Hello Beautiful People!
Prayer is a way of life in which we converse with God, at his initiative, so that we are “co-laboring” with him in all that we do to accomplish the good things that advance his Kingdom.
The freedom of prayer is that we’re not left to our own abilities to receive grace and power from above. We’re relying on the Holy Spirit within us who helps us to pray (Rom. 8:26), along with the word of God and soul friends.
For prayer to become a way of living intimately with the Lord it must first be a spiritual discipline.
In the images above we’ve shared 10 different prayer disciplines that help us grow into a praying life.
1. Which of these have been helpful practices for you?
Which of these would you like to try?
When Jesus told us, “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5) he was empowering us to live in his intimacy with God and to love others as he did.
He was explaining that a fruitful and fulfilling life flows out of having a fruitful and fulfilling relationship with him.
So rather than going about our daily lives and responsibilities in our own strength, we can live in the reality of abiding in Jesus.
To abide in Jesus Christ is to remain in him. It’s to trust him. It’s to listen to his words and obey them. It’s to love one another as God loves us.
To abide in Jesus is to practice the presence of God wherever we are and with whomever we are with.
O, my friends, what peace and power is ours when we practice God’s presence!
At first, we might only be able to do this for moments, but as we continue to grow in God’s grace it becomes more our way of being so that as we do whatever we’re doing we’re abiding in Jesus and the Father, finding our support, significance, and strength as we lean on Jesus’ chest.
This changes everything! It’s the source of our love, joy, peace, and all of our fruitfulness.
As we abide in Jesus’ words and love one another relationships we bear fruit that lasts.
Eventually it frees us of many of the things that trouble us like depression, anxiety, and compulsive behavior. And we develop the divine capacity to love others as Jesus did (even those who curse us).
🙏 Lord Jesus, you make our lives so much better. You draw us into your intimacy with Father God. Thank you for your peace and power today. Amen.
If we’re always hurried, efficient, productive, or charming it shuts down our emotions. When we slow down by getting lots of sleep or by practicing sabbath rest then we feel our emotions and needs and can relate to people (and God) more authentically and vulnerably.
Slowing down is surprisingly simple! Try some of these ideas as you go about your week. Then share your experience and emotions with someone you trust.
Jesus wants to hear from you! He cares about what’s going on in your life. He wants to listen to you share your feelings, thoughts, needs, and desires.
Take some time today to talk to Jesus. Share what's on your heart and listen for how he wants to speak to you and love you.
It might help you to journal your responses and prayers as you do this. Or it might help you to talk to a soul friend or spiritual director who can listen and minister God’s love, empathy, and grace to you.
As you process and share with Jesus, remember that his heart is open to you. He’ll never leave you. Never shame you. Never reject you. His eyes shine with delight in you. He smiles in your presence. He enjoys knowing you and being your friend. And he loves you more than you’ll ever comprehend❤️.
Many Christians are stunted in their spiritual growth because they don’t understand or express their deep emotions and desires.
Being self-aware is crucial to our abilities to connect with God and other people. So in Psalm 139:23 David prays, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…” He goes on to ask God to help him with uncovering his anxiety and sin, which are the two main obstacles to experiencing the love and power of God.
David inspires us to open our hearts to God by trusting that God is present and he cares. He also guides us in emotionally vulnerable prayer, modeling for us how to talk to God about our real feelings and needs.
Psalm 139 is a great gift to help us to connect with our God of compassion with realness — if we go beyond reading it and pray it! We need to slow down and look to the Holy Spirit to help us pray.
Take a moment to pray with David:
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Bring to my awareness any anxious emotions or sins
and lead me in your way of life
(Psalm 139:23-24 paraphrased).
Bring your whole self into this prayer:
👉 Feel the hope that God wants to know and care for you today.
👉 Think about the value of being more emotionally vulnerable with God and safe people.
👉 Put your hand on your heart and say, “Lord, I offer you my heart.”
👉 Write down this prayer and put in on your bathroom mirror to start a habit of praying this.
👉 Tell someone about this prayer experience.
Friendly reminder: it’s always worth it to do the hard work of growth.
As you rely on Christ your Savior to help you accept, process and move forward from your hurt you’ll experience new vitality, peace, creativity, and capacity to love God and others.
As you orient your life around being with Jesus to become like him you’ll experience an increasingly wonderful life with God.
Of course, implementing the vision to heal and grow requires that you get help — you can’t do it on your own.
“Self-help” is a mirage. Reach out to a soul friend, small group, mentor, or counselor. Practice disciplines to help you grow in the grace of Christ.
Yes, you’ll have to face some difficult things along the way. But when you enter into the messy, vulnerable, and broken areas of your life (with the help of Jesus and a safe friend), you can receive more of God’s comfort, love, grace, and mercy that you need.
