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30 Day New Testament Challenge

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Here is the challenge I presented today… in the next 30 days, read through all of the New Testament and immerse yourself into God’s story. I think it would be powerful to have multiple hundreds of us reading through together each day!

Amazing things will happen as you read through God’s message in the New Testament.  The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, so as you begin to read, meditate upon and digest all that God has to say to you in the next 30 days, I know that faith will be unleashed in your life!

As you read, find a comfortable space with limited distractions. That could be a challenge in and of itself! Also, you might want to keep a journal, or a notepad and pencil handy to write down what God is revealing to you as you read. I am sure you will have some insights and some epiphanies throughout the next 30 days.

Finally, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your reading. The Bible is alive, it is God’s living revelation to you! In it God is revealing who He is, and leading you deeper into who you are becoming! So write down what seems to jump at you from the pages. You may not even know why it is sticking out to you, but as you pray and meditate on it, God will reveal why He decided to bring that to your attention!

Click on the links below to get to your daily reading! Feel free to like and share this post to others!

Day 1: Matthew 1-9
Day 2: Matthew 10-15
Day 3: Matthew 16-22
Day 4: Matthew 23-28
Day 5: Mark 1-8
Day 6: Mark 9-16
Day 7: Luke 1-6
Day 8: Luke 7-11
Day 9: Luke 12-18
Day 10: Luke 19-24
Day 11: John 1-7
Day 12: John 8-13
Day 13: John 14-22
Day 14: Acts 1-7
Day 15: Acts 8-14
Day 16: Acts 15-21
Day 17: Acts 22-28
Day 18: Romans 1-8
Day 19: Romans 9-16
Day 20: 1 Corinthians 1-9
Day 21: 1 Corinthians 10-16
Day 22: 2 Corinthians 1-13
Day 23: Galatians & Ephesians
Day 24: Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians
Day 25: 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Day 26: Hebrews
Day 27: James 1-2 Peter
Day 28: 1-3 John
Day 29: Revelation 1-11
Day 30: Revelation 12-22

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How To Read A Love Letter

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A famous anecdote was published in the New York Times in 1940 as an advertisement for Mortimer J Adler’s work “How To Read A Book.”  As I read it again today I was reminded to read the Scriptures in a similar way. Slowly, anticipatorily and intimately. One of the most important aspects of reading Scripture is to begin seeing the details that submerge the text. When we read to quickly we miss most of what God is trying to say, and the transformative application stays shallow.

As you read this week, slow down, soak in the details, ask questions about the text as if you were a CNN reporter. Remember those first love letters that you received?

Your heart began to race…

You could smell her perfume…

You held it gently and ravaged each word with your eyes…

You stopped breathing as the words created an alternate reality…

You were removed from the moment and immersed in a world where letters have the power to free you, or even crush you. Then, the letter was secreted away to a special place that you probably still have, and the letter still holds her magic.

Remember how you poured over the words? Letter by Letter, word by word, thought by thought. No matter how many times you read it it still made your heart skip?

If you’ll approach the Bible that way, you will definitely begin to see things you never saw before!

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How To Read A Love Letter

This young man has just received his first love letter. He may read it three or four times, but he is just beginning. To read it as accurately as he would like would require several dictionaries and a good deal of close work with a few experts of etymology and philology.

However, he will do all right without them.
He will ponder over the exact shade of meaning of every word, every comma. She has headed the letter, “Dear John.” What, he asks himself, is the exact significance of those words? Did she refrain from saying “Dear-est” because she was bashful? Would “My Dear” have sounded too formal?

Maybe she would have said “Dear So-and-so” to anybody! A worried frown will now appear on his face. But it disappears as soon as he really gets to thinking about the first sentence. She certainly wouldn’t have written that to anybody!

And so he works his way through the letter, one moment perched blissfully on a cloud, the next moment huddled miserably behind an eight ball. It has started a hundred questions in his mind. He could quote it by heart. In fact, he will- to himself-for weeks to come.
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To ponder…ruminate…chew…devour…savor…dwell in… absorb…

These are the ways to read the holy.

Speed reading in order to absorb content might fill your information tank, but it will never touch your soul.

In my book Sacred Space, one chapter is dedicated to his pursuit. Read the chapter titled “Sacred Words” and there you will find some more tools to learn how to navigate the sacred.

