Spiritual Resources Daily Devotions

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 7

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for a selection from a new book! I n service we engage our goods and strength in the active promotion of the good of others and the causes of God in our world. Here we recall an important distinction. Not every act that may be done as a discipline need be done as a discipline. I will often be able to serve another simply as an act of love and righteousness, without regard to how it may enhance my abilities to follow Christ. There certainly is nothing wrong with that, and it may, incidentally, strengthen me spiritually as well. But I may also serve another to train myself from arrogance, possessiveness, envy, resentment, or covetousness. In that case, my service is undertaken as a discipline for the spiritual life. Such discipline is very useful for those Christians who find themselves-as most of us by necessity must-in the "lower" position in society, at work, and in the church. It alone can train us in habits of loving service to others and free us from resentment, enabling us in faith to enjoy our position and work because of its exhalted meaning before God. Paradoxically perhaps, service is the high road to freedom from bondage to other people. In it, as Paul realized, we cease to be "menpleasuers" and "eyeservants," for we are acting unto God in our lowliest deeds: "Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not with eyeservice, as menpleasuers, but in singlenses of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:22-24, RSV). Chapter 9: Some Main Disciplines for the Spiritual Life || Page 182 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 6

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! F aith in its celebration sometimes becomes a delirious joy coursing through our bodily being, when we really begin to see how great and lovely God is and how good he has been to us. Even those commonly thought to be ruined (Luke 6:20-23; Matthew 5:3-12)-the poor, the depressed, the persecuted-have a godlike well-being in his company and Kingdom. Feasting, dancing, singing, oration become insuppressible. "For by thee," we shout, "I have run through a troop: and by my God I have leaped over a wall" (Psalm 18:29). "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever!" (Psalm 30:11-12). But that is not yet enough. The hills must sing and the trees break out in applause for God (Isaiah 55:12). Every created thing must praise the Lord (Psalm 148-150). Celebration heartily done makes our deprivations and sorrows seem small, and we find in it great strength to do the will of our God because his goodness becomes so real to us. Chapter 9: Some Main Disciplines for the Spiritual Life || Page 181 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 5

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! T he study of God in his Word and works opens the way for the disciplines of worship and celebration. In worship we engage ourselves with, dwell upon, and express the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God through thought and the use of words, rituals, and symbols. We do this alone as well as in union with God's people. To worship is to see God as worthy, to ascribe great worth to him. Here, for example, is worship: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for they pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11). And again: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing..Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Revelation 5:12-13). As we worship in this manner, giving careful attention to the details of God's action and to his "worthiness," the good we adore enters our minds and hearts to increase our faith and strengthen us to be as he is. If in worship we are met by God himself, our thoughts and words turn to perception and experience of God, who is then really present to us in some degree of his greatness, beauty, and goodness. This will make for an immediate, dramatic change in our lives. Such a thing happened with Isaiah, who once at worship saw the Lord, "sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his trained filled the temple," surrounded by the seraphim crying to one another: "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Host; the whole earth is full of his glory" (6:1-3). It has happened to many others. Chapter 9: Some Main Disciplines for Spiritual Life || Pages 177-178 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 4

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! T oday, sustained withdrawal from society into solitude seems to indicate weakness, suffering, flight, or failure rather than great strength, joy, and effectiveness. Believing that, we, for instance, thoroughly misunderstand the context of Jesus' temptations after his baptism (Matthew 4). The Spirit, we are told, led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Was this not to put Jesus in the weakest possible position before Satan, starving and alone in the wilds? Most to whom I have spoken about this matter are shocked at the suggestion that the "wilderness," the place of solitude and deprivation, was actually the place of strength and strengthening for our Lord and that the Spirit led him there-as he would lead us there-to ensure that Christ was in the best possible condition for the trial. In that desert solitude, Jesus fasted for more than a month. Then, and not before, Satan was allowed to approach him with his glittering proposals of bread, notoriety, and power. Only then was Jesus at the heights of his strength. The desert was his fortress, his place of power. Throughout his life he sought the solitary place as an indirect submission of his own physical body to righteousness (e.g., Mark 1:35, 3:13, 6:31, 46). That is, he sought it not as an activity done for its own sake, but one done to give him power for good. All of those who followed Jesus knew of his practice of solitude, and it was greatly imitated in the centuries after his death. Chapter 7: St. Paul's Psychology of Redemption-The Example || Pages 101-102 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 3

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! T he message of Jesus himself and of the early disciples was not just one of the forgiveness of sins, but rather was one of newness of life-which of course involved forgiveness as well as his death for our sins. And yet that newness of life also involved much more beside. To be "saved" was to be "delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son," as Colossians 1:13 says. We who are saved are to have a different order of life from that of the unsaved. We are to live in a different "world." It is because this was the sort of salvation to be accomplished that the resurrection, not the death of Christ, was the central fact in the gospel of the early believers. As we've already suggested, the resurrection had the meaning it did to those early believers just because it proved that he new life that had already been present among them in the person of Jesus could not be quenched by killing the body. The resurrection was a cosmic event only because it validated the reality and the indestructivlity of what Jesus had preached and exemplified before his death-the enduring reality and openness of God's Kingdom. It meant that the Kingdom, with the communal form his disciples had come to know and hope in, would go on. The "gates of the grave" would not prevail against it, as Matthew 16:18 states. That, and the fact that Jesus was not dead after all-and that when we die, we won't stay dead-is what made the resurrection earthshaking, transforming good news. Chapter 3: Salvation Is a Life || Pages 36-37 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 2

