A Sojourner’s Thoughts

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Winter Awakening

GRBSP-19 A few months ago I was journaling about how I felt that my soul was in a cold, dark time of winter hibernation. In a sense I was living off my spiritual reserves. I was alive but like winters in Minnesota there were really no external signs of life. There were, are parts of me that really enjoy this time alone with myself and God but it is not healthy to continually be in this dormant state.

Spring seems to have arrived for my soul. The stirring of the Spirit, the prayers of others, and simply the passage of time has led to this rebirth of my soul. I have started to send green shoots up into the sky – a tweet here, a brief blog post there – announcing that I am once again alive. Alive is not the word, I have always been alive, rather words like awake, aware, present, or active perhaps better describe my state now.

GRBSP-21Like the picture of the flower about to bloom, it is still not summer, but it is simply a matter of time before I will be in full bloom again. I can’t wait to see what this seasons blossoms will look like.

 

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Lectio Reflection 12/17/13

Verse
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for . They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6 ESV)

My Word or Phrase
Overcome

My Image
I remember running my only marathon and being nagged by physical problems, but I overcame them and finished the race. We at times are nagged by the world but with the help of the Spirit we can overcome the world’s nagging.

My Invitation
To quit worrying about what the world thinks and push forward guided by God through the Spirit to do what God is calling me to do.

My question for you is who are you listening to, God or the world? Are you distracted by what the world is telling you? Remember, “he (the Spirit) who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

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Lectio Reflection 12/14/13

Verse
If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:13-18 MSG)

My Word or Phrase
With heart and soul

My Image
I see people like Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa who gave fully of themselves for their cause – heart & soul – despite the hardships and suffering it caused them.

My Invitation
I need to discover or perhaps just develop what it is God is calling me to give my heart and soul to. Or is it that all I do I should give it all I have? What kind of life message would that send to the world? What does this look like?