Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
Adoration
The Heart Of Worship
When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You It's all about You Jesus
Matt Redman

Scripture Reflection Luke 6

6 On another Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a Jewish meeting place, and a man with a crippled right hand was there. 7 Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses kept watching Jesus to see if he would heal the man. They did this because they wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong. 8 Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he told the man to stand up where everyone could see him. And the man stood up. 9 Then Jesus asked, "On the Sabbath should we do good deeds or evil deeds? Should we save someone's life or destroy it?" 10 After he had looked around at everyone, he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did, and his bad hand became completely well. 11 The teachers and the Pharisees were furious and started saying to each other, "What can we do about Jesus?"

This is another place where You broke the Sabbath, Lord. What were you really trying to teach us by this interchange with a man with a crippled right hand and the religious leaders.

The fact that this man who was physically challenged was in the synagogue on Sabbath said something about his desire to seek after God. Those who were sick or had a limitation were seen as judged by God. It was assumed that they must have sinned to be in that condition. You could see his heart couldn’t you, Lord. You knew his desire to find all that You had for him.

I wonder if this man kept his hand hidden so it couldn’t be seen, and yet everyone knew. Everyone was watching Jesus is to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day.

No one was more aware of the trxture of the situation than this man, whose life had been impacted by a hand that did not work the way it was supposed to. Had this been something that he struggle with all his life? Was this an injury that occurred? What career options were closed to him? Who had avoided relationship with him because he was crippled? What did it cost him to have this disability? Was he angry at you for his loss? Yet here he was in the meeting place where people seeking after God would gather.

You knew the thoughts and the intentions of all the people who were present that day…you knew what the teachers were thinking…you saw the trap. More than that, you saw this man and his need, his desire to be whole. I am sure that you knew the journey that lead this man to this synagogue on this Sabbath.

Jesus, did the callousness of the crowd that day hurt your heart? What was the point of Sabbath? It was the day that had been set aside for worship and rest. The point had been incrusted with tradition and rules. Right here you began to show the real reason for Sabbath…it was to do the good that is available to do.

It is very interesting to me that these men who were looking to accuse you Lord, could not heal anytime…whether it was Sabbath or not. Yet they found fault with you for doing what they could not do. It is also interesting that this is one of those times where you never mentioned that this man’s sins were forgiven. Maybe this hurt that this unnamed man carried was there just so you could heal him. I wonder how many times a day he looked at that hand after this incident and remembered what you had done for him on that Sabbath day.

Lord, what is the application? Maybe…People are more important than making a point. No one should be a means to an end. Lord Jesus, remind me in this day that You are bigger than my ways of thinking about You. You have a plan even in those areas where I am crippled. The reason for my need is found in Your touch.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
Adoration
HOLINESSHoliness Holiness
Is what I long for
Holiness is what I need
Holiness Holiness
Is what you want from me
Take my heart and form it
Take my mind transform it
Take my will conform it
To yours to yours oh Lord
Scripture Reflections Luke 6
1 One Sabbath when Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields, the disciples picked some wheat. They rubbed the husks off with their hands and started eating the grain. 2 Some Pharisees said, "Why are you picking grain on the Sabbath? You're not supposed to do that!" 3 Jesus answered, "You surely have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry. 4 He went into the house of God and took the sacred loaves of bread that only priests were supposed to eat. He not only ate some himself, but even gave some to his followers." 5 Jesus finished by saying, "The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath."
You are Lord…of all. That simple fact is a theme that resurfaces again and again. It is a theme in the gospels and it is a theme that continues to resurface in my life. It is foundational. It is the watershed issue of life. It can not be ignored. You were rabbi, and teacher to your disciples, and responsible for their actions. Their actions reflected on you. They were accused of harvesting…working on the Sabbath.

It is interesting that You were not eating grain. Who started to pick first? Was it Peter? Was it Andrew…did they try to sneak it…were they just too hungry to fast.