Then you’ll discover that Jesus knows the best way for you to live you life. And while it involves discipline and hard work, in the long run it’s actually easier and more delightful than life on your own terms.
How we communicate and show up for one another is really important.
When we’re hurting we need to be met with empathy, tenderness, and emotional validation. (Rather than reassurance, advice, judgement, or pity.)
The same is true for the people around you. They need to experience the warmth of your empathy and patient presence with them in their hurt.
This is the foundation of healthy and loving relationships.
It means we’re tuning into what each other feels, needs, and wants. We’re being soft-hearted, interested, and curious. We’re prioritizing time and space to listen, care, and pray together.
Empathy does so much to warm up a relationship and demonstrate God’s love and care for us.
As we let our own hearts be tenderized by the distress of others and join with Jesus’ heartfelt compassion for them, the people we care for will feel seen, understood, loved, accepted, and not alone. What a tremendous gift of love that is!
Everything that we want to do in this world goes better when we communicate and respond to people’s hurt in a way that’s attentive and caring.
We’ve shared some practical examples of things you can say to someone who is hurting in the image above. (These are also things you can imagine Jesus saying to you with love and compassion in your areas of hurt ❤️).
2. Nothing good comes from shame
Many Christians don’t understand this.
When we condemn ourselves for our sins, failings, or struggles it pushes us away from God.
Shaming and guilt tripping ourselves over our sin pulls us down into depression and isolation, further and further away from the mercy of Christ and the care of other people.
It sucks the joy of the Lord out of our lives, suffocating us and rendering us incapable of loving God or other people.
Shame is worldly sorrow. When we’re punishing ourselves with shame we’re rejecting the mercy of Christ that we need, which cuts off the flow of God’s Spirit of grace from us to others.
Of course there are things that we do that are “shameful,” but self-condemnation and self-hatred is not a healthy response.
Instead, God would have us respond to our awareness of sin with the sadness that leads to repentance — this is the healthy response to our brokenness. It’s what Paul calls “godly sorrow” (2 Cor. 7:8-13).
Now with that being said, the point of this post is not to shame you for feeling shame!
It would be unrealistic to expect that we would never feel shame again. At times we all feel inadequate, insignificant, less than, or unloved because of some deficiency (real or felt). We may fall into a pit of feeling bad about ourselves — even if we know better.
But when that happens, it’s an opportunity for us to realize that we need a fresh touch of grace from Jesus.
You see, shame causes us to hide (just like Adam and Eve). So the best way to get out of shame is to come out of hiding and receive empathy.
When we take courage and share vulnerably with God and safe people about what we’re feeling and receive their empathy and grace, it helps us get free of shame.
And the best part is: after we feel sad about our sin and confess it to God to receive the mercy of Christ then we can feel happy!
As we worship the Lord with our heart we can increasingly overcome self-condemning thoughts and shameful emotions. And as the Psalmist says, we can become radiant! (Ps. 34:5).
Do you feel accepted by God? Do you believe that you are loved and eternally unforsaken by God?
All of us can relate to feeling ugly, unwanted, ashamed, and like a failure. And at times we may be tempted to believe that this is how God views us.
But because of Jesus, we’re eternally embraced by our loving Father.
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
God comes towards us when we are in sin. He doesn’t reject us in anger. He never abandons us.
Amazingly, God’s love for us is so great that he finds you and I in our brokenness and he doesn’t turn away!
In Jesus he became like us and loves us right where we are.
He felt our pain.
He took our sin into Himself.
He answered the cry of our hearts with his merciful forgiveness and gracious acceptance that recovers in our souls our long lost glory, restoring in us the image of God in which we were created.
It’s a beautiful story. It’s God’s story and he’s made it our story. God chooses to love us and we can choose to receive his love and share it with others.
It’s the gospel and it’s the greatest blessing of your life!
It’s Easter! Christ is risen!! He is risen indeed!!!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter is the culmination of Holy Week and the climax of the Christian faith.
It is the dominant, joyful theme of the Bible.
Early in the morning on the first Easter a group of women, including Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.
An angel proclaimed:
“Don’t be afraid… Jesus has risen! He is not here… Go tell his disciples… He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7).
Whatever you need to do, you don’t need to do it by yourself. Put your trust in the angel’s words that Jesus is risen from the dead and he’s walking with you into whatever situations are ahead for you.
Fix your eyes not on the circumstances that are seen and temporary, but on the glory of Christ’s presence that is unseen and eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).
It’s true. It’s real. The Spirit of the risen Jesus is with you. Hold his hand. Put all your confidence in him. He will comfort you and strengthen you.
“My peace I give you,” Jesus promises. “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
On Holy Saturday Jesus is dead. His body is in a tomb: limp, cold, lifeless.
