Microwave or Crock Pot?…

What is your standard operating procedure?

Do you tend to be like a microwave or a crock pot?

Do you get as much information as possible and then just push it in your mind and process quickly?

Or do you gather that same information and put it in your mind and then allow it to come together and simmer for a while and become a new entity with all the parts blended together?

Sometimes I’m the microwave, wanting stuff “fast.” I tend to make mistakes more often with this approach. (Personal opinion)

The best approach for me is the crock pot. When I can process slowly and allow all the information to have it’s say in the crock pot of decision making, I usually arrive at a good decision. Especially when I remember to allow my God and savior to be the stirring ingredient in the crock pot!

What are you? A microwave or a crock pot?

The Path Continues…

A Time for Thought and A Time for Expression…

This time, like most times,

Is a very good time to think.

Perhaps because it is the beginning of a new year,

Perhaps because God seems to be speaking particularly clear.

This time, like some times

Is a very good time to meditate.

Perhaps because I need to test the spirits.

Perhaps because I need to wait upon “THE” spirit.

This time, like a few times,

Is a good time to express my thoughts.

Perhaps because I find someone willing to listen.

Perhaps because the thoughts just seem to glisten!

This time, like no other time

Is given to me, brand new, no blemish.

Perhaps because I need to be forgiven.

Perhaps because I need to look to heaven.

This time, like all other times

Is given for me to use for God.

Perhaps to ask someone to forgive. Perhaps for me to forgive!

This time, like the Eternal time

Is given by God to glorify Him.

Perhaps because He deems us worthy.

Perhaps because He is worthy!

This time, like most times,

Is a very good time to think.

Perhaps because I need to express.

Perhaps because I am now at rest!!

 

The Path Continues…

Pruning…

Winter is the time to prune grapevines.

Pruning away dead branches helps the vine bear even more grapes.

Most fruit is produced on new growth.

The same principle applies to us.

Jesus said, “Every branch in Me…that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15: (NKJV)  Daymaker – Calendar 2012)

The Path Continues…

Summary…

A year that began with unusual promise,

Has ended with the usual flourish

A year that contained unusual promises,

Has ended with them all but fulfilled!

A Year that has seen unusual friendships,

Has only served to deepen them more!

A year that has seen unusual hardships,

Has ended with a deep sense of fulfillment!

A year that began with unusual promise,

Has ended with the usual flourish!

A year that began with unusual promise,

Has ended with the promise of another unusual year!

The Path Continues…

A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Invocation…

In the midst of the busyness in which we find ourselves all too often, we come to stop and offer our thanksgiving to You, O God, for Your tender watch care over our lives this day. We have been, too long, away from Your still small voice.  We come to allow You to re-gather us into Your arms as a hen would gather her chicks. We long to say we love You. We long to come as one to praise You for Your goodness and Your tender mercies. We enter into this worship time with the realization that Your grace is the only thing that is sufficient in our lives. We thank You, dear God. We would lift up our hands to be purified and to be made holy, set apart to You. Hear us, O Lord, as we wait to listen to You. Make us one, Father God.

We, in humility, lift up our brothers and sisters who have illnesses and grief, loneliness and frustrations, worries and woes in their lives today. We ask that You enliven us to look to their interests, as well as to our own. Forgive us for our selfishness and conceit, even in our praying. We would seek their best interests, O Lord. Help us to accept Your will for their lives and our own.

We ask for Your mercy to enfold all who need to know Your kindness, who seek Your face, and who claim Your name. We praise You for Your seeking us when we did not want to be sought, in our own selfish desires. We thank You for helping us, as a fellowship of believers, to become one in You and to be available to show Your love to this world.

We say, again, that we love You, Lord. We want to have your mind as individuals and as a congregation of believers here in this place. Help us to have ears to hear and wills to do Your good pleasure.

In the strong name of Jesus Christ, the name above all names, we pray.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

Emmanuel…

Emmanuel…God, Himself,

with US!

That’s what Christmas is to me!

The Path Continues…

Christmas Eve…

(An Acrostic Prayer)

 “Come, let us adore Him,” we sing to worship You, O Lord, as we enter into this place tonight.