So what can I take away from this incident that begins the conflict with the religious elites of your day?
Where are the places in my life where you are not Lord? Where are the places in my life where my actions call into question your leadership?--- “Jesus don’t you see what he is doing…what kind of leader are you if he is one of yours and he is doing that?”

You are Lord …you are the one who sets the agenda even if the agenda makes me uncomfortable. What could have been, if these leaders had been able to see and embrace your ministry? The road to the cross started with this interaction with the rich and powerful surrounding the issue of Sabbath observance. The miraculous could not make up for the fact that in their eyes you were a Sabbath breaker.

The interaction with You over this pivotal issue in their view of the world limited their ability to accept you. What are the pivot points in my life where you must be Lord of all or you are not Lord at all? My impact for you is limited by my acceptance of your Lordship in my life. Nothing else…I can have an impact but it is a dependant and corollary impact.

Lord Jesus forgive me for those places in the last week where my actions brought into question Your leadership. In this day that stretches out before me, Lord lead and guide in it. Help me to be what you would have me to be. Let me be a reflection of You. Shine Jesus Shine in my life.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
Adoration
In the morning
How many mornings have we started together?
It is in these still few moments that we connect again.
The Holy has come to meet the meandering yet again.
You are focusing and leading me to areas of new growth.
Lord, speak during this time.

Scripture Reflections: Luke 5
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "


Why it is Lord that I always want to put your work in my life into safe, comfortable, well used containers? Why is it that I am more interested in patching up that old instead doing what needs to be done and starting out new.

Your message does not fit into the old and the comfortable. It does not allow me to just go on with business as usual. You call me to fundamental change. You have no interest in a rehabilitation of the old me. That would be familiar and fit right in with the mantra of today…self help, self actualization and being all that I can be.

You know the truth about me…Rehabilitation would not rattle my safe world one least little bit. But instead you have set out to transform me. That is much more intimating…and you are firmly aimed at something that I have only a limited view of. Will I recognize myself when you are done with me?

Please don’t let me become a caricature of a follower of the Holy. A nightmare that haunts me is that I will become a polyester leisure suit wearing manikin that speaks but only in trite, cliche drivel…a new language born…Christian-ese. I am sure that is not what you are aiming at. Appearance is something that is not even close to what you are concerned with…Your aim is true, you aim at the heart.

In fact the transformational process is aimed at changing the essence of who I am. Just like there is a difference between wine and grape juice. During the fermentation process there is a change in chemical make up of grape juice. You want to see change in my life that takes place on that same very basic level.


Your work in my life is aimed at a change that forever alters thoughts, feelings, perception and priorities. You want to change goals into missions, you want to change my thoughts into a ongoing dialogue with you, you want to show me the way that my world impacts your feelings and can touch mine. You want your perceptions of the world to become my present reality, and you want to see your priorities lived out in all of my today’s.

No I guess I don’t have to worry about leisure suits…and no facial hair…

For that process to take place there needs to be room to grow…room to expand…room to allow the process to take place. If that change is put in the old and the familiar it will only result in loss.

Lord work in my life, continue that process that you began years ago. Help me to allow you as much room as you need for this change to continue. Work Holy Spirit.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
Adoration
Jesus, lover of my soul
Jesus, I will never let you go
You've taken me from the miry clay
Set my feet upon the rock and now I know
I love you, I need you, though my world may fall
I'll never let you go
My Savior, my closest friend
I will worship you until the very end.

Scripture Reflections: Luke 5
29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'
31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

NPR reported yesterday the Quiverfull Movement the latest movement of conservative Christians is to encourage people who are Christians to have large families. The fear is that radical Islamic nations are reproducing at an alarming rate and Chrisitans will be out-numbered in the very near future. A very well intentioned grandmother came on who had only seven children and said what a waste it was that she didn’t have more children. It is over our own children that we have the most ability to impact for the gospel.


