The East and the West Shouldn’t Meet

Today's Scripture:
Matt. 6:14-15, Eph. 4:32

Today's Prayer: Lord, I do so many stupid things! I'm selfish...I've gossiped...I've broken promises...I've lied. And look how I treat others when they do the same to me! I'm not proud of my record, but Your mercy encourages me to try again….try again to be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving.

I don't hold grudges. This really isn't an issue for me. I don't know why. It is more than likely the grace of God entirely. But there is one person who for some reason, I fail to forgive…

Pray then like this…

Today's Scripture:
Matt 6:9-13

Today's Prayer: The Lord's Prayer is a model to help you understand what prayer is. The biggest challenge is to get past its familiar phrases and to think how it reflects what's happening in real life. Pray this prayer back to the Lord, using it like an outline by filling it in with the needs of your own life.

I pray a lot. But I am not sure I pray correctly a lot. I pray for my family. I pray about my job. I pray about our finances. But when I pray these things

Few Words…Infinite God

Today's Scripture:
Matt 6:7-8, Ecc 5:2

Today's Prayer: Dear Lord...You know my needs. I don't even have to express them because You know my heart. You know what I need even before I ask! Let my prayers be specific and direct, not rash, and of few words. I praise You, omnipotent God!"

This isn’t Reality TV

Today's Scripture:
Matt 5:6, 2 Kings 4:33

Today's Prayer: Father, when I come before You, let it not be a show to others of how "spiritual" I am, but let it be a time of devotion and praise to You. Keep before me the reward that awaits me in heaven and remind me to be discreet and humble before You in my prayer closet.

Motivations?

Today's Scripture:
Matt 6:1, John 5:44

Today's Prayer: Father, I love to serve You, but some-times I do it just for others to tell me what a great job I did. Remind me that I should seek Your heavenly reward, not earthly praise. Let me not seek glory from others, but instead seek the glory that comes from the only God!

Perfection through quitting

Today's Scripture:
Matt 5:48, James 1:4, 1 Thess. 5:23

Today's Prayer: Dear Lord, may I be steadfast in my faith that I may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I praise You for Your faithfulness! I know You will complete the work You have started in me.

I am keenly aware of my imperfections. Oddly enough, those around me often bear the brunt of that awareness. I deeply hate my imperfections and desperately want to rid myself of them and sometimes I tend to ask others … okay ask may be to gentle of a word … to meet the same standards that I see myself missing. But as I read the New Testament, I find that is the kind of thing the Pharisees did. This fight for perfection is a personal one. Actually though, it shouldn't be a fight. It should be a release. I make it a fight by striving to do it myself. As 1 Thessalonians says, he will do it. Actually, he already did it. When Jesus died on the cross, he perfected me. He even said it. When he said "It is finished", the word finished is closely related to the word perfect. It was finished in the sense of over. It was finished in the sense of completeness or perfection. My salvation, redemption and righteousness were perfected at that moment. I need to rest in that fact, not fight for what I cannot attain. I need to see that perfection was not accomplished by fighting for oneself. Perfection was accomplished by laying down your very nature and living in God. That is what Jesus did. He laid down DIVINITY and abided fully and completely in God. We need only lay down our filthy rags and do the same. I lack perfection only because I am proud and thank God for salvation and tell him I will handle the sanctification. I quit! I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to fail again. I want to be perfect. I want Jesus, not me. I want to die and let Jesus live. I know that he will. I know that he won't let me mess it up. He is faithful.

Spiritual Discipline – Holding the frontline?

I learned something about myself this week. I need stability in my life to start new endeavors. I embarked this week to begin this blog and then promptly went on a business trip. I thought to myself that I could do this with my free time in the hotel room. HA! ... HA HA! What a joke! Here it is Thursday and I just made my first blog entry. To those who committed to follow this blog, I apologize. Interestingly enough, the teaching studies I had been doing this week involved spiritual disciplines. Here I am looking at how to excel at this Christian walk on one hand, and on the other, failing to follow through on a new spiritual discipline. It is interesting how the evil one and the Holy Spirit are always hitting us in the same place at the same time. It is like the frontlines of a battle. Sometimes you gain ground…others you lose ground. I have come to realize though that I really am not one of the major combatants. I am the inhabitant of the land and my actions either "support the cause" or "aid and abed the enemy", but the battle is much larger than me. So I apologize for giving aid to the Holy Spirit this week, for not following through on this small commitment. I see now that I am easily distracted from fight and when I am distracted I let the enemy win. So I pray for focus and hope that you stick with me on this journey even when I get inconsistent. And when I get inconsistent that you feel free to prod me back to the fight. Together, we can push back the enemy and gain new ground for our cause if only in our own lives.

What More?

Today's Scripture:
Matt 5:47, 1 Peter 2:12

Today's Prayer: I know I may be the only Jesus some people see. Even if others mock me for my faith, may I keep my conduct honorable, so when they see my good deeds, You will be glorified.

For those of you that don't know, I do computer programming out of a home office. This has many, many benefits but one of the drawbacks is that I don't see many people. Actually, I rarely see anyone other than my family. I talk on the phone with co-workers nearly all of whom are born-again brothers and sisters. I interact with my family and then I work with others in the church. Does anyone see the problem here? I have very little interaction with those other than "my brothers". Sometimes I believe that I am worse than those Jesus is talking about here. I don't even move among non-believers. Even if my conduct would speak well, I rarely give it an outlet. So what more am I doing than others? Today, I am praying that God would give me more opportunities to love those unlike me. Lord, I beg you to penetrate this bubble in my life. Lord, I pray that my life would reflect you in such a way that you would want me out of this cloister. Lord, be glorified.

Where we've come from

For those that might like to know, you can access "The Journey" from the link below:

Trinity Church - The Journey

You can see all of the past issues and see what we have been studying.  I will start the conversation this Sunday, October 11.  We will be walking through Matthew 5:38-48.

Walk with me

Welcome to the Journey.  About 5 weeks ago, my church began publishing a new ministry tool called "The Journey".  It is a daily devotional/prayer guide that helps members continue to interact with the weeks scripture and hopefully fully integrate it into their lives.  At the same time, they began implementing a ministry philosophy called the Big Idea.  The Big Idea integrates a single scripture and theme into all ministries from Sunday Worship to Middle and High School and to Small Groups.  It has been truly rewarding so far.

I have decided to blog about my personal journey here.  I will attempt to blog about every days devotion as well as the Sunday Sermon.  I would truly like to invite all of you to join me on this journey.  Comment, Grapple, Dig Deep.  All I ask is that we don't gossip, critique, or judge.

This should be fun!