By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
TO PONDER
The implication here is God rested because he was tired. He was worn out. He needed some down time after creating the platypus and the screaming hairy armadillo and the chicken turtle and the pleasing fungus beetle. Does God really need a rest though? He certainly could, dealing with us humans every day. But he’s stopping work, because his creative work is complete, not from weariness. Our Psalms remind us that God does not sleep.
Then he sets aside the day after he’d finished, to reflect on the work, and wants us to do the same. Now, in this packed 21st Century, setting aside the Sabbath (Saturday) or the Sunday, means our weekend plans may need to change, and Australians enjoy their weekend! So why not set aside some other time in the week, where we reflect on God’s world, and maybe just sit with scripture, and let God speak to us in the quiet. Listen for that still, small, voice. Be open to God speaking to you in various ways but try and make sure we set some time aside for it.
PRAYER
Lord, you have reclaimed all that is your own, redeemed and restored all of Your creation to Yourself. Preserve me and Your creation O Lord, by your grace. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping.
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;I will not neglect your word.
TO PONDER
Let me offer you a pastoral translation as I expand upon some of the Hebrew vocabulary.
15 I read aloud your principals for living and setting the world right, I ponder them and make them part of my way of living.
16 I find joy in these foundational principals of yours, for me; I will not forget the things you have spoken into my life.
This Psalm section forms the basis of the Lectio Divina or sacred reading. Luther altered the order of the Roman Catholic Lectio and gave it an ending which better gives meaning to suffering or struggle with the living Word, and as it struggles to change us. It’s a wrestling match. The Lectio Divina begins with Oratio, meaning to read the Word aloud. Meditatio, means to take time and ponder the Word of life. Tentatio, means to struggle with it, to suffer through the process of transformation and the renewing of our minds.
I understand this struggle and its suffering and have great admiration for those who persistently return to it. It is in this struggle that the character of God is developed in us, that the mind of Christ is established in us, and it is in this struggle that we become the loving, identifiable people of God.
Spiritual Intelligence is found in the struggle with the living Word of God.
PRAYER
Lord, you didn’t give me a spirit of cowardice, but a Spirit of courage, of love and of a sound mind. The mind of Christ. Holy Spirit fill me with your courage to face up to myself as I wrestle with your life giving and life changing Word. Amen.
Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
TO PONDER
When I was young, my father insisted I learn how to mow and edge the lawn. A job I hated because he wanted it done right, I wanted it done quickly.
I was always in a hurry and keen to go off and do something of my choice. The training began by me attempting to push and manoeuvre the mower. I was too young and small to have enough strength to do the job, so my father stood behind me and took the greater burden of the load. I was yoked to him as a young ox was yoked to an older, stronger, more experienced animal. It was an act of love. Over the years I learned to mow the lawn in a way that cared for the growth and left it pleasing to the eye. Today I still mow and trim as my father taught me.
It was easier when I was young because he carried the load. Today it is easier because I carry his knowledge and experience. When the work of love and compassion that God gives us is too difficult for our inexperience and strength, he continues to yoke us to himself, if we are willing.
Spiritual Intelligence is looking to God for training in love, strength for the task and a willingness to act in partnership with him and others. It’s easier that way.
PRAYER
Help me not to flog myself as I persist in the works of love. Teach me the humility to lean on you Lord. Amen.
Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’
Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.
TO PONDER
Distractions can be dangerous. When I drive by myself, I’m fine but if I have a passenger, I often get caught up in the conversation. I haven’t had an accident; I am aware of the traffic around me, but the distraction of conversation can often lead me to take the ‘scenic route’. I miss turn offs. I get distracted. It’s as if I don’t know where I’m going or, I’m not focused clearly on the destination. So it is with life, so many distractions and scenic routes that miss the important turn offs.
Thomas has grown up as a faithful Jew with all the teachings of the Torah, Prophets, and the other Writings. He has been schooled in his culture of faith but still he is unclear on the destination of his life.
Like Thomas, we need verifiable, truthful guidance to find the best path to a full life. Jesus is the only way; he is the embodiment of truth and the life he offers is complete. There are no lies in him, no secrets, no deceptions. What you see is what you get. He is as the Father is. Love in human form, love in action. Jesus came seeking us so that we may be saved, we seek him to find him along the path of life and so, know the genuine transparent Truth.
Spiritual Intelligence is knowing who to follow and with the true destination in mind.
PRAYER:
Lead Lord, and I will follow. Amen.
Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
TO PONDER
Earlier in this proverb we learned the incredible capacity of God’s word to give us life and health. Now we learn the very practical approach to safeguarding that life.
Calling ourselves Christians without practicing it as a disciple is not enough to experience the life given to us. A disciple walks the walk of following Jesus. We disciples are not merely hearers of the Word, we are its practitioners also. Eternity is guaranteed to all who confess Jesus as Lord and live it out. Today’s life is a gift but taking hold of it and its fullness requires the transforming practices of seeking God and his Kingdom.
These are the simple disciplines:
· Fix your eyes on God who goes before you, trust him.
· Start and end the day with prayer. (Try the app. ‘Lectio 365’)
· Spend time in the Word. Struggle with it.
· Be patient with your growth and know that what you have is enough for today.
· Resist temptation by trusting the word within you. Call on God to guide your feet along Holy paths.
