Week One - Day Two: A Ramp To Rhythm

Good morning! Welcome to Day Two.

We will start our material next week at the very beginning spiritually. We will try not to assume anything. You don’t have to be convinced already to participate in this project. You just have to be ready and willing to “seek” and to “knock” as Jesus said. So, we will start next week by investigating doubt; then we will move to looking at clues for God’s existence. I pray that this will provide easy access for those of us who are still searching out the faith. I also pray this will be a great and encouraging refresher for those of us who are Christ-followers already. But in preparation, let’s spend the next couple of days trying to establish the rhythm that we will be working with over the next few months.

Each morning we will engage in an exercise like yesterday’s. Sometimes there will be two or three pages of text to read accompanied by a short meditation either on Scripture or on the theme of the text. Other days there will be a shorter text and a longer meditation on a passage of Scripture. As I said, we will not assume anything, so through the material we will build a reasonable argument for God, and then we will talk about His character. Over time, we will do the same for the person of Jesus and for the Bible. Throughout, we will be trying to apply the truths that we are learning to our hearts and our wills.

So why should we invest in a project like this?

If you are a Christ-follower then you know that the religion of Jesus is a religion of grace. But philosophy professor Dallas Willard is certainly right when he reminds us that grace doesn’t mean the absence of work; it means the absence of earning. In other words, we don’t have to earn our way into God’s favor – in fact, we cannot. But we do have to work at experiencing the life that He offers us.

We simply cannot experience His peace in the midst of unsettling times, or His joy in the midst of difficult times, or His life or His abundance in spite of circumstances without practicing our life in Him regularly. When we are “in the moment” it is often too late to be able to access all that God offers us if we are not practiced in accessing it.

Have you noticed that we are often surprised that we cannot experience what God offers us when we are in trying times, even though we have not spent any time experiencing Him in “regular” times? Imagine a professional baseball player trying to hit a major league curve without ever practicing. This project offers us the opportunity, the structure and the ritual with which to practice.

Before You Start Your Day

1. Before we start our day, let’s look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 2:12-13.

   (12) Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, (13) for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
   – Philippians 2:12-13

   1. One of the words Paul uses to describe his encounter with God is “salvation”. Think about what this word suggests about Paul’s experience with God.
   2. Even though Paul clearly believes that the recipients of his letter are “saved” he still exhorts them to “work out their salvation.” Why work on it? Could it be related to what we’ve talked about this morning?
   3. With what kind of spirit were they to “work” on it? Sounds pretty intense, doesn’t it?
   4. Finally, verse 13 gives the complement to our work. What does knowing this make you feel?
2. When you get your texts at noon and at five, allow those to launch you into times of reflection later today!
3. Offer as much as you understand of yourself to as much as you understand of God right now.

Comments (3)

The Flow of This Project

1Thursday, 23 September 2010 05:53

Crystal

This comment is more about the project, not the scripture. It would be helpful if we already had all of the exercises in a book or "pre-packaged" instead of always having to get it from the computer. I already get up and pray in the am, but now instead of doing it right away - I have to go to a different part of the house to get into the computer, so that I can get to the am exercise. By this time, I'm already distracted; whereas, before this project...I would rise out of bed and just fall to my knees to talk to God.

Please advise how this can be done more efficiently and effectively. I feel as if I'm losing the rhythm and I haven't even established it yet with this project.

The Flow of the Project

2Thursday, 23 September 2010 06:49

Don Cranford

I believe Terri is going to be sending out the devotionals each week in a document. So you should be able to print them out before the week starts.

The Flow

3Thursday, 23 September 2010 13:58

Sondy

Crystal, I'm doing what Don suggests. I got the e-mail with this week's readings on Tuesday and printed them out. Then I put them where I'm going to be reading them -- can even bring them up to the bedroom at night.

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