Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Last Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Leviticus 9:7-20:21
Mark 4:26-8:38
Psalm 37:30-42:11
Proverbs 10:6-17
May 2nd's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Leviticus 20:22-Numbers 3:51
Mark 9:1-12:17

Psalm 43:1-47:9
Proverbs 10:18-25

Focus: "Christ is risen from the dead! He trampled death by death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life."

In our church this is our Easter hymn which we sing on Easter and throughout the following 40 days. The words are powerful on their own but to participate in the joyous singing with the entire congregation raising their candles (lit with Christ's light) in unison is a goosebumps and happy tears experience. In that moment it is as if all of heaven is joining us and one feels closer to Christ...at least I know I do. Unfortunately, this year I missed out on this extremely Spiritual moment thanks to a nasty stomach virus... It got me thinking though, about how to achieve this closer to God, goosebumps, happy tears feeling every day. I don't think there's one right answer to this, rather I believe that we each have to find our own. Just as we each have a special and unique relationship with our Savior, so also I believe we each must find our own special connection that draws us nearer to God. It could be a hymn from church, or a Bible passage, or a Christian rock song on the radio that speaks to our soul...or maybe it is more than one of these! Once we pinpoint how we can achieve that "wow" closer moment with God then I believe we should re-visit it often! Daily, or if we're finding it is a particularly rough day then perhaps revisit it hourly! No matter what, I think that this is an important daily step in our journey with our Lord. Please pray with me:

Dear Lord,
I praise Your glorious resurrection! I thank You Lord for the special moments we share and I ask You to please grant me a Spiritual nudge daily to remind me to seek these closer times with You. Lord, I want to thank You for all of Your leaders in Your world, Your countries and most especially in Your churches. Please continue to bless all of them and continue to grant them Your wisdom so that they may lead us, Your people, in the right direction. We also thank You for all of Your soldiers, young and old, present and past and we pray that You please bless and protect them as well as Your families which You surround them with today and always. Father, You alone can heal us, no matter what ails us. Please grant You extraordinary healing, be it spiritual, emotional, physical or mental, to all those in need but especially to Lee, Pam, Jeff, Helen, Larry, George, Karen, Gary, Tim, Jeff, Joy, Ward, Jeff, and all those we each name to You now. God we know that Your will is perfect and therefore we ask that all these things be done according to Your wishes and not our own. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Have a blessed and awesome weekend and week ahead!!!

Love through Christ,
Niki

(I will be out of town this weekend for my husband and my anniversary but will have a Weekly Thoughts ready by May 2nd. Thanks!!!)

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