Mark 1:35 “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”

The days are getting shorter and the sun no longer lights up the sky during my quiet time.  The night time and pre-dawn feel different, quieter than when the sun peeks over the horizon.  In the quiet before dawn, there is a stillness that is hard to find any other time.  During these moments of prayer in the dark, I have found it easier to imagine just me and God being together with no one else.  My prayer time can take on a different level when there are not the interruptions of the busy day in the middle of it.  Of course it is very wonderful to know I can pray any time of day and He will hear me.  Let me tell you, I pray during the day, some days more than others!  When I saw this verse today, it reminded me how important time alone in prayer is.  Jesus came to earth to show us how to live and many times during his ministry, according to scripture, he took time away and alone to pray.  In my experience, it is not always easy.  There are days it is tempting to stay in bed and sleep a little longer, but I know when I sit in the stillness of the morning and in the presence of the Lord, I will receive the blessings I long for.  It gives me a start to the day that cannot be replaced with anything else.  Take a moment today; find a quiet place to sit in prayer and let the presence of the Lord bless you.

Lord,

Thank you for the encouragement to take time out of our days for you.  Jesus shows us how important that renewing time is for each of us.  Help us follow his lead in prayer, in teachings and in service to you.  Amen.

Acts 3:6 “But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’”

I have been reading a book about living the life of the beloved.  The chapter I just finished talks about giving.  It isn’t giving what we have but who we are.  God gives us gifts and we are called to share those gifts with others.  In church we hear about giving time, talents and treasure but there is a deeper, more personal level of giving that we can participate in.  There are days that I think this devotion is useless.  I am deceiving myself to think my ponderings and musings could touch someone’s life.  I thank the Lord for the times I get a little email back from someone encouraging me with words of thanks or a little story they share with me.  These are gifts to me from others and I write this devotion as a gift to this world, to whoever may see it and be touched by it.  What else can I give?  I, like Peter, have no silver or gold, but I will give what I have.  I may never heal a person from lame to walking but God may use my gifts to bring healing of another kind.  I trust the Lord to use my gifts to bring wholeness to others, and in turn, it brings blessings and wholeness back to me.  Ask the Lord to search your heart.  What gifts has he given you that you are sharing or need to share?  Gifts of love and friendship, kindness and compassion, hope and peace... there are many more.  Share your gifts, a piece of who you are, and everyone will be blessed by it.

Lord,

What I have, I give.  Allow the gifts I share to be a blessing to others, never distracting from you but bringing you closer to each person I touch.  Thank you for making me who I am.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 8:6-7 “Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,”

These verses are a part of the message to the Israelites just before they go into the Promised Land.  They had been released from slavery in Egypt and wandered in the desert for a lifetime.  In the desert, even with water and manna provided from heaven they did not remain faithful.  God’s chosen people built an idol from gold to worship.  They groaned and grumbled.  The desert would test anyone and it surely tested them.  As they finally came to the end of the arduous journey they are reminded to follow the laws given to them.  Fear the Lord and follow his commandments, He will bring you goodness and abundance, blessings beyond words.  When I read the Ten Commandments, the laws of God, I am aware that if we live in His love we keep all of those laws.   Jesus called us to love one another as God loves us.  If we live in this truth, we cannot break the commandments.  When we walk in love and grace, remembering our Lord and God, we walk into a good land.  It is a land with flowing streams, springs and underground water.  It is a land of refreshment and renewal, a land of sustenance.   Our Lord provides for our every need, we are blesses, indeed!

Lord,

Thank you for your blessings poured on us so freely.  As we are renewed with your redeeming love, hear our praise and thanksgiving.  Living in your love is living in the Promised Land.  Thank you for leading us here.  Help us remain.  Amen.

2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.”

I am on a quest.  Over the last few years I have been touched by the Divine and I want to know more.  In my quest I have sought to learn prayer and healing.  I have studied the words given to us by Divine inspiration.  I seek to share the grace I have received with others.  There are days that I get frustrated with myself because I have not got it right yet.  In grace, God provides people to remind me that my perfection is not the goal.  The journey of this life seems long but in the eyes of eternity, it is a blink.  While I am on this journey of life on earth I will continue to seek growth of spirit.  I will continue to seek grace and knowledge in our Divine Lord.  As I seek I pray that I will only find truth.  I trust the Spirit who guides me today to continue to guide my journey in grace and in truth.  Scripture says seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.  There are many skeptics and many deceivers but the Spirit of the Lord is with us and if we seek His truth, if we seek His grace we can be secure in the knowledge that he will not lead us astray.  He desires for all of us to grow so when he comes it will not be a big change for us, we will already know him well.

