four minutes with God: Romans 8:37-39

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“. . . somehow he [Paul] had the faith to believe that these “things” – surely not good in themselves – could nevertheless be used by God to accomplish good.

Confidence like that can go a long way towards solving discouragement over a ministry that never quite works out in the way we wish.”
Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim and
Church: Why Bother?
by Philip Yancey

my Prayer:
Lord, help me to see through your eyes. Through your perspective. I struggle with myopic vision every. single. day. Please help me to see objectively and to remember that you can do anything, without limitation.

Please help me to remember that when you ask me to put my weight against a boulder, it doesn’t mean I’ve failed if I don’t move it even one inch. It may be that Your will is for me to hold it steady, which from my point of view feels and looks like inaction. Please help me to be content in my obedience even when you don’t allow me to see the results of that obedience. Please help me to remember that you can take any offering I bring – no matter how flawed or weak or small – and use it to accomplish your purposes.

the Word:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39 (NIV)

the lyric.
“And this is my prayer in the battle, when triumph is still on it’s way. I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ, so firm on His promise I’ll stand.”
Desert Song
by Hillsong United (Live)

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Psalm 103:7-12

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“Over the years Moses has learned something so sweet and strange and mysterious that only one word can begin to capture it: grace, God’s free, undeserved gift. He has learned that God loves him despite his failures, with a pure, stubborn, everlasting love. After more than a century of life, Moses has given up trying to figure out what God sees in him. Or sees in the rest of the Hebrews for that matter. He just accepts it and gives thanks.”
The Bible Jesus Read
by Philip Yancey

my Prayer:
Lord, thank you for Your grace. Thank you for showing me a small glimpse of Your unconditional love through the blessing of my children. My gratitude overwhelms me and I’m compelled to respond in the only ways I know how: Through praise and service and faithful stewardship of these and all the undeserved gifts you’ve given me.

Thank you for the joy of praise. Please equip me for Your service and illuminate the next step you want me to take. And please Lord, help me to be consistent as I strive to be a good steward; with my finances, the use of my time and talents, the nurturing of my family and most of all, my relationship with You.

the Word:
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:7-12 (NIV)

the lyric.
“I know You’ve cast my sin as far as the east is from the west, and I stand before You now as though I’ve never sinned”
East to West
by Casting Crowns

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Proverbs 25:11

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“You are a guardian of the human spirit. You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to. You can avoid and ignore if you choose. But can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good and honorable and holy. You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust, that their best efforts matter, that their worst failures will be one day redeemed.”
Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them
by John Ortberg

my Prayer:
Lord, please allow me to deliver messages of truth from you. Please send me to lift up those who are being discouraged and lied to by the enemy. Please use me right where I am to trample those lies. I pray for discernment so that I will be confident in the prompting of your Holy Spirit. Please equip me for this service and bless my intentions by keeping me out of your way. I pray not only for opportunities to deliver your messages, but I pray that I will get the messages right and not contaminate them by my own finite reasoning and self-focused will.

Lord, please bring faith-filled encouragers into my own life when I falter and get confused, sidetracked or paralyzed for fear of taking steps outside your will.

the Word:
The right word spoken at the right time is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl.
Proverbs 25:11 (NCV)

the lyric.
“But the voice of truth tells me a different story. The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!” The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory” Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.”
The Voice of Truth
by Casting Crowns

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: 1 Corinthians 2:1-4

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“. . . joining the church is supposed to make us automatically god-centered and not self-centered people. Consequently, our modern church is filled with many people who look pure, sound pure, and are inwardly sick of themselves, their weaknesses, their frustration, and the lack of reality around them in church. Our non-Christian friends feel either ‘that bunch of nice untroubled people would never understand my problems’ or the more perceptive pagans who know us socially or professionally feel that we Christians are either grossly protected and ignorant about the human situation or are out-and-out hypocrites who will not confess the sins and weaknesses our pagan friends know intuitively to be universal.

