You cannot grow in Christlikeness without plumbing the depths of your inner self as revealed through the Word of God. And most people have a very tough time just sitting with themselves.

It seems to me that there are two kinds of self-focus. One positive, the other negative.

On the negative side, there is selfish self-focus. This is what we see rampant in our society of seeking to always please self. Seeking out pleasure at the cost of a life of depth. And also seeking to insulate one’s self from pain, also at great expense. For when we insulate from pain, we insulate from love. We embrace our modern day idol of comfort and convenience. Anything pushing us out of our comfort zone is avoided with great energy. Our goal is to always be comfortable, pleased, and pain-free.

Then there is a positive self-focus which is, paradoxically, a selfless self-focus. This is the bettering of one’s self through healthy self examination, sitting with yourself, looking into the mirror of God’s word and letting Him penetrate your heart to reveal what is not of Him as well as what is, and to respond accordingly. Some things we will need to nurture and cultivate. Some we will need to crucify.

In this kind of self-focus, we are becoming a greater light to the world, more in tune with our true self, and therefore, a more effective human being as an instrument of God’s love and healing.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Thinking of yesterday’s prayer to experience being known, accepted, loved, and embraced by God, I do what I always naturally do and thought of the acronym to go with it. So then I thought to remind myself to eat more KALE–to take moments to remember that I am Known, Accepted, Loved, and Embraced by God. Then I wondered if that scheme would work for me, so I rearranged the words to make LAKE, and thought of how we all need to take a dip in the LAKE regularly to remind us of who we are, our true identities. I’m a nerd. But an accepted nerd.

How does it look for you to take a dip in the LAKE? What is it you regularly need to remind yourself of who you are?

Obviously, there are direct reminders all over Scripture. Perhaps you need to sit with it more, in meditation or memorization. Maybe getting alone for prayer, distraction-free every day. Maybe you need to get outside everyday and soak in God’s beauty. Maybe to hear and share stories with others of how God is at work in lives. It will look a little different for all of us, I’m sure. It’s so vital to keep coming back to who we are in Christ, to how God sees us. Sitting each day for a few minutes focused on how God sees you could be a game-changer for you.

Science is telling us more and more about this. That our identities come from who we love and who we feel love from. That is what shapes us most, not principles. Rarely does someone live as passionately about a principle as they do a person. So much of this goes back to appreciation. A friend the other day expressed some deep, heartfelt, and specific appreciation for me. And I felt on top of the world, validated. Simultaneously loved, known, accepted, and embraced. It’s that stuff that keeps us going and therefore is so important for us to encourage one another with to keep us going on the right path. It’s tough to keep going if you don’t feel appreciated. And since people will no doubt let us down, make sure you ultimately perform for an audience of One.

So I’m seeing more and more clearly how we need to live out of the Divine Embrace not just mandates. Very few people just start changing their thinking and making different choices without being touched by Love.

Here’s some interesting thoughts to chew on from Joy Starts Here, from people who have studied this stuff for over a couple decades now:

“Much of what we read about the brain is an updated version of what the Western church has been overusing for the last 400 years. The solution of Western culture the last 400 years is that we should make better choices by thinking better thoughts. The brain is used for thinking and choices so this seems totally logical and has instant appeal. The new literature on the brain has picked up the observation that emotions are fundamental to the brain and body. The brain requires emotions for processing experiences properly so many new books add emotions as the new ingredient to the old solution of thinking better thoughts and making better choices. The new load for our thinking and choices is that if we choose our thoughts carefully, we will control the emotions that run our brain and body system. Thoughts and choices become the solution to controlling emotions…

” While this sounds good and our choices do affect us, our identities are not formed by choices but by the bonds we experience. Who we share mutual mind states with and who we love will shape our choices more than the other way around. Attachments are at the center of our identities. It is very hard to make changes by simply thinking and choosing differently. Try to change the character of how young adults eat by telling them to think more about nutrition and make better choices. But watch what happens when they begin to love and attach to someone and we will see thoughts, feelings, and choices changing in a hurry. Think of anyone who fell in love and how they change schools, politics, friends, and are suddenly interested in Japanese art!

“The brain is much more concerned about who we love than what we think. Emotions and attachments rapidly change our reality…The attachment system in the emotional right hemisphere of the brain has the direct control of our identities and emotions and it is only indirectly influenced by thoughts and choices…

“While there is every reason to think good thoughts and make good choices, these are not the secret to developing mature Godly character. Training our brain’s relational identity center to live in joy and shalom works directly while thoughts and choices can only work indirectly and inefficiently to transform identities.”

