Daily Office - Reflection

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading: Mark 6:30-32
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.   So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”

3) Devotional
Reflection is a word about which one should take a moment to think. The definition I like is offered by John Maxwell when he suggests that “reflection is the pause that gives the person perspective.”

Life is a series of experiences, one after another. Reflection turns experience into insight. Life moves quickly. 60 seconds soon becomes 60 minutes which before long has lead us through the routine of 24 hours that multiplies itself by seven and is called one week…..Every person on earth has the same number of seconds in a week but not all persons have learned the value of gaining wisdom from life.

A reflective person has learned to pause in evaluation so that when they begin again in another daily cycle of experience they are the wiser and better prepared because of the insight gained from yesterday. 

In the Mark passage, Jesus said to his disciples in the midst of a large pressing crowd to come away and reflect with him.  A valuable part of resting well is reflecting deeply. The discipline it takes to invest 10 minutes a day to glance back will give you energy and creativity as you fix your gaze onto the next new day of opportunity.  Just remember, Jesus, though not jotting down his thoughts on paper, he took the time -  I think he offers us a valuable model to follow.

4) Questions to Consider
Take 10 minutes before you go to bed and write the answers to these questions down:

1. Who did I see and interact with today?
2. What things did I attempt to accomplish today?
3. How well did I do with my interaction with people and with applying excellence to all the projects I began?
4. What could I have done better and therefore, what will I do tomorrow if that same situation presents itself?

If you will take the time to do it for the next 10 days I believe you will see results that will encourage you …to keep doing it.  

 5) Prayer
Lord, I just need to be with you - for a long time. I can see that there are a lot of things in me that need to change...show me one small step I can take to begin to build a life around you.  Lord, help me develop an effective plan in my life of paying attention to you whether I am working, resting, studying, or praying.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office - Slow to Speak

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—James 1:19-27

3) Devotional
Robert Frost once said, “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”  At some point this week you will probably be in situations with people that will make you angry, make you upset and you’ll want to lose your temper, get angry, get loud and get your way.  I know this will happen to me.  Yet when we are able to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger, we have the great ability to not “win” arguments, but influence co-workers, family members and friends to move closer toward embracing spiritual direction, healthier habits, and wiser ways.  Imagine what it would look like if you changed the perception of Christians in your work place.

4) Question to Consider
What would it look like for you today to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and even slower to anger?

5) Prayer
LORD, you know what I struggle with when I lose control of my thoughts and my tongue or try to spin the truth in my favor.  Father, transform my ways of relating to others.  May I speak the truth in patience, humility, great love and tenderness.  And may you be honored and glorified in my relationships.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office - Friendship Strengthens Your Hand

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 23:15-18
David was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh when he learned that Saul had come out to seek his life. Saul's son Jonathan set out and came to David at Horesh; there he strengthened his hand through the LORD. He said to him, "Do not be afraid; for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be second to you; my father Saul also knows that this is so." Then the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home. 

3) Devotional
No one succeeds alone- not even the one God called “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22), and “the apple of my eye” (Ps. 17:8). Yes, even David needed his Jonathan.

In the dark days when he scrambled from cave to cave to escape the murderous threats of King Saul, David turned to his friend, Jonathan, for strength and encouragement. At great risk to himself, Jonathan warned David and told him to hide out for a time (I Sam 19:2). Jonathan, hoping to pacify his father and reconcile the king to his friend, spoke well of David. And for a short while Saul relented, promising that David would not die by his hand.

Soon the old animosities reasserted themselves, however, and Jonathan once again risked his life to help his dear friend (20:30-32). Even though he knew that God had chosen David-and not him- to rule Israel, Jonathan remained faithful to his comrade until the very end of his life. One verse in particular describes Jonathan’s invaluable ministry to David: “Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God” (23:16)

4) Questions to Consider
Do you have someone who “strengthens your hand in God”?

I long for every person at Stonecrest to have a good friend or two within the church family, with whom they can loyally and faithfully and consistently strengthen one another’s hand in the things of God.

