Living a Life of Generosity
"Give freely and spontaneously. Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God's blessing in everything you do, in all your work and ventures." Deuteronomy 15:10 (MSG)
"But I don't give to get a blessing. I give to be a blessing."
God is a generous God. Everything we have in life is because God gave it to us. It's a gift. It's God's generosity.
God wants us to follow His example. He wants us to create a spiritual legacy of generosity. We do this by learning to be a giver, not a taker. Our culture is all about being self-serving. It encourages us to take, take, take. It's all about acquiring money and things, like that bumper sticker that says, "He who dies with the most toys, wins."
The Bible is full of promises about generosity. God says that if we trust Him and give generously, He will bless our wealth, our health, our family, our career, our time, our past, our present and our future.
What a way to create a lasting spiritual legacy!
(By Rick Warren)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giving God Twenty ( Shared by Sis. Marie Poblete)
by Bud Macfarlane
If you are serious about being a Catholic, keep reading. This is for mature audiences only. It is rated R for Realistic.
We all know that a Catholic adult who does not have a daily contemplative prayer life is a contradiction in terms. If there is one constant in the advice of the saints, it is that every Catholic should have a serious prayer life. My goal here is not to berate you if you do not have a prayer life. I have fallen short myself until recently, so I am the last one who can possibly criticize you.
So my purpose is to encourage you and to help you avoid the common mistakes which prevent most folks from establishing the habit of daily prayer. Let us begin.
SIMPLY SIMPLE Thousands of books have been written on the subject of prayer, and I know you may have the impression that contemplative prayer is complicated, difficult, and only for nuns and monks hidden away in monasteries. Nothing could be further from the truth. Silent prayer is for everyone. Anyone can do it. You can get started right away–today, in fact–and within a few days or weeks, rise to a steady and high level of union with God.
THE KING OF SILENCE For our purposes, let us define contemplative prayer as time spent listening to God in silence. The key is your silence. Stay quiet. Don't say a word. If you're from New Jersey, like me, just shut up. "Contemplative" prayer ceases to be intimidating if you regard it as sharing silence with God.
Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is silent in the most profound manifestation of His real presence on earth, the Eucharist. You are concretely setting out to imitate His silence. He is the King of Silence. You enter his Royal Court through prayer. The door to the court swings open with the touch of a warm, silent breeze. This breeze is the breath of God. Inhale Our Lord and He will exhale you right into your day.
GOD WILL SPEAK TO YOU Jesus can speak to you by leaving messages on your soul in a similar way that we leave messages on telephone answering machines. Your soul is a supernatural email "in-box." Silent prayer is your way of downloading your messages (grace) from your King. You were designed by God to do this. The only words you need to tell God before you begin to pray are these: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."
GOD INSIDE YOUIf you are in a state of grace, the Holy Trinity dwells within your soul. Your body is a flesh and blood home for God. He is literally inside you. He is not far away. If you remember this truth–that God dwells inside your soul–you will know He is not "up there in heaven somewhere" when you seek silent union with Him.
In this sense, silent contemplative prayer is not only possible, it is impossible to mess up because God is right there with you. This is why it does not matter for the first few years if you pray badly. You don't have to be "well-spoken" with God precisely because you are not talking. You are hanging out with Him.
This is why it is so important to go to Confession frequently–once or twice a month. By absolving you of sin, Christ is keeping the "communication link" open with your soul. You are in range of His cell tower. Never let sin stop you from praying every day; do allow Confession help you pray every day.
EVERY DAY MEANS EVERY DAY You must pray every single day. I strongly recommend that you commit to silent prayer as the very first thing you do in the morning. I try to pray after I shower and get dressed–before I start my "regular" day of work and responsibilities as father and husband. There are several advantages to the First Thing in the Morning Method.
GO FOR THE HABIT You simply must keep in mind that the evil one's fear is that we will develop a daily habit. After a lifetime of holding you in the slavery of the bad habit of not praying every day, he will fight tooth and nail to get you to miss one day so he can then discourage you from starting up again the next day. Don't fall for this sucker punch. If you missed your prayer time yesterday, get back on board today.
Fortunately, a good habit works in your favor. String together seventeen days of any behavior and it starts becoming a habit. Knit together seventeen times seventeen days, and it will become difficult for you not to pray. Put on prayer like a pair of pants. The evil one will then concentrate on ruining your silence, but dealing with that minor challenge is for the Advanced Course a year or two down the road. God will not give up. Only you can give up.
The key advantage to committing to First Thing Every Morning Prayer is that your commitment to silence with your Lord will start jumping into your head as soon as you wake up–just as your need to take a shower or your desire to have breakfast leaps to the forefront of your mind when you wake up. You will know that the good habit is forming after you wake up every day for a week with "I will pray today unless I get run over by a truck" on your mind.
CRACK OF DAWN OR DUSK If you experience a distraction or emergency that prevents you from praying Right Off the Bat, you have all day long to get your prayer time in. If you are having a truly off day, don't go to sleep before you pray. Have a cup of coffee. You want it to play out that if you do find yourself praying just before you go to bed, it will be your sixth or seventh "attempt" because you've had it on your mind since waking up. Use meal times as your measuring stick. If you miss prayer before breakfast, try before lunch. Or just after lunch, or just before or after dinner, etc. Associate prayer in your mind with having a spiritual meal.
So this is your simple Rule of Prayer:
"I will begin my day with prayer as the first important thing I do every day until the day I die. I will never go to bed again without spending time in silence with my God."
THE ANTI-FREAK-OUT Another bonus of praying Right Off the Bat is that prayer gives you two benefits which you will soon begin to crave. First, it helps you begin your day in a settled, peaceful, and contented state. Let the house burn down! Let the kids go bonkers! Did the bank repossess your car–Cool! So what if your psycho boss screams in your ear? Inside your soul, you're as cool as a Catholic cucumber. You have spent your time with your Savior, and you know it, and you know He knows it. Silence is calming in and of itself. Silence with God is the best, safest, most natural anti-freak-out medicine you can take.
RIGHT OFF THE BAT The second bonus is that Praying First Thing makes you like a baseball being struck by a Divine Slugger. "Pitch" yourself to God. Toss Him your soul like a softball first thing in the morning. Let your day become a big fat fastball right down the middle of the plate. God will lift his front leg, keep his shoulder in, extend his hands and belt you right into the spiritual upper deck–first pitch, first at bat, every time.
I have no way of proving this, but I believe this is why virtually every home run king in major league baseball history was or is a Catholic–including Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Bobby Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris, and Sammy Sosa. God loves the long ball.
If I've noticed one universal difference between so-called "good" Catholics who pray every day and those who don't, it is the uncanny way those who do pray have their entire day shaped and formed by God.
