Intentional Faith

PRAYER FOR MONDAY

While around us the song of fear
calls us to march to self-protection,
We choose to dance your rhythms of life;

While around us the music of greed
entices us to join its selfishness,
We choose to dance your rhythms of life;

While around us the drums of fashion
seek to beat us into conformity and desire,
We choose to dance your rhythms of life;

While around us so many are crippled by a Sabbath-less existence,
are in bondage to the devils that drive our world,
we praise you, God, for your healing touch,
for Sabbath-rest and Sabbath-inspired work,
for daily manna and the freedom of sharing,
for joyful “enough-ness” and comfortable justice.

May we learn to dance to your Sabbath-rhythms,
a little more each day,
and may our dancing bring healing and freedom,
to all those who receive our invitation
to join us in the rhythms of life.

Amen.

Unless we can trust that we will be sustained, we cannot rest. If we believe that our wellbeing is
entirely in our own hands, we cannot rest. If we are afraid that someone else will come and take what is ours, we will never rest. In our world, where we are increasingly driven by achievement, consumption, and self-protection, it is no wonder that we are burning out.

But, if we are to find rest – for ourselves and for those around us – we will need to learn to embrace God’s ways of simplicity, service and sacrifice. Only once we are all safe, provided for and respected will our society find the rest it craves. This is the prophetic message of this week’s scriptures.

The ancient Hebrew idea of Sabbath offers an answer, but it’s far more than just stopping our activity for a while. It is also far more than just personal time off.

For the Bible, the Sabbath is the foundation for Jesus’ teaching about God’s Reign. Out of the Sabbath day flowed the Sabbath year – an entire year of rest for people, animals and the land. Then, out of this flowed the Jubilee – the celebration of the fiftieth year in which everyone and
everything rested, and in which debts were cancelled, slaves were freed, and all land was returned to its original owners.

The whole idea of rest in the Scriptures is tied into this system that ensured that no one was exploited or overworked and nothing was abused or turned into a wasteland through over use.
But, for this kind of rest to happen we need to trust in God’s wisdom, God’s provision, and the mutual care of all of God’s creation.

May the daily scriptural readings help you to find rest in His kingdom.  Your thoughts are welcome.

Saturday Prayer

You speak, God – you always speak,
if we will but listen;

All we need to do is pause, and turn our attention
to the song singing from the heavens,
and whispering in the wind;
to the flight of the dove,
and the touch of its wings on our heads;
to the gurgling of the water,
and the mark it leaves in our hearts;

Your voice comes to us in faithful surround sound,
beckoning us to join the chorus,
share in the dance,
and extend the invitation into all the earth.

You speak, God – you always speak;
and joyfully, we are listening.

Amen.

Friday

“Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” John 13:36

“And when He had spoken this, He said unto him, Follow Me.” Three years before, Jesus had said – “Follow Me,” and Peter had followed easily, the fascination of Jesus was upon him, he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him to do it. Then he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke.

Then he received the Holy Spirit, and now Jesus says again – “Follow Me.” There is no figure in front now saving the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” had nothing mystical in it, it was an external following; now it is a following in internal martyrdom (John 21:18).

Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and al his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord.

“He breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” No matter what changes God has wrought in you, never rely upon them, build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.

Al our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out. When we have come to the end of ourselves, not in imagination but reality, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit. “Receive you the Holy Ghost” – the idea is that of invasion. There is only one lodestar in the life now, the Lord Jesus Christ.

FRIDAY

Luke 12:49-56
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Friday Prayer

Worry and stress are not hard for us, God,
we do them without thinking.

There is always the potential of threat
to our security,
our comfort,
our health,
our relationships,
our lives,
and we foolishly think that we could silence the fear
if we just had enough money,
enough insurance,
enough toys,
enough stored away for a rainy day.
It’s never enough, though;
the voice of our fear will not be dismissed so easily.

But, in the small, silent places within us is another voice;
one that beckons us into the foolishness of faith,
that points our gaze to the birds and the flowers,
that, in unguarded moments, lets our muscles relax,
and our hearts lean into loved ones;
In unexpected whispers we hear it,
calling us to remember your promises,
your grace,
your faithfulness;
And, suddenly, we discover
that it is enough.

Amen.

THURSDAY

Hebrews 11:29-12:2
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, and tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Thursday Prayer

I’m not really sure I want to admit it, God,
but I am a person with gifts.
Oh, I’m not one of those super-talented, can-do-it-all, people,
but there are things I’m good at,
things that might even be useful to You and others.

But, here’s the problem – if I admit it, then I have to do something;
then there are no more excuses;
no more comfortable inadequacies to hide behind.
If I acknowledge the abilities and strengths You have placed in me
I’m going to have actually use them;
I’m going to have to serve, and be accountable,
and maybe even make commitments…
and stick to them.

But, if I pretend that I’m not gifted at all,
I lose something of myself,
I allow myself to be less than I really am,
to experience less, to learn less,
to be less alive.

So, thank you, God, for making me a gifted person,
and thank you that my gifts can make a difference,
can, in some small way, help
to make Your dream for my world a reality.

Amen.

Wednesday

“Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” Psalm 97:2

A man who has not been born of the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, you find “clouds and darkness are round about Him.” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first insight into this aspect of things. The only possibility of understanding the teaching of Jesus is by the light of the Spirit of God on the inside.

If we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence.

The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ. After the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable darkness of realizing Who He is.

Jesus said: “The words that I speak unto you,” not the words I have spoken, “they are spirit, and they are life.” The Bible has been so many words to us – clouds and darkness – then all of a sudden the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us in a particular condition. That is the way God speaks to us, not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God it is by the simplest way of words.