life

If You Will AskI just got Oswald Chambers’ If You Will Ask, and I’m already loving it, one chapter in. According to Chambers, prayer “develops the life of God in us” and “nourishes” that life; in other words, if we don’t pray, we are starving ourselves. That’s a sobering thought!

He goes on to say the life of God in us

is nourished by refusing to worry over anything, for worry means there is something over which we cannot have our own way… Never let anything push you to your wits’ end, because you will get worried, and worry makes you self-interested and disturbs the nourishment of the life of God. Give thanks to God that He is there, no matter what is happening.…

He concludes his discussion of worry with this beautiful thought:

The secret of Christian quietness is not indifference, but the knowledge that God is my Father, He loves me, and I shall never think of anything He will forget, and worry becomes an impossibility.

I shall never think of anything He will forget: this is one of those Selah moments. Pause, and calmly think about that!

The chapter ends with a prayer from Chambers’ journal:

O Lord, this day may your beauty and grace and soothing peace be in me and upon me. May no wind or weather or anxiety ever touch Your beauty and Your peace in my life or in this place.

The Little Book of Hours has included readings from Psalm 119 every day for the past week, and Saturday’s portion blessed me. The writer says,

This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
The insolent utterly deride me,
but I do not turn away from your law. (v. 50–51)

In the past, I read affliction as sickness or some other source of physical suffering. And it can certainly mean that. For most of us, though, we likely experience more pain and suffering in relationships, and relational issues–people problems–can suck the life out of us pretty quickly.

There’s a person at church that hurt me some time back, and I’ve prayed to deal with my feelings toward him. I’ve forgiven him–repeatedly (I should note that I sometimes have a hard time letting go). Every time I’m back to a place where I can be loving, he does something that hurts or angers me again (though I don’t think he even knows he does it most of the time). I’m learning to practice 70 times 7. Short of changing churches, I can’t avoid him, so I’m praying for the Spirit to show me how to deal with him, and the Spirit is faithfully doing that.

So here’s what I saw Saturday: in the midst of life-sucking problems, God’s promise can, as the NIV says, “restore my life.” Which promise, you ask? I’m not sure which one applies in my current situation (I’m still pondering that), but I took tremendous comfort in realizing that I don’t have to let people problems drain me. If–when–I focus on God’s promises, rather than the problem, I will find life.

I know that a major source of affliction for me is in my thinking: I tend to turn things over, replay conversations, imagine what I should have said, fantasize a confrontation, rehearse the whole catalog of offenses–you get the picture. I’ve realized over the past few years that some of this comes from me, but some of it is comes from the enemy, “the insolent” of this passage.

I like the way the NIV renders this: “the arrogant mock me without restraint.” Satan is a mocker: “you let her say that to you?” “Look what he did; it’s just like last time.” And we know that the enemy will work without restraint–if we let him. For me, when I can stop the flow of negative thoughts long enough to recognize that the enemy is working to steal my joy and my life, I’ve won half the battle.

Is there a situation that’s stealing the life from your living? Search God’s word for His promises, and find one that gives you life. And recognize that heeding the voice of the mockers only makes it worse. I’ll let you know what promise I find to help me with this people problem. Leave a comment and tell us which promise restores your life.

swallowed up by life

July 17, 2006

I’ve been in a rather negative frame of mind for the past week, which is one reason why I haven’t posted much; I couldn’t think of anything good to say. This morning, I started off writing about making excuses, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t think of a way to bring life to the subject, and I stopped.

Then I remembered verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 5, which I noticed when I was reading the entire chapter for yesterday's post. Here’s what it says: “For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”…

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He’s got my back

June 28, 2006

I got up this morning ready to write more about Graham Cooke only to discover that my laptop wouldn’t boot. You likely know what that meant: a day spent reinstalling software, trying to figure out what I hadn’t backed up and therefore lost, getting everything back in order. I’m still not there yet, but I’m close. At any rate, in the midst of all this turmoil, this passage from Cooke seems appropriate:

When the soul comes under the rule of the spirit, life and peace are the result. Suddenly, we do not have to know everything–we just become wise about where to stand at any given moment. We do not know how everything will pan out, but we learn to be happy with the process of getting there. We become fixated on holding God’s hand and do not worry about the trouble around us.

While I can’t say I had this attitude all day, I had it at least part of the time. I didn’t get in a tizzy this morning because I knew God would work it out, and at 6 (I had been up for an hour and half at at point trying to solve the problem), the Spirit prompted me to drive to campus to get my Mac mini and bring it home. I figured I would use it to work if I had to take my laptop in for repairs. As it turned out, having the mini was a huge blessing but not as I expected: I was able to copy all my applications and other files over, saving me from a very frustrating hunt for installation CDs, serial numbers, and so forth. When I realize that I could connect my laptop to the mini and copy, I was excited: not only because it was a great solution, but more importantly, because I realized that the Holy Spirit was looking out for me even before I knew I needed the help. Or, to put it another way, He’s got my back. When you see God at work in unexpected ways, you can’t help but be filled with love and gratitude.

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a passion for sin

June 16, 2006

Two nights ago, as I waited for my water to boil, I read the Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea box (the boxes always have a variety of quotes, and this one was new). On the back was a list from Life’s Little Instruction Book, Vol II. The first instruction pricked my heart: “Pay as much attention to the things that are working positively in your life as you do to those that are giving you trouble.” I realized that for the past week or so (probably much longer), I’ve been focused solely on problems, faults, and sins. Last night my friend Jeff shed some light on this. He pointed out that what set the Pharisees apart was their detailed analysis of sin.…

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leaving behind…

April 19, 2006

I started reading Anne Graham Lotz’s I Saw the Lord a few days ago. Lotz uses the word revival to describe what she hopes to inspire; I would use the word passion. She makes an interesting point that Isaiah preached before his famed encounter with God in chapter 6, but he became passionate after seeing the Lord on His throne. As a modern counterpart to Isaiah, Lotz offers the story of Carole, whose already good life was transformed by a new vision of God and the resulting new perspective on herself. Carole states,

Revival, for me, isn’t about leaving behind what the world has to offer. It’s about leaving behind sin so that I can embrace the richer life the Lord has to offer…

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