When I proof my work online, I have trouble spotting mistakes, but when I read a book in print, my eyes often go to whatever needs correcting. I'm sorry to say, I didn't proof a printed copy of Kneeling on the Promises of God until after publication.
I've now corrected those errors and re-uploaded the book, but if you find something I've missed, please let me know. Thank you.
This poem originally began on an Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent
which often focuses on the penitential Psalm 51 and encourages us to look at ourselves
honestly then confess what needs confessing, change what needs changing, accept
what needs accepting, and receive the joy of God’s forgiving love.
Begun in Ashes
Create in me a clean heart, O God
and renew a right spirit within
all who come to You
in sorrow for our sins.
Whenever we’re out of line
with Your love, Lord,
we thank You for revealing
the truth and not hiding
our errors behind ashes!
We praise You for making us
spotless
with pure forgiveness
we don’t even deserve,
yet bringing us back
into Your embrace,
so we can face You again
without shame.
No matter where we go
in this life or this Lent
help us to glow, Lord,
as we walk in the Light
of Your Name.
by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2021
…
This quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln is actually a word from Jesus:
"And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand," Mark3:24-25, King James Version (KJV.)
This year, my husband
and I read Jesus Always every evening with additions from my book Kneeling on the Promises of God at various times of the day. I highly recommend Jesus Calling too. But, what about you? Do you have a daily devotional book
that speaks to you?
This week, Group
Publishing kindly sent me a review copy of the new 365-day devotional Jesus-Centered Daily by Rick Lawrence. Turning to today’s reading, “The Safety Fallacy”
reminds us how people often say “Be Safe” or “Stay Safe” instead of “goodbye,”
then adds this timely word:
“…’Be Safe!’ is not a kingdom-of-God imperative. The message of the
Incarnation is a prod to adventure into the darkness, not retreat from it.
Jesus invites us to walk with him into the ‘valley of the shadow of death’
because (as David reminds us) his ‘rod and staff’ will bring comfort to us. In
his hand the Good Shepherd carries two metaphoric necessities – a staff to
rescue and a rod to defend. That’s why his hello’s and goodbye’s so often
convey the opposite of ‘Be Safe’.”
At the top of the
page, the devotional suggests reading Psalm 23, and below the main text the
layout consistently includes three columns followed by a prayer. For this day’s
example:
Wonder
“What are the
unintended consequences of using ‘Be Safe’ for ‘goodbye’?”
Jesus
“How can anyone enter
the strong man’s house…unless he first binds [him]? (Matthew 12:29, NASB).”
DO
“Instead of ‘Be Safe!’
try ‘Be Christ’s!’ or ‘Stay awake!’ or ‘Live Large!’”
“Pray: Jesus you are my safety.”
And, of course, in perilous
times or not, we have the option of saying the original phrase that was
eventually compressed into “goodbye” – “God be with ye.”
Most of us will be glad
to see this year end! Although we can’t control much of what’s going in the world,
we can make next year better for ourselves and those around us if we choose to
be Jesus-Centered Daily. Amen?
God be with ye!
©2020, Mary Harwell Sayler, poet-writer, Bible reviewer
Kneeling on the Promises of God
To order a devotional
book to start your New Year, click on the above title of interest. If you have
a favorite devotional book, let us know in the Comments below. Thanks and God
bless.
…
[The following article introduced the book, Kneeling on the Promises of God.]
As you have likely heard, the hymn “Standing on the Promises” encourages us to trust God and take Him at His word. But from the very beginning of time, the matter of believing God arose in the Garden of Eden with the doubt-producing question, “Does God really mean what He says?” That contagious thought gave mankind an excuse to disobey, and distrust gave birth to death!
Now, as then, wariness of God brings uncertainty and the ongoing scramble to find, “Who can I trust?” Sometimes we can’t even trust ourselves! So where do we turn? Do we place our hope and faith in money, power, politics, institutions, traditions, or trends?
The trouble with those options is that people change their minds. Money changes hands and value. Political leaders come and go. Institutions become something unlike their original selves, and trends are, well, trendy. Facts get disproven as new information comes to light. Even the ground beneath our feet trembles, and stars careen from the sky. Everything changes! But God does not change, and neither does God’s word.
Mysteriously and paradoxically, the Holy Spirit is invisible to us yet the most solid matter. So, too, are the promises God gives – promises so stabilizing, we can build our whole lives on them. Promises so truthful and trustworthy, they can become the basis of our most powerful prayers. But why should we believe those promises? Why should we place our faith in God?
