Thursday, May 31, 2012

faithfulness.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

words.

A Prayer for a Gospel Tongue and Healing Words The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Prov. 12:18) But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. (Col. 3:8) If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.( James 1:26) Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) Gracious Lord Jesus, I love words. I especially love the way you use words to bring me healing, freedom, and hope. You never shame me with words. You never manipulate me with words. You never hurt me with words. You never flatter me, but you do bring great encouragement and eternal encouragement. You never repeat my failures to others; you only bring my sin and brokenness to the throne of grace. You never say too much or too little. You neither mince words nor waste words. You alone have the words of life. Incline my heart to hear and receive every sentence, word and syllable you utter… Jesus, today my prayer is simple, yet necessary: grant me greater stewardship of my words. As you speak to me, please speak through me. Grant me a gospel heart and healing words. I’m painfully aware that my words can bring great harm and death, even as they can be a source of hope and life (Prov. 18:21). If I’m not careful, my words can have the effect of gangrene, bring decay to hearts and relationships (Eph. 4:29). Lord Jesus, you tell me that my words are a sure reflection of what’s filling my heart: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). So no mere promise to avoid gossip, idle chatter, reckless words, or coarse jesting will be enough. I must constantly be preaching the gospel to my heart—filling my heart with your beauty and truth, kindness and grace. May the overflow of your mercy for me be obvious to all. I want my tongue to be a scalpel for healing, Jesus, not a hammer for harm. So very Amen I pray in your mighty and merciful name.

Monday, May 21, 2012

presence of invisible God.

This was such a great blog to share, look on InCourage blogs to find more like this one: Music off, television off, phone left on silent, I’ve been dabbling with the quiet because I need to hear from God, but the truth about the quiet is that it has opened me up wide, turned on my dulled senses, and faced me toward my rawest, loneliest places. It is a constant struggle for me to not reach for my phone, always at my side. With my mouth I say I want to walk with God, but with my actions I crave a culturally acceptable numbness that keeps me from pain. Many of us know truth with our words and our songs and in our friendship conversations, but it feels rare to experience it in the seething corners of our hearts or in those hurt, magnified memories we keep close and shoved down. We start to feel the quiet working on us, and so we reach for the phone, scroll through instagram. I’m finding, even as I pursue the presence of God, that the quieter it gets, the lonelier I get and the more I am left to deal with my own thoughts and what I really believe about God. I’m beginning to see how I’ve discounted that I have the mind of Christ, that I am actually supposed to be able to hear myself think. I’ve started asking how lonely was Jesus in His flesh. Who knows what it’s like to be God with breakable bones? And then I imagine the desperate, internal communion Jesus kept with His Father, the kind of communion I want with Him, too. Because of Jesus, I’m starting to embrace the lonely, not hiding from it any more, and rather asking Jesus into it with me. Only then do I find myself truly not alone. Even in the intimacy metaphor we receive with marriage, even in our most unified moments, we can feel most alone. Even with your most favorite sisters, in huge crowds, and with a boat load of kids, we find ourselves deep in the crevices of loneliness. We find ourselves feeling exposed and unfixed because there is no people fix, no earthly father, no covering that will do other than the covering Jesus gives, the messianic fix. I believe we blow the horn asking all to gather in community often because we think it will save us – save us from ourselves. Community can point us in the right direction, but it still won’t fix us. We in our lonely can realize a love that hounds, the presence of invisible God, and only from the solitude found there can we reach out to community and practice the healing of togetherness in Him. What if we allowed the quiet, faced the lonely, and sat in it a bit? Might that lonely place be exactly where the door is, the one on which we knock, the one Jesus promises to open?

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

hannah whitall smith

What you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, "Yes, Lord, YES!" to everything, and trust Him to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one. -Hannah Whitall Smith

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

truth.

Lord, without You I would be foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved. Today is a good day for me to remember the words of my spiritual father, Jack Miller, “A sign of your maturity in the gospel will be seen in terms of who you’re willing to disappoint.” Free me from the dread of disappointing people, Father. So what will I do with my restless, anxious feelings? Father, I would surely despair if I didn’t really believe you care for us, your children. That would be the one unbearable burden. But please help me know what anxiety casting actually looks like today and this whole week. Help me live this day at the pace of grace—no faster or slower.

A Prayer for Those Raw with the Pain of Broken Trust

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. Ps. 118:6-9 Lord Jesus, I’m just waking up, and though I’m yawning my way into your presence, you are fully alert and engaged. What a Savior you are! You never sleep or slumber; you never need a break or vacation; you’re never moody; you never get bored with us; you never roll your eyes and say, “When will they ever get it?” You will never look for greener pastures or better sheep. I praise you for the constancy of your love. Jesus, it’s because your love is so unwavering that you’re so easy to trust. We can trust you fully for only you are fully trustworthy. I’m so thankful to affirm this truth with confidence this morning, especially as I pray for many friends who are raw and reeling with relational pain. Thank you for caring so deeply and so daily. You are the one and only constant in our lives. As broken people, we fail one another. I get that. But the gospel’s not supposed to make us immune to the pain of bruised trust, broken trust, or battered trust. Broken confidences and broken promises still hurt, no matter who they come from; but certainly they hurt much more when they come from the very people we should be able to trust. ”What can man do to me?” the psalmist asks (Ps. 118:6). Plenty, Jesus, plenty. But with you as our refuge, with you as our very present help, with you as our advocate, intercessor, sovereign Lord, and gracious Redeemer—with you as the only prince who can be trusted, the Prince of Peace, we don’t have to grow more angry, flint hard, and dangerously isolated. I bring hurting spouses, pained employees, used-up pastors, to you, Jesus. I bring parents whose children have emptied their emotional banks, and children whose parents have abandoned them for the American dream. I bring you broken friendships in which distance has replaced dancing, pretence has replaced prayer and illusion has replaced intimacy. Whatever the issues are, melt and mercy hard, hurting hearts. Hold these whom you love close to your compassionate and strong heart, and help them deal with the betrayals. Don’t let them squirm away in fear and anger. Time alone heals nothing. It only creates calluses and chasms. Jesus, write stories of gospel reconciliation and redemption. Be big and beautiful. This is your day and today matters forever. So very Amen I pray, in your singularly trustworthy name. -Scotty Smith

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Yes, Lord.

Hello friends, I promise I am still alive. I have been MIA this past semester due to the responsiblities in my life. Yet, I am so thankful for every second, I do miss being able to blog whenever I please. Now that it is summer, I am so excited to say that I am going to try and pick up this love of mine back up again and really try to make it a habit. So here is my promise, I am going to try at least once a week! We will see how it goes. This past semester has been such a learning experience for me and my life. I am so thankful for every lesson, every person, and every situation that has occured. I am serving this year as Panhellenic President and it really has been such a dream come true. I can honestly say that the Lord has placed me here for a Him and His purpose. I have been able to glorify Him in so many ways and He has walked along side of me, also has gone before me, each and every step of the way. I have been able to say fully, "yes, Lord." He has been so faithful this past semester and I know He will continue to be in the coming days, months, and years after I have completed my term. This opportunity has helped me to realize that I can do nothing without His help. He is my giver of peace and rest, and I am complete in Him.