The report chilled me and made me think. I wonder what Jesus would think. I wonder about the missing generation that is not attending my church. Not to pick a fight with my fellow Christian brothers and sisters but Jesus did not come for the righteous to have more babies but for the sinners to come to repentance. The point is not how many babies another faith is having…the point is that we believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, that radical Islamic nations need Jesus just as much as our children and our grandchildren need Jesus. In reflecting on our recent past, we have not had the greatest track record in reaching either of those two groups for Jesus. God help us.


Don’t misunderstand me I love large families but what a twisted view the national media must have of the people that are called Christian.


As I think about this news report one more time, Jesus would not be worried about any of it. Jesus would just call us in our generation to be like him. To sit with the rowdies, the sinners and the disenfranchised at the lunch table and to show them what it really means to love God and to live like him in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation.

Maybe the Christians of the Quiverfull Movement could adopt the street kids of Warez, Mexico that the drug cartels are using to kill their enemies and who are ending up dead. I am wondering if that might be more in line with what Jesus would have us do. He came for the sinners, people just like you and I…people that were rejected, ignored, abandoned and over looked not just the children that are from Christian families.


Who are the people that I am missing that Jesus came to die for? Who are the people who I need to be spending my life reaching out to? Who are the overlooked that are right in front of me that I am missing?

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
Adoration
Oh great light of the world
Fill up my soul
I’ll never mend here
So come make me whole
Oh great light of the world
Come to im-part
The light of your grace
To fill up my heart
(Bebo Norman)
Scripture Reflection
27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Sitting at his accounting table I am sure the good Jewish boy turned Roman tax collector would have never expected a Rabbi to want him for a student. It must have been a real surprise when Levi saw Jesus even talk to him let alone choose him to be his student.
I wonder if Levi ever recovered from this example of amazing grace. Levi experienced something radical when it came to grace. He knew that he was not good enough and yet Jesus saw him, and wanted him to follow. Jesus finds us where we are. Not where we would like to be, or where we should be, but where we are…in the middle of our life choices that even we can not always understand or explain. When Jesus saw and found Levi suddenly all of the choices that just seemed so important up to that time made no difference. Jesus had called him to be his student…his disciple. Career, stability in his life, an income, being able to party with his friends, all seemed like yesterday news.
Where have you surprised me with your amazing grace, Lord? Where are the places where I know without a doubt that you have called me, Lord?It is by the power of that invitation that the words “follow me” become a mission. I am sure that Levi remembered this interaction, a life time later. It was on the power of that invitation that his life changed for good.
Lord Jesus, make your call a mission in my life, remind me of it in this day that will be filled with distractions and noise. Remind me of your call.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Κύριος Notes

Κύριος Notes
3/23/2009
Adoration
Set My Spirit Free
Set my spirit free that I might worship Thee.
Set my spirit free that I might praise Thy name.
Let all bondage go and let deliverance flow.
Set my spirit free to worship Thee.
Scripture Reflections: Luke 5
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
They got the question exactly right didn’t they Lord. They saw what your healing implied. They saw the issues that it raised. They seemed to fixate on the process and not the power that was displayed.
The forgiving of this man’s sins was a part of the process of his healing. Without forgiveness his need was not addressed at it source.
Why is it that I want to experience your power but also want to control the process? I want just like these men for you to work in ways and at times that fit my way of thinking. I want to control process.

22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."

Lord you know our questions and you meet them. You demonstrated Your power to heal this man, but also You address the questions that were not even fully formed on the lips of these men who were the religious leaders of their day.
Help me with my questions today.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Kurios Notes


Κύριος Notes
3/21/2009
Saratoga Springs, NY
Adoration
I will Rise
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And I will rise,
I will rise
Chris Tomlin
Scripture Reflection: Luke 5
17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
I am thinking about finding my way to You Lord...everyone has had to make that journey. Friends or family are almost always involved. This man was carried to You on the stretcher of his sickness.
So many times I find myself in need and at Your feet. I have been brought there by people who may or may not know the reason for my need.
I am so thankful for loving, concerned friends that brought me to Your feet Jesus...through the roof and down to your feet. Just not paying attention to the looks of the crowd and the dust and dirt they were throwing along the way. Praise Jesus...help me to be that kind of friend to others I meet.
When we find our way to Jesus there is first the need for forgiveness. The miracles of Jesus are interesting. There are times when there is forgiveness given, and times when there is just healing. It would seem to imply to me that this young man was on that stretcher for a reason. His sin one way or the other had gotten him in the place where he could not move without the help of friends.
There is also the need for acceptance and healing.
Where are the places where I need healing today Lord? Lord--See, Forgive, and heal.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Kurios Notes


