Summer Reading: Devotional Classics

As I've said in the past, "Being a teacher has its perks." One of them being the summer in which school's out and we're free to lounge poolside sipping on virgin piña coladas. Oh, the picture of an almost perfect day. And by almost perfect, I simply mean that it would be perfect if I had my husband by my side and of course, a good book.

You will know this if you are a teacher, but just because we're on vacation doesn't mean we no longer have responsibilities. Even while on summer vacation the drudgery that comes along with making the bed, doing laundry and washing dishes follows. Thankfully though, there is just a little more time to do everything.

And with that excess time comes a great danger. The temptation to dwindle away the days in those things that may very well be fun but perhaps offer little sustenance in the long haul. For that reason, I have asked the Lord to help me use my time wisely this summer. At the end of August I want to be able to look back and see exactly where I invested my time and not regret wasting a single second.

With that prayer, came the opportunity for growth. Just yesterday I picked up another one of my hubby's books. This one he purchased at the suggestion of one of his professors. It is titled, Devotional Classics and is edited by Richard J. Foster whose book, Celebration of Discipline, I credit to helping change my life. I thought it particularly fascinating that even seminary students are encouraged to read a devotional. I don't know if I'm the only one, but having 66 books in the bible to choose from can represent a challenge for me on more than one occasion. "Where should I start today? How many verses or chapters should I read? What book has to do with what I am feeling right now? Which character in the bible could I best relate to at this very moment in my life?" Those are just a few of the questions I ask myself when grabbing my hardcover NLT Women's Devotional Bible in my hand. However, after Day 2, I am convinced that picking up my hubby's seminary devotional is almost as if I had discovered gold during the California Gold Rush. I'm relishing in the words of these great men of the faith and waiting expectantly on what the Lord will do in me.

"Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God's overriding goveranance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring." - Dallas Willard

Awkward Silence

I like to take a break from my activities mid-week and seek God's face. This past week was no different. However, I decided to include an element which had not been present before. I decided to listen to God. No bible, no writing, just me and my eyes shut waiting for Him to speak into my heart.

It's actually not a very foreign concept; it is one of the Spiritual Disciplines I read about in Richard J. Foster's great Christian classic, Celebration of Discipline. Yet I dare say that this is one of the most misunderstood and neglected spiritual disciplines. We are so accustomed to living in a world with noise around us. When we wake up in the morning, we are awoken by the sound of the alarm, the water running as we brush our teeth, the coffee machine screeching as it begins to brews. What I've described are probably only the first five ten minutes of the average person's day. The truth is that noise is all around us and it is almost impossible to shut it out. Unless of course, you are intentional about it. Yet even once the noise on the outside is shut out, the one on the inside remains. It is the busyness in our heads that reminds us, "Did you reply to that email?," "Have you made that follow-up appointment to go over the results of the lab work with your doctor?," and so forth. On and on our list of seemingly endless "Things to Do" goes on and along with it goes our sense of inner tranquility as it is dragged into a world of chaos and turmoil. Yet we've become so accustomed to it that we are no longer aware of it.

Yesterday as I sat in my classroom during my break, I set a timer for five minutes, tucked my head into my arms, closed my eyes and attempted to sit in silence. My goal was to clear my thoughts completely and allow the Lord to speak to me. Needless to say, I failed miserably. There was no way I could successfully shut out the world's demands to tune into God.

When my five minutes were up, I realized just how much I needed to continue pursuing this spiritual discipline. God didn't answer my prayers but he did reveal to me how much I have overlooked the spiritual discipline of silence.

There may be not much said about it today. However, if we are study Jesus' life we find that the art of listening was one he not only practiced but mastered. In Matthew 14:23 we read, "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone." Again in Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." In Luke 5:16 we read, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." There are no shortage of examples on how Jesus sought the Father through prayer and intentionally practiced silence and solitude. He valued his time alone with the Father and knew it was the source of his strength. He knew that without it he would not be as effective in ministering to others and he certainly made it a point to nurture this discipline.

