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. 

If my life was a credit report

 

 If my life was a credit report and I was trying to obtain salvation, based on my score I wouldn't get it.

My history shows that I've been delinquent in praise, past due in prayer, my worship has been in collections and I've missed a few payments (tithes) or only paid half (you know how we put $20 in the basket and feel like we've done God a favor).

Not to mention that my debt (sin) to income (blessings) ratio is too high.

BUT I thank God that I was able to file bankruptcy (repentance) and it cleared me of all of my debt (sin). Now I have a co-signer (Jesus) whose score is FLAWLESS... Not one blemish (sin) on his report.

So now.... I QUALIFY for EVERYTHING! Most importantly I've inherited eternal life and I didn't have to put one penny down.

All of my closing costs were covered when Jesus laid down His life for me!!!! I hear that my future home has all of the upgrades too.

Hardwood floors? Please!! I'll be walking on gold! : - )

Mind, Body and Spirit Rest

When we need rest our bodies tell us, but if we keep ignoring the signs we have no energy to do the small things. In the midst of all the traveling I needed a break from the normal routine so I could get some rest. I have taken a couple of weeks away from Bible Study, but I'm back now ready to finish up our Spiritual Growth Development.

As a weekly traveler rest, exercise and feeding our soul is important so we can maintain the constant change and stay on top of the demands. This type of traveling can be stressful on the body and the spirit. Listen to the spirit and your body constantly.

There are days when life seems to be rolling over us, but then there are days when we are rolling with life. We only have one body and if we are to do the work of God we must take care of it.

The God who speaks Life and Order into Existence

Reconciliation United Methodist Church July 12, 2010 a Monday Meditation by Pastor Baker The God who speaks Life and Order into Existence Read Genesis 1:26-31   God is the author of all life. Like a master painter who brings a blank canvas to life, God masterfully creates the world and every living thing in the first chapter of Genesis. Yet in this case, there is no canvas. God speaks into the "formless void" and creates light (v.2). God speaks, and the waters separate from the sky. God speaks and the "earth brings forth living creatures of every kind" (v.24). For six days God creates all life by speaking it into existence. The speech and voice of God creates and brings forth life. The speech and voice of God brings order to chaos. And at the close of each day's work, "God saw that it was good." Each divine speech-act builds on the previous one until God's creating work reaches a climax near the end of the chapter. On the sixth day, after creating creatures of every kind, God said "let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness" (v.26). So God created humankind, both male and female, yet this creative act is distinct from all the others. God created humankind in the very image of God. Human beings are special and unique. Human beings have a special relationship with God and with the rest of creation. Christian writers and theologians have debated the plural address for God in verse 26: "let us make." Some commentators point out that such an address was common for a king; a type of royal "we" referring to the king and his courtiers - in this case, God and all God's royal angels, including seraphim and cherubim. A more interesting interpretation arose in Christian theology, namely that the "us" refers to the Trinity. There is food for thought here. What does it mean to be made in the image of the triune God who is a perfect community of love? The Father loves the Son as the Son loves the Father and this love is celebrated and witnessed to by the Spirit - a perfect communion of perfect love (John 15:9). In the words of St. Augustine: "Thou seest the Trinity when Thou seest love ... for the lover, the beloved, and the love are three." Humankind was created in love, by love, and for love. That much becomes clear as salvation history continues to unfold in the pages after Genesis. Humankind was also given dominion over the earth, the plants, the animals, and every living thing (28-29). The key word here is dominion, not domination. Just as God would judge the later kings of Israel by their just or unjust rule, so God will judge how humanity cares for the "created subjects" placed under our care and oversight. Human beings, both male and female, continue to have a special relationship with God and with the rest of creation. Creating God, thank you for your life giving word that brings order and life to all things. Amen. Monday Meditation  is a weekly email ministry of Reconciliation United Methodist Church written by Pastor Kevin Baker. To subscribe to other RUMC email lists, click here and go the the "Subscribe to our Lists" picture link.   RUMC P.O. Box 52326 Durham, North Carolina 27717 Reconciliation United Methodist Church