Oh the immense brilliance of Jesus stating that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength….for all of life flows from that center.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

You are too much! You overwhelm me! Praying before lectio divina this morning, I uttered the words, “May I experience being known, accepted, loved, and embraced as I come to You naked, laid bare before You.” The words almost seemed to be given more than thought. Then I open to Hebrews to see where I was for my reading today, and it is the section of 4:11-13 where I read, “All are naked, laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account.” Are you serious?? I felt Your presence and peace more tangibly than I have for some time. I came to You this morning more agenda-free and less results-oriented than I have in a while. And oh the freedom it brings! How You showed me You are with me in every bit the same capacity as You’ve always been, especially as I’ve experienced in the last four years. 

I felt a true intercourse with You and yet more affirmation to live contemplatively. More permission I cannot deny, more freedom in being laid bare before You. To take that hour, two, or more every single day for contemplation. As You’ve shown me, everything flows from that, and flows freely. You told me this morning, concerning what to do and who to be with, that You will show me as I obey and spend this time with You alone. And my trust in You, in this, is secure and as firm as anything I’ve felt and known. I feel free of so much. I don’t have to do or keep up with anything, but this. With You. I can trust You and what You’re doing and simply do what You put before me daily, seeing and hearing clearly as I sit and listen to You at Your feet.

Oneness. That is what I seek via intercourse with Your Trinitarian fellowship. This You also showed me clearly. My seeking has always been about oneness, and oneness with You. Slow down and just be. You’ve got everything. Do only what I hear from You, like all those in the Bible. Like Your Son. As You did, Jesus (John 5:19, 8:28). You never acted on Your own initiative, but said only what the Father taught You. You’ll show me what to write, who to call, what to do. For me, the only way to hear this clearly though, is to take the time to sit with You. This is unmistakeable.

Your presence is amazing. Your lovingkindness overwhelming.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Why?

If you have children, would you rather have them please you or trust you?

Why?

If they trust you, are you pleased with them?

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Take care, my dear family, that none of you should possess an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to withdraw from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it’s called “Today,” so that none of you may become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
So we can see that it was their unbelief that prevented them from entering.

In a sense, we could say that all sin emanates from a lack of belief that God has our best interests at heart.

This is one thing we could use reminding of every day which would definitely fall under the category of encouragement.

Instead of giving in to those questioning voices of, “Did God really say…?” and “Does God really care about you?” or “Does God really want what’s best for you? Sure doesn’t look like it,” we can rest assured by the true voice “I love you more than you know,” “I work everything out for good,” I only want what’s best for you,” and “I just want to grow you into Me.”

May we remind each other daily of what is true and good and beautiful.

That everything we do matters.

That we are loved merely due to the fact that we exist.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Well it’s a fair question. And maybe one we should ask ourselves regularly. It reminds me of what my buddy Sam said he has to stop and ask himself when getting upset about something,”What’s the point of my entire life?”

What is the point? Why do we live here?

What if it’s true that Jesus lived out perfectly what it is to be fully and truly human? Humanity 2.0 if you will. He lived 100% animated by God in all He said, in all He did, in how He saw people and the world, in how He listened, in how He worked, in how He ate, in how He prayed…He was one with God.

What if that is the whole point? To be another Jesus, who is the prototype of a new humanity. To be fully animated by His Spirit, just as He was fully animated by the Father. He was clear on the fact that He did and said nothing unless He first received it from God the Father.

Man, was He tuned in. One with God.

And God is love.

I keep coming back to becoming an unconditional love machine. I think that’s it. I think that is the healing of the nations. To act only in response to what we hear from our Triune Father. And this comes from tuning in to Him consistently over time. The dialing in to the frequency of God requires those disciplines of mind, body, and spirit everyday. Training ourselves to listen, and therefore, to hear more clearly the voice of YHWH.

I believe we live here to bring glory to God by becoming one with Him, more and more seeing how He sees, hearing how He hears, doing what He wills, thinking of others how He does–in compassion and selflessness–loving the hell out of everybody. And this includes seeing ourselves how He sees us–having infinite value and worth.

What if any situation or circumstance could be used to conform us to the image of God’s Son–if we acknowledged it as such, surrendered to it, and listened for God in the midst of it in order to respond to Him how He would have us?

Would we not live lives of love and fearlessness, becoming more and more immune (but not totally in this life) to discouragement because of the increasing ability to see right through it and trust God no matter how it looks?

“O Lord our God, you deserve to receive glory and honor and power, because you created all things; because of your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11

Those He foreknew, you see, He also marked out in advance to be shaped according to the model of the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn of a large family. Romans 8:29

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

-Fr. Hilary Ottensmeyer, a deceased monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey 

If you are not growing in your prayer life, then you are not maturing as a Christ follower.

Prayer is the best use of our time because it aligns us with Christ-in thought and word and deed-like nothing else possibly can.

In the Name of Jesus, 
Soli Deo Gloria