Chapter 26 illustrated “Time Management” in 7 Bible passages, as follows:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Psalm 90:12
2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2
Job 7:1-10
Psalm 39:4-6
James 4:13-17
Ephesians 5:10-17
Prayer:
The hassle with being a better manager of your time is making the decisions about what is now most important and what is no longer important. But if you ask God what he’d remove if it were his life, he would gladly tell you.
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 26 was “Take Time to Be Holy” by William D. Longstaff. (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.)
Benediction:
“O Christ, when I look at you I see that you were never in a hurry, never ran, but always had time for the pressing necessities of the day. Give me that disciplined, poised life with time always for the thing that matters. For I would be a disciplined person. Amen”
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Anthony Bloom, M. Basil Pennington, Evelyn Underhill, Susan Annette Muto, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, James Stewart, and Henri J. Nouwen. (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:
· “There is absolutely no need to run after time to catch it. It does not run away from us, it runs toward us.”
· “…when you can use five minutes, three minutes or half an hour for leisure and for doing nothing …you sit down and say, ‘I am seated, I am doing nothing. I will do nothing for five minutes,’ and then relax and continually throughout this time (one or two minutes is the most you will be able to endure to begin with) realize, ‘I am here in the presence of God, in my own presence and in the presence of all the furniture that is around me, just still, moving nowhere.’ …you must (then) decide that within (these two or five minutes) which you have assigned to learning that the present exists, you will not be pulled out of it by the telephone, by a knock on the door, or by a sudden upsurge of energy that prompts you to do at once what you have left undone for the past ten years.”
· “There is in the lives of most of us a good bit more freedom and flexibility to organize (a time of apartness), if we really want to.”
· “Spiritual achievement costs much, though never as much as it is worth.”
· “Once we begin wisely allotting time for reading and reflection, wondering and writing, we shall soon notice the reward. Life becomes less pressured. Christ, not the clock on the wall, becomes the center of our lives. Amazingly, we seem to accomplish more…”
· “Since meditation on the Scriptures, prayer, and intercession are a service we owe and because the grace of God is found in this service, we should train ourselves to set apart a regular (time) for it… This is not ‘legalism’; it is orderliness and fidelity…”
· “But look at Jesus. Busy and crowded as our days are, his were emphatically more so. …and yet the harder the days were, the more time did Jesus make for prayer.”
· “The only solution is a prayer schedule that you will never break without consulting your spiritual director. Set a time that is reasonable, and once it is set, stick to it at all costs. …Let everyone know that this is the only time you will not change and pray at that time.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 26 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Chapter 25 - Consciousness
Chapter 25 framed Biblical “Consciousness” in 7 passages, as follows:
Isaiah 32:14-20
1 John 3:19-4:6
Philippians 4:2-9
Romans 8:26-27
1 John 5:1-12
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Acts 9:1-9
Prayer:
Everything is clamoring to become a part of you. You must carefully choose the things and thoughts you will allow to get inside. Ask God to begin to cleanse your consciousness. Then determine in prayer that you will guard the threshold of your mind.
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 25 was “Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire” by James Montgomery. (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.)
Benediction:
“Father, protect me from the onslaught of things, both good and evil, that will bid for my attention this day. Make me to remember that all that I allow inside my heart will become some part of me as I pray. Let me come to you in singleness of heart and purity of desire. In the name of Christ. Amen”
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Albert E. Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Howard Thurman, M. Basil Pennington, Thomas R. Kelly, and Henri J. Nouwen. (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:
· “… the consciousness of man can enter into a living, knowledge-communicating, life-transforming relationship with God. … the consciousness of such a relationship would not be possible if the human consciousness can be aware only of what the eyes see and the ears hear and the hands touch and the tongue tastes and the nostrils smell. … God is a legitimate inference from events. …But God may also be an immediate object of consciousness.”
· “If God does not have power to speak to us, how should we possess the power to speak to Him? Thus, prayer is part of a greater issue. It depends upon the total spiritual situation of man and upon a mind within which God is at home (blogger’s emphasis). … The issue of prayer is not prayer; the issue of prayer is God.”
· “When a pool is greatly agitated by the breezes and the wind, one can throw in a pebble or even many pebbles and there is no noticeable effect. When a pond is perfectly at peace and one casts a pebble into it, the gentle waves spread in every direction till they reach even the farthest shore. … when we come to achieve a deeper inner quiet, then we are much more discerning.”
· “How, then, shall we lay hold of that Life and Power, and live the life of prayer without ceasing? … offer your whole selves, utterly and in joyful abandon, in quiet, glad surrender to Him who is within.”
· “‘In the beginning,’ John Eudes said, ‘your thoughts will wander, but after a while you will discover that it becomes easier to stay quietly in the presence of the Lord.’ … When you are faithful in this, you will slowly experience yourself in a deeper way.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 25 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
Isaiah 32:14-20
1 John 3:19-4:6
Philippians 4:2-9
Romans 8:26-27
1 John 5:1-12
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Acts 9:1-9
Prayer:
Everything is clamoring to become a part of you. You must carefully choose the things and thoughts you will allow to get inside. Ask God to begin to cleanse your consciousness. Then determine in prayer that you will guard the threshold of your mind.
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 25 was “Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire” by James Montgomery. (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.)
Benediction:
“Father, protect me from the onslaught of things, both good and evil, that will bid for my attention this day. Make me to remember that all that I allow inside my heart will become some part of me as I pray. Let me come to you in singleness of heart and purity of desire. In the name of Christ. Amen”
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Albert E. Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Howard Thurman, M. Basil Pennington, Thomas R. Kelly, and Henri J. Nouwen. (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:
· “… the consciousness of man can enter into a living, knowledge-communicating, life-transforming relationship with God. … the consciousness of such a relationship would not be possible if the human consciousness can be aware only of what the eyes see and the ears hear and the hands touch and the tongue tastes and the nostrils smell. … God is a legitimate inference from events. …But God may also be an immediate object of consciousness.”