5) Prayer
Lord God, I realize that life is not a journey I am to walk through alone. Please help me to make the adjustments necessary in my life to make time for deep friendship and also soften my heart to allow others in to my life and my hurts, so that through them I might help them in theirs. In Jesus Christ’s name. Amen

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office - Unconditional Faith

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-3
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. 

3) Devotional
I was just reading an emailed devotional this morning from the writings of A.W. Tozer, one of the best known Christian & Missionary Alliance Pastors, and writers, of the 20th century. From over 50 years ago, Tozer’s words challenged my faith to grow up and mature, no matter how “mature” I may think I already am... faith must constantly be trained on God, not my experience of what He’s done for me lately…

“We must be concerned with the person and character of God, not the promises.  Through promises we learn what God has willed to us, we learn what we may claim as our heritage, we learn how we should pray.  But faith itself must rest on the character of God.”

I’m concerned that what we call faith today is most commonly a conditional response to a good situation, or, a fallback position when all our other options have failed in a bad one.

“Why do we not tell them that they must get beyond the point of making God a lifeboat for their rescue or a ladder to get them out of a burning building? How can we help our people get over the idea that God exists just to help run their businesses or fly their airplanes?

God is not a railway porter who carries your suitcase and serves you. God is God. He made heaven and earth. He holds the world in His hand. He measures the dust of the earth in the balance. He spreads the sky out like a mantle. He is the great God Almighty. He is not your servant. He is your Father, and you are His child. He sits in heaven, and you are on the earth.”

                                                                    -A.W. Tozer, Faith Beyond Reason, 44.

May you, and I, learn the blessing of practicing unconditional faith.

4) Questions to Consider
How have I loved God conditionally based on what I think He has done for me?

5) Prayer
Father God, forgive me for loving You conditionally, when you've loved me without condition in spite of all my failings. Thank you for your unconditional love of grace in Jesus Christ. Amen

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office for April 25, 2011 - Perseverance

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Devotional
 & Scripture

Why do we often feel like giving up or quitting? A primary reason we are tempted to give up is other people….the less than 20% whose major role it is in life to encourage others to toss in the towel. These “white flag” specialists never run out of excuses you and I ought to use for quitting. I have met many “why-sweat-it” experts on the three continents where I have lived life.

I would imagine Anne Mansfield Sullivan had a host of folks telling her that the blind, seven-year-old brat wasn’t worth her trouble. But Anne persevered—in spite of temper tantrums, physical abuse, mealtime madness, and even thankless parents. In her heart she knew it was worth all the pain. Indeed she was right. Within two years the young girl was able to read and write in braille. She eventually graduated from Radcliffe College, where Miss Sullivan had “spelled” each lecture into her hand, and Helen Keller devoted the rest of her life to aiding the deaf and the blind.

Perseverance is difficult but it always pays. It is a costly investment but the dividends are so much greater than the original outlay that you’ll almost forget the price. In some cases the final benefits are so significant that you may wonder why you ever hesitated in the beginning.

When I think of Jesus on the Mt. of Olives I am encouraged that even he felt like quitting. He cried: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). But He persevered; never quit…even when the drops of blood pushed though on his forehead from the stress of anticipated suffering.

You and I can recall a time or two when we felt like quitting too. We also remember a time or two when God could have (and perhaps should have) wiped us off the face of the earth. But he didn’t. Why? Because of the great truth in Philippians 1:6:

He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ—right up to the time of His return—developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

Whatever you do, don’t quit! God in not through with you yet!

4) Questions to Consider Where is God leading you to practice perseverance?

5) Prayer
Lord, give me courage today.  Help me resist temptation to give up.  Help me see that you have crafted a unique journey for me.  I surrender my needs and desires to be in control. Lord over my life, Jesus.  In your name I pray.  Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 10

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—Deuteronomy 5: 12-15

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox; your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath Day.

3) Devotional
 Sabbath was intended to shape our lives as a liberated people. The fourth commandment calls for free time for people who had been enslaved.