According to the Bible, God is Love – forgiving, compassionate love that can always be trusted to do what’s best for us and our spiritual well-being. Nothing and no one is greater, kinder, holier, or more trustworthy than God. Nothing and no one can offer us more power or purpose for our lives. Once we realize we can totally trust the Lord, we can build our marriages, families, churches, and occupations on the promises God gives.
We can build our prayer lives on those promises too. We can take God at His word, knowing He agrees with our prayer requests because He has already promised the very things we claim or ask Him to do. Therefore, to kneel on a promise God made means claiming that promise and praying it into our lives.
To put this belief into practice, the book Kneeling on the Promises of God includes heartfelt, conversational prayers following each Bible promise – promises found in a variety of translations but paraphrased into everyday English. These prayers are to give you an idea of how you, too, might kneel on the promises in God’s Word.
The hope is that relevant prayers will also come to you as you meditate on the scripture verses, and write down your prayers, claiming God’s promises in the space provided on the lower part of each page. But, before doing this:
Pre-pare with pre-prayer!
Pray for the prayers to pray.
Regardless of our denominational affiliations or cultural backgrounds, let’s agree to stand on the promises of God throughout our lives and kneel on those promises as we claim God’s Word each day and night in prayer.
May God bless you and your prayer life in the Lord!
For actual prayers from the Bible, visit the Bible Prayers blog.
When Intervarsity
Press kindly sent me a review copy of Soul Care in African American Practice
by Spiritual Director Barbara Peacock, I joyfully read a paragraph in the
Preface describing the author’s upbringing, which reflected my own nurturing
home and the deeply held convictions that grew from that love. As Dr. Peacock
said:
“I thank God for his faithfulness toward my siblings and me in that he
blessed us with an environment of a loving, caring, and nurturing community,
including our parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Such a
foundation in my Christian journey allows me to seek ways to love
unconditionally. Consequently I emphatically embrace the theology of love. I
believe that love covers all kinds of sin. I believe what the world needs more
is love. And is love not the greatest commandment? This is the greatest call: to love.”
Indeed, the certainty
that God
is love sets every troubling thing into perspective and enables us to
discern the responses God wants from us as we ask, “What is the loving thing to do?”
Sadly, many people
from every culture and country lack the loving care and encouragement needed to
be all they’re meant to be, but thankfully, our spiritual growth doesn’t rely
on love received from the human race but from God’s grace. Often, the greater
the obstacles, the greater God graces us with His powerful presence.
As Dr. Peacock points
out in the introductory chapter “African American Spirituality”:
“While in chains, many slaves expressed great faith in God, the only one
who could deliver them from such inhumane circumstances.”
Therefore,
“It was on those slave ships making the Middle Passage that we find the
origins of African American spiritual direction and soul care.”
However, “Many make the assumption that all Africans
first heard about Christ when they came to America. This is far from true.”
“In
fact, the African church fathers contributed to the formative years of
Christianity. St. Augustine of Hippo as well as Egyptian and North African
scholars such as Clement, Origen, Tertullian, and Athanasius are widely
recognized as fathers of the church.”
Later, slavery sorely
challenged Christian beliefs, but stories of faith and spiritual hymns provided
strength. As the author explains:
“The wording, the verbiage, and the tone of slave narratives and
spiritual songs in the African American tradition tell the journey as a story.
Such songs lifted the heart and affirmed hope for a better day. The central
relational focus of the spirituals was God. He was and remains the hope, the
deliverer, and friend.”
In the following
chapters, Dr. Peacock focuses on African American leaders who “have been tenacious in pursuing a
relationship with Yahweh.” One seemingly unlikely person was Dr. Frederick
Douglass, better known as an abolitionist, reformer, and former slave, whose
master’s wife read the Bible to him and helped him learn to read.
“From memory, he began to speak words he heard her say while they read
together. The way they read the Bible together resembles the Latin reading
process called lectio divina, a
slow, thoughtful reading of the text with God’s presence in mind.”
After explaining this ancient spiritual practice,
the author provides “Questions For Reflection” to help us engage more fully.
That section, included in subsequent chapters, too, additionally provides
spiritual direction in talking with God, hearing from God, visually reflecting
on the Lord, and praying.
“As a result of learning to read the Bible, Douglass became a well-known
intellectual in his community and beyond. Reading was the fundamental skill that
prepared him to live a life that transformed not only himself but also others.
For him reading was not merely glancing over a text but meditating on what he
heard, which eventually equipped him to impact millions.”
