Slowly Fasting 01/06/2010
Okay, it's official. I'm doing the Daniel fast. God has placed a nameless yearning in my spirit that I cannot discern. As my friend, Leigh, put things, I've felt like I'm spinning wheels in every area of life. Desiring to follow the Lord often leads to these little road blocks. Not knowing which direction to step out in means never taking that first step. I write for a lot of reasons, but the reason I am a writer stems directly from my desire to be understood. In truth, that desire has its own root in the gift our Father placed in me. He wants me to want to be understood in ways that bring Him glory, and that requires that I understand what brings Him glory. Without that, I'm stuck...and stuck is just where I've been for a few months now, it seems. Sure, stuck started out innocently enough. Nothing ever stays compartmentalized. What had been a quick re-post here or there soon turned into a total loss of interest in devotional pieces. I had begun to feel as if my learning was halted and therefore I had no business trying to encourage someone else in the way they should go. The flaw with my logic lies in the fact that I learn more from sharing with you than I ever do while going it alone. You are my conviction on many days. I think that's part of why writer's block has hit so hard this time around. God alone wants to be my conviction. Duh. When the thought to fast first hit, I shooed it away quite promptly. It came back. And again. And then, I began to pay attention. A tad. In a cute little way that didn't really consider it as much as consider it a cute little notion. The fact I knew it to be a powerful tool in our Father's hands, never occurred. I honestly hadn't stopped to consider His huge hands in my big hurry to "feel better". Finally, I spoke the idea into actuality today. On twitter. Okay, I typed it. Anyway, I hadn't given it a chance to grow into a full-blown idea yet and once I it was out there, it was real. Leigh reached out about sharing the same need and then the idea was a decision...to think about it seriously, aka PRAY about it. So after some prayer, God reminded me that I was wrapping up my time in Beth Moore's study of Daniel and I had known at the start that I would do the Daniel fast when I was finished studying and ready to begin writing the chapter on Daniel's friendships, in the book I'm working on. As the months wore on, that eagerness faded into guilt and dust on the cover but no ink on the pages. So, when I heard God whispering "resolve" as my word for the year ahead, I applied it to my study of the book and am nearly through with its lessons. What a ride that's been! Once I finally put two and two together, I saw that it was time to decide--to resolve--to take on the Daniel fast and all that God plans to do with it! With me! Okay, I had to add two plus two on a calculator...or google, actually. I hopped onto google in search for information on "the Daniel fast Beth Moore" and found this in the results. It is a writing of Beth Moore's that can't be missed. In it I found so many treasures; affirmation that He will prepare me in all things, a verse I just quoted in a column I'm writing on obedience, and not a thing about the Daniel fast. Not a thing I would have noticed had I not been looking. God is so good. Merciful. Faithful. Holy. Moly. God is good. The Gift of Prayer 12/21/2009
 In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are encouraged, if not instructed, to "pray continually". That's the verse in its entirety. --Pray continually-- Seems an insurmountable goal, doesn't it? At first glance, perhaps, but dig a little deeper and you'll find it allows for a beautiful freedom in your personal walk with Christ. The word used in the ancient text was adialeiptōs, which translates more accurately to unceasing. Its meaning was more akin to assiduously than to continually. To pray assiduously is to do so with care and persistence. Sounding more attainable already, isn't it? Digging deeper into The Word reveals so much about His divine will. When I read Genesis 24:45, I am brought to an abrupt stop. These words describing the beautiful prayer-filled journey of Abraham's servant leap from the page. "Before I had finished speaking in my heart..." He referred to his prayer as being simply in his heart. Not spoken aloud. Not on his knees before an altar. Not with the burning of offerings or much ado at all. Simply words spoken from his heart to God's ears. Persistent and with care. He went about the business set before him, but he did so without ceasing in prayer. The world wasn't going to stop for his prayer but the servant knew that the Lord was with him every step of his journey and before he could even finish his heart's prayer the Lord had answered. Our sweet Savior is with you on your journey as well. Be assiduous in seeking Him! Lord, You are too wonderful! No matter the fact that we don't have time to dedicate undivided attention to our every prayer, Our God is still there--we praise You, Father, for such faithful love! In spite of ourselves, You heed and answer in Your time all the same. A heart spoken prayer or an audible one, it's all the same to You. What a gift our time in prayer is to our weary hearts! Thank you Jesus! Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. What gifts from God are you treasuring today? The Perfect Model 11/11/2009
Christ endured every variety of challenge we will face as we follow Him. Knowing this helped me to see that even the elusive beast called stillness could be tackled by looking to Jesus for direction. I've found that still bodies can help us focus on the heavenlies, but we don't need to feel like inactivity is a must unless God is calling us to it, personally. However we can bring still minds before our heavenly Father is quiet time. Though my focus {and that of the Kettle Club} for the month of November is silent devotion, quiet time doesn't have to be in silence. We can find rest in reading a devotional, praying aloud or in heart, studying the Word of God, singing the praises of the King, or even listening to someone else sing them as we soak the dishes--or ourselves in this really cool thing I've heard about in hushed circles, the stuff of legend...it's called Bubble Bath, it's somewhere beyond the looking glass, I believe. In Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46, we read about three instances of prayer in which Jesus sought God's will above His own and walked away knowing that God wouldn't be allowing the cup to pass as Jesus had asked. Scripture doesn't note God's reply with words but with inference and I can't help but wonder if that is because the exchange took place without words. Knowing how God speaks to us, it's easy to imagine Jesus being quiet in His prayer so that the will of His Father could be revealed to Him. Of course, I'm just speaking in possibilities here. We can't know for sure that Christ was silent during any of His prayers, but we can know that He was focused and intent on hearing from the Lord. That devotion to seeking God's will and stepping into His Presence, coupled with the fact that Jesus often went off on His own to pray, gives us the perfect model for our own prayer lives. I want to leave you with the words Jesus prayed on our behalf. I don't think anything better has ever been prayed for any single one of us. "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:6-26, NRSV).  |   Loading
categorized chaos
All shining light elsewhere
   {blog awards I've received}  
   |
Let the Son Shine--All Content by Let the Son Shine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