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! W hy is it that we look upon our salvation as a moment that began our religious life instead of the daily life we receive from God? We're encouraged somehow today to remove the essence of faith from the particulars of daily human life and relocate it in special times, place, and state of mind. More and more, we are realizing the enormity of this problem. Upon occasion, we exhort Christians to "take Christ into the workplace" or "bring Christ into the home." But doesn't this only point to the deadly assumption that Christians normally leave Christ at the church? Where does such an idea begin? More than anyplace else it originates from failure to recognize the part our body plays in our spiritual life-and this is, of course, where the disciplines enter the discussion.... A close look at Jesus' "great acts" of humility, faith, and compassion recorded in the Gospel narratives finds them to be moments in a life more pervasively and deeply characterized by solitude, fasting, prayer, and service. Surely, then, the lives of his followers must be just as deeply characterized by those same practices. The pervasive practices of our Lord form the core of those very activities that through the centuries have stood as disciplines for the spiritual life. it would seem only logical to emulate his daily actions since he was a great master of the spiritual life. So isn't is reasonable then to see in those disciplines the specific factors leading to the easy yoke, the light burden, and the abundance of life and power? Without suggesting any mechanical "formula for success" in the spiritual life-for such things are always out of pace-we want to answer that question with an unmistakable yes. Even of Jesus it is true that "he learned obedience through the things which he suffered," as Hebrews 5:8 states. Obedience, even for him, was something to be learned. Certainly we cannot reasonably hope to do his deeds without adopting his form of life. and we cannot adopt his form of life without engaging in his disciplines-maybe even more than he did and surely adding others demanded by our much more troubled condition. Chapter 3: Salvation Is a Life || Pages 28-29 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard, 1

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Come back tomorrow for another selection from this devotional book! A sking ourselves "What would Jesus do?" when suddenly in the face of an important situation simply is not an adequate discipline or preparation to enable one to live as he lived. It no doubt will do some good and is certainly better than nothing at all, but that act alone is not sufficient to see us boldly and confidently through a crisis, and we could easily find ourselves driven to despair over the powerless tension it will put us through. The secret of the easy yoke, then it, is to learn from Christ how to live our total lives, how to invest all our time and our energies of mind and body as he did. We must learn how to follow his preparations, the disciplines for life in God's rule that enabled him to receive his Father's constant and effective support while doing his will. We have to discover how to enter into his disciplines from where we stand today-and no doubt, how to extend and amplify them to suit our needy cases. This attitude, this action is our necessary preparation for taking the yoke of Christ. Do you believe that such a life is possible? I do. Emphatically. Chapter 1: The Secret of the Easy Yoke || Pages 9-10 Copyright © 1991 Harper Collins Available in the Pavilion Topic: Spiritual Disciplines

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 7

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a selection from a different book! I t is one thing to speak to God. It's another thing to listen. When we listen to God, we receive guidance from the Holy Spirit. A few friends have told me that early in life they were given a clear sense of when God was speaking to them. They learned to recognize certain movements of heart and mind as being the voice of God the way children learn to recognize the voice of their mother. This was such a natural part of life that my friends did not reflect much about it. But that is not my experience. I have never heard an audible voice from God, and I did not grow up with an intuitive discernment as to when God was communicating with me. In fact, I have always tended to be suspicious of people who speak easily of such things. I have come to believe that this suspicion is not altogether a good thing. I realize now that if I am to have a relationship with God that is in any sense personal, I must be open to the possibility that sometimes God does speak directly to me. Through the centuries, Christians have given different names to this phenomenon. In his journal, George Fox wrote about the Lord's "opening" a truth to him-by which he meant that God had spoken directly, though not necessarily audibly, to his mind. John Calvin spoke of the "inner testimony" of the Holy Spirit. St. Ignatius talked of "movements" of the soul-thoughts, feelings, or desires that could in fact be gifts given directly to us by God to move us closer to him. These promptings may come as conviction of sin, and assurance of God's love, or a call to action. But they are crucial to the Spirit-guided life. We must learn to listen for the still, small voice. We can all learn how to be open to the promptings of the Spirit. They are not reserved for the elite or for leaders only or for "important people." They are not reserved for people who work as pastors or missionaries. They are not reserved for people who are "more spiritual" than you. The Holy Spirit can and will give direction to us if we desire it..God may be speaking to you while you "remain ignorant" of the fact that this very thought is coming from God. So it is possible that God may speak to us and our thoughts may be guided by him without our knowing that it is God's guidance. How do we pursue the guidance of the Spirit? Gentle receptiveness, this ordering our minds on more than one level at once, is a skill that can be learned. For instance, if we have a significant decision to make tomorrow, we can stop and ask for wisdom. If we have some discretionary time unexpectedly open up, we can pause and ask God, "Do you have anything for me to do?" Then we can "listen" for a moment, and if no prompting comes, we simply do what seems wisest. Each time we greet someone tomorrow, we can inwardly ask the Spirit, "How can I respond to this person? Do you want to speak or work through me?" This kind of listening has been vital to Christ-followers throughout the centuries. So let us try an experiment. This week, as you are interacting with people, listen for the prompting of the Spirit. As you listen to people, listen also for what the Spirit is saying. The Holy Spirit will lead you to be with people as Jesus would be with them if he were in your place. Chapter 9: The Guided Life || Pages 140-152 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 6