            "The Deuteronomy reason for Sabbath-keeping is that our ancestors in Egypt went for four hundred years without a vacation (Deuteronomy 5:15). Never a day off. The consequence: they were no longer considered persons but slaves. Hands. Work units. Not persons created in the image of God but equipment for making brick and building pyramids. Humanity was defaced." --Eugene Peterson

Sabbath-keeping is meant to be an experience of the truth that you are not a “doing machine” but a deeply loved son or daughter of God. God is not interested in simply using you to get work done: He delights in you. And he provides free time once a week so that you might relish your release from oppression and slavery.

4) Questions to Consider
How might the truth that “God doesn’t want to use you but enjoy you” give you a vision for celebrating the Sabbath?

5) Prayer
LORD, Sabbath rest is truly an unbelievable gift! Thank you that there is nothing that I can do to earn your love; it comes without any strings attached. As I close my eyes for these minutes before you, all I can say is “Thank you.” In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 9*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—Psalm 23:1-3

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

            he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

            for his name’s sake.

3) Devotional

The Sabbath teaches grace because it connects us experientially to the basic truth that nothing we do will earn God’s love. As long as we are using our gifts to serve others, experiencing joy in our work along with the toil, we are always in danger of believing that our actions trigger God’s love for us. Only in stopping, really stopping, do we teach our hearts and souls that we are both loved apart from what we do.

During a day of rest, we have the chance to take a deep breath and look at our lives. God is at work every minute of our days, yet we seldom notice. Noticing requires intentional stopping and the Sabbath provides that opportunity. On the Sabbath we can take a moment to see the beauty of a maple leaf, created with great care by our loving Creator . . .

Without time to stop, we cannot notice God’s hand in our lives, practice thankfulness, step outside our culture’s values or explore our deepest longing. Without time to rest, we will seriously undermine our ability to experience God’s unconditional love and acceptance. The Sabbath is a gift whose blessings cannot be found anywhere else.

--Lynne Baab

4) Question to Consider

            How will you allow God, this week to lead you to the “quiet waters” of rest so that you experience his unconditional love and acceptance?

5) Prayer

LORD, I now take a deep breath and stop. So often I miss your hand and gifts in my life because I am preoccupied and anxious. Grant me the power to pause each day and each week to simply rest in your arms of your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

*From "Begin the Journey with the Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 8*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

 2) Scripture Reading—Psalm 92:1-6
It is good to praise the LORD
And make music to your name, O Most High,
To proclaim your love in the morning
And your faithfulness at night,
To the music of the ten-stringed lyre
And the melody of the harp.
For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O LORD,
how profound your thoughts!
The senseless man does not know,
Fools do not understand . . .

3) Devotional
 Psalm 92 was a song intended to be sung on the Sabbath. It not only stands as an indictment against today’s culture of exhaustion and destruction, it also presents us with a positive vision of the Sabbath that takes us far beyond all notions of Sabbath observance as a mere reprieve from six days of frantic exertion. Sabbath practice is the focus and culmination of a life that is daily and practically devoted to honoring God . . .      

 Abraham Joshua Heschel once observed, “Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath while still in this world, unless one is initiated in the appreciation of eternal life, one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.”
 "We are simply naïve if we think that having wasted or squandered the many good gifts of this creation, we will not do the same with the gifts of heaven. Sabbath practice, on this view, is a sort of training ground for the life of eternity, a preparation for the full reception and welcome of the presence of God.  —Norman Wirzba

4) Question to Consider
How might Sabbath keeping (an entire 24-hour period) or a Daily Office (a mini-Sabbath for a few minutes) provide for you a taste of eternity?

5) Prayer
LORD, show me how to welcome your presence, not only one day a week, but every day. Train me for an eternity. Grant me a taste of heaven thorough an experience of true Sabbath rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

*From "Begin the Journey with the Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 7*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) 

2) Scripture Reading—Mark 2:23-28

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

            He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?” In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

            Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath.”

3) Devotional

Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop when we are finished. We do not stop when we complete our phone calls, finish our project, get through this stack of messages, or get out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop. 

Sabbath requires surrender. If we only stop when we are finished with all our work, we will never stop—because our work is never completely done. With every accomplishment there arises a new responsibility. If we refuse rest until we are finished, we will never rest until we die. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished.

