, CEV)

Reflect:
This passage isn’t about worry really. It’s about where we put our energy and attention. Are we always thinking about the next thing, even when we’re enjoying the thing we’re doing right now? Do we think about God’s extravagance as much as we think about the tasks on our list?

Respond:
Try moving God up your “To-Do” list, not because God needs it, but because you do. When you catch yourself pursuing the next thing, stop. Take three deep breaths. Picture the lilies. Praise God for what you have and are right now.

Midday Meditation:
Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things. We never get, say, even the sensual pleasure of food at its best when we are being greedy.
(C.S. Lewis, in a letter to Dom Bede Griffiths)

Evening Reflection:
Think about your day. When did you remember to think of God’s loveliness and generosity today? When did you worry, or get caught up in what’s next? Right now, rest in your chair or on your bed. Picture a fragrant field of lilies. Breathe deeply. Smell the sweetness of the air. Breathe deeply once more, then tell God thank you. And rest.

 

[RiverOL]

Triumph over Loss
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. —Isaiah 26:3 ESV

Upon being notified of the tragedy at sea, and the loss of his children, Horatio Spafford immediately set sail for Wales to be reunited with his heartbroken wife. Once at sea, Spafford asked the captain to point out exactly where the Ville du Havre had sunk.
When the ship crossed that fateful spot, the grief-stricken father sat with pen in hand and wrote what was to become one of Christendom’s most beloved and long-lasting hymns, "It Is Well with My Soul":

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

(Refrain)
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

 

[RiverOL]

Life in the Kingdom (2)
Morning Encounter:
Read:
Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation. Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created [through] God’s Son, and everything was made for him. God’s Son was before all else, and by him everything is held together. He is the head of his body, which is the church. He is the very beginning, the first to be raised from death, so that he would be above all others. God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son. And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God.
(Colossians 1:15-20, CEV)

Reflect:
When you picture God creating the earth, where is Jesus? Is he offstage, waiting to be born? Because he joined us in the flesh it might be challenging to imagine that he—that bearded, long-haired gent we all recognize from pictures—was there at the beginning of it all. But Scripture tells us that not only was Jesus present at the creation of the material universe, all of it happened through him. And he is its king.

Respond:
Take one minute, right now, to imagine what “For in him all things were created” can possibly mean. Jot it down, even if what you come up with makes no sense. This idea is one of the many mysteries of faith; even pondering it for one minute can be a source of grace.

Midday Meditation:
God’s world as it already is within the dimension of heaven. All creation worships God; human beings. . . worship God because they have grasped an essential secret: they know why God ought to be praised, and why they want to praise him—because he has made all things.
(N.T. Wright, Simply Christian)

Evening Reflection:
A prayer: Through you all things were made, Holy Christ, and through you I am now being re-made. Because I live in your kingdom, slowly your image, in which I was made, shines through my words, my face, and my actions. It is through you that I came to be. May others see you in me.

 

[RiverOL]

Small Steps Matter
Do not despise these small beginnings,
for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. —Zechariah 4:10 NLT

The apostle Paul discovered on the road to Damascus that God had a plan for his life, one that he had never considered.
Paul truly met the God of the impossible—the One who was born as a baby, lived as a man, suffered death on the Cross as the Lamb of God, rose again the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for His beloved children.

The impossible often begins with one small step. When God wanted to create Adam, He began with a handful of dust. Moses was sent to challenge Pharaoh with a walking stick; Samson killed thousands of Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey (see Judges 15); Jesus fed the multitudes with a couple of fish and five loaves of bread. When He sent David to conquer a giant, the shepherd didn’t take a cannon; he picked up five small stones. When God sent His Son to earth, He wasn’t sent to a metropolis, but to the small, backwater hamlet of Bethlehem.
Do you think your ideas are too small to succeed? Give them to God and let Him anoint you for the impossible!