Herald angels have called to us with their singing and beckoned us to come and see You, Lord!

Ringing bells and singing voices adorn the hour as we come to the manger to worship You, O Lord.

Instruments of music sing forth Your glory as they are played for You, dear Lord.

Silence is also our sacrifice as we are awed by Your coming to us, to live among us, to show us how to live.

Timidity shows in our actions when we realize what You gave up to come to us, dear Jesus.

Much anticipation has dwelled within our hearts and minds as we have looked forward to this night, Father.

Assured that Your presence is with us, O Lord, we come to welcome You anew and afresh.

Shine Your heavenly light on us as You did on those shepherds to announce Your birth, O Emmanuel!

Enliven us by Your Holy Spirit, O Father, as we once again relive Your incarnation, Your coming in the flesh.

Visit us, personally and collectively, to renew our vision of Your will for our lives.

Emmanuel, God with us, we come to adore You.  Amen!

The Path Continues…

Anticipation…

(An Invocation Acrostic)

Almighty Father, who is, and was, and is to come,
Nothing less than ourselves we bring to You as we worship You this hour.
Together we come to meet You and to be in Your presence.
Into this house of worship we have come from the world in which we live,
Coming as individuals, yet as Your children and people,
Intending to hear You as we sing Your praises and read Your word.
Please help us to listen!
Anticipating the stillness we need, and Your desire as we come,
Tether us to You, O God, through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
In-fill us, O Lord, with Your Spirit as we wait before You here.
Overcome our need to be ours instead of Yours.
Never forsake us. You, O Father, have bid us to come and we want to follow.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

The Drippings of Grace…

(re-post from July 2010)

To know what grace is and to experience it in one’s life is to know God!

Help from God is abundant and freely given, totally undeserved!

Envision, if you will, an unending supply of cleansing water supplied for your use,

Dripping all over you to clean, to refresh, to enliven, to restore, to bring back to life!

Recreating you for what you were intended to do and to be!

Interspersing God, Himself, into your life by the people, places and things that He allows to touch you.

Permitting the cleansing for your good and for your well being and, at the same time, providing the cure and restoration without asking of you. You couldn’t begin to pay, anyway.

Pardon is waiting; that, too, is part of this grace of which I speak.—pardon from sin and mercy to endure.

Insuring that you never have to hang your head in shame, He lifts up your head to see His face of love,

Never keeping a record of wrongs done to Him, if we accept His love gift – His Son!

Given, freely given, this grace is more than a gift; it is life itself,

Sent from God Himself for the good of His children and the building up of His people.

Open to God’s leading and trusting in His will for us, we need His grace!

Forgiven, we are, and grace is dripping over, around and through us that the world may know!!

God, in all His wisdom and love, has provided for His children,

Restoration and forgiveness are the methods that He uses to show His love; these, too, are a part of this grace of which I speak.

Alone we would be, dead in our sins if God, in His love, had not provided this amazing grace.

Close to Him, close to God is where I want to be, under the drippings of His grace that overflows from His heart to us.

Eternal is this gift, this grace gift, this expression of the heart of God. May the grace of God drip on us all as we live this life together.

The Path Continues…

Do You Love Me? (a prayer)…

Dear loving and forgiving heavenly Father,

Open our hearts and minds to You as we seek to know you more.

You, who loves and forgives also gives us opportunity to share that love and forgiveness with others.

Offended, You are, Father, when we sin against You, but, yet, You seek us out to ask us if we love You.

Untie our hands from our sin as we reach out to you in seeking love and forgiveness.

Let us meet You, O God, on the shore of our lives after we have gone our own ways, yet we know You still love us in ways we cannot understand.

Overcome our inabilities of expressing our love for You and to others as we are ashamed of our actions, Father.

Vivid is our sin in our own eyes, Father. Thank You  that You forgive, so we should also.

Evoke in us Your will to hear You calling us from our sin  and to hear You sending us to be Your love in this world.

Master, we do love You, but thank You for Your keeping on asking us, even when we deny You.

Expunge the fear of this world and our sins from us, Father, as we encounter once again Your loving, forgiving and sending hands in Your Word.

The Path Continues…