Chapter 19 - Faith In The Process

Chapter 19 cited 7 scripture passages to spotlight the faith demonstrated in a number of situations in the Bible, as follows:

Hebrews 11:1-12:3
Genesis 22:1-19
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Nehemiah 6:1-9
Philippians 3:17-4:1
1 Peter 5:1-11
Romans 8:28-39

Prayer:

“Ask God to reveal himself to you this week in his form or way. Promise him that you will not ask him to speak to you in any certain images; but that you want to be open to all of his entreaties to you. Ask him to show you that these experiences of today are part of his processes for your life.”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 19 was “Day by Day” by Lina Sandell and Oscar Ahnfelt. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Lloyd Ogilvie, John Claypool, Al Bryant, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ernest Boyer, Jr., Bob Benson and Frederick Buechner. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “What can you do when you’ve failed and denied what you believe? …the basic message of the story is this: the Lord’s love does not fail however much we fail him.”
· “…I had come to the conclusion that it was the nature of God to speak to us in the language of events, and that it was the nature of the Church for men to share with each other what they thought they heard God say in the things that had happened to them. …I have found the challenge to go on living even though I have no answer or any complete explanation.”
· “How different is the case, how vast the preeminence, of those who ‘walk by faith!’ … Those who live by faith, walk by faith. But what is implied in this?”
· “Many of us are willing to embark upon any adventure, except to go into stillness and to wait… Faith is the fruit of a seed planted in the depth of a lifetime.”
· “It is the bland and repetitious part of life at the center that seems its greatest defect; the reality of a life of care often seems as far from spirituality as possible. …Spirituality is anything that reveals how close God is to us – as close as our hands, as close as our heart.”
· “By examining as closely and candidly as I could the life that had come to seem to me in many ways a kind of trap or dead-end street, I discovered that it really wasn’t that at all. …Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is.”
· “To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do – to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst – is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 19 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John