DROP AND GIVE GOD TWENTY I recommend twenty minutes of daily silence with God as a minimum. I am annoyed when I hear Catholic "experts" recommend "starting small" to folks hoping to start a lifetime habit of prayer–five or ten minutes. It never works. Nothing seriously human happens in five minutes–not taking a shower, not having a meal, not having a decent phone call with a friend. Human beings are not wired that way. According to the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen, psychologists discovered long ago that the human attention span is seventeen to twenty minutes long.
There are practical reasons for giving God Twenty. It takes five minutes for most of us to just to settle into listening mode. It takes several minutes to quiet down your imagination and fend off the thoughts and worries about your daily tasks and challenges. If you pray for twenty minutes, the likelihood is you will spend five or ten minutes of that time for the first several months getting accustomed to shutting up your jabbering mind. To have five or ten minutes of silent prayer, in other words, pray for at least twenty minutes.
I know many Catholics who have a daily prayer life. None pray for only five minutes. Twenty minutes or bust. The best five minutes of prayer are almost always the five minutes that come after the first fifteen minutes!
THE HOLY "NOW" Here is the progression you will likely follow. For the first several days the twenty minutes will feel like an eternity. Five minutes will seem like an hour. This is not God's fault. It is probably not really your fault, either. We live in a rushed, loud, and godless society where the devil's big lie is that there is a tomorrow. Ever notice how the world, the devil, and the flesh are always "pushing" your attention away from the current moment by pushing your thoughts toward tomorrow?
In fact, there is only the Now. By the time you make it to tomorrow, it will be today again. It will be Now. God lives in the Now–in what theologians call the Fullness of Time.
You are about to experience the Miracle of Time. The scales will fall from your eyes and you will realize, day in and day out, that time does not exist. Time is merely, as Aristotle defined it, a grade-school ruler. He defined time as "a measure of objects moving through space." Your soul is immortal–timeless. Your body "keeps" time as you "move" through your years on earth, but any union with God transcends time.
Gradually you will discover a wonderful truth: your twenty minutes of silence with your King will begin to go by quickly. Eventually, probably within a month or two, you will find yourself lingering beyond twenty minutes, even regretting that your time with God is so short. You might experience five or ten minutes of distraction on a particular day and find yourself desiring to add to your prayer time so you can have more peace with Him.
THROUGHPUTWhen this starts to happen–when you start tapping into the reality of being with the God Who Lives Beyond Time, you will know that you are truly downloading His graces. You are now receiving His graces via T1 line.
Your desire for God is now becoming a craving–a longing as strong as any bride who pines to be with her groom on her wedding night. God is your lover, now. Today and every day is a wedding day. This is why the great mystics who wrote the book on contemplative prayer–Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila–described God as Lover. They describe union with God in terms of ecstasy.
You are in God's strike zone now.
You have become a Catholic with a contemplative prayer life. You will never, ever want to go back to limping through a day alone again. You are a Christian adult, and the graces of your Baptism, Confirmation, your Sacrament of Marriage (if you've taken the vows), Confession and the Holy Eucharist now work in unison like powerful horses pulling your chariot of fire (with your family and friends on board) through time into eternity. Bang zoom!
Here are some practical measures you can rely upon.
1. SILENCE INSIDE You can pray with noise around you. I know this sounds crazy, but it is possible to shut the world out. Moms, you can pray with the kids buzzing around you if you have no other options. Close your eyes. The King of Silence is inside you. He is all-powerful. He can make the noise go away.
2. FIND A PLACE, BUT NOT YOUR CAR It helps if you pray in the same spot every day. In
front of the Eucharist is ideal, but barring that, pray in a room in your home. Moms might have to pray with the kids nearby. Do not attempt to pray silent prayer while you drive to work. You can't do two things at the same time. Have an informal "conversation" with God while you drive–or pray the Rosary with a tape– but don't count that as your Silent Twenty Minutes.
3. STOP WATCHING TELEVISION This is self-explanatory. If you have time for TV, but don't have twenty minutes for God...
4. SIT DOWN? Most of my friends pray sitting down. Contemplative nuns and religious usually pray most while they are sitting down.
Some prefer to kneel, especially if you have the opportunity to pray in Church, ideally just after daily Mass and receiving Communion.
5. ON THE ROAD My job requires a lot of travel. My "spot" is often the chair in the hotel room.
6. CLOSE YOUR EYES Even though you will pray with your eyes closed, it is a good idea to pray before a holy picture or statue, so if you do open your eyes, you will see a reminder of Jesus or Mary. If you had a rough day and are forced to pray before bedtime, avoid praying in bed. You will probably fall asleep. Stand up to stay awake if you must.
7. TAKE NOTES It is definitely an excellent idea to keep a notebook. If you "hear" God say something (which the saints call Promptings of the Holy Spirit), write it down, though it is usually best to wait until after your Twenty Minutes is completed rather than leave the silent zone.
8. THREE SOURCES It is difficult for novices like us to know for sure if these promptings are from God or not. There are only three possible sources: God, the evil one, or your own self.
If you get "instructions" that are contrary to any moral law or Catholic teaching, discard them immediately. Very few of us will ever "hear" explicit words, but most of us will get peaceful promptings. It might be a name of a person you might meet or the image of a friend or situation. Something from your past or something (or someone) in your future. It might be something more mysterious–hard to put your finger on exactly. An intuition. Often the same prompting will return to you regularly or sporadically for days, months, or years. Often it will be that soft still voice of your own (until now, ignored) conscience telling you about a sin that you need to confess and jettison from your life.
9. SHORT CUT: FRIENDSHIP My daily prayer life got a jump start when I asked two of my best friends to commit to Twenty Minutes a Day with me. Knowing that we're in this together has really helped. Don't be shy. Your friends want to pray every day too. Call your best Catholic friend. Commit together. Help each other. Encourage each other. Trade notes.
10. DURING THE DAY Often, your silent time listening to God will prepare your soul with promptings that will become clear later in the day during a conversation or some daily activity. What you have done by praying Right Off the Bat is "tune in" to God's frequency. By no means should you "shut off" your communication with God. The saints speak of being in "in the presence" of God all day long. This is your destiny too if you have a daily silent prayer life.
11. NO TEETH PULLING Jesus really will communicate with you. Remember, His favorite way is to leave messages on your soul in silence. When you hear Him asking you to you to do something, follow the Blessed Mother's advice: "Do whatever He tells you." The saints say that obedience is the greatest virtue. The next "step" to your sanctity beyond having a daily prayer life in conjunction with the Sacraments is learning to discern the real voice of God–and learning to ignore all other voices. This is more advanced stuff, but the other voices usually tells lies tricked up to look like truth. This is why your only trustworthy source for Truth is the Catholic Church, founded by He Who is Truth.
And please, if God asks something of you, don't make Him pull teeth. Make your response, "Done."