Κύριος Notes
Adoration
Jesus Messiah
His body the bread
His blood the wine
Broken and poured out
all for love
The whole earth trembled
And the veil was torn
Love so amazing
Love so amazing
--(Chris Tomlin)
Scripture Reflections: Luke 5

12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.

How often do I come to you Jesus with my "if's?" Here this man in desperate need, separated from family, suffering horrible disfigurment and pain comes to You with his request. You told us "Ask and it shall be given to you...seek and you shall find..." Am I asking, or am I just sitting in my own stuff, feeling good about feeling bad?

Was there any doubt that you were willing to make this person clean, Lord? No! You knew from eternity past that he would have this disease...this symbol of the impact of sin and yet a horrendous sickness. You knew that he would make this request out of lips that may have not even been able to form the words with clarity.

What "if's" would I bring to you today Lord?

  • If you are willing move in Holy Spirit, speak, transform, change my priorites, inhabit anew this meandering example of humanity.
  • If you are willing let me be a light to those that surround me, let me shine for you today.
  • If you are willing work in my understanding and emotions to bring me to a sense of what is possible when you are at work in my life.

The truely amazing thing is you are willing.

Love so amazing, love so amazing!

Kurios Notes


Κύριος Notes
3/19/2009 2:42AM
Saratoga Springs, NY
Adoration

Jesus Messiah
He became sin
Who knew no sin
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross
Love so amazing
Love so amazing (--Chris Tomlin)

Scripture Reflections: Luke 5

1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

Teaching on the water's edge with people all around...the press of the crowd...in the middle of all that confusion you were able to be creative. Lord, you did not get stuck on what would be most comfortable, or what was the usual way of teaching. It was simple...what works.
The boat was available and was used. Lord help me to be available.


4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

So Simon needed to be where the fish were to catch fish. That line has always caught my attention Lord. Where are the places where I am just sitting in the boat on the edge of the water with my legs dangling in the water when you want me out in deep water? This was a command that you gave to Peter...help me to hear the command Lord and keep it.

There is risk in the deep water. What if there is a storm? What if the boat leaks? What if it is a waste of time? What if I get hurt? The opportunity is in the deep water.

5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

There are always the reasons that we can give for not listening...or not wanting to try one more time to fish in the deep water. In the end we either listen or we don't. We either take the opportunity to be blessed or we draw back in fear and rebellion missing what God has for us.

6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Lord sinking boats are a good thing from time to time. Seeing the results of obedience as a concrete reminder is a powerful teaching tool. Too many fish in one boat was the simple result of listening to you and of going to out into the same lake one more time.

I wonder how many times in his life Peter thought back to incidents just like this one and thought...remember the sinking boats...remember the way the Master blessed when I obeyed. Remember the fish we hauled in that day. If he could work in that situation, then he can work in this situation.

Lord give us sinking boats
.

8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

I am like Peter Lord. In the middle of teaching that Isaiah and Jeremiah would have died to hear...the only thing that I can see,think about, and calculate the street value of are the fish.

It was the fish that caught his attention and he knew that you were someone beyond his scope...beyond anywhere that he had ever been with God before meeting you.

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Good choice Peter...you even left the fish behind...

Lord Jesus in this day help me to focus on the things that are really important. In the middle of the everyday, help me to see the need to follow you with immediacy and grace. Lord

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Kurios Notes

Κύριος Notes
3/18/2009 8:08AM
Saratoga Springs, NY
Adoration
I am Late This Morning
Lord you know this day before I start it.
You formed it and all that it holds.
Help me in this day not to miss the Divine amid the mundane.
Help me to see your hand clearly in the themes that I deal with today.
Hold my hand tightly today.
Scripture Reflections: Luke 4
42-44He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn't go on.