· Love as God loves you and do it with others. It is with others that God builds your character.
Disciples are disciplined in these things for in them, the life of God is revealed in us and through us.
Spiritual Intelligence is fixing our eyes on Jesus and all that he stands for.
PRAYER
Lord God, turn my eyes toward Jesus and allow me to look straight into his loving face. May his face transform me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.
TO PONDER
This is either a very sweet meme, or a profound truth that is difficult for a worldly mind to apprehend. God’s words are life and health? It’s the word ‘health’ that takes us out of the realm of mere poetry. We often speak of ‘life’ in sweet romantic ways, but ‘health’ puts us in the pragmatic realm of the daily struggle. So, if ‘health’ isn’t poetic here, neither is ‘life’.
This proverb is encouraging us to deeply trust God’s teaching and so receive the kind of abundant, flourishing life that the Father and Jesus have often promised us.
My mental health improves every time I step aside for time with God and his word. Hope grows, joy increases, I come out of my worries. My posture improves, my relationships thrive again, and my body reaps the benefit along with my soul. There’s no other way to true health and wellbeing, than to sit with God and allow him to forgive, heal and redirect you onto holy paths. I become whole along His holy way.
Note: Prayer, like all disciplines, requires practice and encouragement. Find someone to pray with who has some experience. Listen to them pray and you will learn to pray, and you will learn about them. Prayer reveals the beautiful depths of a person.
Spiritual Intelligence is trusting God and all his promises to give us a healthy, full, and satisfying life.
PRAYER
Re-orient my soul, Father. Holy Spirit, imbed your inspired Word deep within my being that my understanding may be increased, intimacy with you deepened, and my world view changed to see as You see. Amen.
Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.
TO PONDER
I went camping with my middle son and his oldest boy a while back. While there, we walked down a long and very steep 4x4 track, from the escarpment to the sea. I found it a difficult track to descend but that was nothing to the ascent. My boys had to stand by me as I struggled all the way back up. It was embarrassing and excruciating.
Isn’t it just so with ascending the prayer space? All sorts of obstacles present themselves. Urgent tasks, start of the day rush, end of the day weariness, too many things on our minds, and an urgent sense of hurry for all of it.
A Kenyan proverb says, ‘haraka haraka haina baraka’ – hurry has no blessing. It is said that when African tribesmen once acted as porters for white safaris, they stopped every few days to ‘wait for their souls to catch up with them’.
Setting times in our diaries to regularly ‘go up the mountain to pray’ is essential for our mental and physical health. It’s a place to find blessing in the sitting and the silence of God’s holy presence, in whatever quiet space we choose. A place for blessing and for our souls to catch up with us.
Spiritual Intelligence is knowing how, when, and why to stop, wait on God, and on our own souls to catch up.
PRAYER
Father, you gave us three blessings when you created this cosmos. You blessed the earth that it may be fruitful. You blessed men and women that their lives may be fruitful. You blessed a day a week for rest so that every seven days we could sit in blessing and wait for our souls to catch up. Bless me with the faith to leave all my responsibilities in your hands for a short period of sabbath rest each day and for a whole day every week. Amen.
Today's devotion by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ``BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
TO PONDER:
"Pinky promise it!" It was a statement made by one school student to another on the train the other week. A pinky promise is where two people entwine their little fingers to signify that a promise has been made and cannot be broken. The two co-joined little fingers are proof of that. Romans 1:16-17 is like God's pinky promise to his people; You have his Word on it, salvation is free for you. You have his Word on it, he has taken care of everything so you can be with him. You have his Word on it, that your past is forgiven, your future assured, your presence pull of possibilities. You have his Word on it...all he asks is that you receive the gift he offers, live by it, and share it with others. And when you do receive it, your life will transformed in ways that are not only beautiful. All because of Jesus who pinky promises that everything has been done so you can enjoy him forever. It's pinky promise he will never break.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, help me to never be ashamed of the good things you give to us, your children. Help us to receive what you offer, live in it and celebrate what you are doing in and through us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
TO PONDER:
To burst someone's bubble is a saying that means to say or do something that will destroy someone's expectations, to shatter their illusion or to reveal to them that the beliefs they hold onto are false or that what they want to happen will not happen. Paul is bursting the bubble of pride that characterise the Corinthian people. He bursts their bubble of self importance and arrogance that has them thinking that they are better than everyone else, their boastful claims that somehow they deserve special privilege. Paul reminds us in this text that we are not to go beyond what Christ says through his Word; we are not to go beyond what the Bible teaches us, for as we heard yesterday, the Word that became flesh and lives among his people is non other that Jesus Christ. The Word exposes the false beliefs that we hold onto, destroys the sense of entitlement that we often live by. The Word reminds us that everything we have in our hand, is the gift from the gracious Father in heaven. So check yourself and make sure you don't give credit to yourself, when God should receive every accolade on heaven and earth. So don't go beyond what God has written in his Word. Check your arrogance, your superiority, your plans again and live according to the promises of the Word which are always for his people.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, when I am tempted to run ahead of you, forgive me. When I am tempted to take credit for something that has been given to me, cleanse me/ Create in me a clean heart that every challenge we face, we may do so with trust in you and the promises you made to us. We all this in the same of Jesus. Amen.