Daily Devotional - 9/16/10 (10/16/09)

Prayer Focus - Friends



Day 2


Pray for:
One friend that you feel close to
One friend that has become distant and you would like to be closer to


Pray about:
Their physical needs
Their mental needs
Their emotional needs
Their spiritual needs


Dear Lord - Help me to listen to You each and every day and please grant me the strength to obey.





Psalms 46




"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." (vs. 1-2)



Tomorrow I am going to a reunion in San Diego. As I was preparing to go, I became very sad and frustrated. I was afraid to go. Afraid to face my out of shape body and my inability to play a sport I once loved and still do. Afraid of what I have cut myself off from. Afraid of bad memories and feelings of failure that I left when I left that city. I haven't been back in many years. I haven't had any desire to return except perhaps to play waterpolo. That I have missed and longed for. That is why I am returning. But I know that my body will betray me. My life is so different now. But God is still my refuge. Even in these vague murmurings and sadness. I am still going. I am going to face my fears and my sadness. God is my help and this is my time to deal with my six years in San Diego. I cannot cut out so many years anymore. I must begin to synthesize my life and accept all of it.



"The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." (vs. 7)



And God will be with me. He is my fortress as I deal with my soul. He is the healer of wounds we cannot see. No one else knows the aches in our hearts as He does and no one can be a fortress for us. No one else can save us from ourselves.



"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (vs. 10)



I will be still and know that God is God. I will go to the bluffs and the ocean and all the old places and I will feel once again all the pain and I will let it go. I will let God be God and I will be still. I will listen to what those years have brought me to now. I had to go through the fires. I had to experience it. I would not go back or take it over and yet I would not wish it on anyone else either. But I will be still tomorrow, all day, and I will listen. I will laugh and do my best and reconnect and be someone that I was not in a place that I once was. God will be exalted, somehow, because God is always exalted whether we do the exalting or not. Hopefully, I will join in with the earth and exalt as well. It will be okay. I will be okay and when I return home, I will be better than I was. I will be more complete.



"The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacobs is our fortress." (vs. 11)


Amen




Prayer for the Day




Dear Lord,


You know the sadness and the wounds of our hearts. It is so easy to put band aids on gaping holes and move on but You know and You arrange for us to meet the healing forces or face the pain again so that there may be closure. As we face our fears, help us to remember that You are our refuge and strength and that You are our ever present fortress. Help us to stop running from our painful pasts. Help us to embrace them and learn what You would have us learn.

We respect those that are able to face great tragedies and turn them into triumphs. Most of our pains are of the lesser type but in our souls they are festering and they are keeping us from fully living. Help us to come to grips with all our experiences, good and bad, and help us to use them to glorify you by strengthening others. You have great plans for us. You allow us to suffer so that in the end You may be lifted up through us and used, just as Jesus suffered and was used to save all those who would come to Him. We are grateful for all of our experience and we are grateful for Your saving grace. We will be still and know that You are God. Help us to do this. Help us to quiet our souls and hear Your voice. Help us to know now and always, that You are God.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen




QFT



1. Am I running from any past memories or experiences? Why am I doing this?

2. How can I face these experiences and work through them so that I can have closure and move on in my life? What help is available for me?

3. What am I afraid of? Am I giving these things over to God in prayer? Am I remembering God in these moments of fear?

4. Am I still before God? How can I be still before God?
5. What does it mean to me to know that God is God?  How can I practically do this more and more in my life?