The Messiah didn’t deliver Israel. He didn’t finish his job of setting the common people free from oppressive Roman tyranny or legalistic Jewish religion.
Nothing makes sense.
There will be no more of Jesus’ witty stories, teachable moments with his disciples, playing with children, standing up against oppressors to protect the poor and powerless, or amazing miracles. The Messiah is gone. Hope is gone.
3. Sometimes we all feel that are hopes have been dashed
In fact, things were so bad that on Holy Saturday Jesus was in hell. But that’s actually good news because Jesus is the Righteous One and Satan couldn’t hold him or anyone who puts their confidence in him (Eph. 4:9, Acts 2:24). Now he holds the keys of death and hell (Rev. 1:18).
With the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, God paid the ransom to deliver us from sin, death, and hell (1 Peter 1:18-19).
We may fear dying, even going to hell. But Jesus Christ has empathy us — we’re not alone in death! — because the Lord went into the dark void ahead of us.
His eternal light-life shines for you even in death. He comes riding on the clouds to embrace you and escort you into heaven.
Sin, death, and hell could not hold the righteous Christ (Messiah in Hebrew) and so they cannot hold us who put our trust in the mercy of God through him.
Jesus Christ’s promise for us is that “anyone who keeps my word will never see death” (John 8:51).
In other words, as a disciple of Jesus when you die physically you won’t experience death —you won’t even know that you “died” until later!
Because we know Easter resurrection is coming, on Holy Saturday we can wait in the dark with hope🤍.
On Good Friday the Son of God was betrayed by Judas, falsely accused and condemned by the religious leaders and Pilate, scourged almost to death by the soldiers, abandoned by his disciples, mocked by the crowds, and tortured to death on the cross.
The pure and shining one who never sinned took on the hideousness of humanity’s sin. He chose to receive the punishment that we deserve so that we could be healed (fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53).
The Lord had the power to call down thousands of mighty angels to defend his righteousness and deliver him from his enemies (Matt. 26:53), but he willingly gave himself to suffer and die for you and me.
The cross didn’t happen to Jesus — he seized hold of it out of love for us!
Then as Jesus hung on the cross the sky went black. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” (Matt. 27:46).
Did God stop loving Jesus? Was God angrily punishing Jesus?
Jesus’ closest friend who saw it all answered, “God is love!” (1 John 4:8). God would never stop loving Jesus, you, me, or anyone. (His holiness, anger, and judgment are expressions of his love.)
Yet, by becoming a sin offering for us Jesus experienced a separation from his Father. He experienced the awfulness of humanity’s sin as if it were his own. He felt abandoned in the night. He was all alone, cold, and naked as he hung on the cross.
Because of sin, shame, and isolation we know the feeling of God’s absence. Like David we cry out, “How long, O Lord, will you hide your face from me?” (13:1).
Jesus has gone before us into this Dark Night of the Soul. He is there on the cross with arms open wide and eyes of mercy fixed on you.
Nothing can ever separate you from God’s love when you look to Jesus (Rom. 8:38-39).
On the cross Jesus Christ is healing your sin and shame, he’s removing your forsakenness.
At times we all feel too bad, too broken, too needy, not successful enough, or not attractive enough to be delighted in by anyone.
But the cross of Jesus is all about him showing us that we are unforsaken.
It’s the message we desperately need to hear and trust:
You are unforsaken!
You’ve sinned but you are forgiven!
You feel like a failure but you are a success!
You feel ugly but you are beautiful!
You feel unwanted but you are passionately loved!
Truly, you are unforsaken by God!
This is what Jesus is saying to you in each of his last seven words as he’s dying on the cross.
What a great grace to discover that with Jesus Christ at his cross we are fully loved by God and forever Unforsaken!
Because of Jesus Christ, you can know God’s lavishly generous attitude toward you and every person on the planet: “You are my lovely daughter and I delight in you! You are my true son and I am so proud of you!”
On Maundy Thursday Jesus spiritually gives his body and blood to his disciples at the Last Supper. He institutes communion for all people who would follow him (Matt. 26:17-30).
He washes their feet, shares his last words with them, teaches them to abide in his love like a branch in a vine, and prays for them and us too (John 13-17).
Then in the Garden of Gethsemane he travails in prayer to prepare for his cross (Matt. 26:31-46).
This is a painful day for Jesus.
👉 He’s betrayed by Judas.
👉 He predicts that Peter will deny him three times.
👉 In the garden his apostles all fall asleep after he’s asked for their prayers.
👉 He agonizes in prayer as he takes on the weight of the cross and sweats drops of blood.
👉 He’s assaulted by Satan and nearly killed.
But the Bible says that God answered Jesus cries in the garden, helping him make it to the cross, and now our risen Lord serves as our high priest to help us in our prayers and in all that we need (Heb. 5:7, 10)❤️.
