After some encouragement from others desiring to see my journal on this experience, I am sharing my journal notes from an exercise in prayer, listening for God rather than talking. I encourage you to spend an extended period of praying to God to know Him more and then listen for Him, patiently, and with not only your mind or your ears open, but all of your senses to how He may want to communicate with you. Here's Day 1:
Praying to know God—to see His face, to know Him more…
Day one:
In prayer today my mind wandered a bit and staying focused on God rather than self was difficult, but as I struggled, a rain-soaked chunk of soil entered my thoughts. Dark black dirt bleeding water beside a stream poured through my heart. Though plain and dirty, grass grew lush green on the banks, and the mud and muck screamed life. God creates. He uses muck to produce life and beauty. The darkest, dirtiest soul, once saturated to bleeding out living water glorifies the Creator with the beauty of fresh life.
He breathed life into all—into me. My breath is the breath of God our Creator—Who created everything. What then shall I breathe but God and His word, that I may inhale Christ and exhale life to a suffocating world? Sola Deo Gloria!
Showing posts with label Yada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yada. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2011
Yada -- Knowing God More Day 2
Day two:
Today again, my thoughts were running wild rather than listening for God. I sat outside, and with my eyes closed, every twitch or breeze set my mind on thoughts of bugs hopping all over me. Then I thought and perhaps boasted to God that at least I’m not like those legalistic folks who feel they need to pray on their knees. Then God said, “Submission.” I quickly understood this was God’s intention for me to learn of Him today, but while Jesus submitted to His Father, is God really the face of submission?
“Get on your knees.”
Surely that’s Satan playing with my mind. I’m not legalistic and I’m quite comfortable praying in the chair.
“Submit.”
“Got it…I kneeled.”
I am prideful even with no one around. After getting on my knees God brought to mind bigger submission failures on my part. Submission is the key for today. Follow His prompting. Don’t wait for God to explain Himself or beg—just submit in humble obedience.
Kneel. Pray. Write. Tell.
Today again, my thoughts were running wild rather than listening for God. I sat outside, and with my eyes closed, every twitch or breeze set my mind on thoughts of bugs hopping all over me. Then I thought and perhaps boasted to God that at least I’m not like those legalistic folks who feel they need to pray on their knees. Then God said, “Submission.” I quickly understood this was God’s intention for me to learn of Him today, but while Jesus submitted to His Father, is God really the face of submission?
“Get on your knees.”
Surely that’s Satan playing with my mind. I’m not legalistic and I’m quite comfortable praying in the chair.
“Submit.”
“Got it…I kneeled.”
I am prideful even with no one around. After getting on my knees God brought to mind bigger submission failures on my part. Submission is the key for today. Follow His prompting. Don’t wait for God to explain Himself or beg—just submit in humble obedience.
Kneel. Pray. Write. Tell.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Yada -- Knowing God More Day 3
Day three:
It’s taken me a couple of days to revisit this exercise. The delay could be blamed on “busyness” and fatigue, but truthfully, after two “wow” days of God revealing Himself, I feared what would come next. In my mind, I expected that I couldn’t be and don’t deserve to be in tune with God every day. What if God is silent and won’t talk to me? How would I interpret that?
He was not silent. Today—He is not silent still. When I sat to pray, fatigued and pessimistic about prayer this morning, He reminded me of our chats earlier this week and led me back to my knees. The breeze on my face reminded me of His breath and as I turned to my knees, He gently blew on my back.
Encourager.
He didn’t waste any time this morning, as if anxious to let me know—God has my back. God you are in me and with me and as I breathe in your Spirit and submit to your instruction, you encourage my soul. In His Word God told Abram to get up from His father’s house, go to the land “which I will show you…And I will bless you.”
No matter what stands before me, Lord you permeate me, you instruct and guide me; you encourage me. With the One who created everything so involved with me, what fears then should I have—only the reverent fear of God to listen for His voice, Wisdom.
It’s taken me a couple of days to revisit this exercise. The delay could be blamed on “busyness” and fatigue, but truthfully, after two “wow” days of God revealing Himself, I feared what would come next. In my mind, I expected that I couldn’t be and don’t deserve to be in tune with God every day. What if God is silent and won’t talk to me? How would I interpret that?
He was not silent. Today—He is not silent still. When I sat to pray, fatigued and pessimistic about prayer this morning, He reminded me of our chats earlier this week and led me back to my knees. The breeze on my face reminded me of His breath and as I turned to my knees, He gently blew on my back.
Encourager.
He didn’t waste any time this morning, as if anxious to let me know—God has my back. God you are in me and with me and as I breathe in your Spirit and submit to your instruction, you encourage my soul. In His Word God told Abram to get up from His father’s house, go to the land “which I will show you…And I will bless you.”
No matter what stands before me, Lord you permeate me, you instruct and guide me; you encourage me. With the One who created everything so involved with me, what fears then should I have—only the reverent fear of God to listen for His voice, Wisdom.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Yada -- Knowing God More Day 4
Day four:
I Am Infinity.
“Meow!” And I Am a joker—Infinite humor! Sending a cat
up behind me, You might as well have just said, “Boo!”
I Am Infinity.
“Meow!” And I Am a joker—Infinite humor! Sending a cat
up behind me, You might as well have just said, “Boo!”
Friday, October 21, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 5
Day five:
I’d been flying since 7 AM and gained three hours coming to the West Coast. I then drove around 40 miles into Los Angeles, only receiving two honks and one exasperated gesture.
After getting checked into my hotel, I decided to go for a bite to eat at a Burger King in walking distance. I’d only had coffee and a muffin within the last 10 hours and was hungry.
Why do I note this?
After getting my meal, God prompted me to give it to a homeless man passed out on the side of the road. After walking towards him, away again, back and away, with a war of thought in my mind, I dismissed God as merely self-imposed guilt from recent discussions of the homeless. Besides, I was hungry!
God is compassion! I am not! I’m still working on submission. Lord, in the past week, I’ve prayed like a Pharisee, and shown the lack of compassion as a Pharisee! How wretched am I?!
Still You are with me. Abraham gave Sarah to another and still you were with him. I’m reminded also having realized I’m checked into room 777. God, You don’t just have compassion on the homeless, but on me as well. Everyone needs compassion, forgiveness of a savior. Thank you for your compassion. Forgive me please of my callous, rebellious heart. I pray today for a heart of submission filled with compassion for others.
I’d been flying since 7 AM and gained three hours coming to the West Coast. I then drove around 40 miles into Los Angeles, only receiving two honks and one exasperated gesture.
After getting checked into my hotel, I decided to go for a bite to eat at a Burger King in walking distance. I’d only had coffee and a muffin within the last 10 hours and was hungry.
Why do I note this?
After getting my meal, God prompted me to give it to a homeless man passed out on the side of the road. After walking towards him, away again, back and away, with a war of thought in my mind, I dismissed God as merely self-imposed guilt from recent discussions of the homeless. Besides, I was hungry!
God is compassion! I am not! I’m still working on submission. Lord, in the past week, I’ve prayed like a Pharisee, and shown the lack of compassion as a Pharisee! How wretched am I?!
Still You are with me. Abraham gave Sarah to another and still you were with him. I’m reminded also having realized I’m checked into room 777. God, You don’t just have compassion on the homeless, but on me as well. Everyone needs compassion, forgiveness of a savior. Thank you for your compassion. Forgive me please of my callous, rebellious heart. I pray today for a heart of submission filled with compassion for others.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 6
Day six:
God is affectionate. Sometimes He doesn’t want to say anything. He just wants to give a big hug. I’ve been struggling in my emotions lately and after babbling a bit in prayer, God gave me a hug—unexplainable to a point, but it was not as if I was in some hallucinatory state or physically hugging myself…somehow God’s arms were around me in hugging fashion and I knew it. I know Jesus used the sense of touch in His ministry on earth; He still touches today! His Spirit is within me, yet also around me, with me, touching me and comforting me. I can’t wrap Him up with crisp, pretty paper in a package with a nice ribbon, but somehow in prayer this morning, I know He hugged me because I needed it and because that was His desire.
God is affectionate. Sometimes He doesn’t want to say anything. He just wants to give a big hug. I’ve been struggling in my emotions lately and after babbling a bit in prayer, God gave me a hug—unexplainable to a point, but it was not as if I was in some hallucinatory state or physically hugging myself…somehow God’s arms were around me in hugging fashion and I knew it. I know Jesus used the sense of touch in His ministry on earth; He still touches today! His Spirit is within me, yet also around me, with me, touching me and comforting me. I can’t wrap Him up with crisp, pretty paper in a package with a nice ribbon, but somehow in prayer this morning, I know He hugged me because I needed it and because that was His desire.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 7
Day seven:
The Way, the Truth and the Life.
I noted this morning in Genesis 46 how Jacob sent Judah ahead to show the way to Goshen. In the same fashion, the Lion of Judah was sent ahead to show us the way to salvation from spiritual famine and death. (He went ahead to conquer death and show us the way!)
In prayer, God kept directing me back to “the way.” I knew I had just noted this in my reading so I asked God to shut up my thoughts that I may see Him today. Do I not believe He speaks through His word?
The Way—The Way, the Truth and the Life. “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14) God is Trinity. I can attribute the components of the way, truth and life to the Son, Father and Holy Spirit; but they are all three all three. The Trinity is a great mystery to me, yet I know more clearly today that Jesus, who is the Word, is God the Father revealed to me from the Spirit indwelling my heart and directing my response to the Word.
Jesus is the Way!
The Way, the Truth and the Life.
I noted this morning in Genesis 46 how Jacob sent Judah ahead to show the way to Goshen. In the same fashion, the Lion of Judah was sent ahead to show us the way to salvation from spiritual famine and death. (He went ahead to conquer death and show us the way!)
In prayer, God kept directing me back to “the way.” I knew I had just noted this in my reading so I asked God to shut up my thoughts that I may see Him today. Do I not believe He speaks through His word?