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! P rayer changes things.You don't know how many people have been strengthened because you asked God to encourage them; how many people have been healed because you prayed for their bodies; how many spiritual runaways have come home because you prayed for their souls. None of us may ever know the true effects of our prayers this side of death. But we do know this: History belongs to the intercessors. However, prayer does not happen automatically. My hunch is that of all spiritual disciplines, prayer is the one that people feel most guilty about. Somehow it seems that if we really love God prayer should flow out of us without effort or discipline. In fact, this was not the case even with Jesus' first followers. They had a front row seat to watch the greatest pray-er who ever prayed. And they noticed that things happened when he prayed..the disciples noticed Jesus looked forward to prayer and actually hungered for it. They saw that somehow prayer fed Jesus' soul the way food fed their stomachs. They observed a richly interactive life between Jesus and his Father. They noticed that at crisis points-when Jesus was grieving over the death of John the Baptist, when he experienced need, when he was tired from ministry-his consistent response was to pray. They wanted to be nourished by prayer the way Jesus was. So they asked him to teach them. Here's the lesson: Prayer is learned behavior. Nobody is born an expert at it. No one ever masters prayer. How do we learn to pray? To learn to pray we need two things: a time and a place..So choose one time each day to have a focused time of prayer. Make it the same time each day.At the beginning of prayer it is important to take a few moments to allow (yourself) to settle down. You may want to do this simply by taking a few deep breaths and allowing your mind to slow down. You may want a physical object to focus your eyes on, like a flower or a lit candle. You may simply want to whisper "Heavenly Father" a few times, until your mind is composed enough to go further. What should we pray about? Whole books have been written on that subject.but I want to focus on what Richard Foster calls "simple prayer." Simple prayer is the most common type of prayer in Scripture. Jesus himself teaches it when he tells us to pray for our daily bread. Sometimes it looks amazingly non-spiritual, as when Gideon asks God to give a few more reasons when he should trust him or when Moses complains about his job description. This doesn't seem like the prayer of a spiritual giant. Prayer-like any relationship-must begin in honesty if it is to grow. C. S. Lewis wrote that in prayer we must "lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us." To be aware of what is happening within me when I pray-whether I am tired, or bored, or excited, or distracted-and then talking to God directly about what is happening has made prayer become a much more lively experience in my life. Chapter 6: Interrupting Heaven || Pages 97-104 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 5

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! A traditional practice, to defeat hurry, is solitude. Jesus engaged in it frequently. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went to the wilderness for an extended period of fasting and prayer. He also went into solitude when he heard of the death of John the Baptist, when he was going to choose his disciples, after he had been involved in healing a leper, and after his followers had engaged in ministry. This pattern continued into the final days of his life, when again he withdrew into the solitude of the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He ended his ministry, as he began it, with the practice of solitude. Jesus taught his followers to do the same. And as he said to them. "Come away to a deserted place," he says to us still. Wise followers of Christ's way have always understood the necessity and benefit of solitude. It is, to quote an old phrase, the "furnace of transformation." What makes solitude so important? Solitude is the one place where we can gain freedom from the forces of society that will otherwise relentlessly mold us..Solitude is the remedy for the busyness that charms. But what exactly is solitude? What do we do when we practice solitude? What should we bring along to that quiet place? The primary answer, of course, is "nothing." At its heart, solitude is primarily about not doing something. Just as fasting means to refrain from eating, so solitude means to refrain from society. When we go into solitude, we withdraw from conversation, from the presence of others, from noise, from the constant barrage of stimulation.In solitude we have no friends to talk with, no phone calls or meetings, no television sets, no music or books or newspapers to occupy and distract the mind. Neither accomplishments nor resumes nor possessions nor networks would define me-just me and my sinfulness, me and my desire or lack of desire for God. It is helpful to think about solitude in two categories. We need brief periods of solitude on a regular basis-preferable each day, even at intervals during the day. But we also need, at great intervals, extended periods of solitude-half a day, or a few days. We may want to begin a particular day by praying over the day's schedule-meetings to attend, tasks to perform, people we will be with-and placing it in God's hands. Through the day we could take five-minute breaks if that is possible, close the door to the office, and remind ourselves that one day the office and the building will be gone-but we still belong to God. At the end of the day it can be helpful to review the day with God: to go over the events that took place, to see what he might want to say to us through them, and to hand any anxieties or regrets over to him. For most, the best time to review a day is at bedtime, but if you are a confirmed morning person, you may want to do it when you first get up the next morning. A great benefit of this exercise is that we begin to learn from our days. I also need extended times alone. I try to withdraw for a day once a month or so, and sometime during the year I try to have a retreat for a couple of days. Retreat centers designed for such experiences are becoming more and more common, although any place where you can be undisturbed suffices. One of the great obstacles to extended solitude is that frequently it may feel like a waste of time. This may happen partly because we are conditioned to feel that our existence is justified only when we are doing something. But I believe this feeling comes also because our minds tend to wander. I used to think that if I devoted a large block of time to praying, I should be able to engage in solid, uninterrupted, focused prayer. But I can't..What I have come to realize, over time, is that brief times of focused prayer interspersed with these wanderings is all my mind is capable of at this point. One day I hope to do better. But for now, I find consolation in the words of Brother Lawrence: "For many years I was bothered by the thought that I was a failure at prayer. Then one day I realized I would always be a failure at prayer; and I've gotten along much better ever since." Chapter 5: An Unhurried Life || Pages 86-90 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 4