Do I cling to You, Lord? It sounds like where I need to be. Close to you. Close to where the action and where the miraculous lives. I want to see the phenomenon right in front of me. I would have been a part of that crowd that wanted to see signs and wonders...tricks with fish and bread. Forgive Lord for wanting to be close...cling to you for the wrong reasons.

If I am hanging on and watching the miraculous then I am not able to grow and walk by faith like grown ups do. I get confused sometimes you have called us to have childlike faith, but not to be childish. Teach me the difference Lord. Teach me the lessons of faith that stays the course even when the great things are being done somewhere else. Faith that stays the course that is marked out by the Master, because he knows best.

He told them, "Don't you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God's kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?" Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.

Jesus during your ministry you were limited by space and time. If you were with these good people who accepted you, then you could not be with in another village that needed you just as much.

Now that you are with the Father making intercession for your people, you are not limited, by time and space. You are able to be all places at once. So why do I feel as if I need to be where the Spirit of God is moving? If the Spirit of God is not moving where I am then, maybe it has nothing to do with location, but everything to do with me. Lord don't let me block your Spirit's work.
Lord don't let me be a Klingon today, a person who only looks for the flash...help me, instead to cling to your direction and grace for this day.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Kurios Notes

Κύριος Notes
3/17/2009 6:02AM
Saratoga Springs, NY
Adoration

Praise you Lord in this day
Praise you in the kitchen
Praise you in the car
Praise you at work
Praise you each moment.

Scripture Refection: Luke 4
38-39He left the meeting place and went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.

You can tell sickness to leave. I love the way that is worded. There is nothing that your word does not, and can not change in our lives. All we have to do is allow you to work...to speak the words of power in our lives. There is nothing that is not able to be transformed by the word that you speak.

Lord speak you words into my life. What would you say to me today Lord?

Isn't it interesting that this women who was sick just a short time before with a fever...moments later was back fixing them dinner. The miraclous in the middle of the mundane. What better thing to do than to fix dinner for the master after he heals you? Help me to remember that your work in my life leads me to the place where I will be able to do your will...which is the next good thing that you put infront of me.
40-41When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, "Son of God! You're the Son of God!" But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.

Your touch healed and sent demons screaming. Lord Jesus your touch can heal and help me. Where do I need your touch today? What parts of my life have been ailing? These people did not even know what aliments they had...did they know it was cancer, or HIV or some varient type of infulenza? No, they just knew they were sick.

Here again Jesus you would not accept acknowledgement...what looks like praise from demons. You do not need testimony from those who have no choice.

I choose to acknowledge your Lordship over my life in this day. Lord lead and guide.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Κύριος Notes
3/16/2009 6:11AM
Saratoga Springs, NY

Adoration

Early In the Morning
Lord it is early
The day is just started
Praise to the Maker for this day.
Praise Him no matter what happens in it.

Scripture Reflection Luke 4
33-34In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, "Ho! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you're up to. You're the Holy One of God and you've come to destroy us!"

Jesus a part of your mission was to attack evil and to destroy the power of Satan. Strongholds fell as you did you work. Demons died and were thrown back in the abyss where they belonged.

35Jesus shut him up: "Quiet! Get out of him!" The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn't hurt him.
You would not allow praise from those who were controlled by Satan. Praise must be freely given or it is meaningless. Praise that is not authentic you will ultimately quiet.

Jesus work in my heart that praise my be the first thing that comes to mind. Praise for the day, praise for protection, a petition quickly voiced to use whatever the situation is to your honor and glory.

36-37That set everyone back on their heels, whispering and wondering, "What's going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?" Jesus was the talk of the town.

Jesus your power was clear to all you saw you speak. The same power that pushed creation into existence, spoke the command and the demons departed.

Lord Jesus you have power to change and to free the captive. You can speak and the world is changed...you can speak and people are freed.