12. OTHER PRAYERS Most good Catholics I know start the first minute of the day when they open their eyes with morning prayers. Saint Escriva called this minute the most important minute of the day. I pray the following morning prayers but I do not "count" them as part of my silent prayer time:
Morning OfferingGuardian Angel PrayerConsecration Prayer to MaryAct of ContritionSaint Michael PrayerMemorare
At Noon, I often pray the Angelus, joining tens of millions of Catholics around the world.
These common prayers are online here:
http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/common.html
Many are included on the free Mary Foundation Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet CD and audio tape:
https://secure.catholicity.com/mary/
13. SPILL OVER You will find that your daily Rosary will be more fruitful and contemplative–less the repetition of words–if you have a silent prayer life. You are training yourself in the habit of union with God; this will definitely spill over into your other daily devotions, including the Divine Mercy Chaplet and even your Grace Before Meals.
14. BEFORE BED Start with Jesus, end with Mary. Many Catholics find great comfort in having a private conversation with Our Lady before they fall off to sleep. I recommend it. She is a good listener.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make a Difference by Being Different
by Bud Macfarlane
If you are serious about being a Catholic, keep reading. This is for mature audiences only. It is rated R for Realistic.
We all know that a Catholic adult who does not have a daily contemplative prayer life is a contradiction in terms. If there is one constant in the advice of the saints, it is that every Catholic should have a serious prayer life. My goal here is not to berate you if you do not have a prayer life. I have fallen short myself until recently, so I am the last one who can possibly criticize you.
So my purpose is to encourage you and to help you avoid the common mistakes which prevent most folks from establishing the habit of daily prayer. Let us begin.
SIMPLY SIMPLE Thousands of books have been written on the subject of prayer, and I know you may have the impression that contemplative prayer is complicated, difficult, and only for nuns and monks hidden away in monasteries. Nothing could be further from the truth. Silent prayer is for everyone. Anyone can do it. You can get started right away–today, in fact–and within a few days or weeks, rise to a steady and high level of union with God.
THE KING OF SILENCE For our purposes, let us define contemplative prayer as time spent listening to God in silence. The key is your silence. Stay quiet. Don't say a word. If you're from New Jersey, like me, just shut up. "Contemplative" prayer ceases to be intimidating if you regard it as sharing silence with God.
Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is silent in the most profound manifestation of His real presence on earth, the Eucharist. You are concretely setting out to imitate His silence. He is the King of Silence. You enter his Royal Court through prayer. The door to the court swings open with the touch of a warm, silent breeze. This breeze is the breath of God. Inhale Our Lord and He will exhale you right into your day.
GOD WILL SPEAK TO YOU Jesus can speak to you by leaving messages on your soul in a similar way that we leave messages on telephone answering machines. Your soul is a supernatural email "in-box." Silent prayer is your way of downloading your messages (grace) from your King. You were designed by God to do this. The only words you need to tell God before you begin to pray are these: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."
GOD INSIDE YOUIf you are in a state of grace, the Holy Trinity dwells within your soul. Your body is a flesh and blood home for God. He is literally inside you. He is not far away. If you remember this truth–that God dwells inside your soul–you will know He is not "up there in heaven somewhere" when you seek silent union with Him.
In this sense, silent contemplative prayer is not only possible, it is impossible to mess up because God is right there with you. This is why it does not matter for the first few years if you pray badly. You don't have to be "well-spoken" with God precisely because you are not talking. You are hanging out with Him.
This is why it is so important to go to Confession frequently–once or twice a month. By absolving you of sin, Christ is keeping the "communication link" open with your soul. You are in range of His cell tower. Never let sin stop you from praying every day; do allow Confession help you pray every day.
EVERY DAY MEANS EVERY DAY You must pray every single day. I strongly recommend that you commit to silent prayer as the very first thing you do in the morning. I try to pray after I shower and get dressed–before I start my "regular" day of work and responsibilities as father and husband. There are several advantages to the First Thing in the Morning Method.
GO FOR THE HABIT You simply must keep in mind that the evil one's fear is that we will develop a daily habit. After a lifetime of holding you in the slavery of the bad habit of not praying every day, he will fight tooth and nail to get you to miss one day so he can then discourage you from starting up again the next day. Don't fall for this sucker punch. If you missed your prayer time yesterday, get back on board today.
Fortunately, a good habit works in your favor. String together seventeen days of any behavior and it starts becoming a habit. Knit together seventeen times seventeen days, and it will become difficult for you not to pray. Put on prayer like a pair of pants. The evil one will then concentrate on ruining your silence, but dealing with that minor challenge is for the Advanced Course a year or two down the road. God will not give up. Only you can give up.
The key advantage to committing to First Thing Every Morning Prayer is that your commitment to silence with your Lord will start jumping into your head as soon as you wake up–just as your need to take a shower or your desire to have breakfast leaps to the forefront of your mind when you wake up. You will know that the good habit is forming after you wake up every day for a week with "I will pray today unless I get run over by a truck" on your mind.
CRACK OF DAWN OR DUSK If you experience a distraction or emergency that prevents you from praying Right Off the Bat, you have all day long to get your prayer time in. If you are having a truly off day, don't go to sleep before you pray. Have a cup of coffee. You want it to play out that if you do find yourself praying just before you go to bed, it will be your sixth or seventh "attempt" because you've had it on your mind since waking up. Use meal times as your measuring stick. If you miss prayer before breakfast, try before lunch. Or just after lunch, or just before or after dinner, etc. Associate prayer in your mind with having a spiritual meal.
So this is your simple Rule of Prayer:
"I will begin my day with prayer as the first important thing I do every day until the day I die. I will never go to bed again without spending time in silence with my God."
THE ANTI-FREAK-OUT Another bonus of praying Right Off the Bat is that prayer gives you two benefits which you will soon begin to crave. First, it helps you begin your day in a settled, peaceful, and contented state. Let the house burn down! Let the kids go bonkers! Did the bank repossess your car–Cool! So what if your psycho boss screams in your ear? Inside your soul, you're as cool as a Catholic cucumber. You have spent your time with your Savior, and you know it, and you know He knows it. Silence is calming in and of itself. Silence with God is the best, safest, most natural anti-freak-out medicine you can take.
RIGHT OFF THE BAT The second bonus is that Praying First Thing makes you like a baseball being struck by a Divine Slugger. "Pitch" yourself to God. Toss Him your soul like a softball first thing in the morning. Let your day become a big fat fastball right down the middle of the plate. God will lift his front leg, keep his shoulder in, extend his hands and belt you right into the spiritual upper deck–first pitch, first at bat, every time.
I have no way of proving this, but I believe this is why virtually every home run king in major league baseball history was or is a Catholic–including Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Bobby Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris, and Sammy Sosa. God loves the long ball.
