Greetings to you – loved by God before you even knew it – in the lovely name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Savior! Yes! this is the day that the Lord has made for us, so let us rejoice and be glad in it! I trust that you had a good entry into the New Year with thoughtfulness, excitement, and anticipation. I believe that this is going to be a year of restoration and realignment with God. Yes, there are challenges ahead as we head into places where we have never been before, but God is on the throne and He is in charge! Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to release living hope into your being…may you recognize His presence in restorative ways…may you feel a touch of fresh healing power surround you…and may you sense an inexplicable peace.
Over the past several days I have been pondering a scene from the life of David…David encouraged himself in the Lord – 1 Samuel 30:6. There are many ways to apply the verse and just when I think I have discovered all there is…I find a new perspective. Perhaps the way we understand the Bible can be related to what is going on in our lives. This morning I came across a teaching by a Russian Orthodox saint called, Theophan. In the 19th century he wrote, “One must force oneself to pray, even if one has no spiritual prayer…in such a case, God, seeing that a man earnestly is striving, pushing himself against the will of his heart (that is, his thoughts), He grants him true prayer.”
If I take the thought and apply it to “encouraging” yourself, especially in these challenging days when everything is so unpredictable, David’s action of “encouraging himself” can take different direction. If you read the context of the verse I don’t think he wanted to encourage himself…but he forced himself to do so and as he did God gave him strength. Perhaps if I took those days when I don’t feel like and don’t want to pray or praise or serve or love or be joyful and I force myself – God would grant me true – prayer, praise, service, joyfulness, and strength. I think I might go one step further…if I would force myself my passion for God would enable me to accomplish what He is calling me to.
St. Theophan suggested that when the mind begins to stand firmly before God, it discovers such sweetness, that it wishes to remain in true prayer forever, desiring nothing more.
Something to think about — be blessed in this day!