Spiritual helper

Jesus said in John 14 that he would ask God to give his disciples another advocate who would never leave them. "He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth...But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you." Jesus meant that after Pentecost in Acts 2 that the Holy Spirit would be given to and live in all who receive him as Savior and Lord. So in Jesus we have this Holy Spirit. The following from Back To The Bible has been particularly helpful to me as I seek to conquer sin, wrong, evil, darkness, etc. in my life. "We must depend on the Spirit's power to control our thoughts. Here is what the scriptures have to say on that point. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through [the indwelling Holy Spirit]...bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:4-5). Only the Spirit of God can make this possible in our lives, and He does it only when we are under His complete control. When an evil thought comes to our mind what are we to do. We should turn it over to the Spirit and ask Him to take charge. I have personally done this for years. It is the only method that works for me. I cannot help it when a thought comes whether good or bad. I do not, however, have to dwell on that thought. So the moment a wrong thought comes, I ask the Holy Spirit to take over, for that is His responsibility. When I give Him control, He gives me victory. Thoughts that come to our mind can also be the Holy Spirit's reminder to pray. In I Thessalonians 5:17 we are told to pray without ceasing. Can we possibly do that? Only by letting the Holy Spirit control us. As He dwells in us and we continue to give Him control so that no sin hinders His working in our hearts, He reminds us of the things He wants us to pray about. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Ephesians 4:23)""

So I've been trying to practice this spiritual discipline in my life and find it quite helpful.

 Prayer of the day for August 25: "My Savior, point me in Your way. Stay close to me, instruct me, and teach me how I may live a Christian life. Help me to keep my eyes focused on You. Make me a good student of You."

Here is my word for the lectionary Bible readings for this past week.

Exodus 3: 1-15                      burning bush

Psalm 105: 1-6, 23-26, 45    seek

Jeremiah 15: 15-21               incurable

Psalm 26: 1-8                        prove

Romans 12: 9-21                   contribute

Matthew 16: 21-28                lose

Jeremiah 15                            intervened

Augustine outlined the interlocking parts of prayer. 1. Prayer occurs within the "inner person". 2. Christ is located within the "inner person". 3. Christ illuminates the heart to divine reality.

As Paul taught us, in Christ we are God's temple (I Corinthians 3:16) and in the temple dwells the glory of God. The temple is where the people of God met God. The temple is the place of prayer, instruction and divine revelation. God meets with us "in the temple" and we experience God's glory and inspiration. We must not forget God's wondrous otherness but also know God's intimate closeness. (The Possibility of Prayer, John Starke)

A note of encouragement from Dayspring publishing: "I am praying you find comfort in knowing who you belong to and that there is no greater calling or claim on your life. Let your heart rest in God's presence -- what God is doing is best! I John 5:19, "This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence." Peace is the calm assurance that what God is doing is best! (James MacDonald)"

Fredrich Buechner wrote the following about marriage.

THEY SAY THEY WILL LOVE, comfort, honor each other to the end of their days. They say they will cherish each other and be faithful to each other always. They say they will do these things not just when they feel like it, but even—for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health—when they don't feel like it at all. In other words, the vows they make at a marriage could hardly be more extravagant. They give away their freedom. They take on themselves each other's burdens. They bind their lives together in ways that are even more painful to unbind emotionally, humanly, than they are to unbind legally. The question is, what do they get in return?   They get each other in return. Assuming they have any success at all in keeping their rash, quixotic promises, they never have to face the world quite alone again. There will always be the other to talk to, to listen to. If they're lucky, even after the first passion passes, they still have a kindness and a patience to depend on, a chance to be patient and kind. There is still someone to get through the night with, to wake into the new day beside. If they have children, they can give them, as well as each other, roots and wings. If they don't have children, they each become the other's child.   They both still have their lives apart as well as a life together. They both still have their separate ways to find. But a marriage made in heaven is one where they become more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever have managed to become alone. When Jesus changed the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, perhaps it was a way of saying more or less the same thing.   -Originally published in Whistling in the Dark and later in Beyond Words