"Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" If they would put half of this labor upon mortifying their appetites and their passions, they would gain more in a month than by all their own exercises in many years.

July 1, 2008

When: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 12:00 AM to Wednesday, July 02, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words written in red; Words of Jesus
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"
Matthew 8: 23 – 27
 
The ignorance of some is greatly to be pitied, who load themselves with unwise penances of their devising, putting all their confidence in them, and expecting to become saints by their means. If they would put half of this labor upon mortifying their appetites and their passions, they would gain more in a month than by all their own exercises in many years.
— St. John of the Cross
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful and aware I seek clarity, I look for change, I ask for Your help, and I pray for Your presence. Clarity to see through Jesus’ eyes, change to reflect His image from within me, help in discerning each moment with His heart, and the presence of You through Him in the Holy Spirit. I do not wish to create an image of You or belief in You that is not true; for what good or what would that prove. I do ask and pray that You would mold me into that which You intended me to be, according to Your will and for Your purpose. That You would use this time to show and teach me in Your ways, tuning my ear, focusing my eyes, likening my heart to that of Jesus. For I feel, know and accept my nature, but I feel, know and accept my source is You. So my faith is in Jesus, my hope is with the Spirit, and my love is for You; that You will finish the work You have begun in me, and that each day You will guide and provide me with what I need for that day, and the mercy and grace to get me through it. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest.

June 30, 2008

When: Saturday, June 14, 2008 12:00 AM to Sunday, June 15, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words written in red; Words of Jesus
"Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply `Yes’ or `No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Matthew 5: 33 – 37
 
Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest.
— St Ignatius of Loyola
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful for all the blessings You have given me I know and feel in this time You are molding me as You have always intended; it is for this reason that I try not to miss one day’s readings for fear that that day missed may contain that next step up closer to You.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.
 
 

"Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

June 30, 2008

When: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:00 AM to Tuesday, July 01, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words written in red; Words of Jesus
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Matthew 8: 18 – 22  
 
The Transfiguration is not only the revelation of Christ’s glory but also a preparation for facing Christ’s cross. It involves both "going up the mountain" and "coming down the mountain." The disciples who have enjoyed this intimacy with the Master, surrounded by the splendor of the Trinitarian life, "…are immediately brought back to daily reality, where they see ‘Jesus only,’ in the lowliness of his human nature."
— Pope John Paul II
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, always thankful and grateful, I struggle in confusion trying to separate right from wrong, faith from fear, hope from despair, and unconditional love from conditional love. Help me Father, liken my heart to Jesus and guide my thoughts, and direct my words and actions; strengthen and energize me for the work at hand. Bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, keeping me from evil and from causing pain. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. 
 
Amos 2:6-10, 13-16
Psalm 50:16-23
Matthew 8:18-22
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.
 
 

"Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

June 30, 2008

When: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:00 AM to Tuesday, July 01, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
Matthew 8: 18 – 22  
 
The Transfiguration is not only the revelation of Christ’s glory but also a preparation for facing Christ’s cross. It involves both "going up the mountain" and "coming down the mountain." The disciples who have enjoyed this intimacy with the Master, surrounded by the splendor of the Trinitarian life, "…are immediately brought back to daily reality, where they see ‘Jesus only,’ in the lowliness of his human nature."
— Pope John Paul II
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, always thankful and grateful, I struggle in confusion trying to separate right from wrong, faith from fear, hope from despair, and unconditional love from conditional love. Help me Father, liken my heart to Jesus and guide my thoughts, and direct my words and actions; strengthen and energize me for the work at hand. Bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, keeping me from evil and from causing pain. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. 
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.
 
 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

June 29, 2008

When: Friday, June 20, 2008 12:00 AM to Saturday, June 21, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words of Jesus
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 
Matthew 6: 19 – 23
 
Those who choose their work because it fulfills a purpose they approve are the only ones who grow in stature by working. They alone can properly say, at the end of it, "It is finished!"
— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, O Lord hear my thoughts, prayers; You know my heart, You know the numbers of hairs on my head. O that You would find a way to bless me indeed, that Your hand would be with me and my love ones always, to keep us from evil and from causing any hurt or pain; and that I may be able to proclaim as did Joshua ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord‘. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.
 
 

And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

June 29, 2008

When: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:00 AM to Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words of Jesus
And preach as you go, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay.  Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
Matthew 10: 7 – 13
 
No one can live without delight, and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures.
— St Thomas Aquinas
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, ever thankful, but never so as when with my love ones; I try to feel each blessing, but one of the things I ask is for the wisdom and understanding to know and practice what Jesus teaches us today. That when I come across a house not worthy of the peace I seek, that my peace may return to me confident in Jesus, His love, His truths, and that He has overcome, and in and through Him I too can rise above those houses found unworthy under the sun. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
 

I pray for that portion of You Wisdom and understanding that You find me fit and ready to have so that I may put Your gifts to good work for You according to You will.

June 29, 2008

When: Friday, June 13, 2008 12:00 AM to Saturday, June 14, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words written in red; Words of Jesus
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen. 

Mark 16: 15 – 20
 
What brings any Christians together is the revelation and acceptance of the truth….disobedience and protesting against the truth is what brought division of Christ’s Church in the first place!
— St. John Henry Cardinal Newman
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful for all Your blessings and for the hunger of You Word, and thirst to be know You. Looking back at this days that the busyness under the sun and my willingness to let them keep me from You this day, I ask that help me learn and grow from these readings as You intended on this day for I pray for that portion of You Wisdom and understanding that You find me fit and ready to have so that I may put Your gifts to good work for You according to You will. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit, Amen. 
 
Wisdom 7:7-14 or Ephesians 4:7, 11-15
Psalm 40:3-4, 10-11, 17
Mark 16:15-20
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary (Unabridged) – World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church: one that will impact every believer in America. For leaders working for positive change in the church, and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy – from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Unabridged) – On January 18th 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He’d been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.