I have always been a tender-hearted man. I get it from my grandfather. I get my toughness from my grandmother who raised six kids and worked herself silly to do it! Somewhere along the way I let my toughness mask a lot of my tender-heartedness. I would tear up during a Hallmark movie, but wouldn't express myself even to God.
The devotional spoke to me as encouragement to keep doing the things that God has taught me the past five years or so. See the Simply Saturday section below for more details. I like the story of Nehemiah noted in the devotional. I read it last year, but had forgotten it. Check it out here in Nehemiah 1.
Does this story inspire you to do anything different in your life? Read the section below for more. I hope it inspires you like it inspired me by writing it down!
Lord, thank you for listening. Help us listen to you and obey with all of our hearts!
Simply Saturday
Simply a breakthrough
There are times in my life, and they can be rare, that some things finally click. I wish they happened more often! I call them epiphanies. A recent epiphany concerns the topic for today's devotional! How cool is that?!? Below are the six steps to reduce worry and bring things to God. Reduce worry? That is crazy talk! ha! It has also been my key to turning things over to God more completely. Let's take a look at the steps. I wrote down how they work for me. Figure out how they work for you as you read them!
Six Steps to Letting Go (based on Nehemiah's experience)
- Talk to God about it.
- Praise God for who He is
- Request forgiveness for sin
- Remind Him of His promise
- Ask for mercy from God
- God will watch over you!
Talk to God about it.
I loved the description of the child's prayer as "expressing his heart". One of the big things I learned this summer is to be more childlike in my prayer life. Notice I said 'childlike" not "childish". There is a difference. God knows what is on our hearts, yet he delights in hearing us talk to him about it. Why? Because he knows it is best for us to dig deep into our hearts to express the things we can only talk to him about. That is how we bare all so we can be more completely his. Talk to him like you have never talked to anyone before. Let is all come out during your prayers, no matter how silly or exposed you may feel. It works.
Praise God for who He is
Praising God for who He is reminds us who we are talking to. Notice in most of the psalms that I post on Sundays that there is a praise component. Acknowledging who God is also makes us more special since he takes time to know each of us!
Request forgiveness for sin
Always request forgiveness from sins. I like some lines from the new prayers I am saying at the Episcopal church "for sins, known and unknown, for things done and undone". Praying to be more sensitive to all kinds of sin and turning from our sinful ways is important to keep the communication lines open with God.
Remind Him of His promise
Yes, God knows his promises to us. He does not need to be reminded, but it helps us to remind ourselves when we remind him. Write down the promises of God that you are claiming for your life. I find discernment is the most difficult part. I have prayed earnestly for things that really weren't mean to be because I wasn't listening carefully. Pray for discernment. Pray for wisdom. Pray to faith to trust God in his promises. Think Abraham and Sara. That is my all-time favorite "God's promise" story!
Ask for mercy from God
A monk friend of mine taught me this prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, please have mercy of me (a sinner)" as a quick way to get in the prayer state of mind. I also use it to focus during the day when I am walking or exercising or getting frustrated at work. I take a few minutes and recite this prayer a few times.
God will watch over you!
Lastly, have faith that God delivers on his promises. We may not know when or how. A saying I saw on Facebook means a lot to me: "God's promises are better than our dreams". How true! God will watch over us. He will allow things to happen to us to help make us whole. To help draw us closer to him.
Praise God!
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13
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