HERE IS THE THOUGHT I WILL BE MEDITATING ON DURING MY SABBATH PRAYERS TOMORROW.
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.
MY SABBATH MEDITATION FOR 2-14-24
#reality
Preparing To Come Out Of the Decay Pt. 3
This year God has given our congregation a Series of thoughts to focus on. We are calling this THE CONGREGATIONAL SENTENCE. It reads: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
Each week I am going to take one day to speak to one of these thoughts. Today I am writing on:
PREPARing YOUR SPIRIT(COME OUT OF THE DECAY OF YOUR STRONGHOLDS).
HOW DO WE BREAK SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLDS?
Paul the apostle gives us this instruction. “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 6 And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.” 2 Cor. 10:3-6
Fighting the good fight of faith and tearing down strongholds cannot be accomplished by using worldly methods of fighting and resisting. The Art of War cannot help us when it comes to fighting spiritual battles. Anger, aggression, fighting, confronting, rebuking are nearly useless when it comes to spiritual warfare. It is not for nothing that Paul indicates that the weapons of our warfare in Ephesians chapter 6 are almost all defensive.
The real key to fighting spiritual battles and tearing down spiritual strongholds is not found in what we tear down or get rid of but of what we build in place of the stronghold.
Paul writes in Galatians 5 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. …the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
SO WHICH OF THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ARE YOU GOING TO PRAY OVER YOUR LIFE AND STRONGHOLDS TODAY?
SCHEDULING
Back in the time before lead pastoring, when I was writing four blogs a day, I would have writing sessions. In those sessions which came about twice or three times a week I would write and schedule several blogs at a time into their respective time slots. I had a pretty organized schedule of which blogs were posted when.
These days I am happy when I just get seven blogs a week done on “Notes From the Vicarage”. I haven’t yet figured out how to schedule each post into its respective time slot, because while I am writing everyday (or just about everyday), it is still catch as catch can as to what time the writing gets done.
I had worked out a pretty good rhythm before life changed, but I am in a new movement in the symphony of life and so I am still figuring out the new tempo, meter and rhythm of this particular section. Part of this change is learning to give myself grace and space as I hunt and peck my way to my new normal. It’s funny. It took me almost two years to realize I needed a new normal.
ARE YOU A STICKLER FOR SCHEDULING OR DO YOU FIND IT EASIER TO JUST LET LIFE HAPPEN?
SHARE YOUR WORLD FEB. 10TH 2024
I am choosing SHARE YOUR WORLD as my community participation blog this week. SHARE YOUR WORLD is hosted by Pensitivity101. Check out that blog and the other contributors by clicking on the link above when you are done reading my answers to the challenge.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “cuddly”? I think of puppies or kittens.
2. Would you like to own an exotic pet? If so, what? I would not like to own an exotic pet. Exotic sounds like a lot of work. I currently have two dogs and they are more than enough work. I think when they pass from this earth I may be done with pets for a bit.
3. If you were suddenly gifted £1000/$1000, what would you do with it? I would probably save it for a vacation somewhere. I don’t think I will be taking any kind of a vacation until after Mom passes, but by then I think I will need a vacation. I have been looking at VRBO a lot lately. Which one do you like?
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4. Do you wear slippers at home? It is cold here in New England and keeping the floors warm is near impossible. So yes we all wear slippers, in fact I have one of my pairs on now.
Gratitude: I am grateful for the VNA Hospice that has begun to help us care for Mom this week. Everyone has been so kind.
KEEPING THE FIRE BURNING.
I remember as a teenager I gave up piano lessons because I hated the practicing.
My Aunt took me aside, way back then and told me, that I shouldn’t quit.
I laughed and asked, “Aunt Joan, what possible use is piano playing going to have in my future?”
Of course, it turned out she was right. A large part of my portfolio as a pastor has involved leading worship and piano playing through the years….Go figure!
Anyway, worship was a such a large part of what I did as a pastor that many believed I could never give it up. I actually continued leading worship for about 6 months after I became lead pastor, but I did give it up.
Then back in September I was called to lead worship again with a ministry called, The Worship Room House of Prayer.
This ministry is dedicated to building round the clock worship and prayer in our region to empower the church and release the grace of God over our region. It is patterned after the thought in Leviticus 6 of never letting the fire go out on the altar: The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offeringson it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
I believe that if the church is to move forward it will do so from the position of prayer. So when I saw a need I offered my abilities such as they were. I do a devotional hour of worship from the piano on Monday nights from 5-6 P.M. The first month I sounded like a rusty old gate when I sang, and I played more wrong notes than right notes. Even six months into this I am still so weak in this gift of worship, but it is not about me. It is about raising up a prayer that will help the church in our little town move into its next stage of growth. I have to admit It is great fun playing and worshipping again even if the gift has aged in me.