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! H urry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil." Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them. We suffer from what has come to be known as "hurry sickness." One of the great illusions of our day is that hurrying will buy us more time.Hurry will keep us consumed by "the cares and riches and pleasures of life," as Jesus put it, and prevent his way from taking root in our hearts. Jesus was quite aware of this kind of problem in his day. He repeatedly withdrew from crowds and activities, and taught his followers to do likewise. When the disciples returned, their adrenaline pumping, from a busy time of ministry, Jesus told them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile." Mark explains that "many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat," That could be the motto for some people today. Some people imagine this to be a good thing that perhaps God will reward on day: "What a life you had! You were even too busy to eat. Well done!" But Mark did not mean this statement as a commendation. Jesus urged his disciples to take time out. Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. If we want to follow someone, we can't go faster than the one who is leading. We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives. This does not mean we will never be busy. Jesus often had much to do, but he never did it in a way that severed the life-giving connection between him and his Father. He never did it in a way that interfered with his ability to give love when love was called for. He observed a regular practice of withdrawing from activity for the sake of solitude and prayer. Jesus was often busy, but never hurried. Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart. We will not become unhurried on our own. We cannot achieve this alone. We will have to enter a life of training. So let's look at some practices for the hurry-sick. The first practice is one we might call "slowing." This involves cultivating patience by deliberately choosing to place ourselves in positions where we simply have to wait. Over the next month deliberately drive in the slow lane on the expressway. Instead of trying to pass other drivers, say a little prayer as they go by, asking God to bless them. For a week, eat your food slowly. Force yourself to chew at least fifteen times before each swallow. For the next month, when you are at the grocery store, look carefully to see which check-out line is the longest. Get in it. Let one person go ahead of you. Go through one day without wearing a watch. We must find ways to deliberately choose waiting, ways that make hurry impossible. As we practice them, we should tell God we are trusting him to enable us to accomplish all we need to get done. Often people worry that if they don't rush, they will accomplish less. In fact, researchers have found that there is simply no correlation between hurry or Type-A behavior and productivity. We will discover we can survive without hurry. If we practice these ways diligently enough, we will become unhurried people. Chapter 5: An Unhurried Life || Pages 81-84 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 3

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! Y ou can become a joyful person. With God's help, it really is possible. The biblical writers would not command it if it were not so. But joyfulness is a learned skill. You must take responsibility for your joy. Not your friend, not your parent, not your spouse, not your kids, not your boss-your joy is your responsibility. For some of us, this does not come easily. You may be joy-impaired. You will have to fight for it. But it can be done. People who want to pursue joy especially need to practice the discipline of celebration. This is a primary reason that we see much emphasis placed on feast days in the Old Testament. Times of feasting were to be transforming experiences-just as times of meditating or fasting were. Celebration generally involves activities that bring pleasure-gathering with people we love, eating and drinking, singing and dancing. Spiritual celebration means doing them while reflecting on the wonderful God who has given us such wonderful gifts. The words of Nehemiah express this spirit of celebration. Our word holiday comes from the practice of "holy days." We often think of "discipline" as abstinence from pleasurable things, but Nehemiah commanded the people to set aside a time to revel in them as a discipline for personal transformation. "Eating the fat"-in other translations called "choice food"-can be every bit as much as a discipline as fasting. We expect a prophet to tell us to eat locusts and brussel sprouts, or maybe nothing at all, but here we see Nehemiah handing out the equivalent of Twinkies and Fritos. True celebration is the inverse of hedonism. Hedonism is the demand for more and more pleasure for personal gratification. It always follows the law of diminishing returns, so that what produced joy in us yesterday no longer does today. Our capacity for joy diminishes. Celebration is not like that. When we celebrate, we exercise our ability to see and feel goodness in the simplest gifts of God. We are able to take delight today in something we wouldn't have even noticed yesterday. Our capacity for joy increases. So how do we pursue joy? The first step is simply to begin now. The psalmist says, "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)."This is God's day," the psalmist says. It is the day God made, a day that Christ's death has redeemed. If we are going to know joy, it must be in this day-today. ..True joy, as it turns out, comes only to those who have devoted their lives to something greater than personal happiness. This is most visible in extraordinary lives, in saints and martyrs. But it is no less true for ordinary people like us. If we don't rejoice today, we will not rejoice at all. If we wait until conditions are perfect, we will still be waiting when we die. If we are going to rejoice it must be this day. This is the day the LORD has made. Chapter 4: A Dee Dah Day || Pages 66-69 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 2