The Way—The Way, the Truth and the Life. “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14) God is Trinity. I can attribute the components of the way, truth and life to the Son, Father and Holy Spirit; but they are all three all three. The Trinity is a great mystery to me, yet I know more clearly today that Jesus, who is the Word, is God the Father revealed to me from the Spirit indwelling my heart and directing my response to the Word.
Jesus is the Way!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 8
Day eight:
Seed. Seed? God, You are seed? A small, hard nut producing life in the right conditions?
When a seed is planted in good dirt (kind of oxymoronic, right? Rich filth, fertile filth, righteous mud….) given water and sun, it breaks forth from its burial to brilliant life. It uses the soil, yet there is nothing dirty about a daisy other than from where it is rooted.
I am righteous clay with God’s holy seed planted in the depths of my dirt, fed by His Word—the Son, the living water; and pruned by the Gardener, the Father. Another view of the Trinity in a single seed.
Seed. Seed? God, You are seed? A small, hard nut producing life in the right conditions?
When a seed is planted in good dirt (kind of oxymoronic, right? Rich filth, fertile filth, righteous mud….) given water and sun, it breaks forth from its burial to brilliant life. It uses the soil, yet there is nothing dirty about a daisy other than from where it is rooted.
I am righteous clay with God’s holy seed planted in the depths of my dirt, fed by His Word—the Son, the living water; and pruned by the Gardener, the Father. Another view of the Trinity in a single seed.
Monday, October 17, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 9
Day nine:
It’s so noisy in here this morning. The TV is pounding a dark song through the house, through my thoughts, my attempts to pray.
To the back deck I must go! God, the birds won’t shut up out here—I can’t concentrate this morn----
Wait. The TV had orchestration from man—dark and ugly music. These birds have incredible songs! Incredible morning music orchestrated and directed by the One who created music. Listen to the symphony! God, this music is so cool! I want my music to resonate Your song because it is not my music but Yours placed in my soul.
It’s so noisy in here this morning. The TV is pounding a dark song through the house, through my thoughts, my attempts to pray.
To the back deck I must go! God, the birds won’t shut up out here—I can’t concentrate this morn----
Wait. The TV had orchestration from man—dark and ugly music. These birds have incredible songs! Incredible morning music orchestrated and directed by the One who created music. Listen to the symphony! God, this music is so cool! I want my music to resonate Your song because it is not my music but Yours placed in my soul.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 10
Day ten:
Why worry? God provides.
Easier said than believed. In my darkest heart I believe God's providence is insufficient--like coriander cakes when I crave meat. God sustains me; my wanton desires stretch me thin. Why do I struggle with faith that God's manna is enough? He is the bread of life; God, You are my bread of life. Please, God, sustain me even as my sinful appetite hunts for variety in my diet--food that will make me ill in my greed and steal the life You have breathed into me.
Why worry? God provides.
Easier said than believed. In my darkest heart I believe God's providence is insufficient--like coriander cakes when I crave meat. God sustains me; my wanton desires stretch me thin. Why do I struggle with faith that God's manna is enough? He is the bread of life; God, You are my bread of life. Please, God, sustain me even as my sinful appetite hunts for variety in my diet--food that will make me ill in my greed and steal the life You have breathed into me.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 11
"Day eleven:
I am the Lord your God."
He is my lawgiver and judge.
"I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God."
God saved Israel but still burned in anger when they sinned. Sin angers God.
Lord, may I desire You and revel in your commandments rather than pursuing my own gods and laws; that I may be as Caleb and Joshua, ready to enter Your rest by Your power and grace.
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.
I am the Lord your God."
He is my lawgiver and judge.
"I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God."
God saved Israel but still burned in anger when they sinned. Sin angers God.
Lord, may I desire You and revel in your commandments rather than pursuing my own gods and laws; that I may be as Caleb and Joshua, ready to enter Your rest by Your power and grace.
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.
Friday, October 14, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 12
Day twelve:
Clean. Pure. God, You breathe life into all life. Therefore, life itself is clean and pure, holy--sacred. Death is unclean, dirty, unrighteous and rebellious. Life screams love. Death screams nothing. Life abundant sheds entanglement with sin and death, solely focussed on the Giver of life--our clean, pure, holy, perfect God, the Wellspring of life.
Clean. Pure. God, You breathe life into all life. Therefore, life itself is clean and pure, holy--sacred. Death is unclean, dirty, unrighteous and rebellious. Life screams love. Death screams nothing. Life abundant sheds entanglement with sin and death, solely focussed on the Giver of life--our clean, pure, holy, perfect God, the Wellspring of life.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
yada -- Knowing God More Day 14
Day fourteen (Psalm 29):
Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in holy array.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
The God of glory thunders, The Lord is over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful,
The voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everything says, "Glory!"
The Lord sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.
The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
NASB
Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in holy array.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
The God of glory thunders, The Lord is over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful,
The voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everything says, "Glory!"
The Lord sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.
The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
NASB
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