To be one with You.There is nothing else.

If there is one focus for the Christian life, it is this. To be one with the Father through Jesus Christ. This would be our “keystone habit” affecting all other habits in our life. To be one with Jesus is to be one with all who truly believe in Him and put Him first in their lives.

“A hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically in tune with each other.”

I become more and more convinced that there is nothing else to focus on than this–oneness with Christ. For on this hangs everything. If we are so tuned in to His voice, it will drown out all others, and we will be at peace.

But for most it is probably the opposite. The competing voices are winning the day. Drowning out the peaceful voice of Jesus.

What would it take for you to turn the volume of Jesus up high enough to drown out the other voices?

It may have to be drastic.

Oh well.

I know my peace is directly proportional to who I am listening to most.

My Peaceometer needle goes to the percentage I am listening to YHWH. If I’ve given the world, worries, fears, and problems my ear 78% of the time today, then my Peaceometer will read a pathetic 22 when Jesus Himself prayed it would be 100! (I’m a geeky numbers guy, but you get the picture)

The voice of Christ turns our issues into non-issues. I’ve experienced this. He does not give us a technique or ways to manage or new coping strategies. He takes it all away, miraculously swallowing it up in His peace that only He can give.

If we let Him.

Whoever you listen to most is who you give authority over your life to.

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The Piano quote is Tozer’s

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

•  Imagine a friendship with someone who doesn’t return your calls, but calls you every couple of weeks or so only to ask you for something, be it advice, to borrow something, babysit their children…
• God desires a ceaseless conversational relationship with you. It’s as if He is saying, “I am with you, will you be with me?”

✙ It is good for prayer to be specific and persistent, carried out until it is answered

✙ 7 Hindrances to Prayer

➀ Asking amiss to fulfill your own pleasures ~James 4:3

“The true purpose in prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.” -R.A. Torrey

➁ Habitual sin ~Isaiah 59:1-2

➂ Idols in the heart – Anything that takes the place of God, that is the supreme object of our affection. ~Ezekiel 14:3

➃ Shutting your ears to the cry of the poor        ~Proverbs 21:13

➄ An unforgiving spirit  ~Mark 11:25

➅ Wrong relation between husband and wife
~I Peter 3:7

➆ Doubt, lack of faith ~James 1:5-7

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For Further Reading:

“The Practice of the Presence of God” Brother Lawrence

“Letters From a Modern Mysitc” Frank Laubach

“The School of Prayer” Andrew Murray

“How to Pray” R.A. Torrey

“Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home” Richard Foster

“Sanctuary of the Soul” Richard Foster

“Life With God” Richard Foster

“Answers to Prayer” George Müeller
In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Though it is certainly not less than this, the Bible is much deeper than regulations for life. It’s not just “how to live”, as important as that is.

The Bible is God’s story. The Bible is God’s revealing of Himself and His purposes. And an overarching theme, if not the theme, is God’s pursuit of His people. A slightly fancier word would be His “mediation” with humanity.

God has been drawing us to Himself since, what we call, the beginning of time.

You hear many people who read the Bible say they read it to live rightly or to “apply it to their lives.” This is good. This is very good. May we just never forget or overlook or let be swallowed up, the deeper truth that the Bible is God’s revealing of Himself for the purposes of us being able to know Him and be connected intimately to Him. This is first and foremost.

We have the need, desire, and craving for connection and belonging woven into our hearts. It’s undeniable. And you see this through stories. Even the harshest people I know love story. They, at bare minimum, love telling stories about themselves. Why? Connection. Belonging. Listen closely and you will hear it.

For your children, or your parents, what would you choose between the following:

~ That they always behave, never going against any of your rules or God’s, yet you will never be closely connected. Your relationship will never be “deep.” You won’t talk about everything, only stay near the surface–weather, current events, advice-giving, general conversation. No experiencing of life together.

or

~ They will break some, many, of the rules along the way, going against your wishes a lot of the time. Yet you stay connected via deep communication, growing in intimacy, due to the going through of many and varied life experiences together. Experiential involvement with them–actual engagement.