If I've noticed one universal difference between so-called "good" Catholics who pray every day and those who don't, it is the uncanny way those who do pray have their entire day shaped and formed by God.
DROP AND GIVE GOD TWENTY I recommend twenty minutes of daily silence with God as a minimum. I am annoyed when I hear Catholic "experts" recommend "starting small" to folks hoping to start a lifetime habit of prayer–five or ten minutes. It never works. Nothing seriously human happens in five minutes–not taking a shower, not having a meal, not having a decent phone call with a friend. Human beings are not wired that way. According to the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen, psychologists discovered long ago that the human attention span is seventeen to twenty minutes long.
There are practical reasons for giving God Twenty. It takes five minutes for most of us to just to settle into listening mode. It takes several minutes to quiet down your imagination and fend off the thoughts and worries about your daily tasks and challenges. If you pray for twenty minutes, the likelihood is you will spend five or ten minutes of that time for the first several months getting accustomed to shutting up your jabbering mind. To have five or ten minutes of silent prayer, in other words, pray for at least twenty minutes.
I know many Catholics who have a daily prayer life. None pray for only five minutes. Twenty minutes or bust. The best five minutes of prayer are almost always the five minutes that come after the first fifteen minutes!
THE HOLY "NOW" Here is the progression you will likely follow. For the first several days the twenty minutes will feel like an eternity. Five minutes will seem like an hour. This is not God's fault. It is probably not really your fault, either. We live in a rushed, loud, and godless society where the devil's big lie is that there is a tomorrow. Ever notice how the world, the devil, and the flesh are always "pushing" your attention away from the current moment by pushing your thoughts toward tomorrow?
In fact, there is only the Now. By the time you make it to tomorrow, it will be today again. It will be Now. God lives in the Now–in what theologians call the Fullness of Time.
You are about to experience the Miracle of Time. The scales will fall from your eyes and you will realize, day in and day out, that time does not exist. Time is merely, as Aristotle defined it, a grade-school ruler. He defined time as "a measure of objects moving through space." Your soul is immortal–timeless. Your body "keeps" time as you "move" through your years on earth, but any union with God transcends time.
Gradually you will discover a wonderful truth: your twenty minutes of silence with your King will begin to go by quickly. Eventually, probably within a month or two, you will find yourself lingering beyond twenty minutes, even regretting that your time with God is so short. You might experience five or ten minutes of distraction on a particular day and find yourself desiring to add to your prayer time so you can have more peace with Him.
THROUGHPUTWhen this starts to happen–when you start tapping into the reality of being with the God Who Lives Beyond Time, you will know that you are truly downloading His graces. You are now receiving His graces via T1 line.
Your desire for God is now becoming a craving–a longing as strong as any bride who pines to be with her groom on her wedding night. God is your lover, now. Today and every day is a wedding day. This is why the great mystics who wrote the book on contemplative prayer–Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila–described God as Lover. They describe union with God in terms of ecstasy.
You are in God's strike zone now.
You have become a Catholic with a contemplative prayer life. You will never, ever want to go back to limping through a day alone again. You are a Christian adult, and the graces of your Baptism, Confirmation, your Sacrament of Marriage (if you've taken the vows), Confession and the Holy Eucharist now work in unison like powerful horses pulling your chariot of fire (with your family and friends on board) through time into eternity. Bang zoom!
Here are some practical measures you can rely upon.
1. SILENCE INSIDE You can pray with noise around you. I know this sounds crazy, but it is possible to shut the world out. Moms, you can pray with the kids buzzing around you if you have no other options. Close your eyes. The King of Silence is inside you. He is all-powerful. He can make the noise go away.
2. FIND A PLACE, BUT NOT YOUR CAR It helps if you pray in the same spot every day. In
front of the Eucharist is ideal, but barring that, pray in a room in your home. Moms might have to pray with the kids nearby. Do not attempt to pray silent prayer while you drive to work. You can't do two things at the same time. Have an informal "conversation" with God while you drive–or pray the Rosary with a tape– but don't count that as your Silent Twenty Minutes.
3. STOP WATCHING TELEVISION This is self-explanatory. If you have time for TV, but don't have twenty minutes for God...
4. SIT DOWN? Most of my friends pray sitting down. Contemplative nuns and religious usually pray most while they are sitting down.
Some prefer to kneel, especially if you have the opportunity to pray in Church, ideally just after daily Mass and receiving Communion.
5. ON THE ROAD My job requires a lot of travel. My "spot" is often the chair in the hotel room.
6. CLOSE YOUR EYES Even though you will pray with your eyes closed, it is a good idea to pray before a holy picture or statue, so if you do open your eyes, you will see a reminder of Jesus or Mary. If you had a rough day and are forced to pray before bedtime, avoid praying in bed. You will probably fall asleep. Stand up to stay awake if you must.
7. TAKE NOTES It is definitely an excellent idea to keep a notebook. If you "hear" God say something (which the saints call Promptings of the Holy Spirit), write it down, though it is usually best to wait until after your Twenty Minutes is completed rather than leave the silent zone.
8. THREE SOURCES It is difficult for novices like us to know for sure if these promptings are from God or not. There are only three possible sources: God, the evil one, or your own self.
If you get "instructions" that are contrary to any moral law or Catholic teaching, discard them immediately. Very few of us will ever "hear" explicit words, but most of us will get peaceful promptings. It might be a name of a person you might meet or the image of a friend or situation. Something from your past or something (or someone) in your future. It might be something more mysterious–hard to put your finger on exactly. An intuition. Often the same prompting will return to you regularly or sporadically for days, months, or years. Often it will be that soft still voice of your own (until now, ignored) conscience telling you about a sin that you need to confess and jettison from your life.
9. SHORT CUT: FRIENDSHIP My daily prayer life got a jump start when I asked two of my best friends to commit to Twenty Minutes a Day with me. Knowing that we're in this together has really helped. Don't be shy. Your friends want to pray every day too. Call your best Catholic friend. Commit together. Help each other. Encourage each other. Trade notes.
10. DURING THE DAY Often, your silent time listening to God will prepare your soul with promptings that will become clear later in the day during a conversation or some daily activity. What you have done by praying Right Off the Bat is "tune in" to God's frequency. By no means should you "shut off" your communication with God. The saints speak of being in "in the presence" of God all day long. This is your destiny too if you have a daily silent prayer life.
11. NO TEETH PULLING Jesus really will communicate with you. Remember, His favorite way is to leave messages on your soul in silence. When you hear Him asking you to you to do something, follow the Blessed Mother's advice: "Do whatever He tells you." The saints say that obedience is the greatest virtue. The next "step" to your sanctity beyond having a daily prayer life in conjunction with the Sacraments is learning to discern the real voice of God–and learning to ignore all other voices. This is more advanced stuff, but the other voices usually tells lies tricked up to look like truth. This is why your only trustworthy source for Truth is the Catholic Church, founded by He Who is Truth.
