Mission Faithwalk

            Trust in the  Lord  with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the  Lord  and shun evil. This will bring health to your body   and nourishment to your bones .  (Proverbs 3:5) Love the  Lord  your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)   This is my homework for the week. I’m supposed to camp on it, meditate on it, look at it in multiple translations and ultimately memorize it. I’m sure I’ve told the story before, but I’ve had a conversation with God that went something like: “I don’t understand” “That’s OK. You don’t have to.” “No, You don’t understand. I don’t understand.” And, of course, there’s the little problem with people (including me) saying, “I don’t understand” when they ultimately mean, “I don’t trust” or “I don’t approve.” Needless to say, I need to camp out on the

             There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) A new command I give you:  Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matthew 5:43-44) One of the issues in our society is Critical Race Theory (CRT.) According to Rebecca Bodenheimer, “ Critical race theory (CRT) is a school of thought meant to emphasize the effects of race on one's social standing. It arose as a challenge

  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  (Ephesians 6:12)   The next section of The Christian in Complete Armour deals with the characteristics of the devil and his followers. The first piece of the puzzle is that they are spiritual beings, meaning that they are immaterial. This doesn’t mean that they can’t take on material forms or apparently material forms. Energy slowed down sufficiently, becomes matter, according to Einstein’s formula E=mc 2 .  Gurnall says next that they are highly intellectual. They may have lost some wisdom (because they continue to fight against Someone they can’t defeat) but they are clever and intelligent. Thirdly, he says that they are immortal and indefatigable. They can’t die and they don’t get tired. And lastly, he says that they are inventors of sin. They look for, find, and employ any

              You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3) How do you read this verse? It’s easy to read it to the comma, at least at first, but the last phrase is ambiguous, at least in English. Is steadfastness the cause of the trust or the result? Do the steadfast trust, or are those who trust steadfast? I suspect that the answer is “Yes.” The steadfast trust and their trusting produce steadfastness. If this is so, how do we build steadfastness? As an experiment, think about someone you know. Better yet, pray for them. When your mind leaves the subject of that person, open your eyes. Go ahead, close your eyes now. For how long did you think about or pray for the person before another subject presented itself, or you were distracted by noise? If you’re like me, you probably didn’t even get your eyes closed. You were already thinking as much about how long you could do it as you were about the person. This is the pro

            For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5)   And He said to him,  “‘ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind .’     This is the great and foremost commandment.   The second is like it, ‘ You shall love your neighbor as yourself .’ (Matthew 22:37-39)   Today’s passages hit close to home. The passage from Matthew is my mission statement. It’s what I want my life to be, to do, and to say. And, of course, as with any ideal, I fall short of it every day. I just can’t do all the things I think I need to do in order to be and to do everything, especially as a single, older woman. I have friends who are very invested in evangelism and missions, and I say, “More power to’em!” and then I think, “What’s wrong with me?” I know people who speak of a prayer life that

          The following poem/prayer was shared with me recently. While I’m not Catholic (and neither was the person who shared it with me,) I think it’s a good prayer. My suggestion is that you pray it aloud. See where you respond to it and camp there.   St. Patrick’s breastplate   I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three. I bind this day to me for ever. By power of faith, Christ's incarnation; His baptism in the Jordan river; His death on cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spicèd tomb; His riding up the heavenly way; His coming at the day of doom; I bind unto myself today. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of the cherubim; the sweet 'well done' in judgment hour, the service of the seraphim, Confessors' faith, Apostles' word, the Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls, all good deeds done unto the lord, and purity of virgin s

             Then the  Lord  God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”               He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”              And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:9-11)           Having established yesterday that Satan’s accusations are a special form of temptation, let’s consider the strategies used in accusation. The first possible strategy Satan uses, according to Mr. Gurnall, is to accuse the person of being like the devil, of thinking and doing what the devil thinks and does. In short, he projects himself on the accused.           The second avenue for accusation is the exaggeration of sins in the person’s life. How often do we find ourselves reminded of something we did that was wrong, or even just foolish, and a sense of shame engulfs us? Do we take these things to our Lord? Or do we shrink a li