You are my Lord.  Please guide me in truth and grace.  Help me to pray and seek in clarity.  As I grow in grace and knowledge remind me that it is because of you, your call to me that I am on this quest at all.   May all glory and honor be yours forever and ever.  Amen.

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

There are so many songs and stories about love, it is clear that we are created to seek love and be filled by it.  Our society can easily skew the image of what love is and it is easy to fall into the misguiding of those images.  From the fairy tales of happily ever after to the focus on outward appearances and more, there is no depth in the love society shows us.  When a story arises about true love, sacrificial love; it is news worthy.  If someone sacrifices their life to save another they are called a hero.  Using this definition I ask you this: Is Jesus your hero?  People with a hero tend to know all about them.  They know their story, and they know what their hero stands for.  They try to be like their hero.  There is a phrase that comes to mind here; hero worship.  When I think about Jesus life, I cannot imagine a better hero to worship.   God sent Jesus to teach us, to show us how to live in love and he sacrificed his life for each of us because of love.  The difference in these heroes is that Jesus loves us.  He is not some person on the news or an athlete to look up to that does not know us. He wants to live with us.  He calls us to abide in his love.  Abide means to dwell, remain or stay.  We can love him because he loves us.  He paved the way for us to be in deep relationship with the Divine through his sacrificial love.  Open up to his love today; allow it to bless you and all those around you.  Spread the love!

Lord,

You are my hero.  Thank you for your unending love.  Help me sense it each moment of the day, guide my steps so that I remain in your love.  As I live and breathe, let it be in your love.  Amen.

John 21:5-6 “Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’  So they cast it and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.”

We are all creatures of habit when it comes right down to it.  We have things we are good at and we have certain ways we like to do things.  The disciples had seen Jesus crucified and buried and then seen him raised again.  What an experience!  Before all this started, these men were fishermen.  For reasons not explained they decide to go fishing, back to what they knew they were good at.  After an unsuccessful trip, catching no fish, they see Jesus as they come back in toward shore and these verses hold the conversation.  As I read this passage saw how like this we all are.  On occasion, we may have an incredible, life changing experience with our Lord and Savior but we live in this world and so we must go back to our daily lives.  We go back to what we know and what we do well.  Jesus calls us to do what we do but in a new and different way.  As we go through our day, we need to listen to the guidance of God.  He will lead us to new heights and a new perspective on things.  When we follow his guidance we will be blessed with overflowing nets.

Lord,

Thank you for your word and your guidance.  Your teachings lead us to abundance yet our habits, how we like to do things, are hard to leave behind.  Open our hearts to hear your voice.  Give us courage to cast our nets to the other side, to the right side of the boat.  Thank you for the abundant blessings you give us every day.  Open our arms to receive.  Amen.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

I was recently watching a bit of TV before going to sleep and I saw a few snippets of a show on happiness.  The man who was sharing his research seemed genuinely happy and never stopped smiling.  It was strange to watch but his smile did seem genuine.  One of the “tricks” he shared about being happier was thinking of three things that were really good about your day.  He said you need to be specific and think about why the things you chose were good.  Another “trick” was replaying a really happy situation in your mind so you could experience it again, making your mind happy again.  In a strange way, he was telling us the same thing Paul wrote so long ago.  If we focus our minds and our hearts on true and pure things, honorable and just things, things worthy of praise we would be better for it.  Instead of seeing clouds as a blocking of sunlight, see them as shade and relief.  As days get shorter find joy in the coolness of the mornings.  Instead of focusing on the bad news shared in our media, focus on the love and light of God shared in this world every moment.  Join me in the search for honor and justice, purity and truth.  Seek with me and we will find.  Then we will be able to join together to manifest these things further in our world.

Lord,

Bring our sight into focus on the things you would have us see.  There is so much to see in our world, let our hearts and minds think on the things Paul teaches us to in this verse.  Lift our hearts in songs of praise to you today.  Amen.