We stop because there are forces larger than we that take care of the universe, and while our efforts are important, necessary, and useful, they are not (nor are we) indispensable. The galaxy will somehow manage without us for this hour, this day, and so we are invited—nay, commanded—to relax, and enjoy our relative unimportance, our humble place at the table in a very large world.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, Jesus said again and again. Let the work of this day be sufficient.

Sabbath says, be still. Stop. There is no rush to get to the end, because we are never finished.⁶³

—Wayne Mueller

4) Question to Consider

What is your greatest fear in stopping for a 24-hour period each week?

5) Prayer

This idea of Sabbath, LORD, will require a lot of change in the way I am living life. Teach me LORD, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus’ name, amen 

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes) 


*From "Begin the Journey with the Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 6*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) 

2) Scripture Reading—Matthew 13:31-33

            He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

            He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

3) Devotional

            In these two parables describing how the kingdom of God works much like a seed, we hear Jesus calling us to slow down and take a longer view of our lives.

            . . . we can work without stopping, faster and faster, electric lights making artificial day so the whole machine can labor without ceasing. But remember: No living thing lives like this. There are greater rhythms that govern how life grows . . . seasons and sunsets and great movements of seas and stars . . . We are part of the creation story, subject to all its laws and rhythms.

To surrender to the rhythms of seasons and flowerings and dormancies is to savor the secret of life itself.

Many scientists believe we are “hard-wired” like this, to live in rhythmic awareness, to be in and then step out, to be engrossed and then detached, to work and then to rest. It follows then that the commandment to remember the Sabbath is not a burdensome requirement from some law-giving deity—“You ought, you’d better, you must”—but rather a remembrance of a law that is firmly embedded in the fabric of nature. It is a reminder of how things really are, the rhythmic dance to which we unavoidably belong.⁶²

—Wayne Mueller 

4) Question to Consider

How do the rhythms you see in nature (e.g., spring, summer, fall, winter, day, night) speak to you about the kind of rhythms you desire for your own life?

5) Prayer

LORD, I thank you that you are working even when I am sleeping. Teach me to respect the built-in rhythms of life and to live from a place of deep rest in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

*From "Begin the Journey with the Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 5*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—Psalm 46:1-3, 10

God is our refuge and strength,
An ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” 

3) Devotional
Many are avidly seeking but they alone find who remain in continual silence . . . Every man who delights in a multitude of words, even though he says admirable things, is empty within. If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God and will deliver you from the phantoms of ignorance. Silence will unite you to God himself . . .

More than all things love silence: it brings you a fruit that tongue cannot describe. In the beginning we have to force ourselves to be silent. But then there is born something that draws us to silence. May God give you an experience of this “something” that is born of silence. If only you practice this, untold light will dawn on you in consequence . . . after a while a certain sweetness is born in the heart of this exercise and the body is drawn almost by force to remain in silence.⁶¹

—Isaac of Nineveh (Bishop of Nineveh, 7^th century) 

4) Question to Consider
What keeps you from silence?

5) Prayer
LORD, help me to be still and wait patiently for you in silence. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

*from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 4*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
 
2) Scripture Reading—John 15:4-6
            “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
            “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
 
3) Devotional
When we are busier than what God requires, we do violence to ourselves:      
There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence . . . activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence . . . It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”
—Thomas Merton

And in doing violence to ourselves, we are unable to love others in and through the love of Christ.
 
 
4) Question to Consider
How might you be busier than God requires?  Are there other "vines" other than the True Vine that you are connected to?

5) Prayer
Father, I know how often I am carried away by too many concerns and demands and projects.  I have felt the violence to my soul.  Deliver me from this whirlwind around me and in me.  Heal my tired, weary spirit, allowing the wisdom that comes from rest in you to flow deep within me.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

* from "Begin the Journey from the Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 3*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—1 Kings 19:11-12
The Lord said “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

3) Devotional
When God appeared to Elijah after his flight from Jezebel and suicidal depression, he told him to stand and wait for the presence of the Lord to pass by. God did not appear in the ways he had showed up in the past. God was not in the wind (as with Job), an earthquake (as in Mount Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments), or fire (as in the burning bush with Moses). God finally revealed himself to Elijah in “a sound of sheer silence.” (See 1 Kings 19:12). The translation of God coming “in a still, small voice” does not capture the original Hebrew but what could the translators do? How do you hear silence?

