Overindulgence

" How can we extract children (and ourselves) from this filthy engine where indulgence and ignorance and ungratefulness and waste are standard protocol?
From Jen Hatmaker's book, "7 an Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" 

I am looking forward to reading this book and some changes that need to be made.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1433672960/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

Compassion

O Lord, let me grow in compassion, realizing that every person has a story.

"Compassion is a sign of a truly great and generous heart.  Compassion is understanding the troubles of others, coupled with an urgent desire to help.  Man naturally is not compassionate.  It is an attribute he must learn by living and by his own experiences.  It is cultivating an ability to put ourselves in the other person's shoes, remembering that all facts and circumstances influencing the other person cannot be known to us."  Megiddo Message

Grace that is greater than all my sin

Grace Active

Lord Jesus, Great High Priest,
You have opened a new and living way by which a fallen creature can approach you with acceptance. Help me to contemplate the dignity of your Person, the perfectness of your sacrifice, the effectiveness of your intercession.
O what blessedness accompanies devotion, when under all the trials that weary me, the cares that corrode me, the fears that disturb me, the infirmities that oppress me, I can come to you in my need and feel peace beyond understanding!
The grace that restores is necessary to preserve, lead, guard, supply, help me. And here your saints encourage my hope; they were once poor and are now rich, bound and are now free, tried and now are victorious.
Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in you, the divine Treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To you I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all your fullness. May my desires be enlarged and my hopes be emboldened, that I may honor you by my entire dependency and the greatness of my expectation.
Be with me, and prepare me for all the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity, the losses of substance, the death of friends, the days of darkness, the changes of life, and the last great change of all.
May I find your grace sufficient for all my needs.

"Grace Active, in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, ed. Arthur Bennett (Edingburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust), 214-215.

I need more cardio workouts...both kinds!!!



"I love thinking about prayer in this way, as a spiritual cardio workout. When we pray we are massaging our hearts with the pressure of God’s eternal perfections and subsequently producing in us the enduring praise to the glory of his grace. Prayer both prepares and sustains affections. In preparing our hearts it works to mold our imperfections closer to the perfect image of Christ and in sustaining it ignites within us an enduring passionate appreciation and pursuit of the glory of God. "(from Erick Raymond's blog: http://www.ordinarypastor.com/?p=9821

"Pray without ceasing."  1 Thess. 5:17

Prayer for living out the Gospel



Please pray for me,
that I may have both spiritual and physical strength to perform my duties;
that I may not only speak the truth but become the truth;
that I may not only be called a Christian, but also live like a Christian.
Yet I do not want people to look to me as an example,
for at best I can only be a pale reflection of Christ Jesus;
let people look away from the reflection and turn to the reality.
Christianity is not a matter of persuading people of particular ideas,
but of inviting them to share in the greatness of Christ.
So pray that I may never fall into the trap of impressing people with clever speech,
but instead I may learn to speak with humility,
desiring only to impress people with Christ himself.
- Ignatius of Antioch, 35-108 A. D.