Backlog...

Just a quick message to say that last week those of you who were signed up to receive my postings by email may have received an email with a long list of postings on it. That was a backlog of all the postings I've done since the system quit sending out emails (for an unknown reason to me). Because I'm not techology-savvy, I couldn't figure out how to correct that (though I tried!).

I don't understand how this works and I guess I chalk it up to a quirk in the blogger system. It's possible that now the email piece of it will start working...we'll see!

Blessings and peace to you today!

You Don't HAVE to Pray!

When God came to earth in Christ Jesus, He gave us new wine: Himself unveiled! And in order to rightly mediate this new wine, there had to be a new wineskin. Jesus addresses this in Mark 2:18-22 when speaking about fasting; I believe, however, that this truth can probably apply to all that has to do with the gospel, including prayer.

The purpose of the wineskin is to contain the wine in order to experience it; in other words, it “mediates” the wine. If Jesus is the new wine, then there must be a new wineskin in order to experience Him. The old wineskin cannot mediate His life adequately.

The apostle John makes a startling statement in John 1:17 “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Until Jesus came, what humans knew of God was mostly through the wineskin of the law. With the appearance of God in the flesh, the way we encounter Him now is through an entirely different medium or wineskin. Under the law, we experience God as Judge; under grace and truth, we experience God as Father.

When it comes to prayer (and other issues in God), the paradigm shift that has taken place through Jesus’ coming is that there is no law to pray. Part of the good news (gospel) is that you don’t have to pray! The old wineskin was about law/obligation/ requirement; the new wineskin is about voluntary acceptance of God’s loving invitation to participate with Him.

Apart from this new wineskin, we can’t experience Jesus rightly; He is too untamed to be contained (mediated) by the old wineskin of law.

So when it comes to prayer, if need be, ask the Lord for grace to see it through a new wineskin: grace and truth (God's gracious invitation to participate with Him).

Target Practice

Since my "retirement" the Lord has had me on an unexpected growth spurt in knowledge and understanding of God, resulting in major mindset shifts which have in turn resulted in much freedom and joy and love - unlike what I have ever experienced before in Him.

I've observed that there is something seductive about gaining knowledge when done independently of Jesus. In other words, it has the power to delude the learner into thinking he/she is superior to others. This, of course, was what the tree of knowledge in Eden was about - being god (superior) by knowing independently of God. Paul says in 1Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge "puffs up" while love "builds up."

Would to God we followers of Jesus would all be being renewed in our minds continually (which means shifts in mindsets), but my caution is that we make love our goal in all pursuit of knowledge, even in the pursuit of knowing God. I believe that aiming at love while growing in knowledge is what it means to live from the tree of life - Jesus.

In my walk now as I continue to grow in knowledge, I'm making the effort to consciously see myself in Christ Jesus, He being the One dispensing the knowledge, feeding me. There are times when I sense His quiet voice within me saying to stop my reading or studying; and I've learned that even though it may be wonderful and true material (and I really want to keep digging into it), if He is slowing me down, it's because He knows how much and how far I should go in that moment in order not to be led down the road of spiritual arrogance that would see others as inferior to me.

In I Corinthians 14:1 the apostle Paul says to aim at love, which could imply that we don't hit the mark perfectly every time; God doesn't ask us to be perfect marksmen but to make love our target; and the more we practice, the closer we will get at hitting it. Eating of the tree of life is about growing in love as we grow in knowledge - that is only possible in Jesus and under His leadership. The goal of all learning is to love - to receive the love of God and then to give that love away to others. If I'm not growing in love and tenderness towards others along with growing in knowledge, I may need more target practice!

Restructuring the Brain - Exercise #4

This will be the final post in this series on restructuring the brain. (See the introductory post:  http://nitasbookclub.blogspot.com/2012/10/restructuring-brain.html)

This time I'm sharing two very simple spiritual disciplines that can help us as we seek to cooperate with the Lord's transforming work in the renewing of our mind.

Imagining Solid Footing
This simple exercise is taken from a blog post by Kathy Escobar (see this link for complete post: http://kathyescobar.com/2012/09/21/formation-friday-security/). She writes:

"Psalm 40:1-3.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.

he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

he put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”

Often, as a spiritual practice, I try to put both feet on the ground, sit up straight, and take a few really deep breaths, noticing my feet on solid ground underneath me.  It helps turn my attention away from what feels like sinking sand underneath me and remember that I’m okay...that God’s with me...that my heart may be overwhelmed, but there’s a rock that’s higher than I underneath me (Psalm 61)."

Repeating Short Phrases

This is a practice that I recommend to my students to help focus the mind:

Pick a one-liner from Psalm 119, not more than 5-6 words long. The line that I have used for years now is from verse 94: "I am Yours; save me..." There are many, many such phrases in Psalm 119 or throughout the psalms. It should be short enough that you can say it in a breath.

Ask the Spirit to remind you (or ask a friend to remind you) to repeat your chosen phrase throughout the day from time to time. If you are taking some time for concentrated prayer and find your mind wandering around, then simply repeat your phrase over and over. Don't worry about whether you are concentrating on it. In time this will help you focus, but it does take a long time to create a new pathway in your brain so you need to be patient.

The saints of God have practiced these sorts of exercises throughout human history without the scientific understanding of their value to the brain. Seems that God may have known this all along! May His grace rest upon you as we work with Him in bringing the mind into alignment with Him and His life and truth.