Learning to Listen

Reconciliation United Methodist Church July 5, 2010 a Monday Meditation by Pastor Baker Learning to Listen Read I Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14   People today don't put much stock in dreams. Such thinking is fairly recent. Historically and biblically speaking, generations of people who have gone before us thought otherwise. Sure, there were dreams that were likely to mean nothing, perhaps the result of eating something odd the night before - but there were also dreams that communicated important truths and spiritual insights.   Take Joseph, who dreamed about how God would one day make him a great leader in Egypt (Genesis 37); Daniel, the great interpreter of dreams (Daniel 2); Joseph, who was told in a dream that his betrothed would conceive a child from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1), or the Magi who were told in a dream to return home a different way to protect the new born Messiah of Israel (Matthew 2). Some might say that God often chooses to speak to us in dreams because that is a time we are more susceptible to God's direction and guidance. Perhaps it is when we dream that our human will is less prone to resistance and obstinance.   Solomon's prayer for wisdom is so powerful and worthy of our prayerful imitation that we often forget that his entire conversation with God happened while he was sleeping: "Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream" (I Kings 3:15). I often wonder if God came to Solomon then because that was the best time to try and get a busy king's attention. As far as dreams go, I rarely can remember my own, but I do think that to hear God, to speak to God, and to seek God's will for my life often requires slowing down, taking time out from my busy schedule, and turning off all the distracting sounds and voices that can so easily deter me from hearing God's voice. Something like that happens when I take time to be still, pray, and read Scripture on a daily basis - whether I am dreaming or not. Lord of both my waking and my sleeping hours, help me to be still long enough to hear your voice and discern your will for my life. Amen. Monday Meditation  is a weekly email ministry of Reconciliation United Methodist Church written by Pastor Kevin Baker. To subscribe to other RUMC email lists, click here and go the the "Subscribe to our Lists" picture link.   RUMC P.O. Box 52326 Durham, North Carolina 27717 Reconciliation United Methodist Church

Don't Push Away from this Table

	Reconciliation United Methodist Church June 14, 2010
	a Monday Meditation by Pastor Baker Don't Push Away from this Table Read John 6:51-58   Some call them the "hard sayings of Jesus;" those difficult teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, particularly those that caused offense and lead many to turn away from Jesus, forsaking their initial enthusiasm for the wandering Rabbi from Nazareth. It is an unsettling, familiar biblical theme. Jesus' words can save and heal - but often enough, they can also shock and offend.   John chapter six is a case in point. Jesus give us his flesh to eat? Jesus give us his blood to drink?If such words were merely metaphorical, they still seem inappropriately graphic. If Jesus was being literal, such speech was an offense against Jewish law and Torah teaching. Either way, Jesus' words were hard to swallow: When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This teaching is difficult; who can accept it? ... Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him" (John 6:60,66). Of course not everyone pushed away from the table. Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them if they wished to leave also. Peter answered: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).   Do you find the words and teachings of Jesus hard to swallow at times? You are in good company. Many have found the cross-bearing road of discipleship a difficult one to travel; but do not let that not deter you from following Jesus; do not let these "hard sayings" cause you to push away from the Lord's table of grace. Jesus' words are true - here is a meal where Jesus promises to abide in us, feeding us with the bread that leads to eternal life. Here is a meal where we can take our time chewing on Jesus' teachings, digesting Jesus' love, savoring Jesus' grace, tasting Jesus' forgiveness, and feeding on Jesus' mercy. Come taste and see that the Lord our God is good.   Lord, help me so to eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus that I might digest your truth and savor the goodness of your eternal life dwelling within me. Amen. Monday Meditation  is a weekly email ministry of Reconciliation United Methodist Church written by Pastor Kevin Baker.

 

Cultivating Gratitude

Reconciliation United Methodist Church June 7, 2010


a Monday Meditation by Pastor Baker
Cultivating Gratitude

Read Ephesians 5:15-20


Biblically speaking, "giving thanks" is the primary speech of humanity. God's Word reminds believers that when we say "thank you," we become more fully human and we enter more deeply into divinity. Gratitude is key to the spiritual life. Without it we cannot grow in the grace and knowledge of God. Without it we are diminished as people and we live a diminished life in the world. Gratitude is essential to a life of joy, a life of compassion, a life of fulfillment. Deep down, most of us already know this. Most of us are aware that the ability to express thanksgiving is part and parcel of what it means to be Christian. But gratitude does not come naturally. It must be cultivated.