The silence after the chaos, for Elijah and for us, is full of the presence of God. God speaks to Elijah out of the silence.

God invites you, too, to stand and wait like Elijah. Why? He also wants to speak to you out of the “sound of sheer silence.”

4) Question to Consider
When can you set aside some time for extended, uninterrupted silence to hear God?  Will you do that today?

5) Prayer
LORD, you know how difficult it is for me to be in silence before you. It feels, at times, almost impossible with the demands and noise all around me. I invite you to lead me to a quiet, silent place before you, to a place where I can hear you as Elijah did. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 2*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

 2) Scripture Reading—Genesis 2:9b, 15-17
In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

4) Devotional
At the heart of the Daily Office and the Sabbath is stopping to surrender to God in trust. It is the very essence of the sin in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve legitimately worked and enjoyed their achievements in the Garden. They were to embrace their limits, however, and not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were not to try to see and know that which belongs to Almighty God.

As theologian Robert Barron has argued, the heart of original sin is the refusal to accept God’s rhythm for us. The essence of being created in God’s image is our ability, like God, to stop. We imitate God by stopping our work and resting. If we can stop for one day a week, or for mini-Sabbaths each day (the Daily Office), we touch something deep within us as image-bearers of God. Our human brain, our bodies, our spirits, and our emotions are wired by God for the rhythm of work and rest in him.

Stopping for the Daily Office and Sabbath is not meant to add another to-do to our already busy schedules. It is an entirely new way of being in the world, resetting all of our days toward a new destination—God.

5) Question to Consider
How do you hear the invitation to “stop and surrender to God in trust” today?

6) Prayer
Lord, help me to grab hold of you today. I need you. Set me free to begin reorienting my life around you and you alone. Help me to pay attention and honor how you have uniquely made me. Thank you for the gift of rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

* from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath

*Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—Luke 8:11-15

 This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

3) Devotional

 Awareness of the love of God and responding to it is at the heart of our lives.

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

This is no new idea. Christ in the parable of the sower long ago told us that “the seed is the word of God.” We often think this applies only to the word of the Gospel as formally preached in the churches on Sundays. But every expression of the will of God is in some sense a “word” of God and therefore a “seed” of new life. The ever-changing reality in the midst of which we live should awaken us to the possibility of an uninterrupted dialogue with God.

"We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks us in every situation, and seeks our good.” - Thomas Merton

4) Question to Consider Pause to consider your day. What seeds from God might be coming to you that you want to be sure not to miss?

5) Prayer Lord, I praise you that your love seeks my good in any and every situation. Forgive me for the seeds that I squander. Soften my heart to surrender to your will in and through me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

*from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office Day 4 - Fast with Purpose...to express concern for the work of God

*Fast with Purpose…to express concern for the work of God

1 ) Silence, stillness, and centering before God (2min)

2) Scripture Reading – Nehemiah 1:1-11 Click to Read

3) Devotional Just as a parent might fast and pray out of concern for the work of God in the life of a child, so we may fast and pray because they feel a burden for the work of God in a broader scope. One might feel compelled to fast and pray for the work of God in a place that has experienced tragedy, disappointment, or apparent defeat. This was the purpose for Nehemiah’s fast when he heard that despite the return of many Jewish exiles to Jerusalem, the city wall had no wall to defend it. After his fast, Nehemiah then went to work to do something tangible and public to strengthen this work of God.

A devoted believer in this rhythm of fasting, David Brainerd’s concerns for the work of God frequently found expression in fasting and prayer. In his journal entry for June 14, 1742, he demonstrated his concern for the work he believed God had called him to do.

