Daily Devotions |
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 |
For the last two weeks we have taken time out to practice another type of prayer: contemplative prayer. And I wanted to be clear about what it is, why we do it and what the Bible says about it. There are no ordinances or practices of contemplative prayer expressed explicitly in the Bible. But, God's word is filled with scripture about us quieting ourselves before the King. Those scriptures, along with the sheer magnitude of God, cause us to pause and reflect on the Word of God as yet another form of surrender to God. There is a beautiful article written about this form of prayer on the Christian Network Imago Dei's website. They break contemplative prayer into four parts. I recommend you read the article in its entirety, but the quote below sums up why we as excellent Challengers embark upon contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is one of the ways we respond to the Spirit’s invitation to surrender more fully to God, in whom we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). It is the life that Jesus envisioned for us when He prayed to His Father, “May they be one with us, just as you and I are one” (Jn 17:21) For Jesus, the pronoun “I” was always understood as “We.” He did not suffer the illusions of autonomy and of separation as we do. We quiet ourselves to surrender to God. It can be so easy to come to the throne so encumbered with our concerns that we forget to recognize God. We need not always come in God's presence with mouths open. Sometimes our deliverance, healing or answers are found in our silence. When we quiet ourselves, we can focus in on the real star of the show. What I love about the sovereignty of God is that he gave us his words to focus on. We don't sit silently staring into confusion. We can rest and contemplate on his Word: the Bible. One scripture that we can always contemplate on when in this mode of prayer is Psalms 46:10. When we truly still ourselves, we can begin to know God more deeply, more intimately. Our relationship goes from a distant love to one that is so near to us; simply because we stop shouting into nothing and start communicating with our King. God is not silent! We get to hear him every time we go in his word. And when we dare to quiet the Earth's noise and focus on Heavenly words, we find ourselves caught up in the eternal arms of God's presence. Have you ever sat silently listening to music? Your silence gave rise for you to hear the beauty of the notes. How much more peaceful will the beauty of God's word sound to you in your silence before him. We rest in silence, contemplating on the Word God has given us, hearing the gift of his love over the noise of our minds. Today's ScripturesContemplate the two different versions of Acts 24-29. How do these differences illuminate God to you differently? “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” |
About the ChallengeThe 100 Days of Excellence challenge is a 100 day journey to completely rearrange the course of your life. It is about seeking the thrown of God to hear what his plan is for our lives. It is a commitment to carry out every action in your future in the spirit of excellence. Archives
December 2016
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