Sadly, many today I believe would actually choose “A”. Just do everything you’re suppose to do. Which of course translates into “Everything I want.” Well if that’s not a beautiful relationship, I don’t know what is!

Read the Bible carefully. Listen to God in the Bible. That, I think, is what God wants anyway. To read carefully with a listening ear attuned to Him for what He is wanting to say clearly to us. And in so doing, see if you really come to the conclusion that God wants you to go to church because you’re suppose to. Read the Bible because you should. Help others because you have to. That sounds like quite the imprisoning and, frankly, dumb religion. Not one that would emanate from an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Creator. If that was it, I’d be like, “You create this entire universe of wonder, and that’s all you got as far as relating to us?”

When you go to church, read the Bible, help the poor out of obligation, you are “shoulding” all over yourself. You’re doing things because you should. And we all know what happens to us when we should all over ourselves–we become disgusting. There’s no beauty there. Beauty comes from doing out of love in the heart. If the inside is beautiful, the outside will automatically become beautiful.

“You Pharisees clean the outside of the dish, but your insides are full of greed and filth. How foolish of you! Isn’t God as interested in your insides as your outside?” (Luke 11:39-40)

“If you wash a dish well on the inside, won’t the outside come clean in the process?” (Matthew 23:26)

So back to God’s mediation with humanity in the Bible. Looking at that 30,000 foot view, here are the forms of His mediation as charted in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible (now called The Life With God Bible).

1. Face-to-face
2. Through the family
3. Through God’s terrifying acts and the law
4. Through the conquest and learning to act with God
5. Through the king, prophets, priests, and sacrifices
6. Through suffering and the disappointments of life
7. Through song, prayer, worship
8. Through wisdom
9. Through the prophets and the repression of the Gentiles
10. Through punishment, being a blessing to their captors
11. Through repentance, service, synagogue study
12. Through the Incarnate Word and the living presence of the kingdom
13. Through the Holy Spirit, persecution, and martyrdom
14. In one another, through Scripture, teaching, preaching, prophetic utterance, pastoral care, the Holy Spirit, the sacraments
15. Throughout the cosmos (Revelation)

Again, here we see more clearly, I hope, God’s purpose and desire to be with us, as revealed in and throughout the whole of Scripture.

May we read it with this in mind always.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

You know what really gets my motor runnin’? When I go to Half Price Books (or “Hale Prince Books” as my daughter Zayra calls it) and find all three volumes of The Divine Hours in hardcover! Just typing that right now sent a surge of electric energy throughout my body. Yes, it’s the little things in life that are so brobdingnagian.

So what do I love so much about The Divine Hours? Well let me tell you.

First off, if you are not familiar, it is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer. It’s a contemporary version of this beautiful centuries old practice of set prayers and readings to be done four times, or “offices”, a day.

You start with the morning office (anytime between 6 and 9 a.m.), then midday (between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.), vespers (between 5 and 8 p.m.), ending with compline (before retiring).

What I love is that it is a great way to give anchor points to your day, to revolve your day around Him who made this day. Praying in this way, for me, has been beautifully helpful with divine reminders of why I am here, who is ultimately in charge, and just how good and awesome our God YHWH is. Those simple truths get hijacked (if we allow) as soon as we step out into the world with its barrage of lies and false narratives.

The Divine Hours, prayed from the heart, can be liberatingly grounding.

Let me share the final prayer from this morning’s office:

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. 

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

I must say that one of the greatest habits I’ve established recently is that of regular reflection upon my day. Just taking some time via the prayer of examen to go back through my day in gratitude and remembrance has been extremely rewarding.

Someone said that it isn’t your experiences that change you, but rather your reflection upon them. Experiences themselves do not necessarily make us better. There is an element of choice and decision to move forward in growth, or to merely survive.

