Category: Spiritual Practices

Christmastide One: Lectio Divina The Incarnation

John 1:9-14 – 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.  11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, and how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Lectio Quote – The Incarnation

When God spoke and brought the world into existence, Christmas was on His heart. Christmas is all about Jesus, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world! It’s about Jesus, God’s gift of redemption –born to die in my place and your place, for my sins and your sins, because the wages of sin is death. Write it down; post it on the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror: “Jesus–born to die that I might live!” No matter who you are, what you have done, you were pre-loved by God!  Kay Arthur

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and seek the Spirit’s help to take deep into your soul the way this author captures the deep truth of the Incarnation.

Week Four Confessional Prayer – Immanuel

Immanuel Confessional Prayer

“The grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin, is present in the confession, and even before the confession has been made, has already worked the restoration of which the confession is not the cause but the sign”.

Fleming Rutledge

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that He sent His Son to grant us fullness of life. His love is so deep for us; and for that we now know that God is indeed with us throughout eternity. Are there ways that you don’t live that out? Have the noise and chaos of this broken world crowded His voice out? You do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).  

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive the truth of this passage: “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love”. If you have confessed a stronghold of fear or complacency receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent, Week Four- Immanuel

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent: Immanuel

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Abba, Father, we come to this prayer praising You, that You make your home in heaven, the rightful place for you, and for Your Son Jesus. And yet, You sent Him into our broken, sinful world. He is truly “Immanuel, God with us.” Your name is holy, sacred, set apart – and thus is Your Son’s. We pray that Your kingdom would come, that Your will would be done – and we rejoice because Your will was to send Jesus to take the wrath meant for us. This is Your will, here on earth as it is in heaven. Give us Lord, all that we need to walk through our day, and forgive us for all the ways we have not honored this reality – that Christ is truly with us. And help us, Lord to forgive others who have sinned against us. May we live as those who know that our Christ is Immanuel, God with us. We pray that You would keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever! Amen.

Week Four – Lectio Divina – Immanuel

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 7:14

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you have not studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, and how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Lectio Quote

“This is the message of the Winter Pascha. God is with us on earth. He is in our very midst as the man Jesus, whose name is Immanuel. He has revealed His unknowable, inconceivable, ineffable, invisible nature in the most tangible way as the child who is born for us; as the Son who is given to us. To understand this and to submit to it is man’s greatest glory and joy.”

The Winter Pascha, 116. (Thomas Hopko)

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and seek the Holy Spirit’s help to press into the incredible truth of “Immanuel,” God with us.

Advent Three – The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Abba, our Father, who is enthroned in heaven. Your name alone is hallowed. As we approach the end of this worldly kingdom here on earth, we pray that You would usher in the new kingdom, the kingdom described in Revelation 21 – where the new Jerusalem will come down and the city will need no sun or moon because Your glory will be our light and our lamp will be Your Son, the lamb of God. As the day of judgment appears, Lord, would You help us to forgive all those who have sinned against us, so that we might enjoy Your forgiveness and grace for all eternity. On this day, today, as we wait for your blessed appearing, deliver us from all temptation and evil that we might persevere until the very end. For we know and we proclaim that Yours is the kingdom, and all the power and all the glory. Amen.

Advent Three – Lectio Quote

“No day is named, that every day may be hallowed by the sense of the possibility of its being the day of His Advent. It helps to hallow each day of life, to realize that before its close we may be in the presence of Christ’s glory.” T. R. Glover

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and seek The Spirit’s help to discern how this passage might bring new understanding to preparing for His return.

Advent Three – Confessional Prayer

Mark 13:33-37 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” (Lam. 3:22-23) 

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Take a minute and meditate on the Mark 13 passage. Jesus says – be on guard, keep awake. Are there distractions in your life that inhibit the watchfulness we are to have? Is hurry your master?  Have you grown complacent? Is there fear or anxiety in even thinking about the Day of the Lord?

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive the truth of this passage: “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love”. If you have confessed a stronghold of fear or complacency receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward.

How is He calling you to watchfulness? How is He asking you to look for His second coming?

I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:6

Advent Three – Lectio Divina – Watch!

Isaiah 52:6-10 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.” 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8 The voice of your watchmen–they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. 9 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, and how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent: Wait

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Our Father, who has given us the right to call You ‘Abba, dear Father”, we honor Your name- We hallow it, there is no other name like Yours. In this season of waiting for Your kingdom to come in glory we worship You. We long for Your kingdom to come in all its fullness, that Your will would be done, now and always. Your presence is our food and our portion, and “so we will wait for you” (Lam 3:24).  Lord, would You give us hearts to forgive those who have sinned against us – that there might be nothing that stands in our way of receiving all the grace and life You have given us. We grow weary Lord, but we pray that through Your Spirit, You would deliver us from all temptation and evil. Because of Your kingdom, and power, and glory we can rest in confidence that “we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Amen.

Advent Two – Lectio Quote – Wait

“One of the main reasons God doesn’t always answer us immediately is that waiting is God’s crucible of transformation. Waiting is how God gets at the idols of our heart. Waiting addresses the things we think we need besides God to be content: money, comfort, expedience, success or control. It creates space to learn more about who God is, to receive his purposes into our lives, to move past our resistance and say our deepest yes to him.” Ruth Haley Barton

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and ask the Spirit to give you power to let waiting be that crucible of transformation.

Advent Two – Confessional Prayer

…We cannot talk about sin for very long without being drawn into doxology. Were it not for the mercy of God surrounding us, we would have no perspective from which to view sin, for we would be entirely subject to it. That is the reason for affirming that whatever sin is unmasked and confessed, God’s redemptive power is already present and acting.

Fleming Rutledge

Enter into a time of confession as you think about this Advent theme- Waiting. Is this a challenge for you? Not just in this time of waiting for the Lord to return, but in your daily walk? Are there ways you have sinned against others in your impatience or frustrations?

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).  

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Waiting can stir up our needs for control, our impatience, our frustrations. Ruth Haley Barton calls waiting the crucible of transformation. “Waiting is how God gets at the idols of our heart”.  

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive the truth of this passage: “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love”. If you have confessed a stronghold of fear or complacency receive Christ’s forgiveness for you.

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in his grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

… my soul waits for the Lord, more than watchman for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130:6-8