Tuesday, April 30, 2024

GPS -- God's Positioning System

 

Monday, April 29, 2024

Speed Dial

 

...among those who called
       upon His name.
They called to the LORD,
   and He answered them.
In the pillar of the cloud
         He spoke to them...

              Psalm 99. 6-7

(Who are we calling?
Who is on speed dial for us?
Is God our first response,
           or last resort?
When we call upon the LORD,
He does not just pick up.
He has already been listening.
He is already responding,
  sometimes in the most unlikely,
  unexpected, and unusual ways.
Because God knows
            another way through.
    And that would be with Him.
It is not that God shows up.
        He is already here.
We are the ones who are late
     in recognizing Him.)

O LORD,
You are here with us.
May we hear Your voice,
    even through the chaos.
You always answer us
        in some monumental way.
Help us to not just seek Your path,
      but to seek You.
The difficulty we face
   may be just to redirect
   our hearts to You.
May we not just hear You,
    but respond.
We cannot do this life alone.
You never intended us to.


Sunday, April 28, 2024

Ridiculous and Impossible

 

Saturday, April 27, 2024

The Weakest, the Least, and the Unlikely

 

Friday, April 26, 2024

Impossible Peace in Volatile Places

 

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Not-So-Casual Conversations

 

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

No Divide Between the Ordinary and Sacred

 

And he will show you
a large upper room furnished;
            prepare it there.
And they went and found it
     just as He had told them.

                  Luke 22. 12-13

(Exactly why does God
    want me to do this
                 mundane task
    that doesn't seem to matter?
Because it does enormously.
Sometimes we have no idea
       God's appointment in this.
But His sacred encounters
    and deeper purposes
    are embedded far more
    than we can see at the time.
We don't have to
                know the outcome
   to be faithful to Him.
God calls us to be awake,
   attentive, willing and ready.
God brings His fruitfulness
         to our faithfulness,
even in ways we may never realize.
Whoever prepared that spare room
   had no idea
what God was about to do with it.)

O LORD,
Help us to be sensitive
   to Your nudges
as we go about our days
that You would direct our hearts
    and establish our work
    for Your Kingdom
             and Your glory
  in what we only see as
       ordinary details.
Empower us to be faithful
   in whatever
You place before us today,
  full of grace and wonder,
     delighted that
     You have invited us
   into Your eternal designs.
Help us to be
      faithful to You,
   even in this familiar task today.
In Your eyes,
  nothing is mundane.
    All we do is
           sacred work.
   
     



Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Deep Pockets

 

For they all contributed
   out of their abundance,
but she out of her poverty
   put in all
   she had to live on.

              Luke 21. 4

(Give generously,
       live generously,
not just in financial terms.
Giving means being aware
     and responsive to others.
Our greatest witness
     is how --or if-- we respond
     to the hearts
         of those around us,
not just in how we give
       but how we live
    with the heart of Jesus in us.
Grace always costs something,
    but continually multiplies
far beyond our vision
     and way past our lifetimes.
Even a mite disrupts
  the selfishness of our hearts
and heals in some profound way
  the brokenness of this world.)

O LORD,
Please show us
how to set aside our pride
and be responsive
      to the needs around us
      on so many levels.
What is our calling?
   To love You and others.
Make us mindful of
   those opportunities today.
Help us to live faithfully.
And to carry deep pockets
      of grace into this day.



Monday, April 22, 2024

Building Instructions

 

Sunday, April 21, 2024

The Fine Art of Binding

 

Only be careful...
to love the LORD your God,
and to walk in all His ways,
and to keep His commandments,
and to cling to Him,
and to serve Him
   with all your heart
   and with all your soul.

                Joshua 22. 5

(How differently would it take
in whatever is ahead today?
What we can both see and prepare for,
and even in what is not expected
   but get our hearts ready?
How do we go into this day?
The words of St. Patrick:
"Christ before me, Christ with me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
on my right and on my left,
when I lie down, sit down, arise.
I bind myself to Him.")

O LORD,
We pray that we would be sensitive
    to Your Presence
    already around us,
guiding, providing, protecting,
aligning, and realigning.
We bind ourselves to You today
   that we may know You more,
no matter what is before us.
You are God.
You are our God.
Please transform our hearts
   to glorify You in unlikely places,
even when we are unaware.


Saturday, April 20, 2024

First Things First

 

Friday, April 19, 2024

Even In The Deep Dark Woods

 

...but the hill country
         shall be yours,
for though it is a forest,
you shall clear it
and possess it
to its farthest borders.