Worship is the place where this posture of gratitude is cultivated most explicitly. It is where Christians are reminded that all our expressions of thanksgiving are really answering speech, responses to what God has already done in us, for us, and through us. It is not a coincidence that when followers of Jesus gather around the Lord's Table, they gather to pray "The Great Thanksgiving" - a prayer that expresses gratitude for all of God's mighty acts in salvation history.

The writer of Ephesians expresses this biblical truth clearly, reminding us to cultivate gratitude in our worship and exhorting us to do so regardless of our present situation or current life's circumstances: "be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"(Eph. 5:19). The alternative is to give oneself over to a spirit of cynicism and ingratitude, which when left unchecked, does more than diminish one's joy and contentment - it erects obstacles to our relationship with the God.

God Almighty, giver of all good things, help me to count my blessings each day and give thanks to you at all times for everything. Amen.

Monday Meditation is a weekly email ministry of Reconciliation United Methodist Church written by Pastor Kevin Baker.

Make the Most of your time

Reconciliation United Methodist Church
May 31, 2010a Monday Meditation by Pastor Baker
Make the most of your Time
Read Ephesians 5:15-20

 

In an old comic movie, students were touring a scientific research lab. Throughout the tour there was a man in a padded cell screaming at the top of his lungs as if he were in extreme pain. After the intermittent and disturbing screams continued for some time, one student finally asked: "What on earth are you doing to that poor man?"

The professor said: "Oh, him. Well he is a clock watcher. We are experimenting with time deprivation. We are trying to see how long he can go without looking at a clock." The student looked through the window at the tortured form huddled in a fetal position against the wall. As the students were leaving, it became strangely silent.

The camera zooms to the bare wrist of one of the students that no longer has his wrist watch and then cuts to the padded cell where the man sneaks a peak at newly acquired watch. If that scene is funny at all, it is only because it comes so close to the truth. Time is very dear to us. Most of us are prone to hoard it and protect it. It is not given away easily. We are a generation with no time to spare.

To us clock watchers, to those of us who are lost in a sea of busyness, the writer of Ephesians has a strong and powerful word. Stop. Just stop. Make the most of your time for the days are evil. What we need is not to kill time, to fill it up - but to fulfill time, to redeem time.

We are called to not be foolish but to understand what the will of the Lord is. Jesus not only wants our life, our giving, our hearts, and our minds. Jesus also wants our time. To learn to live wisely, to understand the will of the Lord, is to recognize that everything we have is God's - even our time. Lord of all things, including time, help me to live wisely making the most of the time you have given me. Amen.
Always in the Potter's Hand
http://onthemoveministries.blogspot.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Will You Soar With Eagles?

Sharing this word from Rev. Johnson

Good Morning; Have A Blessed Day!

Will You Soar With Eagles?
 
…they shall mount up with wings like eagles … Isaiah 40:31b
 
I've discovered a couple of interesting things about eagles. For one thing, eagles don't grovel in chicken coops. No! These marvelous birds were created to fly high.

And this is what today's verse is telling you and me… God's plan for us is to take flight and to live supernaturally-empowered lives.

Our Pastor once gave us this example: "I once heard a man ask his friend how he was doing. His friend replied, 'I'm doing okay under the circumstances'.  The man then told his friend that Christians had no business being under the circumstances".  Here's is the point; We were made to soar above our circumstances! The apostle Paul put it this way, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:2).
 
Listen! Eagles can't be bothered when storms come their way. They just fly higher when the winds begin to blow. The harder the storm rages, the higher they fly!   And this is what Jesus Christ has enabled us to do as His followers. When times of crisis come, when the storms rage… God speaks to our hearts and say, "Look up here… come up higher… draw closer to me. I'll see you through."   Don't let anyone… not even yourself… talk you out of the promise to "mount up with the wings of eagles." This is our promise from God!

So, today let God lift you to new heights; then you can soar with the eagles!  Amen!  Amen!

Always in the Potter's Hand
http://onthemoveministries.blogspot.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry