Thursday Meditation - Living in a Drought Condition

Living in a Drought Condition
John 4:7-21

In recent years we've witness extreme drought conditions across the farming region in the South East and Mid-West.  These long periods of no rain have caused the ground to become cracked and hard, streams and lakes dried up, crops burnt or crops not growing.  The condition created an adverse affect on our economy, the financial well being and lively hood of the families involved.  Even when the rain comes, it doesn’t quench the thirst of the land due to prolonged dryness.  However, some families survive because they’ve started planting drought tolerant crops and preparing earlier in the year for this.

A drought causes us to rethink survival and what we need to do when a situation of prolonged dryness enters our lives.  Some of us have experienced droughts in our lives; we’ve gone long periods without prayer, daily devotional, worshiping and fellowship with the body of believers.  We have been living in a spiritual drought condition so long that we are not able to recognize the thirst in our spirit.  Our spirit is in need of nourishment just like the woman at the well.   

So, why are we living in a spiritual drought condition?

Some of us live in a drought condition because we are ashamed to be seen in public with our stained past.  When our stained past continue in our lives we stop praying, we stop our daily devotional, we cut off communication and avoid those who could be living water to our spirit.  We need to check our spiritual level and gauge it like the drought level for crops.  If we are in an extreme spiritual drought condition, expect the unexpected.  The woman at the well didn’t expect anyone to be at the well at noon, but Jesus was there.  Just because we have shutoff all communication with God in our spiritual drought stage that doesn’t mean God has stopped trying to provide living water for our soul. 

Prayer:  God help us to recognize the signs of a potential spiritual drought in our lives.  Keep nourishing our spirits with living water. Amen.

Thursday Morning Meditation - Bragging Rights

Bragging Rights
Romans 4:1-5 

For those who love college basketball, we are in the midst of March Madness.  This is the NCAA Championships which overshadows all the other tournaments in the country.  There are 64 teams battling for the #1 spot of the 2011 NCAA Championship.  The winning team will not only have bragging rights for this year, they will be added to an elite group of women and men who have gone before them.  Like these men and women, we like to have something to brag about.  Some of us brag about our travels, portfolio, spouse, children, grand-children, ancestry, career, church and our pastor.

Ironically, when we brag some of us must belittle or make other people accomplishment insignificant so we can be looked favorably upon like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-13.  The Pharisee compared himself to the tax collector which was a despised position as they were in prayer with God. In verse 11 he said, "God, I thank You that I'm not like other people - greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector."  As we see it is easy to make a comparison when we've attained a level of accomplishment in life.

It is still amazing after we've accomplished so much in life, we believe we are entitled to brag before God what we've accomplished to show we are justified in this right.  What makes us think we can go before God in prayer and brag about what we have?  

The only bragging we can do is about our work with our hands and that's all.  We always brag about us, but why haven't we bragged about God in our prayer, in our community and in our world.  We have a lot to brag about when it comes to God.  We can brag about God's love for us (John 3:16).  We can brag about God being our protector (Psalm 121:7-8).  We can brag about God's faithfulness and promises (Romans 4:13,17) and we can brag about God calling us out and setting us aside (Genesis 12:1-2).  Although we can go on and on about what God has done.  We must check ourselves to see why we feel the need to brag about ourselves all the time.

So before we start bragging on our self, let us brag about our God who supplies all our needs, who gave us the gifts and abilities to work with our hands.  There is little to be gained when our bragging must put others down in order to make ourselves look better before God.  Let us brag more about the one who created the world instead of us.

Prayer:  Dear God, humble us in your presence.  Remind us that you have the right to brag because you created not only the word but us in your image.  Our bragging is limited to our works but when we brag about you we just can't tell it all. Amen. 

Thursday Meditation - Off Limits

Off Limits

Genesis 2:15-17

Everyday we are reminded by signs to restrict access, show boundaries and warn us of danger.  Daily we notice signs such as: speed limit, no trespassing, only authorized personnel, caution and the home alarm signs.  There are times when these signs may have additional information to deter us further from access like beware of dog, danger high voltage wire or monitored by close circuit camera.  These signs and warning are not new, we’ve been accustomed since birth when our parents told us don’t touch that, don’t do this, be in before curfew, don’t allow anyone in the house, don’t talk to strangers, stay away from the bad kids and don’t engage in pre-martial sex.  All this off limit stuff have been posted visibly or told to us verbally.  This is where we find God and Adam.  In verse 17 God, told Adam you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This was Adam’s verbal off limit warning.