           Joshua 17. 18

(Sometimes we ask God,
"You want me to do what?"
What patch of ground
  has the LORD given each of us
to tend, nourish, plant,
clear out the briars,
occupy, recreate,
and bring His name, grace
          and love
    to its farthest borders?
Even that big deep forest
    where what might we find?
Just because it is difficult,
does not mean that
     God is not in it.
But we find Him already there,
       preparing our way.
Just because it is not
                in our skill set,
God brings His strength
     and His glory to it.
"I can't do that!"
God replies,
    "Good, because I can.")

O LORD,
No matter the thick woods
   or barren desert,
impossible people
   or rocky soil,
You walk with us,
You prepare our way,
You equip our hearts.
Please help us to be aware
    of opportunities
to establish Your kingdom
   even in this place today.
We come not just before You,
   but come to trust You
   even more.


Thursday, April 18, 2024

Upclose and Personal

 

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

How to Not Lose Heart

 

And He told them a parable
to the effect that they
    ought always to pray
and not lose heart.

               Luke 18. 1

(Praying is our first response,
      not our last resort.
God does not just change situations,
      He changes us,
even in the coming before Him.
Pray.
And then pray all the way
    around the circumstances,
down every hallway,
           every angle,
      all the crevices.
God aligns our hearts with His.
We do not lose heart,
    but praying strengthens us.)

O LORD,
Thank You that we can come
      right before You,
  pray and walk with You
   through whatever is on our path.
Please help us to discover
    Your strength in this place.
Help us to not lose heart,
but to know You are with us
        and You are in this.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Not Just An Errand or Detour

 

Monday, April 15, 2024

First Things First

 

...but did not ask
   counsel of the LORD.

            Joshua 9. 14

(Always a bad idea.
Always a big mistake.
God does not just know
   what we are headed into,
God knows us.
    And how much we need Him.
Have I considered
          asking the LORD about this?
It matters.  It matters a lot.
Nothing too small
       that is not profound.
Nothing too big
       that He cannot handle.
Have I considered
   following God into this?
Praying all the way around it.
His counsel is not limited
                 to the now,
but multiplies
            way into the future,
impacting the journey, direction
                     and outcome,
    in far more ways
    than we will ever be aware.)

O LORD,
We come to You
   with our dilemmas,
   our joys,
   the beginning of the day,
 and the givenness of things.
Align our hearts with Yours.
Even in what
    we don't understand
or cannot yet see,
please help us
    to walk through it with You.
Remind us not just
       to seek Your wisdom,
but to commit our ways
                   to You.

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Ready for the Ambush

 

Behold,
you shall lie in ambush
against the city,
               behind it.
Do not go very far
      from the city,
but all of you remain ready.
...Then you shall rise up
             from the ambush
and seize the city,
for the LORD your God
will give it into your hand.

                  Joshua 8. 4, 7

(Sometimes following the LORD
means doing
     what makes no sense at all.
Are we willing to trust Him?
Or do we think our ideas
   are a lot better than God's?
We have no idea
    what we are up against,
nor His protection,
   nor how He has equipped us.
"Follow Me into this."
What is He forming in us?
         Learning to listen.)

O LORD,
Please help us to stand equipped
    and ready to respond.
You are doing a much mightier work
    than we can ever imagine.
May we follow You
   every step into this dilemma,
or even this seemingly ordinary day.
Above all things and outcomes,
   we desire to be faithful to You,
even when we don't understand,
even when we don't ever see
                the outcome.
You pour Your glory all over it.

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Marching Around the Impossible

 

You shall march
       around the city...

         Joshua 6. 3

(As Joshua marched faithfully
            around Jericho,
not knowing what this would do,
have we considered
praying around our hard situations,
our extreme difficulties,
that pothole or impossible task?
Praying around it.
             Over and over.
And in the process of praying,
     knowing God is working,
not just on the situation
           but on our hearts.
Are we willing to follow Him?
And finally see
      what God brings about,
a crack in the fortress,
a new way through
              the scary stuff.
His Presence is
       not to be recognized,
       but realized.)

O LORD,
Help us to always be aware
   that we can pray to You.
Empower us in this situation
   not just to call out to You,
   but to worship You
             right here, right now,
   with our feet
               and our prayers.
Please help us
   not just to be delivered
             from difficulty,
but to bring Your name here
and worship You,
              even in this.
May we seek Your face
and be faithful
     in the ordinary
     and the extraordinary.



Friday, April 12, 2024

What In The World Am I Doing Here?

 

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Daily Reminder

 

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Strength in Impossible Places

 

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

What Is The One Thing Today?

 

Everyone to whom
     much was given,
of him much
     will be required,
and from him whom
    they entrusted much,
they will demand the more.

