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Welcome to My Passion For God

WELCOME TO MY PASSION FOR GOD.

SOSRETIREMENT.NET

HAS BECOME MYPASSIONFORGOD.COM

I am excited about the new direction my blog is going. Having a passionate relationship with God is the first goal of my retired life.

I am reading through the Bible in a year in 2020. I started December 1 so that I have a month buffer incase I get a little behind.

I ask God for one verse in the daily reading to focus upon and bible journal. Now I am writing my own devotional to share rather than the ones I shared from the Zondervan devotionals.

I am also going to be posting excerpts from other bloggers and starting to offer affiliate products. I hope you will become a regular visitor to my blog mypassionforgod.com

Are You Too Busy NOT To Pray? (Part 2)

I am excited to continue my series of posts based on Bill Hybels' book:

Too Busy NOT To Pray, which will culminate in the launching of my course: A Passionate Devotional Life Through Worship, Study and Journaling on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

From Chapter 1 God of Peace, God of Power, Bill writes:

“When we pray, it's as if something within us is hard-wired with the knowledge that in so doing we weave stronger threads of intimacy with the One who alone can provide peace to endure and power to overcome whatever challenges we face.”

Bill writes of his struggle with his dad passing when he was relatively young and an extremely active man–died of a heart attack. He wondered how he would continue to function now that the person who believed in him more than anyone else was gone.

“God simply conveyed, I'm able. I'm enough for you. Right now you doubt I have a purpose in all of this but please…trust me…But as if intent on piercing my darkness, God overpowered me with a massive beam of courage, reassurance and hope.”

Another struggle Bill writes about is when his daughter was pregnant with their first grandchild and complications she might have:

“The only thing I knew to do was to pray–intentionally, continuously and with great faith…God seemed a lot more composed about the whole deal, which relaxed me immensely. Each time He and I went through this little ritual, after several minutes of focused prayer, I could feel the sense of burden or foreboding being lifted from my body. Shortly thereafter a sense of peace would be restored to my inner world.”

Writing of a discovery from an in-depth study of prayer, Bill continues:

“The greatest thrill to a life of prayer is the qualitative difference made in one's relationship with God… I have been astonished by His approachability, endeared by His care, stilled by His presence, encouraged by His affirmation and challenged by His insatiable desire to make the truth known. Nothing compares to this type of first-hand knowledge of God.”

Writing of God's supernatural power, it “can handle any kind of difficulty, dilemma or discouragement.”

Bill closes Chapter 1 with the story of when Moses held his arms up, Joshua succeeded in battle. When Moses' arms got tired, his brother Aaron and friend Hur held them up. Moses discovered that day that God's prevailing power is released through prayer.

I had my own “Aaron and Hur”–Annette and Emily. When I faced difficulties in my teaching, I would call them to pray. God answered in either causing the situation to stop or strengthening me to handle it.

Image courtesy of: W. Visser

Are You Too Busy NOT To Pray

I am excited to write you about the new series of posts I am starting based on Bill Hybles' book Too Busy NOT To Pray. It will culminate in the launching of my course A Devotional Life Through Worship, Study and Journaling on Wednesday, June 3, 2021.

To introduce the 20th Anniversary of Too Busy NOT To Pray, Bill writes:

“I knew the importance of prayer. I knew how to pray. And I even

wanted to pray. I just didn't pray, at least with the frequency and

intensity I knew I should.”

During Bill's international travels, he writes of his prayer experience:

“Back and forth, in our native tongues, we talk to God. And even

though we have no idea exactly what the other person is praying

for, we know beyond the shadow of a doubt to whom we are

praying. As a result of talking to the One we both consider to be

all powerful, all knowing, all caring, all loving and all attentive to

our prayers, we walk away from the conversation sensing a close

bond in Christ.”

Every week I meet in a discipleship group where we share about 4 acts: compassion, justice, worship and devotion. So I resonated with:

“My genuine desire is to help Christ-followers (including me!) get

off the bench and into the game as it relates to fighting injustice

in all its forms. I believe God has a role for each of us to play, if

only we'll quiet the mind, bend the knee, and take time to

discover it. I keep a prayer journal and frequently I'll flip to the

early pages to see what I was praying for during those days as

well as how they were answered. It's always interesting to reflect

on how the hand of God moved a mountain or calmed a sea on

my behalf. And in my estimation there is no taller mountain, no

stormier sea raging right now than the one called injustice. For

Christ-followers who are as fired up as I am about righting the

wrongs of a broken world, there is no better first step to take than

prayer.”

Image courtesy of: Penumbra

The Crucifixion

I am continuing my sharing with you what I am learning from the Lenten study 24 Hours That Changed The World by Adam Hamilton.

Two posts ago, I talked about Atonement as substitutionary in that Jesus suffered and died in place of all who would trust in Him as Savior. In my last post, we saw that Atonement can also be looked at as a moral influence; in that we are changed.

In today's post Atonement will be looked at as a sacrificial offering.

Hamilton write this about sacrificial offerings:

“In the Old Testament, God made provision for the people to make amends and be restored to a right relationship with him. They could do this by making sin offerings or guilt offerings. If you had violated God's will, you brought a special offering to the Lord to say, ‘I'm sorry for what I did, oh God. Please accept this offering as an expression of my remorse and my repentance. Forgive me and make me clean again.' With such an offering, people could feel relieved of guilt and restored to a right relationship with God; so this was a regular part of worship.”