And please, if God asks something of you, don't make Him pull teeth. Make your response, "Done."
12. OTHER PRAYERS Most good Catholics I know start the first minute of the day when they open their eyes with morning prayers. Saint Escriva called this minute the most important minute of the day. I pray the following morning prayers but I do not "count" them as part of my silent prayer time:
Morning OfferingGuardian Angel PrayerConsecration Prayer to MaryAct of ContritionSaint Michael PrayerMemorare
At Noon, I often pray the Angelus, joining tens of millions of Catholics around the world.
These common prayers are online here:
http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/common.html
Many are included on the free Mary Foundation Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet CD and audio tape:
https://secure.catholicity.com/mary/
13. SPILL OVER You will find that your daily Rosary will be more fruitful and contemplative–less the repetition of words–if you have a silent prayer life. You are training yourself in the habit of union with God; this will definitely spill over into your other daily devotions, including the Divine Mercy Chaplet and even your Grace Before Meals.
14. BEFORE BED Start with Jesus, end with Mary. Many Catholics find great comfort in having a private conversation with Our Lady before they fall off to sleep. I recommend it. She is a good listener.
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Make a Difference by Being Different
God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil, evil, evil from morning till night. God was sorry that He had made the human race in the first place; it is breaking His heart. … But Noah was different. God liked what He saw in Noah. (Genesis 6:5-6, 8 MSG)
There are four specific pitfalls we will face over our Decade of Destiny as we work toward the goals of our everyday lives: cultural distractions, voices of doubt, tempting shortcuts and discouraging delays. All four of these pitfalls are present in the life of Noah and we can learn from him how to handle these tests.
1. Cultural Distractions
The things that happen around us that keep us from going after our God-given dreams are cultural distractions. For instance –
· The distraction of popularity -- If you are always worried about what other people think, you will be distracted from your destiny.
· The distraction of pleasure – It’s okay to have fun and feel comfort, but if that's the primary focus of your life, you will never fulfill your destiny.
· The distraction of profits -- There is nothing wrong with making a profit. The Bible says God blesses us when we do business wisely and honestly, but it also says you cannot serve both God and money. Making a profit cannot be the primary focus of your life.
· The distraction of possessions -- Judging your success by how much stuff you own will keep you concerned about keeping things and maintaining things. You could spend your whole life committed to things and miss the purpose, the plan and the destiny of your life.
If we intend to do anything significant with our lives, it's going to be in spite of culture rather than because of culture. Everything in our culture tempts us into short-term thinking. Most of us never considered thinking in terms of the next ten years; or not even about next year or next month. We always think about today. But let’s stretch to think ten years ahead, as we noted earlier, “The wise man looks ahead.” (Proverbs 14:8a TLB)
Antidote to cultural distractions - We must dare to be different from others. If we are going to reach our dreams in the next decade, if we are going to fulfill our destiny, if we are going to accomplish our goals and see our vision become reality, we are going to have to dare to be different from others. And until we settle this issue, we will never fulfill our destiny because we cannot make a difference without being different. We cannot be what God wants us to be and fit in with everybody else.
Noah was different. God liked what He saw in Noah. Everything was headed toward destruction, but two words changed history -- "but Noah." That's the power of one person. That's the power of just one individual. That's the power we have in our lives when we decide to be different following the commands of Jesus.
Prayer -- God, I admit that a lot of times I have worried about what other people thought more than the thought of me doing the right thing. As I face this new decade, I want to dare to be different from others. I want to be a pleasure to You. I want to be different so I can make a difference.
2. Voices of Doubt
Voices of doubt are the DreamBusters in life. The moment we establish some goals for our finances, our family, our career, our spiritual growth -- the moment we set any kind of goal -- there are going to be people who will say. 'Who do you think you are'? 'It can't be done, forget about it’.
DreamBusters can be critics. They can be cynics. They can come from the culture around us. They can also be friends and family. But the biggest DreamBuster can be us, the way we talk to ourselves.
Antidote to the voices of doubt - Let's listen to the voice of God and start planning where we want to go in the next ten years. Let's listen to what God wants us to do, not what all of the doubters, skeptics, cynics and DreamBusters are saying to us.
Just imagine all the DreamBusters that were in Noah's life. How would we like to be Noah's next-door-neighbor? 'That guy Noah, he thinks God speaks to him, but he's just messing up all of our property values by building that ark in his front yard.' And imagine the pressure Noah experienced from his own family. 'Why can't you just get a normal job'?
Remember, the most influential DreamBuster in our lives is us, ourselves. The words we say from our thoughts are the words we say to ourselves. We talk in our minds all the time and it's not always good. If we talked to our friends the way we talk to ourselves, we probably wouldn't have any friends because we tell ourselves things like 'I should', 'I must', 'I have to', 'I've got to', 'why didn't I', 'I'm no good', 'I can't do it', 'I won't' and 'It will never happen'. And we talk ourselves out of God's vision, God's dream, God's destiny for our lives time after time after time. The truth is we can't be trusted to tell ourselves the truth and we can't trust what other people would say either. The only voice we can trust all the time in any situation is the voice of God, if we take time to really listen.
The Bible tells us that Noah listened to God. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. (Hebrews 11:7ª NLT) But what did he hear? He heard God's warning that the world was going to be destroyed. He heard what he had not yet seen. That's what faith is, being certain of something we don't see. Noah was a righteous man ... and he walked in close fellowship with God. (Genesis 6:9 NLT)
We say, 'I want to trust God, but I don't hear him'. So how can we hear God? To hear God we've got to get near God. We won't hear God when we have the TV on. We won't hear God when we are listening to our iPod. We won't hear God when we are listening to the radio. We won't hear God when our minds are filled with a thousand other distractions. We have to get alone with God and be quiet. Walking with God means saying, 'God, I'm going in Your direction, not mine. I'm going at your pace, just as fast or slow as You tell me.'
The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." That means sit down and shut up. That's how we hear God and get near God. We have to sit alone and just be quiet with our Bible, and say, 'God, is there anything You want to say to me'? We have to read God's Word and talk to Him about what's in our hearts. The Bible calls this, walking with God. Noah walked in close fellowship with God. “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22 (NIV)
Let's walk with God today and in the next ten years and keep saying, 'God, I'm going in your direction, not my direction. I'm going at your pace, just as fast or slow as you tell me.' What is the result of walking with God? - We fear nothing. Why? – Because when God is near, we lose our fear. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” (Psalm 23)
· If we are fearful about our future, we are not walking with the Lord.
· If we are fearful about our finances, we are not walking with the Lord.
· If we are fearful about our marriage, we are not walking with the Lord.