 

John Locke said, “Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” Reading just to read doesn’t do much for you, be it the Bible or Pride and Prejudice. But reflecting on what you’ve read, chewing on its meaning and implication, assimilating it into you to internalize and make it yours, now we’re talking.

The Oaks Academy teaches our kids, from a very young age, the habit of reflection for which I am so grateful. If only I had been taught to think about my experiences at a young age! Oh where I’d be today…I don’t even know what I’m saying right now. I need to reflect on it.

Don’t just go through your day getting by, doing things to just get them done, living some sort of monotonous pragmatism. Experience your experiences through real time reflection upon them.

Think about your thinking. Think about what you do. Look back through your day to see where God was in it at every moment.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Though it is certainly not less than this, the Bible is much deeper than regulations for life. It’s not just “how to live”, as important as that is.The Bible is God’s story. The Bible is God’s revealing of Himself and His purposes. And an overarching theme, if not the theme, is God’s pursuit of His people. A slightly fancier word would be His “mediation” with humanity.God has been drawing us to Himself since, what we call, the beginning of time.You hear many people who read the Bible say they read it to live rightly or to “apply it to their lives.” This is good. This is very good. May we just never forget or overlook or let be swallowed up, the deeper truth that the Bible is God’s revealing of Himself for the purposes of us being able to know Him and be connected intimately to Him. This is first and foremost.

We have the need, desire, and craving for connection and belonging woven into our hearts. It’s undeniable. And you see this through stories. Even the harshest people I know love story. They, at bare minimum, love telling stories about themselves. Why? Connection. Belonging. Listen closely and you will hear it.

For your children, or your parents, what would you choose between the following:

~ That they always behave, never going against any of your rules or God’s, yet you will never be closely connected. Your relationship will never be “deep.” You won’t talk about everything, only stay near the surface–weather, current events, advice-giving, general conversation. No experiencing of life together.

or

~ They will break some, many, of the rules along the way, going against your wishes a lot of the time. Yet you stay connected via deep communication, growing in intimacy, due to the going through of many and varied life experiences together. Experiential involvement with them–actual engagement.

Sadly, many today I believe would actually choose “A”. Just do everything you’re suppose to do. Which of course translates into “Everything I want.” Well if that’s not a beautiful relationship, I don’t know what is!

Read the Bible carefully. Listen to God in the Bible. That, I think, is what God wants anyway. To read carefully with a listening ear attuned to Him for what He is wanting to say clearly to us. And in so doing, see if you really come to the conclusion that God wants you to go to church because you’re suppose to. Read the Bible because you should. Help others because you have to. That sounds like quite the imprisoning and, frankly, dumb religion. Not one that would emanate from an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Creator. If that was it, I’d be like, “You create this entire universe of wonder, and that’s all you got as far as relating to us?”

When you go to church, read the Bible, help the poor out of obligation, you are “shoulding” all over yourself. You’re doing things because you should. And we all know what happens to us when we should all over ourselves–we become disgusting. There’s no beauty there. Beauty comes from doing out of love in the heart. If the inside is beautiful, the outside will automatically become beautiful.

“You Pharisees clean the outside of the dish, but your insides are full of greed and filth. How foolish of you! Isn’t God as interested in your insides as your outside?” (Luke 11:39-40)

“If you wash a dish well on the inside, won’t the outside come clean in the process?” (Matthew 23:26)

So back to God’s mediation with humanity in the Bible. Looking at that 30,000 foot view, here are the forms of His mediation as charted in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible (now called The Life With God Bible).

1. Face-to-face
2. Through the family
3. Through God’s terrifying acts and the law
4. Through the conquest and learning to act with God
5. Through the king, prophets, priests, and sacrifices
6. Through suffering and the disappointments of life
7. Through song, prayer, worship
8. Through wisdom
9. Through the prophets and the repression of the Gentiles
10. Through punishment, being a blessing to their captors
11. Through repentance, service, synagogue study
12. Through the Incarnate Word and the living presence of the kingdom
13. Through the Holy Spirit, persecution, and martyrdom
14. In one another, through Scripture, teaching, preaching, prophetic utterance, pastoral care, the Holy Spirit, the sacraments
15. Throughout the cosmos (Revelation)

Again, here we see more clearly, I hope, God’s purpose and desire to be with us, as revealed in and throughout the whole of Scripture.