              And He said, “Who told you that you were  naked?   (Genesis 3:11)           There is a special sort of temptation that needs a discussion of its own. Some may not consider accusations to be temptations but suppose I were to announce that I had seen you shoot Abraham Lincoln. Would the accusation carry weight or be the source of levity? I suspect it would be the source of levity because neither of us was alive at the time, so there’s no real way you could be guilty or that I could have seen you and nobody is likely to believe the accusation because of that. The only way an accusation holds any weight is if someone can be tempted to believe it.           Similarly, if I were to accuse you of having eaten a piece of celery yesterday, or of having done something for which you’d been forgiven by the person you offended, you might well shrug those accusations off, too. They may be true. They may have mattered at one time, but if they ever mattered, they don’t anymore.    

           You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a  liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)           Some 80 pages into The Christian in Complete Armour , Mr. Gurnall finally asks an important question. Why do we need to worry about all this stuff, all these graces (as he calls them,) all this armor? As we look around, it can be hard to tell that there is a war going on. If there is, it must be somewhere else, mustn’t it?           I’ve shared my problematic response to this – surely the problems I encounter are not due to demons or devils or powers of wickedness. I am more than capable of shooting myself in my spiritual foot or of dislocating my shoulder by wielding the shield incorrectly. And I’m right. None of us needs a devil to tempt us. That does not mean they are not there. We

                He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on  bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the  Lord . (Deuteronomy 8:3)   So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’   For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.     But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33) Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;   and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; (II Peter 1:

  Put on the full armor of God,  so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:11) Jesus said to him,  “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Matthew 4:10) But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of  Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 1:9) And so, we return finally to the passage in Ephesians. We have need of the armor because we are in a war, whether we want to believe it or not. The armor is what gives us the ability to stand. The armor is the power of God made available to us. It is not the only power that God has, but it is sufficient. As Nr, Gornall describes it, we appropriate God’s power by wearing the armor of God. And if we do not? He suggests there are four consequences. The first is that we are alienated from God. If we refuse the armor and weapons He provides and go off on our own, we

                 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)   In his discussion of God’s power, Mr. Gurnall lists four reasons why we might not see the power in question. We may have overlooked it. One of the reasons for this is that we are looking for some other manifestation of His power. If we’re looking for a million dollars, and instead He is guiding us through a spiritual minefield, we might not notice the mines, the accidents, the many things that didn’t and don’t happen that could. Our being alive from second to second is possibly by His sustaining power – but that’s too mundane. We may be blocking it. Not all of God’s action on our behalf is without conditions. God did not lead the Israelites into the Promised Land the first time they reached the border. We must be careful with this one because it seems to be the automatic response. Like Job, if X doesn’t happen, God must be punishing us for our sins and w

                 “The  Lord  is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2) No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (I Corinthians 10:13) Yesterday’s thought was on the idea that God is bound to use His power on our behalf. Dallas Willard might had described this as “sharing” His power with us. It’s reasonable to consider today when, under what conditions, and for what purpose He will do so. Our first impulse is to desire its use whenever we wish, for whatever we wish. Were our thoughts like God’s thoughts, this might be so, but too often, our thoughts are not like His, and so we must consider this question further. I will begin with a disclaimer here. The ideas presented by Gurnall are not la

                 Our Father in heaven , (Matthew 6:9)                See what great  love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (I John 3:1) The one who  loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them (John 14:21) Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to  intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25)   Returning this morning to The Christian in Complete Armour , on which we’re barely begun, the author gives us five bonds or reasons why we can rest assured of God’s power working on our behalf (though not necessarily the way we want it to.) The first is His near kinship to us. As His children, He is obligated to take care of us. And while our earthly parents may not fulfill their duties, that does not mean that He will not or that He is like them. That’s something that those of us without perfect parents (meaning all of us) need to get past. We are His chi