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! J ames Dunn notes that in the first century A.D. a vast amount of rabbinic writing focused on circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath keeping. This seems odd, because no devout rabbi would have said these matters were at the heart of the Law. They knew its core: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). So why the focus on these three practices? The answer involves what might be called "identity" or "boundary markers." Groups have a tendency to be exclusive. Insiders want to separate themselves from outsiders. So they adopt boundary markers. These are highly visible, relatively superficial practices--matters of vocabulary or dress or style--whose purpose is to distinguish between those inside a group and those who are outside. With this in mind, the importance of circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath keeping in the first century becomes clear. These were the boundary markers; the highly visible, relatively superficial practices that allowed people to distinguish who was inside and who was outside the family of God. What is worse, the insiders become proud and judgmental toward outsiders. They practiced what might be called a "boundary-oriented approach" to the spiritual life: Just look at people and you will know who are the sheep and who are the goats. This is pseudo-transformation. With Jesus, it was not so. Jesus brought a message that spoke to the deepest longings of the human heart to become not simply conformed to a religious subculture, but transformed into "new creatures." Instead of focusing on the boundaries, Jesus focused on the center, the heart of spiritual life. When asked to identify what the law is about, Jesus' response was simply "Love God, love people." He named a fundamentally different way of identifying who are the children of God: "Do they love God, and do they love the people who mean so much to him?" Jesus' early followers understood this clearly. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about the significance of having many spiritual "markers" but lacking the center: "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing" (1Corinthians 13:1-3). John put it even more bluntly: "Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1John 4:7-8). A boundary-oriented approach to spirituality focuses on people's position: Are you inside or outside the group? A great deal of energy is spent clarifying what counts as a boundary marker. But Jesus consistently focused on people's center: Are they oriented and moving toward the center of spiritual life (love of God and people), or are they moving away from it? This is why he shocked people by saying that many religious leaders-who observed all the recognized boundary markers-were in fact outside the kingdom of God. They were increasingly dead to love. And this is why Jesus could say that "the tax collectors and the prostitutes" who were a million miles from the religious subculture, but who had turned, converted, and oriented themselves toward God and love, were already in the kingdom. This was the great irony of his day: The "righteous" were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin. Chapter 2: Surprised By Change || Pages 31-34 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg - 1

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Come back tomorrow for a new selection from this book! W hat makes something a discipline? Discipline: Any activity I can do by direct effort that will help me do what I cannot now do by direct effort. People will sometimes speak of the "discipline of humility" or the "discipline of patience." Strictly speaking, however, such things are not really disciplines; they are the objects of the disciplines, the things we want to acquire through the disciplines. Disciplines are valuable simply because they allow us to do what we cannot do by willpower alone. This insight lies at the heart of Alcoholics Anonymous. The first of the Twelve Steps is to acknowledge that I cannot stop drinking by willpower alone ("trying really hard to stop drinking"). Then I must arrange my life around certain disciplines or practices--such as taking a ruthless moral inventory and confessing my faults-that will enable me to do what willpower can't. I must enter a life of training for sobriety. What makes something a spiritual discipline? Disciplines that are spiritual are simply those that help me live in the fruit of the Sprit. Spiritual discipline: Any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it. How many spiritual disciplines are there? As many as we can think of. Certain practices are basic, such as solitude, servanthood, confession, and meditation on Scripture. We will look at all these in the remaining chapters of this book. But we can turn almost any activity into a "training exercise" for spiritual life. How do we know what spiritual disciplines to practice? In a sense, the answer comes from thinking backward: First, we must understand clearly what it means to live in the kingdom of God. Jesus spent much of his time helping people see what true spirituality looks like. Second, we must learn what particular barriers keep us from living this kind of life. Third, we must discover what particular practices, experiences, or relationships can help us overcome these barriers. What is a disciplined person? The link between disciple and discipline is obvious. But getting the definitions right is very important, lest discipleship becomes rigid and mechanical. A disciplined person is someone who can do the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right spirit. Notice what a disciplined person is not. A disciplined person is not simply someone who exercises many disciplines. A disciplined person is not a highly systematic, rigidly scheduled, chart-making, gold-star-loving early riser. The Pharisees were rigid and organized, but they were not disciplined persons in the sense required by true discipleship. Disciplined people can do what is called for at any given moment. They can do the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason. This definition applies to artists and athletes and astronauts as well as to followers of Jesus. A disciplined follower of Jesus--a "disciple"--is not someone who has "mastered the disciplines" and never misses a daily regimen of spiritual exercises. A disciplined follower of Jesus is someone who discerns when laughter, gentleness, silence, healing words, or prophetic indignation is called for, and offers it promptly, effectively, and lovingly. Chapter 3: Training vs. Trying || Pages 47-50 Copyright © 1997 Zondervan

