Be the Work

Today is Tuesday, the first of June, 2021, in the second week of Ordinary Time.

Peace be with you!

Day 23,091

33 days until July 4

Yesterday was a nice day of relaxing. And rain. Lots of rain. We are pretty much saturated, at this point, but there is, apparently, more on the way. Although today’s forecast has less chance, so maybe that pool equipment will get repaired today.

C and I went out together, to the closest Tom Thumb store, because the Internet said that they had twelve varieties of Nick’s ice cream. They didn’t have twelve, but they did have some that we don’t normally see at Albertson’s, and they had much more room in their freezer for it. So we stocked up on Triple Choklad, as well as some flavors that we hadn’t tried yet, like Butter Pecan, Cherry Choklad Flaka (I have no idea what that means . . . I think it might mean “flakes?”), Salted Caramel, and some others. I think we wound up with at least fifteen pints of ice cream.

I am confident that trips to that Tom Thumb may be frequent in our future.

I don’t recall if I mentioned it, but my doctor has approved cutting my blood pressure med in half. I checked it again, yesterday morning, and it was 92/92, so I got C’s pill cutter out (a very handy gadget that cuts pills exactly in half), and cut the rest of my week’s Lisinopril in half. I will check the bp again tomorrow morning, after two nights of only 20 mg of the medication.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS

Let nothing disturb you,
let nothing frighten you,
all things will pass away.
God never changes;
patience obtains all things,
whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices.
Amen.
(St. Teresa of Avila)

I’m going to be focusing more on this thought, during this week. Provided my brain remembers that I just said that. Hopefully, the Spirit will assist. God is enough, and that makes me enough.

The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.
(Psalms 23:1 NLT)

Today I am grateful:

1. for a four-day work week
2. for You Word and what it means to my life; help me to saturate myself in it
3. that, having You in my life, I lack nothing; I have all that I need
4. for the conviction, this morning, to pray more for peace in our land
5. for the stillness in my soul, this morning

Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

ORDINARY TIME – DAY 3

INVITATION

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:5 NIV)

I pause, briefly, to meditate on the fact that, having You in my life, I am lacking nothing.

BIBLE SONG

A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up— the tribes of the LORD— to praise the name of the LORD according to the statute given to Israel.
There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.
(Psalms 122:1-9 NIV)

BIBLE READING

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
(Acts 9:1-6 NIV)

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
(Acts 9:17-19 NIV)

DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION

As I read these passages again, in the quiet of the morning, I ask the Holy Spirit to lead me in my thoughts and meditations. I enjoy the peaceful presence of the Lord.

I am immediately reminded of a childhood Sunday School song. “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.'” I’m pretty sure that was all it said. When I was a child, going to Sunday School, we had a bunch of little songs like that, that were nothing but Scripture. They were simple truths, reflected in simple songs.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” This is still quoted today. And while I have no problem praying for the peace of Jerusalem, I tend to look at that, along with the following verses, as an injunction to pray for the peace of our own home land. Jerusalem was the hub of Judaism. What is the “hub” of our own place of dwelling? I live in the United States, so it might be Washington D.C. I also live in Texas, near Dallas, so it might be DFW, or Austin, the state capitol. It might even be Fort Worth, the city in which I live. “May there be peace within your walls.”

Our cities don’t have walls around them, but they have “limits,” or boundaries. Every town has a “city limit.” As I am typing these words, I am actually being convicted that I need to pray more for the peace of the land in which I live, beginning with my home town, expanding all the way to the borders of the USA, and its capitol. I challenge you to do the same.

The only thing I’m going to say about the Acts passage is that we need to pay attention to what God is doing around us. Not many of us are going to have an earth-shaking event like Saul, where we are knocked to the ground and blinded by the Lord. This event began a ministry that literally changed the world. “It is no secret what God can do,” I’ve heart it sung. We simply need to be paying attention.

I’ll confess that I have missed a few opportunities, along the way, and I sincerely regret them. But our God is a God of many chances. He will use us (I know some folks that really don’t like that phraseology, but I don’t mind it) however He can, as long as He wants to. But we do have to be watching and listening.

Father, I pray for peace in our land. May You protect us within the borders of Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas, and the United States. I pray for peace in our capitol, Washington, D.C. I pray for unity within our governing bodies. I believe that with You all things are possible. Even bipartisan leadership that puts the needs of the many before the needs of themselves. I pray for Your Holy Spirit to rain down on our land and bring peace and shower us with Your love, that we might, in turn spread that love over one another. And I pray that it begins with the fingers that are typing these words. “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin in me.”

Help me to watch for places, today, where You are working, no matter how small or how huge. Help me to listen to the gentle whisper of Your Holy Spirit, during my day today.

Arresting God,
as Saul's life was turned upside down the moment he was met by the risen Lord,
meet me every day on the way,
and continue the work of conversion in my life.
As Saul was baptized,
help me to receive again my baptism,
to live wet every day of my life,
as a child of your covenant,
set apart,
scrubbed clean,
and forgiven.
Amen.
(Belgic Confession 34)

BLESSING

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV)

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
(Psalms 46:10 NLT)

He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!
(Psalms 107:29-30 NLT)

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
(Psalms 139:14 NLT)

“Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.”
(Luke 12:27-31 NLT)

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
(Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

“A life spent trying to produce works of righteousness and holiness will never produce them . . . and will be focused on the source of these works–the self. But a life focused on the works of God will be focused on the source of those works–God. So the secret is to not focus on your work for God. The secret is to become the work of God. Cease striving to do the work of God . . . and start letting your life become His work.”

(From The Book of Mysteries, by Jonathan Cahn)

Father, this goes hand in hand with what I was saying (or, more truthfully, what You were saying to me) about watching and listening to what You are doing. Help me to pay better attention to You and Your works, that I might become Your work, rather than attempting to do Your work.

Lord, strengthen me to follow Your call into my neighborhood and workplace, today. I lift up the peace and well-being of our communities, both physical and spiritual. I pray specifically for blessings on all who work in the agricultural industries today.

I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
(Psalms 19:14 ESV)

Grace and peace, friends!