Because the more our life is filled with the love of God, the less fear we have in our lives. Love and fear cannot operate in the same heart at the same time.
Yes, we can't see our future. We don't know what's going to happen, we don't see what God is going to do in our lives over the next ten years, but by trusting God we are certain He is at work in our lives. Trust, hope and faith in what God can do for us.
Prayer -- "Jesus, I want to listen to you, not the voices of doubt. I know that in the days ahead there will be people who will try to discourage me, but I want to listen to what You say just like Noah did. I want to do exactly what You tell me to do and I want to refuse to give up just because I feel like giving up. I want to hold on to the dream that You give me. I want to hear You and I promise to obey You. I want to be one of the people that You can use and bless in the next ten years. I want those years to be a Decade of Destiny for me and my family.”
3. Temptation To Take Shortcuts
These are the detours that come in life that tempt us to try to cut corners as we run toward our goals, shortcuts that will get us off track. These may be moral shortcuts, ethical shortcuts, spiritual shortcuts, financial shortcuts, even relational shortcuts where we start skimming in our relationships. Shortcuts are always short-sighted. They distract us from getting where we need to go and from what God wants us to do in our lives.
When we look at the life of Noah, we see he doesn't try to cut corners. Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
The temptation to take shortcuts is present throughout scripture - Jesus was tempted by the devil to take a shortcut. The devil told Jesus to jump from the top of the temple and, when the angels caught Him, it would prove to everyone He was the Son of God. And they would all worship Him. But Jesus followed God's plan to die on the cross, not jump off a temple, God's plan that Jesus would be glorified through suffering, not through showing off.
When we see a shortcut, it's usually a temptation to cut the corner financially, ethically or morally. It is a temptation telling us, 'God, I think I can reach my goal a whole lot quicker my way than your way.'
Sarah had a promise from God that she would have a baby, but by the time she was 80-years-old, she decided to take a shortcut. She told Abraham to get her handmaid pregnant. 'That will be our baby'. But that wasn't God's plan at all. He provided Sarah with her own baby, and Sarah's shortcut led to problems that have lasted for generations.
Shortcuts are always short-sited. Noah could have said, 'Lord, do we really need all of these animals? You know, why don't we just leave half the species here. The Sierra club will never know; Green Peace isn't around. We can just call the ones we leave extinct animals.' But the Bible says, Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
To reach the dreams God gives us, we must do things exactly as God tells us to do them. God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.
(2 Chronicles 16:9a MSG)
4. Discouraging Delays
The truth is, when God gives us a dream, there will be delays, difficulties, detours and dead ends along the way. These things are a natural part of life and we can always be ready for them.
The antidote to discouraging delays is to refuse to give up on the dream God gives us. As said earlier, a lot of people start out well, but they give up too quickly. They don't hope.
H-O-P-E is Holding On, Praying Expectantly.
Now if anybody had a right to be discouraged, it was Noah. Do you know how long it took Noah to build the arc? 120 years. Could you go 120 years on a project without one word of encouragement from anybody else in society? In fact, could you go 120 years with everybody ruthlessly ridiculing you and saying, "That guy is nuts. He thinks he hears from God." Noah trusted God. And when he heard God's warning about the future, Noah believed Him even though there was no sign of a flood. I bet there were many days that Noah didn't feel like going to work, but for 43,800 days, he went to the same place and he worked. He never gave up.
Always remember that the the middle part of our lives has more influence on our end than the beginning. A lot of people think, 'Oh, I have to begin right or I won't end right.' No! It's what we do in the middle part of our lives -- when we don't give up even though we feel like it -- that determines the end.
We could have messed up a whole bunch in the beginning and we might be thinking, "I'm going to give up on a dream. I'm going to settle for second best." But if we hang on and refuse to give up, the rest of our lives can turn out to be the best of our lives. That's what Decade of Destiny is all about -- the decisions that we make in the middle part of our lives will determine the end.
Let's not give up on our dreams. Let's not give up on our marriage. Let's not give up on our health. Never give up because God is always in control. Let's leave our dreams to GOD because He has already written the final chapter of our lives that we haven't read yet.
The Bible says God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to Him. God is always ready for people that He can bless and we are one of those people in the next ten years, if we let Him take control.
Prayer -- Jesus, I know that in the days ahead there will be times of discouragement. But I want to do exactly what You tell me to do and I want to refuse to give up when I feel like giving up. I want to hold on to the dream that You give me. I want to be one of the people that You can use and bless in the next ten years. AMEN.
~from Purpose Driven Connection~
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WHY WORRY?
WHY WORRY?
“And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matthew 6:30 NLT).
Do you tend to expect the worst? Do you panic when you get a letter with IRS stamped on the envelope or when you hear a rumor about layoffs at work? The word worry comes from an old English word meaning “to choke or strangle.” Of course, that’s exactly what worry does to your productivity and happiness. It’s a self-defeating waste of time.
In his famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25–34), Jesus gave four reasons for not worrying and the secrets of overcoming it:
1. Worry is unreasonable. To worry about something you can’t change is useless. To worry about something you can change is foolish! And every time you review a worry in your mind, it just gets bigger. Worry amplifies problems out of proportion.
2. Worry is unnatural. You weren’t born a worrier. It is a learned response to life. In fact, you have to practice to get good at it. Fortunately worry can be unlearned. The only species in God’s creation that worries is human beings. We don’t think God will take care of us.
3. Worry is unhelpful. It doesn’t work. It can’t change the past. It can’t control the future. It only makes you miserable today. Worrying about a problem never solves the problem.
4. Worry is unnecessary. God has promised to take care of you if you’ll trust him with the details of your life. As a child, if you asked your father for lunch money you never worried about where it would come from. That was his problem. Let God be God in your life! “God will take care of you, just have faith.”
How can I break the worry habit?
First, trust God with every area of your life: “But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to” (Matthew 6:32 LB).
Second, live just one day at a time: “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time” (Matthew 6:34 LB).
What Are You Worried About?
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6–7 MSG).
Two businessmen were talking about the economy:
Jack: “I’m about to lose my job and our house is in foreclosure, but I don’t worry about it.”
Bob: “How can you not be worried?”
Jack: “I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me. That way I don’t have to think about it!”
Bob: “That’s a fantastic idea. How much does it cost to hire a professional worrier?”
Jack: “$50,000 a year.”
Bob: “$50,000! Where are you going to get that kind of money?”
Jack: “I don’t know. That’s HIS worry!”
Worry is something you learn to do. There is no such thing as a “born worrier.” It is a learned response to life. You learned to worry from two sources:
1. You learned to worry from experience. After years of mistakes, failures, and unfulfilled expectations, you’ve discovered that things don’t always turn out right. Out of these experiences you formed the habit of worrying.
2. You learned to worry from examples. There are many models around you. Studies show that children usually pick up their parent’s worries. Anxious parents raise anxious kids.
