Ask. Seek. Knock.

This year I'm working through a book called Oxygen in the mornings. It's not your typical devotional book. Rather than provide a daily scripture reading, author Keri Wyatt Kent invites you to spend an entire week (28 in all) in a different Gospel passage. And rather than leave you with a list of questions, she challenges you to reflect on the passage in several different ways. Each week wraps up with a few of her own thoughts to help you reflect.

Initially, I was a little hesitant to abandon my regular reading plan (a little OCD kicking in) but after spending some time meditating on this week's passage (Matt 7:1-12) on my way to work and at night, I think I like this. I feel more freedom to “dwell in” those words, to chew them over and fully enjoy the flavor they impart.

These familiar verses were especially challenging to me at the start of this new year: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened." (Matt 7:7-8)

Ask. Seek. Knock. Each requires a step of faith. We don’t know what the response will be when we ask. We have no idea what we'll find when we start seeking in earnest. We don’t know what will be on the other side of the door when we muster up the courage to knock.

What will I ask this year? Of God? Myself? Of others?

What am I seeking?

What doors of opportunity will I knock upon?

Meditation on Philippians 4:6-7

I wrote this a while ago in my journal. I just came across it recently and thought I'd share here. One of the blessing of keeping a journal, in my opinion, is being able to look back at different times in your life and remembering what God was teaching you at the time.

I love these verses in any version, but for a while there I was just kind of chewing on them from the Message and envisioning how the Apostle Paul might have explained them to me in person. (I can be kind of thick at times, so Paul might have had to be pretty blunt with me!)

Don't fret or worry. [You know what you do. You obsess about many little things. Some things haven’t even happened – you just assume someone’s upset with you. Or that you’re going to have a bad day at work. Or that you won’t get everything done.]

Instead of worrying, pray. [Okay, well if you can’t quit cold turkey, how about trying something else instead? Something that really works. Like talking to God about things.]

Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. [Are you still having a hard time understanding? Here’s what it looks like. Picture a potter at the wheel, a wet, slippery lump of clay before him. The one hand petitions. It asks of the clay. The other hand praises. It affirms what is good. That’s how you need to view your worries, as an inanimate lump of clay that is powerless to control you. Instead of allowing your worries and fears to control you, remind yourself of what God has already done in your life and the lives of those you love. And then lay your heart out before God. He already knows what is going on.]

Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. [Sooner or later, you will start to realize that you can take God at his word. You can trust him with the little details of your life, as well as the big problems. Christ would like to be in control of things and he would do such a better job than you are. Will you let him? Something happens when you acknowledge your brokenness to him. You invite him in. He won’t force himself on you. But when you let him, he can pull things together for you in ways you never imagined.]

Question of the Year

Every year I face the same question: what direction do I go in my Bible reading? Used to be, I'd start again in Genesis like a good Christian girl should. After a while, I knew what would happen - I'd peter out by March. Each new start required a new journal, which of course, would end up mostly blank and sometimes in the trash.

Several years ago, I discovered a method that I have been able to maintain for several years now. I blogged about this method in detail several months ago, but thought that at the beginning of a new year, others might benefit from this again. The secret, in my opinion, is the use of a table of contents in the front of my journal. The notebook I just finished spanned a couple of years, but looking back over it helps me to recall what God was teaching me at certain periods of my life. (You can't read them but the column headings are: Date, Scripture, Title and Page. Each journal entry begins with the date, Scripture passage and a title as well. If you do this, be sure to leave at least 3-4 pages front and back in the front of your journal for the TOC. If you run out of room as I did before your journal is filled, you can always continue the TOC in the very back)

Others have blogged about similar methods recently. Chris at Come to the Table explains a similar journaling method in a recent post and even links to a resource for journals. Plain old notebooks work fine for me, but I concur with her thinking: this is not something to do for a year but for a life! It really puts your walk with God in proper perspective, instead of viewing it as a series of starts and stops.

While I still ponder the question of "what to read" at the beginning of each new year, it's with anticipation and expectation. Sometimes I do topical studies; other times I get involved in book studies or follow my church's Spiritual Life journal reading plan which coincides with the sermon series. Some days I haven't even done any reading but just journaled a prayer instead. Sometimes I read the same chapter or short epistle several days in a row. I try to be sensitive to God's leading as far as what to read, but the framework of the journal helps keep me motivated. If I miss a few days, it helps to look at it prayerfully and recall what was going on in my life at that time.

If you're looking for a new beginning in your Bible reading, I'd encourage you to consider giving this method a try. I've done it for 4 years now and it has been one of the greatest spiritual blessings in my life.

Bible Journaling

Many people I know keep a journal of some sort. I did for years, only I was never able to be consistent. Each renewed attempt meant yet another notebook was needed for a fresh start. Until I came across this free workshop: http://www.writershelper.org/Bible.htm. The author who put this together has since died but his wife graciously allows Writers Helper to continue to offer this online workshop completely free. It changed not only the way I write, but also (and more importantly) the way I read the Bible and my journaling method. And guess what? Since I started using this method in 2003, I'm still on the same notebook (okay, I write small and use college-ruled theme books). I encourage anyone who has ever attempted to journal as part of their devotion time, or is interested in improving their writing, to check out this workshop. I see there's another workshop available now called "Write with Purpose" and I plan to check that out soon.

The neatest thing about Glenn's method is you keep an index in the front of your journal. This allows you to look back over the months and get a bird's eye view of how God has been working in your life. Just this morning, I sat and read through a years worth of entries (I don't journal every day, more like 2-3 times a week). What a blessing to be reminded that, even when I don't see it, God is in control and working in my life.

Today I realized that, although I believe in a God of miracles, for some reason, I've always felt a disconnect between God's miracles and my own life. I guess my thinking has been I don't deserve any of those miracles. Talk about double-minded! Wow. Nevertheless, looking back through my journal over the past years, I couldn't help but notice God has nevertheless been working miracles all along! Even in this doubting heart. I'm so glad God doesn't base His love for me on any merit of my own. What a great God I serve!