Jesus Christ is the sacrificial offering in the New Testament. Hamilton says:

“In the Father's presence, Christ's self-giving sacrifice is never forgotten. His wounds are a perpetual reminder of the price he was willing to pay to restore humanity to a right relationship with God. He magnanimous act–his suffering and death on behalf of humanity–served as an atoning sacrifice for all people; and the Father, by virtue of the Son's love and self-giving, bestows grace and mercy upon all who claim the Son as their high priest and Savior. God the Father offers forgiveness and grace to us not because of our own merit, but because his dearly loved Son suffered and died on behalf of the human race…

In Jesus' sacrificial offering to the Father, he gave himself to win our forgiveness and God's mercy. His nail-scarred hands are a perpetual reminder to the Father of Christ's sacrifice for us. His offering has won God's favor…

Because the curtain (of the temple) was torn asunder when Christ died, the Gospel writers are pointing to the idea that in his death Jesus atoned for our sins as our high priest. He tore down the curtain that separated humanity from God. He offered us, by his death, reconciliation and atonement with God.” Praise be to God!

To be continued…

As a reminder, this Lenten Study will culminate in launching my course “A Passionate Devotional Life With God Through Worship, Study and Journaling”

on Easter Monday.

Enroll Now

Photo By paukrus

Jesus, Barabbas, and Pilate

I am continuing my sharing with you what I am learning from the Lenten study 24 Hours That Changed The World by Adam Hamilton.

How does the death of Jesus bring about our salvation?

ATONEMENT:

Hamilton makes a play on words:

“the at-one-ment of God and humankind, our reconciliation with God through Jesus' death on the cross.”

The substitutionary theory of Atonement teaches that Jesus suffered and died as a substitute for humankind. He experienced the punishment we all deserved for our sins and offers us grace and pardon.

Hamilton summarizes:

“Every one of us has sinned, and in our sin we have been alienated from God. Justice calls for punishment for the collective weight of that sin; the Bible says that ‘the wages of sin is death' (Romans 6:23) and eternal separation from God. But God,…does not desire us to be eternally separated. God wishes us to receive grace. An ordinary person could not die for all humankind; but Jesus, being God in the flesh; could die for the sins of the whole world. He paid a price he did not owe, giving us a grace we did not deserve.”

This really come into focus when we have done something so horrible and our shame is so huge that we know there is no way we could save ourselves.

Hamilton concludes:

“We are meant to look at the cross and see both God's grace and love and the costliness of grace and to find our hearts changed by what God has done for us. We are meant, as a result of understanding that cost, to serve God with humble gratitude, and to long, as we see Jesus suffer, never to sin again. And yet of course, we will sin again and call again upon the grace of God revealed on the cross. Like Barabbas, we walk away free because of the suffering of an innocent man.”

So which character do you see yourself in: someone in the crowd, Barabbas, or Pilate? The crowd chose Barabbas because they wanted physical strength, military might and lower taxes over the path of peace through sacrificial love.

Hamilton describes someone who resonates with Pilate:

“As adults, we feel it in a variety of ways–in our desire for acceptance, in our fear of ridicule and rejection. Our inability to think for ourselves leaves us silent when we should speak, leaves us doing or supporting things we know are wrong.”

We all should examine ourselves to see if we are like the crowd, Barabbas, Pilate or a follower of Jesus?

To be continued…

Image courtesy of: paukrus

The Torture and Humiliation of the King

Image courtesy of: paukrus

I am continuing my sharing with you what I am learning from the Lenten study 24 Hours That Changed The World by Adam Hamilton

There is no way to sugar coat what I write in this email. The torture and humiliation of Jesus is how he is described as the “suffering servant” in Isaiah 50:6:

“I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard.

I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.”

Hamilton continues:

“Matthew tells us they stripped him naked, leaving him exposed and vulnerable, a bloodied, weakened man surrounded by hundreds of Rome's finest, their swords, shields, and armor all testament to the Empire's strength and resolve. Their emperor was, after all, king of the world; they would show this prisoner what they thought of his claim.”

In my last post, I talked about Atonement as substitutionary in that Jesus suffered and died in place of all who would trust in Him as Savior. Atonement can also be looked at as a moral influence, in that we are changed.

Hamilton concludes:

“Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection constitute a divine drama meant to communicate God's Word to humanity, to make clear to us our need for redemption and forgiveness, to show us the full extent of God's love and lead us to repentance.”

Sacrificial love is another phrase that Jesus' suffering and death should bring to mind. Atonement is meant to change us, so that we will practice sacrificial love toward others.

Hamilton writes:

“Simon (of Cyrene) was apparently so moved by the experience of suffering next to Jesus, of carrying his cross and then watching him be crucified, that he became the first believer transformed by the moral influence of the Atonement.“

Who do you see yourself in: the soldiers who mocked him or in Simon, whose transformation you might seek as you look at the suffering and death of Christ?

To be continued…

As a reminder, this Lenten Study will culminate in launching my course “A Passionate Devotional Life With God Through Worship, Study and Journaling”

on Easter Monday.

Enroll Now

Image courtesy of: jean louis mazieres

Photo By paukrus