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Matzah, Maror, Kharoset and a Lazy-Boy

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In the midst of the sights, sounds and smells of Pesach (Passover) a young child stands to recite the Ma Nishtanah:

Why is this night different from all other nights?

  • On all other nights we can eat bread or matzoh. On this night why do we eat only matzoh?
  • On all other nights we can eat all kinds of vegetables. On this night why do we eat only bitter herbs?
  • On all other nights we do not dip our vegetables even once. On this night why do we dip them twice?
  • On all other nights we  eat our meals sitting or reclining. On this night why do we eat only reclining?

Four questions that really serve to answer the bigger question, “Why is this night so different from all other nights?”

As the questions are explained, a growing sense of thankfulness to God is ignited.

The four questions also serve as four paths to connect with God.

Humility is the first step on the path towards God.

Matzoh is not an elaborate or fancy bread. It is thin, looks somewhat strange and has no leaven in it. In haste the Children of Israel made their bread and were ready for God’s escape plan. The larger image here ,though, is of purity. In the Bible, leaven is a metaphor for sin. If we want to journey deeper with God, we start by admitting who we are and seek to become who we are meant to be. This is a humbling journey that reveals the darkness that resides within us. The good news is  that God longs to heal and restore and remove all the effects of sin in our lives.

Most of our energies are spent trying to gather attention, move up in the ranks, get noticed and find success. We want to be on the New York Times best seller list and have a video that goes viral. We want the biggest house, the nicest cars, the most lavish vacations and designer clothes. But the God-hungry long for holiness.

As leaven works through an entire batch of dough, sin affects the totality of our spirituality. When we begin to remove all the leavened (sinful) areas of our life, humility is a natural by-product.. Now we know that we are not “all that” ask God to do His cleansing work in us.

What things are you still trying to control?

What secret sin is robbing you of peace?

What hurt, habit or hang-up is tripping up your efforts to live a godly life?

In humility, we acknowledge our desperate need for God and seek to remove anything in our life that gets between us. This leads to the hard part of the path.

 

Brokenness is the hardest part of the path.

Maror. The bitter herbs are a reminder that the path is often hard, even as life was hard for the Children of Israel. Forced into slavery making bricks to build treasure cities for Pharoah. We make our horseradish sauce from this root, and when you eat a glob of it, you will cry some real tears!

What do you do when life goes sideways on you? How do you handle the sudden loss of a spouse, friend or job?

No one is exempt from pain and struggle. In fact, those fraternal twins are part of God’s process to expand your joy. That probably seems like a strange statement, but it is true. Without resistance muscles cannot grow. Without adversity your virtues are only theories. Without pain you will never know joy. Tears flow in life as a way for your heart to speak about the reality of life, love and loss. If you never cry, you have probably never loved.

Most of the people I know try to avoid pain at all cost…and that is why few people know God. The entrance to His presence is found in humility and brokenness. When you live in a culture that leans towards narcissism over humility and pretending to be someone you are not instead of brokenness, it is hard to know God.

God already knows all your secrets…and He loves you anyway.

God already knows how you will handle that stressful situation at work next week…and He loves you anyway.

God knows you just blew it with your daughter today…and He loves you anyway.

When you allow God to love you as you are, raw, naked and broken, you will begin to understand grace and know what real love is.

 

Presence is the surprise viewpoint along the path.

Kharoset. we have already dipped the Karpas into saltwater once. This reminds us that life (greens) is mixed with tears (saltwater). next we dip a second time  by taking some matzoh with maror and kharoset. The kharoset is a sweet mixture of apples, honey, nuts and wine. The sweet taste mixed with the bitter herb and the matzoh is surprisingly good.

Have you noticed that the good times seem to come with the bad times?

Beauty and pain ride twin rails of reality.

In the same day you might lose a father and welcome a new son.

All of these emotions are present in you at the same time. I think of a long, steep hike. Your muscles are tired, You are thirsty and out of breath, You might even be feeling the burn! Then, out of nowhere, you come upon a stunning view.

Even though your body is screaming your eyes are feeding your soul as you take in the beauty. It is in this moment that you realize that you are always surrounded by beauty, but sometimes it is obscured by the path we travel.

The most bitter of circumstances can be sweetened when we have the presence of God.

Humility and brokenness remove the veil that keeps you from seeing God.