The next chapter,
“Spiritual Direction and Prayer,” highlights the soul care of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., whose “life of contemplative
prayer made him an effective spiritual leader.” The author goes on to say:
“It would have been impossible for Dr. King to fulfill the mandate on
his life without the assurance of God’s unconditional love for himself and all
humanity…. Thus, as a leader, he was called by God to lead in a movement for
freedom that was centered in love – that is, Christ-centered love. Such love is
the kind Dr. King allowed the Spirit to form in him amid racial discord. With
such love, he loved God and his people to the extent he was willing to die for
what he believed.”
In the chapter
“Meditation and Contemplation,” we learn of the “conscientious decision to speak silently for her civil rights” that
Mrs. Rosa Parks made before getting on that Montgomery bus. Having been brought
up in a Christian home, she spent much time seeking God and developing the soul
care needed to equip her for the task at hand.
“During the civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks needed the supernatural
peace of God as she led the people God called her to serve. She understood the
cost of developing and nurturing God’s peace within her that would equip her as
a spiritual leader. Because of her faithfulness, God graciously provided her
peace in the midst of adversity. In order to maintain and abide in this peace,
Mrs. Park’s challenge was to keep her mind fixed on God.”
Throughout this
enlightening book, Dr. Barbara Peacock focuses on the practices of ten African
American leaders, whose companionship with God enabled them to do the work to
which they had been called. By tending their own souls through prayer,
meditation on God’s Word, and reliance on the Holy Spirit, they could then provide
spiritual direction to others.
In “Conclusion,” the
author calls us to re-call:
“The journey of all people (regardless of color or ethnicity) began in
Genesis. The inclusivity of the Spirit of God is seen in the divine entity of
life and the breath that all humanity shares…. All creatures, whether black,
white, brown, red, or yellow, are communicative beings designed for the glory
of God. All peoples are created to worship and to be in holy communion with our
Creator.”
May we all enter into this
intimate relationship with the Lord and express God’s love to others in Jesus’
Name.
Mary Harwell Sayler,
©2020, poet-writer, and lifelong lover of God’s people and God’s Word
…
As negative, worrisome news pummels our ears, the last thing we might feel like doing is praise! But that’s the very reason the Bible encourages us to “offer to God a sacrifice of praise.”
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name,” Hebrews 13:15, New International Version (NIV.)
Some time ago, I asked, “Is there something You want me to do, Lord?” and, immediately, the word “Praise” came to mind. Having been raised in a polite Christian family, the inclination to thank God and people came easily enough, but praise? Frankly, I wasn’t sure I knew what praising God truly meant – or at least how it differed from thanksgiving.
After looking up several dictionary definitions, I saw praise as expressing approval more than the appreciation shown in giving thanks. Praise commends, lauds, and says good things – not with gratitude in mind so much as acknowledgement, commendation, and re-commendation. Or, to say it another way, praise focuses on Who God Is, more than what God does. Praise pours out our love to the Lord.
The Psalms provide wonderful examples of ways to praise, pray, thank God – and lament. A closer than usual study of those priceless poems shows that almost all of the lamentations begin with a concern or complaint but end with purposeful thanks or praise. That uplift at the end exemplifies a strong faith in God, despite the circumstances, and also shows how a poured-out-heart must remain completely honest and wholly vulnerable.
Ready to praise but not particularly practiced, I immediately sensed God’s help as relevant thoughts and phrases caught my attention each morning. Once I had typed those beginning lines in a computer file, other thoughts and lines swiftly followed – somewhat like a stream-of-consciousness flow, but more “subconscious” or even “unconscious” of what might come next.
Spontaneity remained
key–often with a phrase that startled me or an insight God gave in thoughts I’d
never had before the poem gained my attention. So my “method” became an intent
to obey, rather than create, as I wrote down each spontaneous thought or phrase
with the anticipation that the rest of the words would freely follow. Usually they did, sometimes even exploding onto the page. Other times they
seemed more reflective, depending, perhaps, on my mood or something God wanted
me to consider as I wrote to discover what the lines had to say. For instance:
Praise God our Praise
without Whom
there is none:
no cause for joy,
no source of love,
no hope of peace.
Praise God Who Dwells
in us and around us –
enthroned on our praises
– uplifting our days.
Maybe you’ll prefer to call such poems“ meditations.” Maybe you’ll see them as prayers. Or maybe, as you offer up your praises to God, you’ll be stunned by the unexpected thoughts and ragged edges that come to mind. Write them down – especially if you don’t feel like it!
Praise God, the Rock
under Whom I crawl
when I feel low,
the Rock I climb
to get a higher view.
May the Lord bless you
and your life of purposeful praise, whether joyful or sacrificial.
Note: The above poems and text came from the introduction to my book PRAISE! published by Cladach Publishing.
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