Week Five
Comments from the community this past week (posted just prior to this post for week five) were so encouraging to me, as I am sure they were to many of you. Isn’t it fascinating how God weaves a thread of the true knowledge of Himself throughout a group of people who are gathered together in His name. I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to us about receiving the benefit of peace, which is available to us through submission to His authority in our hearts as we “cast our cares” upon the One who is so very careful with us.
My own journey this week has found me both touched by His hand and moved by His heart as I seek to embrace an apprenticeship of love. He is faithful to teach, guide and counsel with kind intention. Consider His admonishment to think only on what is “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and of good report” (Phil 4:8). When I take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, when I am able to resist the temptation to entertain thoughts (about myself or others) that are not honorable, pure or lovely, when I turn all my agitated, frustrated and anxious thoughts into praise and thanksgiving, then I benefit from the “peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension.”
Dear and Holy Father, how precious is your Word to me, how soothed I am by your heart of love and compassion. Your love is powerful to keep, to save, to cover, to heal and to deliver. And I am grateful for who you are and how you are. Grant that your heart of love should swallow up my heart of selfishness and that I should rise again from the ashes of self-awareness into the brilliant light and warmth of your holy, unfathomable, consuming, compelling and enriching love. May this charity be always toward those around me in purity and in hope as I lean upon you and learn to pray as you intended for your Kingdom to come. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Week Five Daily Reading: Colossians 1 through 4
Journaling prompts: (Remember that these are prompts and thought provoking questions/considerations to help jump-start your time of journaling. They are supportive in nature, and the Lord may lead you in different ways. Don’t get greatly attached to them as though they are “homework” questions.) 1. Consider Paul’s prayer in chapter 1 verses 9-12. How does this help you in praying for those on your prayer list? 2. Take some time to meditate on the supremacy of Christ (Col 1:13-20) and write a prayer of praise in response. 3. Consider the impact of the truth the He is able to present you before the Father as being “holy, blameless and beyond reproach.” Consider how and why will He do this? Do you believe it? 4. Consider in the matter of the things of this world (finances, possessions, sensations, etc.) how we give them power over us and thus set them up in our hearts and minds against the knowledge of God? 5. In what areas of your life do you do what you do and say what you say in the name of Jesus as a response to Him and to His love for you? Are there areas of your life where you do not? Write a prayer of submission.
May your hearts be encouraged, “having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col 2:2-3 NASB)
If you have anything you want to share with the larger Cultivating Faithfulness community, email me by Friday for my consideration in posting to this site.