I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE
One of the things I heard in prayer during the 21 days of fasting and prayer, that our church just completed at the end of January, was that I need to prepare in prayer. Part of that prayer preparation is going to be times of family prayer, I think.
I have a confession to make. I am pretty good at private devotion. I am even good at prioritizing corporate prayer with the church body. The area I have always struggled with is in calling my family to consistent times of prayer.
Praying as a family for emergencies… I can do that….but I feel like this preparation is going to be more than just the joining of hands through a time of trouble. I feel like God is calling us at this season to consecrate our family through regular prayer times.
In the past I have always struggled with saying yes to so many things that the yes to family prayer got pushed into the back ground. I do guess that is a common failing of young men, but I am no longer a young man. I need to stop living a young man’s mistakes.
It sounds like my family is game for this. So we have chosen a time and we begin this week!
THE HOSPICE PROCESS AND GOD WINKS
This week’s big “project” at The Vicarage has been setting up hospice for my mother. At last week’s Telehealth appointment with Mom’s primary care doctor she felt we needed an evaluation to see if hospice was in order.
So this week we have had: Two telephone consults, two visits with a nurse, a visit with a social worker and a visit with a home health aid.
It seems to be a God wink thing that is going on. What’s God wink you ask?
God wink (plural God winks) An event or personal experience, often identified as coincidence, so astonishing that it is seen as a sign of divine intervention, especially when perceived as the answer to a prayer.
Here are the God winks we have seen this week:The doctor in charge of the program is actually the doctor mom worked with about twenty years ago when she was nursing at a local clinic; The social worker that came to our house I know personally through other hospice situations I have been involved in; And the home health aid I have known for years as her whole family has been a part of our church throughout the years.
It seems like God is working already to comfort us in all our grief! I love these God winks.
TODAY IS TUESDAY
Today is Tuesday. It is the end of my work week. It is the day I prepare for my personal sabbath. So I will prepare by writing down some things (quotes) I am going to think about during my sabbath rest. I will also write and schedule my blog for tomorrow so that I can pull back fully from the world.
The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.-James M. Barrie
PREPARING TO COME OUT OF THE DECAY PT. 2
HERE IS A DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT I RECENTLY SHARED WITH OUR CONGREGATION.
AS A CONGREGATION, we have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
Today I would like to talk a bit about coming out of the decay of our personal strongholds.
DAY 2: PREPARE YOUR SPIRIT(COME OUT OF THE DECAY OF YOUR STRONGHOLDS).
WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT STRONGHOLDS?
Strongholds cause spiritual decay.
Strongholds are controlled by and flow out of our flesh nature. Of this nature Paul the Apostle said, “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.” Romans 8: 5-8
When we choose not to deal with our strongholds we are for all intents and purposes voting against God and His plan for our lives. When we refuse to deal with our strongholds we are in effect sabotaging our spiritual walk.
IS THERE ANYWHERE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE YOU ARE EXPERIENCING HABITUAL FAILURE? WHAT MINDSET (STRONGHOLD) IS CREATING THE SELF SABOTAGE?
Pray with me: Dear Lord, You see this area of failure in my life. Forgive me for my sin and help me to see how my thinking is keeping me stuck in this failure. Deliver me from my wrong thinking and help me to start thinking Your thoughts. In Jesus name Amen.
ADDING SOME LIGHT READING
Back in the days of that other lifetime before being lead pastor I was posting up to four blogs a day, and I was reading a lot of blogs as part of my involvement in the blog community.
I really enjoyed it, but when I took on my current position, I went from four blogs a day to one blog a day done as a video devotional thought for my congregation. I also gave up almost all reading of anything other than essential business material. I missed the community, but couldn’t find the time.
This year though something has shifted…not so much in my schedule, but in my ability to organize myself. Maybe it’s just that I have finally hit my stride.
So as part of my New Year reevaluation and commitment renewal, I decided to try venturing forth into the blogosphere once again. I made a decision to start doing one NOTE FROM THE VICARAGE in addition to my daily devotional each day. It’s taken about a month but I am now blogging a NOTE everyday.
This week I am adding some light reading of blogs back in to my regimen.
I have decided I will start by reading all the other blogs connected to my weekly community challenge on Saturdays.
IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF A BLOGGING COMMUNITY, HOW MANY BLOGS DO YOU READ EVERY WEEK AS PART OF YOUR COMMUNITY WORK?
Notes From the Vicarage 