                   Luke 12. 48

(We have each been entrusted
with gifts, abilities,
responsibilities, patches of ground
          and souls in our care.
May we respon faithfully
   to our divine appointments,
   no insignificant details
no division between great and small,
          but all profound,
even on the most "ordinary" day.
In Greek, entrusted means
   to place near and proximate,
to set before
   and commit to one's charge.
God has strategically positioned us.
What is the one thing
         we must do today?
To be faithful.)

O LORD,
Please help us to not be distracted
    but to be faithful to You,
not just in what is necessary,
   but what is faithful.
Help us to follow You
    right into this day.
And to use Your gifts to us
   in a way that brings
honor and glory to You.


Monday, April 8, 2024

Never Forget This

 

Sunday, April 7, 2024

The Incredible and Indelible

 

He divided the sea
and let them pass through it,
and made the waters
         stand like a heap.

              Psalm 78. 13

(Our lives are filled with
     God's huge interventions
that sometimes
             we are so unaware,
the narrow squeaks,
the accidents we didn't see avoided,
His moving heaven and earth
    to make a path
    through an impenetrable wall.
Are we even mindful
   of His leading us through
   impossible situations?
Do we take credit for it?
Or chalk up the miraculous
                as mere luck?
God's glory is all around,
   and we are oblivious.)

O LORD,
You guide us
     and provide for us
in incredible and indelible ways.
Help us to not just
     recognize and acknowledge 
            Your hand,
       but Your Presence with us.
Grant to us the vocabulary
       to give You the glory.
And the eyes to behold
           Your daily wonders.


Saturday, April 6, 2024

Overwhelmed or Overtaken

 

And all these blessings
       shall come upon you
and overtake you,
   if you obey the voice
   of the LORD your God.

            Deuteronomy 28. 2

(It is not that if we align our hearts
          with His 
       that all will be easy,
but taking His hand
            as He walks with us through
    the broken and the bleak.
We experience these realities
    with a new strength.
We live an incredibly different life
     if we follow Him into it,
even in the midst of hardship,
   trouble, drought or pain.
God has strategically placed us
       to bring His name here.
We are not alone.  He is with us.
And blessings arrive
         in strange packaging.)

O LORD,
Overtake us!
Please help us to dwell with You,
even in the midst of
           this crazy world.
We seek not just Your blessings,
but that we would bless You
   and bless others
   in all that we do today,
 wherever You have guided us.
Open our hearts and eyes
  that we would be aware
                and equipped
   to bring Your blessing
   to impossible circumstances.
And trust You
     as You work Your wonders.

Friday, April 5, 2024

Walking Freely Through Minefields

 

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Like A Good Neighbor

 

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

The Very Best Welcome Gift

 

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Saying Yes

 

But as for you,
the LORD your God
has not allowed you
             to do this.

       Deuteronomy 18. 14

(Some things are just not ok.
God is not mean
    or wanting to squash us,
but God is more loving
        than we can imagine.
And sometimes that means
            saying "no."
He knows our limitations.
He knows what ensnares
     and trips up our hearts.
His love covers us as a shield
    and saves us from ourselves.
His precepts show us a different way
     to higher ground for our great good
      and the welfare of others.
Saying "no" to one thing
   means saying "yes" to another.
His directions empower us to thrive
and avoid the minefield
     wherever we may be.
A precept is an old Latin word
   that means to warn or instruct,
to point out God's way in this.
In His statutes,
       God shows us to yes
     -- to what is good and right,
        just, loving and gracious.
Because what we do and choose
    always directly impacts 
                   everyone around us.       
We can give someone else courage
 by making different choices ourselves
    that honor God and love others.)

O LORD,
Please help us to trust You
   in Your directions.
Grant to us the strength
   to do what is right
              in Your eyes
and honorable for Your Kingdom.
Give us Your grit
   to follow after righteousness
and to be brave and daring
        as Your people.
Guide our choices
              for Your glory.

Monday, April 1, 2024

A Million Unexpected Ways

 

And what was left over
  was picked up,
twelve baskets
     of broken pieces.

          Luke 9. 17

(Just another incident of
God's fundamental law
            of leftovers.
God provides
   and God multiplies,
not just enough
   but more than we can imagine.
That's what obedience to God
    looks like in tangible ways.
That's what happens
   when we follow Him
   into an impossible situation
        or the commonplace.
Obedience never bears
           singular blessings,
but gets all over everyone
   for generations.)

O LORD,
Help us to realize
that all that we do
           in following You
impacts our walk with You,
but also directly affects
    everyone around us
and everyone who comes
             after us,
    even the yet unborn.
Guide us into this day.
Align our hearts with Yours.
Appoint our steps.
Redeem for Your glory.