Where are the places where I need to be set free? Where are the places where I need the word of power spoken to me? Where are those places in me where I limit what you can do in my life? Where are the places where I need to open myself to you direction.

In this day Lord speak the words of power. Jesus let me be open to all that you would do in my heart and life.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Days Devotional


Κύριος Notes
3/14/2009 5:34AM
Saratoga Springs, NY

Adoration
Praise Starts the Day
Praise the One who died
Praise the One who lives
Praise the Son who sets us free
Scripture Reflection:Luke 4

31-32He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.

Jesus you don't quibble. There is authority that is a part of who you are. Some times I want to make you less than you are...just a friend, or just a luck rabbits foot, or sometime just a tune that I whistle in a dark place to make me feel better.

So of all of that is true.You are there with me in the dark and you are my friend...you are my savior.

But beyond that...included in that you are Lord of Creation, Messiah, God with us, you are the changer of my life. I stand in awe of who you are. You continue to transform me into what you would have me to be. The people in Capernaum knew just by the sound of your voice that you were not just a regular teacher, but that you spoke with the power of a maker, a shaper, a molder of what is to what can be. I want the maker, the shaper, the molder to make, and shape and mold me.

Lord help me to hear not just my friend speaking to me...help me to remember that...my Lord speaks...my Lord seeks...the same Lord that spoke creation into existence is willing to speak to me. I am listening today Lord for you call, for your command, for you companionship.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A Day's Quiet Time


Κύριος Notes
3/13/2009 5:44AM
Saratoga Springs, NY
Adoration
An Invitation
Be with me in this day
I will be coming and going
I will be listening and talking
I will be laughing and crying
I will be praying and listening
Be with me in this day Lord.

Scripture Reflections: Luke 4
To Set the Burdened Free
14-15Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone's acclaim and pleasure.

Galilee was a small area. It is possible that some who You preached to knew where you were from...that they had bought tables and chairs or plows or oxen yokes from the family woodshop.

16-21He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place.

I am glad that you went to synague on Sabbath...that you were there when the Word was read...that you were took part even if the people may have been ridged and stuck, but were also a part of those who were striving after God.

When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"
I want the Spirit of God to be upon me...to be with me to be in me all the time...that I might know the reality of the resurrection within my heart and life and in my soul. Lord work with in me...work around me...work through me...change my life and heart to refelct you.
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

It is a done deal when you are there Lord. It is done because you say it and it comes into being...and the word was with God and the word was God...all things were made by him and without him was not anyting made that was made.

22All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, "Isn't this Joseph's son, the one we've known since he was a youngster?"

They could not get past the fact that God was using someone that they had thought that they had known in a new an unique way.

Is that something that I have a problem with Lord...am I resistant to seeing your hand at work when it is not what I expect...or what fits neatly into my catorgies?

Help me not to get hardening of the catagories...


23-27He answered, "I suppose you're going to quote the proverb, 'Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.'

Jesus knew these people better than any on planet Earth.Yet they did not really know him...they did not know really see who he was.

Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn't it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon?

This widow was the one who was faithful...the one who listened to the call of God. She listened to Elijah and took the risk of helping him even when it meant that she and her son could die with the prophet getting a small meal immediately before.

And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian."

2 Kings 5

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

So what was the point of the story? Here the prophet was a relunctant healer, but was effective.

Naaman was not healed in the way that he wanted to be...he did not recieve the reception that he thought that he should be getting.

It just did not turn they way a person of consequence should have things turn out...not even a visit from the prophet...no validation of the possibility of getting healed. Naanman was upset about the method of being healed...arguing about the deck chair as the ship is sinking.


28-30That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.

It is interesting that Jesus went from the desert where he was tempted to the desert of his home town where they were going to kill him because he did not fit into what they understood about him...and where they took him to a mountain cliff...much like Satan and he slipped away from them.

You could have slipped away from the crowd that came for you on Good Friday but you didn't...you went there to save us...you went there because the Father asked you...you went there knowing what it would cost you.


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