What do we learn about God and the limits placed on Adam?

We learn God has given us all we need to grow, wants to protect us from everything but also wanted to give us the free will to make our own decision.  As we read verse 8-9, “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden…out of the ground every tree was pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  Ironically, God surrounded Adam with everything that looked good but put limits only on one tree in the Garden of Eden. 

It seems like when we have everything we need we always want to obtain what is off limit to us.  The things that are off limit usually are the things we want to try and see why it was off limit in the first place.  When these limitations are place in our lives we are being told by God and our others, “I trust you to be mature enough to listen to what I’ve told you without having to take further actions to keep you away.”  Too often we allow our immaturity to ignore the signs and warning and when this happens we quickly realize why it is off limit in the first place. Let us remember if it is off limits and pleasing in appearance we must be mature enough to say I have everything I need, because not everything that is beautiful is good for us.

Prayer: God, we ask you to help us to mature spiritually so we can see and hear what is off limit in our lives.  Teach us to stand firm knowing you gave us all we need.

Thursday Meditation - Moved By the Holy Spirit

Moved by The Holy Spirit
2 Peter 1:16-21

So often in life we are moved by so many things.  We are moved by our feelings, emotions, love and passion.  Seldom some of us are moved by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a comforter, our guide and our truth who moves us in closer and deeper relationship with God.

So, why haven't we've been moved by the Holy Spirit?

We are not moved because we have lost our connection with the voice of God.  The voice that speaks to us through answered prayers, song, music, sermons and encouraging words.  We all were in awe when we heard about the man, Ted Williams, with the golden voice, but where is the majestic voice of God in our lives.  God's majestic voice spoke and said "Let there be Light" Genesis 1:1-3.  Light entered a dark place because of the voice of God.  It was the voice of God that called Moses from the mountain Exodus 3:1-5, and it was the voice of God that told Peter, James and John to listen to Jesus because He was God's Son in Matthew 17:5.  

The voice of God is wisdom.  We know that wisdom comes from God.  Wisdom causes us to move and to hear the still quiet voice of God.  When we are able to hear God's majestic voice then we are able to be moved by the Holy Spirit.  Now is the time over the next 40 days of Lent we have a chance to do some spiritual cleaning.  We have some prayers we need to pray, we have some daily devotional reading to be resumed and some sacrificial fasting for a breakthrough. The majestic voice is waiting for us.  No matter what we need to do during this spiritual cleaning, if we are not guided by the Holy Spirit then we need to ask ourselves what is guiding our truth before we open our mouth to say "Thus said the Lord".

Prayer:  God of our spirit, we pray to be moved by the Holy Spirit.  We seek your majestic voice in our lives.  Grant us the wisdom we need to hear your voice on this day.  Amen.


Rev. Lettie

Are we Zealots for Prayer?

Do we still have the passion to pray when our world is upside down?

This is one of those questions we need to ask ourselves as we approach the Lenten Season.  During this time in the Church Year many of us will embark on a Lenten Journey.  During the journey we will reflect on our spiritual lives so far this year.  This is also a time when we will truly make a sacrifice that will impact our spiritual and personal lives in order for us to be more mindful of the decisions we make in life.  Also, we have time to reflect how these decisions will impact us for the rest of our lives.

We know many people will give up physical things, but how many of us are willing to give up desires that are naturally sinful and unfruitful such as greed, gossip, negative talk, selfishness, jealously, lust, and envy.  Although the list is short and I could have included more but dealing with one of these will be a challenge in the next 40 days but the challenge is overcoming for the rest of our lives.  How easy will it be to stop doing one of these things for the next 40 days?  What will trigger an emotion that will cause you to forget you have made a covenant with God?  

The Lenten Season is apart of our Christian Heritage.  These are the last 40 days of Jesus Christ of Nazareth human life on earth.  Take the time to add a devotional and prayer time for the Lenten Journey.  I have provided the Vanderbilt Revised Lectionary Reading for Lent.  Let us take this time to focus on spiritual growth and sharing our reading with others.

As we prepare for Ash Wednesday tomorrow, let us remember the sacrifice God and Jesus Christ gave for us to say we are Christians.  Let us pick up our cross daily and return to a life of prayer, forgiveness and hope.  Prayerful, I hope this journey will help each of us rediscover our zeal for prayer again.