Be Still
Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Get comfortable. Let your body relax and your mind quiet down. Take a few deep breaths and then ask God to make his presence known to you. Be still. Take some time to sit and soak up God’s presence.
Prayer of Approach
Our God, you dressed yourself in the tattered garments of our human nature, that we might dress ourselves with your divine ways. Help us, therefore, to wear our human frailties with the dignity and resolve of those who are the earthly cradles of the nature of God. Amen.
Psalm 4
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the Lord.
Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.
Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
Devotional Thought
When I think of wholeness in my own life, I think of a finely tuned orchestra in which each instrument, guided by the conductor, contributes its part toward a magnificent symphony of sound. There are times—and in recent years, increasing times—when I have heard this sound that I know that I am in tune with the Spirit of God who moves within me. Sometimes the sound is discordant, even harsh, but it is nonetheless one sound. This is wholeness. It can include themes of joy and themes of pain, but there is still one sound. This is very different from what happens when the instruments that represent the many-faceted aspects of my personality are playing in opposition to each other. When this happens, I experience inner chaos and confusion—the very opposite of wholeness. The answer is not to play louder, not to pretend we do not hear, but rather to take time to listen to the many sounds so that the message they contain can be brought to light. The inner freedom the Gospel promises is experienced when our identity in Christ is honored and trusted and nourished. It is experienced when our inner lives are in tune, not in the sense of having arrived, but rather in the sense of being able to hear and respond to the themes and rhythms that the Spirit offers in calling us out of ourselves. The journey in Christ is a journey shaped by the biblical story of salvation in which is embodied a will to holiness.
Wholeness, when open to the Spirit of God, is a seedbed for holiness. When our center has been formed in Christ, an environment is created that opens us to the promptings of the Kingdom. In biblical terms, like Bartimaeus we begin to see.
— James C. Fenhagen
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Reflection
Take time to pause and reflect on your time with Jesus through the Scriptures and devotional thought. What thoughts are being drawn out of you? What emotions are being provoked? What might God be saying? Consider using a journal to write as you process, reflect, and pray.
Time for Prayer
God invites us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us. God is all-together good, already knows what we need, and is eager to give us good things. So we don’t need to pray out of anxiety or fear, but confident trust. Spend a few minutes making your requests known to God.
- For the church
- For others
- For myself
Closing Prayer
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this time together. I have rejoiced to feel again your life and spirit over-laying and changing my own. Hold me to yourself today, as the groom holds his willing bride. Amen.