Prayer, Richard Foster - 7

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. Intercessory Prayer I f we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others. When we move from petition to intercession, we are shifting our center of gravity from our own needs to the needs and concerns of others. Intercessory Prayer is selfless prayer, even self-giving prayer. In the ongoing work of the kingdom of God, nothing is more important than Intercessory Prayer. People today desperately need the help that we can give them. Marriages are being shattered. Children are being destroyed. Individuals are living lives of quiet desperation, without purpose or future. And we can make a difference.if we will learn to pray on their behalf. Intercessory Prayer is priestly ministry, and one of the most challenging teachings in the New Testament is the universal priesthood of all Christians. As priests, appointed and anointed by God, we have the honor of going before the Most High on behalf of others. This is not optional; it is a sacred obligation-and a precious privilege-of all who take up the yoke of Christ. We are not left alone in this interceding work of ours. Our little prayers of intercession are backed up and reinforced by the eternal Intercessor. Paul assures us that it is "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us" (Rom. 8:34). As if to intensify the truth of this, the writer to the Hebrew declares Jesus an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek who "always lives to make intercession" (Heb. 7:25). In the Upper Room discourse recorded in John's Gospel, Jesus made it unmistakably clear to his disciples that his going to the Father would catapult them into a new dimension of prayer. He explained to his mystified band: that he is in the Father and the Father is in him, that he is going to the Father in order to prepare a place for them, that they will be enabled to do greater works because he is going to the Father, that they will not be left orphaned but that the Spirit of Truth will come to guide them, that they are to abide in him as branches abide in the vine, that he will do anything they ask in his name, and so much more (John 13-17). What is it about Jesus going to the Father that so radically changes the equation? Why would that make such a difference in their-and our-prayer experience? The new dimension is this: Jesus is entering his eternal work as Intercessor before the throne of God, and, as a result, we are enabled to pray for others with an entirely new authority. What I am trying to say is that our ministry of intercession is made possible only because of Christ's continuing ministry of intercession. It is a wonderful truth to know that we are saved by faith alone, that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God. Likewise, we pray by faith alone-Jesus Christ our eternal Intercessor is responsible for our prayer life. "Unless he intercedes," writes Ambrose of Milan, "there is no intercourse with God either for us or for all saints." By ourselves we have no entr�e to the court of heaven. It would be like ants speaking to humans. We need an interpreter, an intermediary, a go-between. This is what Jesus Christ does for us in his role as eternal Intercessor-"There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5, RSV). He opens the door and grants us access into the heavenlies. Even more: he straightens out and cleanses our feeble, misguided intercessions and makes them acceptable before a holy God. Even more still: his prayers sustain our desires to pray, urging us on and giving us hope of being heard. The sight of Jesus in his heavenly intercession gives us strength to pray in his name. Chapter 17: Intercessory Prayer || Pages 49-50 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting

Prayer, Richard Foster - 6

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. Petitionary Prayer D o you know why the mighty God of the universe chooses to answer prayer? It is because his children ask. God delights in our asking. He is pleased at our asking. His heart is warmed by our asking. When our asking is for ourselves it is called petition; when it is on behalf of others it is called intercession. Asking is at the heart of both experiences. We must never negate or demean this aspect of our prayer experience. Some have suggested, for example, that while the less discerning will continue to appeal to God for aid, the real masters of the spiritual life go beyond petition to adoring God's essence with no needs or requests whatever. In this view our asking represents a more crude and na�ve form of prayer, while adoration and contemplation are a more enlightened and high-minded approach, since they are free from any egocentric demands. This, I submit to you, is a false spirituality. Petitionary Prayer remains primary throughout our lives because we are forever dependent upon God. It is something that we never really "get beyond," nor should we even want to. In fact, the Hebrew and Greek words that are generally used for prayer mean "to request" or "to make a petition." The Bible itself is full of Petitionary Prayer and unabashedly recommends it to us. When the disciples requested instruction about prayer, Jesus gave them the greatest prayer ever uttered-what we today call the Lord's Prayer-and it is mainly petitionary. He urged his disciples to "ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matt. 7:7-8). I know that many of our petitions seem immature and self-absorbed. In one sense it would be less problematic to stay with worship and adoration and contemplation. These things feel elevated, stately, noble. And Christianity would be, intellectually, a far easier religion if it kept us on this "lofty" plane. Then we would not have to be dealing constantly with the frustration of unanswered prayer and the embarrassment of those who seek to engineer God for their own ends. Yes, we might like the less crude realms of adoration and contemplation, but, as P.T. Forsyth observes, "Petitions that are less than pure can only be purified by petition." Besides, Jesus keeps drawing us into the most basic relationship of child and parent, to asking and receiving. Hans Urs von Balthasar writes, "It is quite wrong to subordinate oratio to contemplatio, as if vocal prayer were more for beginners and contemplative prayer more for the advanced, for each pole determines and presupposes the other; the one leads directly to the other." Petition, then, is not a lower form of prayer. It is our staple diet. In a childlike expression of faith we bring our daily needs and desires to our heavenly Father. None of us would give our children a stone if they asked for bread, says Jesus. None of us would give them a snake if they requested fish. No, even we who are filled with our own self-centered agendas respect the most fundamental codes of parent-child relationships. All the more, then, God who lovingly respects us and joyfully gives to us when we ask (Matt. 7:9-11). Chapter 16: Petitionary Prayer || Pages 179-180 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting

Prayer, Richard Foster - 5

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. Praying the Ordinary M any of us today live in a kind of inner apartheid. We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then can make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives. We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity of our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality. We overcome this modern heresy by Praying the Ordinary. We pray the ordinary in three ways: first, by turning ordinary experiences of life into prayer; second, by seeing God in the ordinary experiences of life; and, third, by praying throughout the ordinary experiences of life. We are praying the ordinary when we engage in what Jean-Nicholas Grou calls the "prayer of action." "Every action performed in the sight of God because it is the will of God, and in the manner that God wills, is a prayer and indeed a better prayer than could be made in words at such times." Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer of action-the times when we scrimp and save in order to get the children something special; the times when we share our car with others on rainy morning, leaving early to get them to work on time; the times when we keep up correspondence with friends or answer one last telephone call when we are dead tired at night. These times and many more like them are lived prayer. Ignatius of Loyola notes, "Everything that one turns in the direction of God is prayer." Then, too, we are Praying the Ordinary when we see God in the ordinary experiences of life. Can we find meaning in the crayoned marks on the wall made by the kids? Are they somehow the finger of God writing on the wall of our hearts? Waiting is part of ordinary time. We discover God in our waiting: waiting in checkout lines, waiting for the telephone to ring, waiting for graduation, waiting for a promotion, waiting to retire, waiting to die. The waiting itself becomes prayer as we give our waiting to God. In waiting we begin to get in touch with the rhythms of life-stillness and action, listening and decision. They are the rhythms of God. It is in the everyday and the commonplace that we learn patience, acceptance, and contentment. Saint Benedict's criterion for allowing a visitor to stay at the monastery is that "he is content with the life as he finds it, and does not make excessive demands.but is simply content with what he finds." I am attracted to this "contentment without excessive demands" because it is the way I would really like to live. In a world in which Winning Through Intimidation is the order of the day, I am attracted to people who are free from the tyranny of assertiveness. I am drawn to those who are able to simply meet people where they are, with no need to control or manage or make them do anything. I enjoy being around them because they draw the best out in me without any manipulation whatsoever. Another way of Praying the Ordinary is by praying throughout the ordinary experiences of life. we pick up a newspaper and are prompted to whisper a prayer of guidance for world leaders facing monumental decisions. We are visiting with friends in a school corridor or a shopping mall, and their words prompt us to lapse into prayer for them, either verbally or silently, as the circumstances dictate. We jog through our neighborhood, blessing the families who live there. We plant our garden, thanking the God of heaven for sun and rain and all good things. This is the stuff of ordinary prayer through ordinary experience. Chapter 15: Praying The Ordinary || Pages 169, 174-175 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting

Prayer, Richard Foster - 4

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. Unceasing Prayer I want to tell you of a wonderful way of living always in God's presence. I cannot witness that I have entered fully into this life of perpetual communion with the Father, but I have caught enough glimpses that I know it to be the best, the finest, the fullest way of living. Ordinary folk throughout the ages tell us its possible. Brother Lawrence shares simply, "There's no mode of life in the world more pleasing and more full of delight than continual conversation with God." St. John of the Ladder advises, "Let the memory of Jesus combine with your breath." Juliana of Norwich says frankly, "Prayer unites the soul to God." Kallistos, a Byzantine spiritual writer teaches, "Unceasing prayer consists in an unceasing invocation of the name of God." It was said of St. Francis that he, "seemed not so much a man praying as prayer itself made man." And Frank Laubach reports, "Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, of making him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across." Maybe this sounds impossible, even undesirable to you. At times, I share the feeling. Life is complicated enough as it is. Why should we add another religious duty on to an already overcommitted schedule? Besides, it sounds unbelievably difficult. Nobody can think of God all the time. Would we even want to? If you identify in any way with these sentiments, I want to encourage you. God does not expect you to dive immediately into the ocean of constant communion and swim from one continent to the other. We move into this way through a process of practiced living that is both understandable and practical. And while this "practice of the presence of God" is strenuous, everything else ceases to be so. We become increasingly focused, increasingly centered, increasingly synoptic. More and more, we find ourselves going through the stresses and strains of daily activity with an ease and serenity that amazes even us.especially us. Besides, steady, faithful communion is in some ways, easier than our normal way of praying. It's harder to pray inconsistently than consistently in the same way, that is harder to play a good game of tennis when we practice only once in a while. Do we really think we can experience integration of the heart and mind and spirit with an erratic prayer life? Do we really believe we can, like Moses, "speak face to face" with God as someone would a friend, by our unpredictable prayers? No, we develop intimacy by regular association. We develop ease as well. Why ease? Because we are forming fixed habits of righteousness. In time, these "holy habits" will do their work of integration, so that praying becomes the easy thing, the natural thing, the spontaneous thing-the hard thing will be to refrain from prayer. Chapter 5: The Prayer of Relinquishment || Pages 119-120 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting

