A couple of years ago, our youth group had a 30-Hr Famine Lock-In. We fasted for 30 hours and spent much of that time praying, reading God's Word and worshiping together. It was an amazing event. During one part of that night, we did "Lectio Divina," which is where you select a passage of scripture and read it over several times focusing on it and spending some time on it. Since we were fasting, we chose to do John 6:26-40. Here is a link to that passage at BibleGateway. After reading through several times, we split up to spend some individual time meditating on this passage. I did a short journal entry during that time. Here is that entry:
Do not try to fill yourself up with inconsequential things. Do not seek after material gains and focus on feeding the body and yet forget about feeding your soul. Belief in God means accepting his truths and his direction for our lives.
And if we accept God and believe that he has a plan for our lives, then how could we not accept Jesus? And if we accept Jesus as the Son of God and we believe that he was sent from God to be our daily supplement for spiritual nourishment, then how can we not follow in his steps and pay close attention and give credence to his words and his message?
Do not demand a sign. Do not test the Lord your God or demand that he continue to prove himself faithful. Demand nothing -- because you know that God is without fault and blameless and that he will follow through on the promises that he has made.
Remember that God has nothing left to prove -- he has proven both his infinite love and his faithfulness. What else is there?
Who are we to question God or ignore when he grants our requests or blesses us? Do not mistake who it is that has given you these gifts and blessings. Do not forget that it is this same God through whom all things were made, through whom all blessings flow, that has given you what you have received -- and you have received much more than you deserve.
Do not think that you are anything. Do not think that you have the things you have because you worked for them.
"Give us daily this bread." Continue to infuse us with the Holy Spirit.
These people were foolish in their thinking, yet they were still wise enough to say that if there is a bread from heaven, and we believe it, then how could we not desire to partake of it daily?
Jesus should be the desire of our hearts. He will fulfill us. We know that we can always ask God for anything because he who comes to Jesus will never be hungry. Those who do not believe do not believe because they have chosen not to believe.
Jesus will never drive you away! Because Jesus has not come to do his own will but the will of the Father, he is compelled to continue loving us and he will not turn away from us. God is always just a prayer away.
"The shortest distance between a problem and its solution is the distance from your knees to the floor. The one who kneels to God can stand up to anything." -Anonymous
Friday, May 18, 2012
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