It seems that Wednesday of Holy Week was a quiet day of blessing for Jesus. It was the calm before the storm of the cross.
Probably he spent his day resting at the home of his dear friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany (just two miles outside of Jerusalem).
It was here that Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with very expensive ointment. Imagine the delightful fragrance that came from Jesus’ feet and filled the house and the events of Holy Week.
Even as Jesus hung on the cross, he and everyone nearby could smell the sweet aroma coming from his nail pierced and bleeding feet. Surely, this reminded him of Mary’s kindness and how his Abba was loving him through her.
Mary’s act of devoted love deeply ministered to Jesus but his disciples thought it was a waste of money and they criticized her. The Lord stood up for her. He publicly thanked her and prophesied that what she did would be told as part of his gospel forever (Matt. 26:6-13).
As with Mary when you devote yourself to Jesus with affection and reverence some people will criticize you as being too emotional or not productive enough.
But nothing is more important than cultivating intimacy with Jesus.
The beautiful fragrance of Mary’s offering points to Jesus’ sacrifice of perfect love on the cross. When we receive our Savior’s mercy the horror of the abuse and pain he endured is transformed into the most glorious event in history.
🙏 Thank you Jesus for your unfailing grace to us. You forgive our sins and empower us to do what is good and loving. Like Mary we pour out our gratitude and devotion to you, praying that God will make it a sweet aroma for you and many other people. Amen.
On Holy Tuesday Jesus explains how he was able to do physical gardening in a fig orchard with his words: “If you believe you will receive what you ask for in prayer” (Matt. 21:22).
Then on the Mount of Olives he confronts the religious leaders’ lack of faith in God, saying they’re “blind guides” (Matt. 23:16).
Later a poor widow puts two cents in the temple offering and Jesus says she’s put in more than the rich hypocrites who made a show of their giving. Are these just nice words? No. She really did put in more because she alone gave with confidence in what God would do (Luke 21:1-4).
Jesus is teaching us Kingdom of God math where 1 + 1 = 11. Not 2.
4. A little faith + God = HUGE!
That’s why Jesus could garden with words and 2 cents was a large offering. But the religious leaders were blind because they didn’t see and trust the God of mercy.
Maybe your faith feels small to you as the poor widow felt. Jesus himself was often wrongly accused by the religious leaders as having bad faith.
What do you need God to do for you or a loved one? What big project do you need God’s help with?
Use Jesus’ Kingdom of God math. Use the faith-trust you have (even if it feels like it’s not enough) and act with Jesus. Do the loving thing and watch for God’s kingdom of beauty and goodness to manifest❤️.
esus’ first order of business on the Monday of Holy Week was to visit the temple.
There he sees the corrupt priests and their workers ripping off the poor and other people that came to buy a sacrifice and worship God (Matt. 21:12-17).
So he gets out a whip and drives away religious abusers from the people who are seeking God’s tender mercy.
Jesus’ anger gets all the attention in this scene and sometimes he’s even portrayed like he’s a madman. But this is a scene of fierce compassion for the poor and needy.
The whip of Jesus made space for outsiders to come to him freely and receive healing. (He offers the same ministry to the insider religious leaders and some did become his followers.)
How do you feel about anger? Your anger? Other people’s?
When you experience angry judgment or abuse from someone it’s shaming. If your inner critic is active then shame can come on you like an avalanche.
The worst is when condemnation comes in the name of God, as was happening in the temple in Jesus’ day. This is religious abuse.
Jesus feels empathy for you.
He experienced religious abuse, even as a young person from a poor family visiting the temple and experiencing the unjust system. Throughout his life he was looked down upon, rejected, and mistreated.
Our Lord’s empathy motivates him to rise up to defend and protect you and all who are mistreated or judged.
On Holy Monday Jesus ministers the tender mercy of God to you.
ou know that the last seven days of Jesus’ life changed the world, but you may not have thought of them as filled with God’s empathy for your pain and sin.
Empathy is tuning into what someone else feels, validating the bigness of it, and expressing compassion.
The only perfect empathy in the universe is the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, offered for all people in Holy Week.
The drama of Holy Week begins today, with Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday Jesus fulfills the ancient prophecy of the Messiah and rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as crowds of people wave palm branches and sing “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:1-11).
At the height of Jesus’ popularity he was actually totally alone, emotionally isolated from everyone except his Father in the heavens.
On Palm Sunday no one understood Jesus, no one appreciated that he was the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who was sacrificing his perfect life to forgive their sins.
The crowds praised him because they wanted him to be their military and political king to lead Israel to overthrow the Roman empire.
When you succeed there are people who will praise you, but the excitement is short-lived. Soon you feel empty and lonely. You long to be known for who you really are and to be loved unconditionally. Jesus understands and offers you empathy❤️.