Since worry is a learned response to life, it can be unlearned! The starting point for overcoming worry is to realize it is useless. It does you no good to worry. It is “stewing without doing.” Worry has never changed anything. Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot control the future. Worry only makes you miserable today. Worry has never solved a problem, never paid a bill, and never cured an illness. It only paralyzes you so you can’t work on the solution. Worry is like racing a car when its engine is in neutral; it doesn’t get you anywhere, it just uses up gas. The Bible teaches, “An anxious heart weighs a man down” (Proverbs 12:25 NIV). On top of that, worry exaggerates the problem. It plays on your imagination. Have you ever noticed that when you worry about a problem it gets bigger? Every time you repeat if over and over in your mind you tend to add details, amplifying it so you feel worse.
What’s the solution?
Instead of worrying, pray and talk to GOD about what’s worrying you. He is Someone who can do something about it.
(By Rick Warren)
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DISCERNMENT (Shared by Sister Marie Poblete)
“Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. ” – Matthew 23:3
It used to irritate me when people give unsolicited advice knowing they don’t practice what they preach.
I would speak my mind. Sometimes it led to heated debates with people I previously judged as self-righteous.
It took some time before I realized that I would need to discern if, at a particular moment, it was actually God talking to me, relaying His message through a certain person.
So now, I constantly try to separate the message from the messenger and discern if the pieces of advice are meant for my benefit to be able to serve the Lord better.
It’s hard and exciting. These are wonderful opportunities for me to stop judging people and allow them to surprise me with God’s messages.
At the same time, I try to be mindful of what I say so I know I’m practicing what I’m preaching."Carlo F. Lorenzo" (cflorenzo@gmanetwork.com)
REFLECTION:
“How can I separate the message from the messenger? Do I practice what I preach?”
Lord God, transform my heart that I may not judge people and instead listen with a discerning heart.
COMPANION
1st READING - This is another of Ezekiel’s visions of God’s glory. God deserves all the glory we can give Him. We should hold none of it back for ourselves as without His grace we would have achieved precisely nothing. Let us seek to give honor to the Lord at every opportunity we get.
Ezekiel 43:1-7ab
1 The angel led me to the gate which faces the east, 2 and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. I heard a sound like the roaring of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 The vision was like that which I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like that which I had seen by the river Chebar. I fell prone 4 as the glory of the LORD entered the temple by way of the gate which faces the east, 5 but spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD. 6 Then I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man stood beside me. 7 The voice said to me: Son of man, this is where my throne shall be, this is where I will set the soles of my feet; here I will dwell among the children of Israel forever.
P S A L M - Psalm 85:9ab, 10, 11-12, 13-14 R: The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.
8 [9] I will hear what God proclaims; the LORD-for he proclaims peace. 9 [10] Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land. (R) 10 [11] Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. 11 [12] Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. (R) 12 [13] The LORD himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. 13 [14] Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps. (R)
G O S P E L - Oftentimes, it is not so much a problem of knowing the difference between right and wrong, but finding the strength to stand behind one’s convictions. There are many people who know what they should do but struggle to do it. We have to constantly ask the Lord for the help and grace to do what we know we should be doing.
Matthew 23:1-12 - 1 Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. 3 Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. 5 All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, 7 greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ 8 As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. 10 Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
THE VISION OF GOD
Ezekiel was a prophet of visions. He was shown extraordinary visions — figures, temples, rivers, bones — that were to be conveyed to the people. This was God’s way of communicating His message. Often God chooses to convey His message in dreams and visions. Many people in the Bible have had visions that were very meaningful for them. Ezekiel is shown a vision of the glory of God so as to give encouragement to the people. To a people at a loss for their identity, this vision comes as an encouragement, that God has remembered His people.
The prophet Isaiah is also given the privilege of having a vision of the glory of God. St. Paul is given a vision that lifts him from his stupor. Jacob is shown a vision of angels. Stephen, the first martyr, is shown a vision of Christ as he is being stoned to death. Through the prophet Joel, God speaks of pouring out His spirit whereby young men will see visions. In his writings, St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that we are called to enjoy the beatific vision of God, which is the fulfillment of all our longings, the desire to be with God. This is the goal of our life here on earth: to attain the vision of God through faith and to see God face to face as He really is.
We are a visual people. We are able to take a lot of information through the aid of visual resources, such as advertisement banners, movies, Internet, Powerpoint presentations and so on. What we see can be either helpful or detrimental to our lives of faith. We need to be constantly vigilant in what we see and perceive. We need to have a vision — without it, we perish. Just as vision can be God’s way of communicating with us, so must we become a people of vision. A vision helps us to look beyond the present. This was the blessing given to Ezekiel that day. The vision of the glory of God gave him new hope and a different perspective to his life in exile. God was doing a work of creating a visionfor His people. (Fr. Brian Steele, MGL)
Reflection Question:
What vision is God giving you? Have you asked God to give you a vision?
God, grant me a vision and teach me Your ways and truth. Open my eyes and let me see Your glory. Amen.
St. Bassa and Companions, pray for us.
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WHAT IS LOVE?
1Corinthians Chapter 13, Verses:1-8a and 13 - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.
LOVE IS THE FOUNDATION OF EVERY GOOD THING IN OUR LIVES. It is the reason GOD the Father sent His only Son to die for us. Without LOVE, there would have been no redemption for mankind. Not only would we be without LOVE, but without the redemption that was precipitated by LOVE, there would also be no FAITH and no HOPE. And without these three, this world has nowhere to go.
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KEEP LOVING OTHERS BY RECHARGING EMOTIONALLY (Shared by Sister Fatima Tatunay)
"Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (NIV)
Praising God will renew and rejuvenate you. Psalms 59 "I will sing of your strength in the morning and I will sing of your love for you are my refuge in times of trouble."
You cannot love people the way God loves you without God's power in your life because human love runs out.
If you feel that nothing seems to be worth the effort, or life seems to be futile, or you find yourself blaming God for your problems -- "Why did you let this happen to me?" - these are warning signs of spiritual burnout.
1 Timothy 4:8 says: "Take the time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit." (Phillips) How do you stay spiritually fit so you can love people? By building habits into your life that keep you spiritually renewed.
A daily quiet time -- "This is the reason we never lose heart. Our body does suffer wear and tear but every day the inward man receives fresh strength." (2 Corinthians 4:16) Outwardly our body suffers wear and tear, but inwardly we can be spiritually renewed every day by spending time alone with God.
I don't know what could help your life more than to begin the habit of a daily time with God. Start out with just ten minutes a day. Find a place where you can be by yourself - the car, your bedroom or living room, the backyard, even your office. Then pick a book of the Bible and read a chapter a day. Read it, think about what you've read, write some things down. That's a habit that will make a difference and keep you spiritually renewed.