I, too, will press on. I will continue to seek His face. I will allow Him to refresh my soul through the silence. The words spoken by Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:10b have become my own, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Coming Soon: Facebook Fast

They say it takes about 30 days to make a habit and with a new year before us what a great way to begin incorporating some positive, healthy changes. Since my 2011 word of the year is self-control I couldn't think of a better time to take advantage of a 30 Day Facebook Fast than now. Why you may ask? Well, simply put I feel like I am being robbed of one of the most precious commodities God has given me, time. I am certainly not investing it as wisely as I could be when I spend excessive amounts of time socializing in Cyber World.

So in less than 48 hours I will embark on the journey of what I like to call Social Media Deprivation along with 11 other Facebook friends. Many of which have innocently accepted a challenge that will inevitably be life changing. Solo deo gloria. To Him be the glory.

Lord, I pray for all of those friends that have publicly accepted this 30 Day Facebook Fast challenge. I am sure that not all of them signed up with the same intentions but I pray that in the midst of this you would make yourself known to each and every one of them in a tangible way. I pray that they would be able to find you with their whole heart. Lord, use this time to draw us to you and you alone. Bring us back to our first love.

In Jesus' Name,

AMEN

1 Corinthians 9:27

"No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Spiritual Disciplines: Confession

It's been over a month since I've made time to pour out my heart before God via my blog. Don't get me wrong, I pour out my heart to God all the time. Just me and God. However many times being able to share what I've learned along the way with others and get it down on paper (or my blog for that matter) is what truly seals the deal. I can no longer make excuses for continuing to act in a destructive way or have the same old patterns of thinking once it is out in the open.

I recently started reading a book my father-in-law gave my husband titled Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. In it, the author speaks of some of the "spiritual disciplines" Christians follow such as praying, fasting, studying, and worshiping. Some of these so called spiritual disciplines are oftentimes overlooked while others are done almost with a subtle legalism. Nonetheless the spiritual disciplines when practiced serve to enrich our relationship with our other believers and more importantly, our heavenly father.

At this point in time, I find that I could certainly make use of one of the disciplines Foster emphasizes in his book, the discipline of confession. You see I've always been pretty bad at this. Then again, I'm not such a bad person. I don't steal, lie, or cheat. I love my husband, I serve at my church, I share Christ's love with everyone I met (or at least I try to). Yet in the depths of my heart can be found some pretty nasty sin. Although it may not be as blatant as murder or adultery, God can see it and He does not want me to continue to cling to it.

I'm not quite ready to share with the entire blogosphere (or Facebook for that matter since my posts are linked to my FB profile) what it is that God has been showing me but I will say that it is an ugly beast that rears its head more often than I'd care to admit. Richard Foster puts it this way, ‎"If we only had a tinge of the sense of revulsion that God feels toward sin, we would be moved to holier living." I believe that I'm at that point where I am so disgusted by it that I genuinely want to rid myself of it and be free.

I will share some of the practical steps that Foster records in this chapter on confession. First he says that as we confess our sins, we must confess concrete sins. Those are not only the sins that others can see but are definite and include the sins of the heart such as anger, pride, envy, etc. After we confess our sin, sorrow must follow. He describes sorrow as not only an emotion but "an abhorrence at having committed the sin, a deep regret at having offended the heart of the Father." Lastly, there must be a determination in us to avoid the sin altogether. At this point we can ask God to give us a desire to live in a holy manner and hate unholy living. In addition, once we confess although we will experience sorrow in the beginning, at the end we should feel joy. "Confession begins in sorrow, but it ends in joy." This is because once we acknowledge our sin, we receive God's forgiveness and are free to change.

Of course, confession is not something that can be done with anyone. We should seek to find wise and Godly people to confess to. One way to find the right person is to ask God in prayer to lead you to that person. Also be sure to observe the person for evidence of having a genuine and intimate relationship with Jesus themselves. According to Foster he believes people who possess the following characteristics would be ideal persons one could confess to: spiritual maturity, wisdom, compassion, good common sense, the ability to keep a confidence and a wholesome sense of humor.

I have said this in the past and I will say it again, "This book has changed my life". It's not the profound truths I have read on the pages of this book but more so how God has worked in my heart to help me to overcome my sense of complacency with my comfortable Christianity and strive to become a woman wholeheartedly committed to knowing, loving, and serving the Lord. I pray that I would never feel comfortable with my level of Christianity but that I would continually be challenged to grow in my pursuit of my Savior.