Prayer, Richard Foster - 3

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. Formation Prayer P rayer changes things, people say. It also changes us. The later goal is the more imperative. The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly conformed to the image of the Son. This process of transformation is the sole focus of Formation Prayer. None of us will keep up a life of prayer unless we are prepared to change. We will either give it up or turn it into a little system that maintains the form of godliness but denies the power of it-which is the same thing as giving it up. When we begin to walk with God, he is gracious and marvelously answers our feeble, egocentric prayers. We think, "This is wonderful. God is real after all!" In time, however, when we try to push this button again, God says to us, "I would like to be more than your Provider. I also want to be your Teacher and your Friend, Let me lead you into a more excellent way. I want to free you of the greed and avarice, the fear and hostility that make your life one great sorrow." Now, we may chaff under this and struggle against it, but in time we learn the goodness of rightness and begin to move into holy obedience. Each day in a new and living way the brooding Spirit of God teaches us. As we begin to follow theses nudging of the Spirit, we are changed from the inside out. The old writers had a term for this dynamic of change - conversatio morum. It is a hard phrase to translate. Negatively, it means death to the status quo, death to things as they have always been. Positively, it means constant change, constant conversion, constant openness to the moving of the Spirit. Jean-Pierre de Caussade writes, 'The soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon." In earlier chapters I have made passing reference to the way prayer changes the ingrained habit structures of our lives. In Formation Prayer this issue becomes the center of our concern. There are both active and passive sides to Formation Prayer. On the active side we are pursuing God. We are sojourners seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. We are a pilgrim people on a journey of faith. We are working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We are exercising ourselves unto godliness. We are pressing on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:12; 1Tim. 4:7; Phil. 3:12-14). On the passive side we are being pursued by God. We are attentive and responsive. We are warm clay in the hands of the Master Potter (Jer. 18) Both the active and the passive sides are necessary, and both stand in a dynamic tension with one another - a little like Michelangelo's fresco in the Sistine Chapel of God and Adam stretching out to one another. Dear Lord Jesus, in my better moments I want nothing more than to be like you. But there are other moments . . . Help me to see how good conformity to your way really is. In my seeking for you may I be found by you. I love you, Lord. - Amen Chapter 6: Formation Prayer || Pages 57-59 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting

Prayer, Richard Foster - 2

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This Week: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster Come back tomorrow for another selection from this book! Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer theses knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery." This accessible and reliable guide shows us various forms of prayer that can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. The Prayer of Relinquishment W e learn the Prayer of Relinquishment in the school of Gethsemane. Gaze in adoring wonder at the scene. This solitary figured etched against gnarled olive trees. The bloodlike sweat falling to the ground. The human longing: "Let this cup pass." The final relinquishment: "Not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:39-46). We do well to meditate often on this unparalleled expression of relinquishment. Here we have the incarnate son praying through his tears and not receiving what he asks. Jesus knew the burden of unanswered prayer. He really did want the cup to pass, and he asked that it would pass. "If you are willing" was his questioning, his wondering. The father's will was not yet absolutely clear to him. "Is there any other way?" "Can people be redeemed by some different means?" The answer-no! Andrew Murray writes, "For our sins, he suffered beneath the burden of that unanswered prayer." Here we have the complete laying down of human will. The battle cry for us is, "My will be done!" rather than, "Thy will be done." We have excellent reasons for the banner of self-will: "Better for me than them to be in control"; "Besides, I would use the power to such good ends." But in the school of Gethsemane, we learn to distrust whatever is of our own mind, thought, and will even though it is not directly sinful. Jesus shows us a more excellent way. The way of helplessness. The way of abandonment. The way relinquishment. "My will be done" is conquered by "not my will." Here we have the perfect flowing into the will of the Father. "Your will be done" was Jesus' consuming concern. To applaud the will of God, to do the will of God, even to fight for the will of God is not difficult . . . until it comes at cross-purposes with our will. Then the lines are drawn, the debate begins, and the self-deception takes over. But in the school of Gethsemane we learn that "my will, my way, my good" must yield to higher authority. We must not, however, get the notion that all of this comes to us effortlessly. That would not even be desirable. Struggle is an essential feature of the Prayer of Relinquishment. Did you notice that Jesus asked repeatedly for the cup to pass? Make no mistake about it: he could have avoided the cross if he had so chosen. He had a free will and a genuine choice, and he freely chose to submit his will to the will of the Father. It was no simple choice or quick fix. Jesus' prayer struggle - replete with bloody sweat - lasted long into the night. Relinquishment is no easy tasks. O Lord, how do I let go when I'm so unsure of things? I'm unsure of your will and I'm unsure of myself. That really isn't the problem at all, is it? The truth of the matter is, I hate the very idea of letting go. I really want to be in control. No, I need to be in control. That's it, isn't it? I'm afraid to give up control, afraid of what might happen. Heal my fear, Lord. How good of you to reveal my blind spots, even in the midst of my stumbling attempts to pray. Thank you! But now what do I do? How do I give up control? Jesus, please teach me your way of relinquishment. Amen. Chapter 5: The Prayer of Relinquishment || Pages 49-50 Copyright © 1992 HarperSanFrancisco Available in the Pavilion Topic: Prayer and Fasting