May we read it with this in mind always.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

It is good to regularly take a step or three back to get that 30,000 foot view of our faith/worldview. Of what the New Testament is about. And therefore, how to share it more accurately. I cannot say it better than George Guthrie in his commentary on this passage:“So the new covenant, in essence, has to do with a relationship with God established by the forgiveness of sins, lived out by the internalization of God’s laws, and conceptually set against the backdrop of God’s working through the people of Israel.”

and

“…biblical Christianity, as described in Hebrews 8 must be understood minimally as involving the forgiveness of sins, a transformation of the inner life in accordance with the laws of God, and an intimate relationship with the living God.”

and

“Using Hebrews 8 we can explain that God offers us a ‘meaningful agreement’ with himself–that he agrees to be our God and to allow us to know him. God agrees, furthermore, to transform us in our hearts and minds, providing us with intrinsic motivation for doing his will. Finally, he commits to forgive our wickedness and forget our sins. This ‘meaningful agreement’ is the gospel in a nutshell.”

oh, and

“…this passage, with its quotation of Jeremiah 31:31-34, provides an excellent beginning point for sharing the good news that God wants us to be in a committed relationship that forms both the foundation and essence of a superior way of living.”

The only means by which we can really know God and abide in Him is love.

Because He is love.

To love someone as they actually are is to truly know them.

To care for and pray for one’s soul even while they reject you, is loving them as God loves them, and consequently brings you into deeper intimacy with Him.

To love someone via soul care and prayer when they are acting in ways contrary to your liking or preference, this is to know God.

Hell, I think to love someone who is simply annoying brings you closer to Jesus. Someone who annoys the crap out of you and you can still see the precious jewel at the core of that person, to see them as God made and sees them–you are crossing over into knowing God.

It’s easy to know about God. Any dork with the internet can do that in a matter of minutes.

But to know God in terms of His essence?  Shoooooooooot…..

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

There’s a story of the man who entertained the crowds by pushing a wheelbarrow across a tightrope drawn across a gaping chasm. “Do you believe I can do it?” he asked them. “Of course we do,” they shouted. “Who will get in the wheelbarrow, then?” he invited. And they all fell silent.Do you merely believe that God holds your life in His hands, or do you trust His guiding of your actual living of it?

Jesus did not say the kingdom of God was like a man who believed there was a treasure hidden in a field. “Now that I know there’s a treasure in that field, my life is changed! I’m now completely debt-free simply for knowing this information!”

Uhhh, no.

We have equated spiritual belief with mere intellectual assent. From what I’ve studied, when Jesus or the apostles spoke of “belief” in their day, they meant something you stake your life on.

You sell all you have for that field to get the treasure in it.

That is trust.

Acknowledging the treasure without obtaining it is non-life-changing erudition.

What if we believed in the possibility that what God wants for us is…pleasant? 

My share in life has been pleasant; my part has been beautiful.           –Psalm 16:6

Praise the greatness of the LORD, who loves to see His servants do well. -Psalm 35:27 (NCV)

or

 He takes pleasure (delights in) His servants’ well-being.                          -Psalm 35:27 (HCSB)

You know what? You might actually enjoy what God wants for you.

“Ignatius of Loyola suggests that sin is ultimately a refusal to believe that what God wants is my happiness and fulfillment. When I fail to believe this, I am tempted to sin–to take my life into my own hands, assuming I am in the best position to determine what will lead to my happiness. As I become convinced that God wants nothing more than my fulfillment, surrender to His will is increasingly possible.”

The closer you journey toward God, the more you realize you have everything you want already, because increasingly, all you want is God.

“I’ve said these things so that my joy may be in you, and so that your joy may be full.” -John 15:11

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The quote in italics is from Sacred Companions by David Benner