He is always with you.

You are never alone.

This awareness transforms the brokenness in your life and infuses it with His living presence. There is still pain, but it is made sweeter, and you experience the goodness of God even in a dark time.

Humility, Brokenness and Presence reveal the path that you are on, and it is called freedom.

 

Freedom is not a destination, it’s a lifestyle.

Why do we recline tonight? The child asks. In the Exodus story, they ate standing up, ready to go because they were slaves. Slaves stand, free men and women recline in comfort. When you have experienced deliverance from slavery, a Lazy-boy is what you need!

Humility is the movement when we choose to actually leave Egypt (slavery, bondage).

Brokenness is the parting of the Red Sea. Only God can bring you through it.

Presence is God’s  sustaining power as you travel through the wilderness…but freedom…freedom is when you enter the Land of Promise.

Practicing His presence means that anyplace where you are is a promised land because God is there with you…freedom.

Practicing His presence sets you free to experience His grace and mercy in every moment…freedom.

Practicing His presence is a lifestyle of humility, brokenness…freedom.

Wherever God’s presence is…His power is there as well…freedom.

The power that created the universe is right there with you.

The power that rose Christ from the dead is right there with you.

The power that holds the universe together is right there with you.

The power to forgive and give you a fresh start is right there with you.

The power to free you from anything that disrupts the shalom of God in your life is right there with you.

So, why is this night so different?

This night reminds me that God is with me…For me…and leading me into greater expressions and experiences of His presence.

 

 

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RE:LENT

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Every year I have many people ask me “What is the purpose of Lent?” Why do we emphasize or practice something that isn’t found in the Bible?” What are the origins of Lent” and  “isn’t it Catholic?” If you did not grow up in a main-line church (Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist etc.) then Lent might be foreign to you. However, if you did grow up in one of those denominations, you see Lent as a 40 day focus on repentance, and removing the things that distract us from living a God-centric life.

Another way to put it is that Lent is a 40 day retreat that helps us realign with God. I don’t know about you, but I need as many opportunities as possible to realign my heart with the heart of God.

The Biblical connections would be the 40 day period that Moses encountered God on Mt. Sinai as well as the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert and was tempted by Satan. In light of the latter, that is why fasting has been a traditional part of the Lenten journey.

We miss the power of Lent, though, when we simply think we need to give up chocolate or something we like for forty days because it’s Lent…This misses the point and is a waste of good chocolate. When we desire to draw near to God, we ask His Spirit to reveal those things which continually negotiate for His attention and we choose to reprioritize that thing in our life so that God is first. Perhaps you do have an issue with food. Food is fuel, nothing more, nothing less. So if food is used for comfort, or dealing with stress or any other way to medicate your life, then food would be a good thing to fast from. There are, however, many things that get lodged into first place leaving God in the dust.

What is it for you? Sports? Movies? Alcohol? Sex? Power? Leisure? Bad Religion?

Or maybe it’s more subtle like, stress, anger, manipulation, blaming, negativity, hatred, self-hatred, fear, excuses, arrogance or even judging.

All of these things carry something that we like, even though on the outside we would think it wrong, but somewhere there is a pay-off, and that is why we keep doing them.

Yet, when we continue to live this way, unrepentantly, these things become the gods we worship, and they are vicious gods.

Lent is a season in the church that helps us as individuals, and as a community, rid ourselves of the sins that entangle, ensnare and sabotage our spiritual growth, and that is powerful.

As life is always a two way movement of sorts, Lent, for me, is also a time of “adding to” not merely subtracting from.

What do you need to add into your spiritual journey this year?

How about Grace-giving, compassion, meditation, prayer, reading life-giving books, forgiveness, compliments, positive words to others, pursuing justice for the marginalized and oppressed, being a conduit of love to every person you come into contact with. Teresa of Calcutta said it well:

“As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst…’Repent and believe’ Jesus tells us. What are we to repent?  Our indifference, our hardness of heart.  What are we to believe?  Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor — He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you.”  

I think that the most beautiful moment of Lent happens when you do your soul work, realize that there is much shadow still inside of you, and yet experience the overwhelming and irrational love and grace of God. This kind of love knocks us off of our feet, makes our head dizzy and confounds the wisest in the world. This leaves us astonished, as Brennan Manning noted:

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.” 

Grace and Peace…