Rehab and Therapy
First I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and checking in on me. My surgery went as expected, and I am, as my doctor ordered, staying in my recliner, with an ice pack, and lifting nothing heavier than the remote!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lent as rehab and therapy.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:14 (ESV)
OK, I am just sitting around for a few days, but after that I will need to begin a regimen of some sort to strengthen that which Dr. Domenick repaired, muscles would begin to atrophy. With some surgical repairs, the lack of follow up therapy can actually cause the situation to be worse than before; at a minimum, it would prevent one from receiving the maximum benefit of the repair.
And so it is spiritually: “… this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.” Matthew 13: 20-22
We can receive from God, but we can also atrophy spiritually if we do not develop roots. Simply stated: prayer, reading, and study*, with other actions added as faith takes root and grows. So, as we clear things out of the road between us and God, reflect on our lives using His Word for perspective, allow Him to do the repairs inside us, let us also commit to getting ourselves into, or back into, the kind of shape for which we were made.
Sabbath rest tomorrow, see you Monday, Lord willing, Pastor Jim
*If you need a starting place for spiritual discipline, consider the following 5 minute exercise:
Starting today, and then first thing tomorrow morning, I challenge you to listen to God, with this five minute exercise:
1) Do this as soon as you wake up. Set your clock a few minutes early if that is what you need to get up ahead of the household noise. Lay your Bible by your bed as a reminder.
2) Go to the quietest place in your house, outside, your kitchen, your bathroom...wherever.
3) Pray for 1 minute that God would speak to you. Audibly, out loud, ask Him to remove Satan from your presence for this time. Ask Him to remove distractions and mental clutter. During this time, do not ask Him for anything else, do not thank Him for anything else, do not pray for anyone else (but please find another prayer time for all these things).
4) Open your Bible and read for 2 minutes. This is God talking to you through His Word. Listen to Him.
5) Close your Bible and be silent for 3 minutes. Listen for Him. He may come as a thought, a nudge, an idea. For a while, He may seem hard to hear. There is so much clutter in our minds! Keep listening.
This may seem difficult. You will hear every creaking tree branch. You will hear every barking dog. But like Elijah's time in the cave, God is not in the tree branch, God is not in the dog. Persevere. Listen for the gentle whisper
No comments:
Post a Comment