· “If God does not have power to speak to us, how should we possess the power to speak to Him? Thus, prayer is part of a greater issue. It depends upon the total spiritual situation of man and upon a mind within which God is at home (blogger’s emphasis). … The issue of prayer is not prayer; the issue of prayer is God.”
· “When a pool is greatly agitated by the breezes and the wind, one can throw in a pebble or even many pebbles and there is no noticeable effect. When a pond is perfectly at peace and one casts a pebble into it, the gentle waves spread in every direction till they reach even the farthest shore. … when we come to achieve a deeper inner quiet, then we are much more discerning.”
· “How, then, shall we lay hold of that Life and Power, and live the life of prayer without ceasing? … offer your whole selves, utterly and in joyful abandon, in quiet, glad surrender to Him who is within.”
· “‘In the beginning,’ John Eudes said, ‘your thoughts will wander, but after a while you will discover that it becomes easier to stay quietly in the presence of the Lord.’ … When you are faithful in this, you will slowly experience yourself in a deeper way.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 25 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Chapter 24 - Anxiety
Chapter 24 challenged us with 7 Bible passages to help us discern the presence of “Anxiety” in daily life situations, as follows:
Philippians 4:6-7
Matthew 5:25-34
Luke 12:1-12
Matthew 13:1-23
Luke 11:38-42
Luke 21:34-36
1 Peter 5:6-7
Prayer:
Can you identify your greatest fear? And could you confess it to God? If you keep it hidden within you he can never cleanse it, much less use it to his glory. Offer your fears and anxieties to him this week.
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 24 was “Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus” by Charles Wesley. (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.)
Benediction:
“O God, who is the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: I thank you for the timely blessings of the day, and humbly beseech your merciful protection all the night. Bring me, I pray, in safety to the morning hours; through him who died for me and rose again, your Son my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” (The Book of Common Prayer)
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Howard Thurman, Annie Dillard, Thomas à Kempis, George MacDonald (edited by C. S. Lewis), Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitall Smith, Anthony Padovano, Joshua L. Liebman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Philip S. Watson, and Henri J. Nouwen. (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:
· “There is a sense of wholeness at the core of man … That warms the depth of frozen fears …”
· “I meant to accomplish a good bit today. Instead I keep thinking: Will the next generations of people remember to drain the pipes in the fall? I will leave them a note.”
· “To preserve peace in time of trouble our will must remain firm in God …”
· “The next hour, the next moment, is as much beyond our grasp and as much in God’s care, as that a hundred years away.”
· “Troubled soul, thou art not bound to feel but thou art bound to arise. God loves thee whether thou feelest or not. …Heed not thy feeling: Do thy work.”
· “All growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus is to us. …the more I learn to live the real life of faith, which, dying to self, lives wholly in Christ.”
· “…there are two things which are more utterly incompatible than even oil and water, and these two are trust and worry.”
· You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe, and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of you?”
· “Prayer is successful not in terms of what it logically produces or pragmatically achieves but in terms of what it forces reality to experience.”
· “… I set down my inventory of earthly desirables: health, love, beauty, talent, power, riches and fame… With a pencil stub he crossed out my entire schedule. …Then … he wrote down three syllables: peace of mind.”
· “Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. …The fetters which bind us to our possessions prove to be cares themselves.”
· “I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 24 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
Philippians 4:6-7
Matthew 5:25-34
Luke 12:1-12
Matthew 13:1-23
Luke 11:38-42
Luke 21:34-36
1 Peter 5:6-7
Prayer:
Can you identify your greatest fear? And could you confess it to God? If you keep it hidden within you he can never cleanse it, much less use it to his glory. Offer your fears and anxieties to him this week.
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 24 was “Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus” by Charles Wesley. (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.)
Benediction:
“O God, who is the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: I thank you for the timely blessings of the day, and humbly beseech your merciful protection all the night. Bring me, I pray, in safety to the morning hours; through him who died for me and rose again, your Son my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” (The Book of Common Prayer)
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Howard Thurman, Annie Dillard, Thomas à Kempis, George MacDonald (edited by C. S. Lewis), Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitall Smith, Anthony Padovano, Joshua L. Liebman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Philip S. Watson, and Henri J. Nouwen. (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:
· “There is a sense of wholeness at the core of man … That warms the depth of frozen fears …”
· “I meant to accomplish a good bit today. Instead I keep thinking: Will the next generations of people remember to drain the pipes in the fall? I will leave them a note.”
· “To preserve peace in time of trouble our will must remain firm in God …”
· “The next hour, the next moment, is as much beyond our grasp and as much in God’s care, as that a hundred years away.”
· “Troubled soul, thou art not bound to feel but thou art bound to arise. God loves thee whether thou feelest or not. …Heed not thy feeling: Do thy work.”
· “All growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus is to us. …the more I learn to live the real life of faith, which, dying to self, lives wholly in Christ.”
· “…there are two things which are more utterly incompatible than even oil and water, and these two are trust and worry.”
· You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe, and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of you?”
· “Prayer is successful not in terms of what it logically produces or pragmatically achieves but in terms of what it forces reality to experience.”
· “… I set down my inventory of earthly desirables: health, love, beauty, talent, power, riches and fame… With a pencil stub he crossed out my entire schedule. …Then … he wrote down three syllables: peace of mind.”
· “Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. …The fetters which bind us to our possessions prove to be cares themselves.”
· “I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 24 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)