Small group -- A Christian without a small group is an orphan. You need a small group. "Let us encourage one another daily." You need to get together in a small group at least weekly where you can share needs and problems, where you care and pray for each other.
Worship - Praising God will renew and rejuvenate you. Psalms 59 "I will sing of your strength in the morning and I will sing of your love for you are my refuge in times of trouble." You need that emotional release and that recharging that comes from singing. Put on a Christian tape or CD and sing along and see how God restores your soul. (By Rick Warren)
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THIS IS DEDICATED TO OUR HOUSEHOLD!
Philippians 2:4 – “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10, 12 - "If one falls down, his friend is there to help him up. Pity the man who falls and has no one to help him. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves."
"You need a community of people who will say to you: 'We'll be with you when you're going through the tough times. We're not going to let you get discouraged or depressed.'"
Each one of us needs other people to watch out for us - to defend us, protect us, and help us stay on track. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul tells us that we should look out for each other's interests, not just our own. Today the world is all about me - my needs, my interests, my wants, and my ambitions. But Paul teaches us to look out not just for ourselves but for others.
We all have enemy far more destructive than any terrorists, a spiritual enemy who wants to defeat us. His name is Satan. He is the one who brings problems into our lives, the one who ruins relationships, and the one who always hurt us as badly as he can.
Why is he after us? Because he wants to hurt God, but he can't - so he goes after God's children. On our own, we will never win against Satan. That’s why God put this household together so we can watch out and help each other fight the enemy.
Are you with me brothers and sisters? Is anyone defending us - watching out for our spiritual welfare? YES! We have this household who says: "We will always be here with you especially when you're going through the tough times and we are not going to let you get discouraged or depressed."
Thank God, we have this household to walk with us, to work with us, and to watch out for us. This household is God's answer to triumph over evil. PRAISE THE LORD. Alleluia.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART
Proverbs 27:19 - “As water reflects a face, so does a man's heart reflects the man.”
Proverbs 4:23 - "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
1 Samuel 16:7 - "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord on the heart."
The Bible uses the term "heart" to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections that we have. Our heart represents the source of all our motivations - what we love to do and what we care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, "I love you with all my heart."
The Bible says what is in our heart is what we really are, not what others think we are or what situations force us to be. Our heart is the real us. It determines why we say the things we do, why we feel the way we feel, and why we act the way we act.
GOD has given each of us a unique emotional heartbeat that races when we think about the subjects, activities, or circumstances that interest us. These are clues as to what and where we should become aware of in serving or making a difference, clues we shouldn’t ignore considering how they might be used for GOD’s glory.
Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects that we feel deeply passionate about and others that we couldn't care less about. Some experiences turn us on and capture our attention, while others turn us off or bear us to tears. These are feelings that reveal the nature of our hearts, feelings or inner promptings that we must attentively listen to, feelings that may point to the ministry GOD intends us to hear.
So my brothers and sisters, now that we are one with the HOLY SPIRIT, pay attention more to your heart, feel it, listen to it, because our hearts are in tune directly to GOD’s own heart, where those feelings and the LOVE that we give to others originate from.
Thanks be to GOD, Alleluia, Amen.
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COMMITMENT
"Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!" Matthew 25:23 (NLT)
"Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to honor? "
Real servants are faithful to their ministry. Servants finish their tasks, fulfill their responsibilities, keep their promises, and complete their commitments. They don't leave a job half undone, and they don't quit when they get discouraged. They are trustworthy and dependable.
Faithfulness has always been a rare quality (Psalm 12:1; Proverbs 20:6; Philippians 2:19-22).
Most people don't know the meaning of commitment. They make commitments casually, then break them for the slightest reason without any hesitation, remorse, or regret. Every week, churches and other organizations must improvise because volunteers didn't prepare, didn't show up, or didn't even call to say they weren't coming.
Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to honor?
This is a test. God is testing your faithfulness. If you pass the test, you're in good company: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy, and Paul were all called faithful servants of God.
Even better, God has promised to reward your faithfulness in eternity. Imagine what it will feel like one day to have God say to you, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!" (Matthew 25:23 NLT).
By the way, faithful servants never retire. They serve faithfully as long as they're alive. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving God.
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AN EVENING MEDITATION
In the Name of the FATHER, and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT. Amen.
ALMIGHTY GOD, the LORD of Love and Everything Good, we come before You at the end of the day to adore, honor and praise You. In this quiet moment of solitude, we would like to open our hearts to feel Your presence in our souls. (Be silent for a moment.)
LORD GOD, after all the mad rush of the day, we are no longer in a hurry or anxious. This room is our resting place and our chapel and we ask You to please hear us and speak to us now that we are still and receptive. Putting aside as many distractions as we can, we pray that we may be open to Your words. Speak LORD GOD to our spirits for Your servants are listening. Stay with us always as You are with us tonight. Amen.
Tonight, dear GOD, we ask pardon for all our sins. Please forgive our failures and shortcomings of the day, forgive the unkind thought, inconsiderate word, the unbecoming action, selfishness and harm that we could have caused to hurt others. Please dear GOD remove whatever hinders us from following You closely so that we may come to a day when we will no longer wound your loving Heart. Amen.
We thank You loving GOD for this day.Thank You for everything YOU have given us especially our food and most of all our good health. Thank You for the opportunity of finding You everywhere we went. Thank You for keeping us always aware of Your life-giving presence and abundant love. Amen.
Lastly LORD GOD please bless, guide and protect us, all our loved ones… our children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, their families, our relatives and good friends from all forms of evil, sickness, accidents, calamities and most of all from a sudden and unprovided death. Amen.
Now LORD GOD, as You have given us this day of work, grant us night for peace. May You give rest to our bodies, serenity to our minds so that tomorrow we may be better able to serve you. And to You, Mother of GOD and to all the angels and saints, please intercede for us not only this night but more so at the hour of our death, in Jesus name. Amen. Our Father...
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A SHORT PRAYER
Thank you my LORD and my GOD for loving us so much and for all the blessings and graces that YOU never get tired giving. Thank you my LORD and my GOD for opening up our lives into this spiritual horizon.
Today my LORD and my GOD I want to share with my brothers and sisters the intensity within me of YOUR overflowing power of LOVE and JOY. May YOU keep these love and joy burning and continuously flowing in our hearts so that we may have the glory of spreading YOUR love and good words with others and grant that the purity of our intentions be not weakened by the seeking of self. Make us deserving instruments of your peace. Shine through us, be one with us so that every person that come in contact with us may feel your presence in our souls. Let them look and see no longer us but YOU, only YOU our LORD and our GOD. We love YOU so much. Thank you GOD thank you. Domine Deus Te Amo Super Omnia. Amen. O LORD GOD I love YOU above all things.
