Greetings to you in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! As I begin to write this morning, the song I am listening to is – “Your Name Is Power” by a group called, ‘Rend Collective’…and it is a good way to focus my thoughts. What a beautiful day that our Lord has made for us…a late winter’s morning that is waiting for the sunshine and blue skies to awaken it. I trust that God has been looking after you over the last number of days, and in particular this past week as we put away the previous season – ‘ordinary time’ – and began the season of Lent. I must confess that it is not so much a ‘season’ to me as it is a ‘journey’. The days ahead are going to be challenging and demand our attention. I will be praying for you today, asking Father to sensitize your senses so that you will not miss the many nuances of Lent…and may Father release his personal touch on your life to meet your needs.
This past Monday at our prayer gathering, God challenged me to think about the importance of seeking an update experience of His presence. God painted a picture in my mind of a mother baking bread in the morning so that her family would have fresh bread. Then God re-imaged the picture so that I could see a family on a journey picking bread up off of the ground in front of their tent and then I saw many families doing the same thing. I then knew that it was an image of the Israelites gathering ‘manna’ in the wilderness. God had directed them to gather fresh manna each day…and not to store it up or hoard it. The daily ritual of gathering was part of their life for 40 years. Yes, there was an exception for the sabbath day, but imagine this daily gathering of fresh manna went on for over 12,000 mornings.
God has built this process into our lives in a way that we don’t often consider – every night we need to sleep, every day we need to drink, every moment we need to breathe…and every day we need God. Therefore we are not failures because we need God today and then again tomorrow. We are not spiritual disasters because we need God each day but rather we are living in the divine order – the nature of the world that He created. Yes, indeed, we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
So, each morning we need to practice the spiritual disciplines that bring us ‘more’ of God. We need to read His Word, we need to talk to Him and share our concerns, we need to express our gratitude, we need to share our laughter and joy, we need to unburden our hearts and minds of doubts-fears-worries, we need to delight ourselves in being loved for who we are, and we need to enjoy the fresh supply of God. The danger of not doing this is not enjoying the life we have been given, of losing the sparkle and being surrounded by a dullness. Why not take just a minute of this day and simply hold out open hands towards God and ask for “more of You, Lord – please” again and again until you sense your hands being ‘filled’.
Just a little something to ponder — be blessed!