I set apart this day for secret fasting and prayer, to entreat God to direct and bless me with regard to the great work I have in view, of preaching the gospel…God enabled me to wrestle ardently in intercession for absent friends…The Lord visited me marvelously in prayer; I think my soul never was in such an agony before.  I felt no restraint, for the treasures of divine grace were opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of God, personally, in many distant places.

Although, we will not fast continually, the Lord may at least may occasionally give us a concern for His work so great that our normal concern for food or other things we fast from will seem secondary in comparison. 

4) Questions to Consider

Can you think of any place of God’s work that has experienced tragedy, disappointment, or apparent defeat? Do you find yourself in a similar situation? How is God leading you to serve or to pray in the work He is doing?

5) Prayer

Lord Jesus, I know You are working in me. Thank you for loving me. I want to be right with you, to be close to you, and to know you. Help me to be sensitive to Your Holy Spirit and guide my hand, my path, and my prayers in what You are doing. I love you. In Your Name. Amen.

*portions of today’s Daily Office have been taken from “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald S. Whitney

Daily Office Day 3 - Fast with Purpose...to overcome temptation

1 ) Silence, stillness, and centering before God (2min)

2) Scripture Reading – Matthew 4:1-11

 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

3) Devotional
Ask Christians to name a fast by a biblical character and most all probably think first of the supernatural fast of Jesus prior to his temptation.  In the spiritual strength of that prolonged fast, he was prepared to overcome a direct onslaught of temptation of Satan himself, the strongest he would face until Gethesmane.  It was also during that fast that he privately dedicated himself to the father for the public ministry he would begin soon thereafter.  There are times we struggle with temptation or we anticipate grappling with it, when we need extra spiritual strength to overcome it.  Often we face decisions that place unusual temptations before us.  Do we take a new job that will mean much more money but much less time with family?  In times of exceptional temptation, exceptional measures are required.  Fasting for the purpose of overcoming temptation and of renewing our dedication to God is a Christlike response.

4) Questions to Consider

Think about the areas in your life where you have been tempted in the past.   What areas in your life do you find yourself tempted today?    Are there lies behind those temptations you need to apply God’s truth to and overcome them?

 5) Prayer

Father God, help me in times of temptation.  Help me to hide your word deep within my heart so that I may apply truth in my walk.  Lord forgive me in times when I have given in to temptation, but grant me more courage and strength in the future, so that I may flee from those temptations.  When I am weak, I can be strong through the power of Christ.  Thank you for your presence in this time I have with you.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

*portions of today’s Daily Office have been taken from “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald S. Whitney

Daily Office Day 2 - Fast with Purpose...to minister to the needs of others

Daily Office Day 2

*Fast with Purpose…to minister to the needs of others

1 ) Silence, stillness, and centering before God (2min)

2) Scripture Reading – Isaiah 58:6-7

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

3) Devotional
Those who think the spiritual rhythms foster tendencies of introspection or independence should consider the above passage. In the most extensive passage in Scripture dealing exclusively with fasting, God emphasizes fasting for the purpose of meeting the needs of others. The people originally addressed in this section had complained to the Lord that they fasted and humbled themselves before Him, but He had not answered them. But the reason why He had not heard them was their disobedience. Their lives were in hypocritical contrast to their fasting and praying, “Yet on the day of your fasting,“ says the Lord in verses 3-4, “you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” Fasting cannot be compartmentalized from the rest of our lives. Spiritual rhythms do not stand alone. God will not bless the practice of any rhythm, including fasting, when we reject His Word regarding relationships with others. The kind of fasting that pleases God is one that results in concern for others and not just for ourselves.

4) Questions to Consider

How could you minister to the needs of others with the extra time or money fasting could provide?

Would you consider bringing a bag of non-perishable groceries to church this Sunday, so as a church we can help others? Click here for more information and for a suggested list of food donations

5) Prayer

LORD, give me wisdom on how to use either my time or money in order to help someone. May the results of fasting lead me to impact another in a way that is pleasing to you. Help me make good choices regarding my time and/or money to be bring glory to your name. Continue to lead me Lord Jesus. In Your Name, Amen.

*portions of today’s Daily Office have been taken from “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald S. Whitney