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Communion v Presence

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"God, be with me," is a common prayer among followers of Jesus.  I understand the sentiment!  We feel the need for God's presence, help, comfort, protection.  And yet, I think this prayer displays a lack of understanding or felt experience of an extremely important aspect of our faith.  1 Corinthians 3:16 says: " Do you not know that  you are a  temple of God and  that  the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  I think the honest answer of most of us would be, "I know cognitively, theoretically, that he dwells in me, but I do not know his presence experientially."  Why is this important? Because our goals are leading us to the wrong place.  If our goal is to get God to come be with us, we are running on a hamster wheel trying to get to where we already are.  Rather than striving to get God to "be with us," our goal should be to experience greater communion with God's Spirit who is already in us.  We walk around every day largely ...
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Repurposed

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  Right in the middle of the dramatic story of the beginning of the church, on the verge of being stoned, persecution all around, Stephen pauses to tell the story of Israel in the light of the Gospel to those imprisoning him.  It was within this story that Jesus spoke to me today and gave me some sweet reminders of how He sees the big picture and my place in it.  If you'd like to read along, it is Acts 7: 1-29. After some disappointments this year I think I have gone into a bit of a turtle shell, focusing on my pup, my house, my family and basically saying, "screw you world, I'm done." On one hand, this is good because I have been learning at a deeper level who I am in Jesus and how he sees me even when I am not accomplishing "impressive" things for the kingdom.  In a way, this is how I have been healing, staying in the ICU for a while I guess.  Covid makes that a bit easier too. ;o)  On the other hand, I know I can't stay here forever.  That's just ...
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The Pace of Devotion

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named  Martha  welcomed him into her house.     And she had a sister called  Mary, who  sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.   But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”     But the Lord answered her,  “Martha, Martha, you are  anxious and troubled about many things,   but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen  the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42 "You have to get this done now, or you will miss the opportunity!"  Those words ring in my head and make a pit come alive in my stomach almost daily these days.  That pit is the fear of missing the opportunity God has laid out before me because I haven't fought hard enough for it or because someone else got there fi...
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