. . . by recognizing that all our efforts and enterprises both in and out of the church are tainted to the core with self-centered desires for recognition, power or social acceptance, we can come to God . . . in honest confession and acceptance of His perception and power . . .
The Taste of New Wine
by Keith Miller

my Prayer: Lord, please help me to be humble and authentic, especially in the church. It would be so easy to only allow part of me to be seen by the members of the body of Christ. To allow the few moments I stand on stage every week and sing praises to you to be seen as defining moments of my relationship with you. It would be so easy to allow people to believe that I am aware of your Holy Spirit much more than I really am. But I know how quickly I forget you – time and time again. I know how many times I come back to you, just in the course of one single day. Please, Lord, help me to remember that the church is filled with people who come seeking and striving, not with people who are “done and saved.”

Please help me to serve you – right where I am. Please help me to encourage your saints through humble service, authentic transparency and an awareness that the people right in front of me need you just as much as the people I encounter outside the church.

the Word:
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:1-4(NIV)

the lyric.
“Take my voice and pour it out. Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found, for I have nothing, I have nothing without You . . . So all the world will see, that I have nothing without You
Nothing Without You
by Bebo Norman

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Proverbs 2:2-3,8-9

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“And just like Abraham, we may not know where we are going or what the journey may bring, but we do know that God is with us. He is permitting our self-determining actions, guiding the events and circumstances around us in order to woo us in choosing His ways. God is also active in overruling us when we’re completely out of line or when our poor choices need to be made good by His divine intervention. The choice is now ours: are we going to keep searching for a hidden will, or are we willing to do what we already know we should do, and then step out in faith?
Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life
by Cheri Cowell

my Prayer:
Lord, just when I think I’ve figured out what I’m supposed to be doing, I hit a roadblock that fills me with doubt. Is this problem I can’t solve just a problem I can’t solve TODAY? Is this one of those times where you will be glorified because you will accomplish something beyond my limited abilities? If I can’t solve the problem, but I’m supposed to move forward anyway, how do I do it? Who do I do it with? Do I know them already? Will you bring someone new into my life to help me accomplish your will? Is this the right time? Or is this obstacle a sign that the timing is not right? Are you teaching me patience? Again? Is this the closed door I pray for as I beg you to block my way when I start to veer off course in my effort to follow your will for my life?

I pray so often for your guidance and I commit to taking action and moving forward while at the same time, I plead with you to do something – ANYthing to prevent me from being unintentionally disobedient by blocking my way when I act out of self focused, short sighted motivation instead of focusing completely on you and your will. Do you want me to follow you around this roadblock? Or stop and go another direction?

the Word:
. . . turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding . . . for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
Proverbs 2:2-3, 8-9 (NIV)

the lyric.
“Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.

Here am I, all of me. Take my life, it’s all for Thee.”
Take My Life
by Chris Tomlin

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Psalm 63:1-4

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“Christian Hedonism is aware that self-consciousness kills joy and therefore kills worship. As soon as you turn your eyes in on yourself and become conscious of experiencing joy, it is gone . . . the secret of joy is self-forgetfulness. Yes, we go to the art museum for the joy of seeing the paintings. But . . . set your whole attention on the paintings, and not on your emotions, or you will ruin the whole experience. Therefore, in worship there must be a radical orientation on God, not ourselves.”
from Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
by John Piper

my Prayer:
Lord, thank you for worship last Sunday. I don’t remember any of the details. I don’t remember any distractions. I don’t remember all the songs we sang, if the praise team sang the “right” notes, if we were in sync, if we blended well, if the congregation was singing with us or even what anyone was wearing. I was oblivious. I remember worshiping you. I remember singing to you, being completely lost in music and praise. I came with the simple offering of my voice and what I received filled me to the extent that there was no room for anything else.

Lord, as I thank you for this blessing, I desperately pray that my worship would never distance me from those we are there to to lead. I pray that they would come with me as I enter into your presence.

the Word:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 63:1-4(NIV)

the lyric.
“May my prayer like incense rise before You, the lifting of my hands a sacrifice . . . So Your Word is my joy and meditation, from the rising to the setting of the sun.

Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You. Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You.”
Like Incense/Sometimes By Step
by Hillsong

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“My Life is but a weaving between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colours, He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride,
Forget that He seeth the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.
Author Unknown

from Dark Threads the Weaver Needs: The Problem of Human Suffering
by Herbert Lockyer

my Prayer: Lord THANK YOU for discarding dark thread yesterday! THANK YOU for replacing it with gold and silver thread! Thank you for answering our prayer for healing for our friend with a big, fat YES! We are so thankful that our will for healing didn’t contradict your will, that our limited, “underside” view matched beautifully with your “upper” view of this section of the magnificent, complicated, simple tapestry you are weaving. We are so thankful that we have a cancer FAIL story to tell, and thankful for the opportunity to point all the grace and glory to YOU, Lord! We trusted you before the surgery to remove the cancer and if it had resulted in the discovery of more cancer, we would have trusted you still – not understanding, but trusting. We would have been sorrowful and hopeful, clinging to our faith in your perfect plan. We are full of praise and thankfulness today, Lord, and even though our friend has a long recovery, we thank you that you’ve brought this particular band of women together so that we can be your hands and feet during this time. God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

the Word:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

the lyric.
“How high, how wide, no matter where I am, healing is in Your hands. How deep, How strong, and now by Your grace I stand, healing is in Your hands.”
Healing is in Your Hands
by Christy Nockels

Christy Nockels

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Psalm 86:1-12

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“I can’t tell you how much energy and determination and prayer it takes for me to keep making the deliberate choice to appropriate faith and trust in the power of God . . . How do I do it? I fill my mind with the truth of the identity of God. I keep an awareness of His power flowing through the front burners of my psyche, memorizing relevant Scriptures and consciously “changing the channels” of my brain until I rest in His power. I’ve declared war on my ignorance of God, because the challenges I face today are simply too great for me to remain in ignorance and to trust in my own resources.” (emphasis mine)
The God You’re Looking for
by Bill Hybels

my Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for your grace; freely given and undeserved. Thank you for your Holy Spirit’s presence in my life. Thank you for overwhelming blessings. You are perfect and Holy and your plan is so far above what I could possibly imagine. There is none like you.

I want to give to you, financially and of my time and talents, not out of obligation or for what I might receive in return, but as a response to my consuming gratitude. Please allow me to serve you. Please don’t let me miss an opportunity to serve due to my attention to self-focused goals or oblivious adherence to my routine.

the Word:
Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
Psalm 86:1-12 (NIV)

the lyric.
“Into the darkness you shine. Out of the ashes we rise. There’s no One like You. None like You. Our God is greater, our God is stronger. God You are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, awesome in power. My God, My God.”
Our God
by Chris Tomlin

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: Matthew 25:21

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“The basic issue for the Christian, it seems to me, is whether we believe we are stewards or owners of what we possess. A good steward receives gratefully anything his Lord gives to him. But he must account for it and use it wisely . . . If material blessings come to us, we believe they are gifts of God for which we are to be responsible as stewards. The whole earth is really ours as stewards.

Now this is a fact which non-Christians may not understand. Most of the world believes in ownership.

I remember Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes telling about being entertained by a wealthy landowner. He had preached in his host’s church that morning on God’s ownership. Looking over his broad acres and remembering the morning sermon, the man asked, ‘Do you mean to tell me, Bishop, that this land does not belong to me?’ The bishop said the answer came to him in a flash, ‘Ask me that one hundred years from now.'”

Living the Adventure – Faith and “Hidden” Difficulties
by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson

my Prayer:
Lord, I pray that I never claim ownership of my blessings. I desperately want to be a good steward of ALL the gifts you’ve entrusted to me. My financial blessings, yes, but also my spiritual, physical and relationship blessings.

Lord, please help us to spend the money you entrust to us wisely. Please show us how to be able to give above and beyond our tithe.

Lord, please help me to be a good steward of my relationship with you. Please bless me with an unwavering awareness of your presence in the daily routine of my life and with a relentless desire to spend time alone with you – listening AND talking.

Lord, please continue to help me be a good steward of this body. Help me to make healthy choices with my nutrition and to view exercise as something I just DO. EVERY day. Like sleeping, eating and driving my kids around.

Please Lord, bless me with patience and empathy in my relationships. Please guide me and show me what to do and say so that the people I love – especially my children and husband – are filled with the confidence that they are deeply loved and respected.

the Word: His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

four minutes with God: James 1:19

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“It is ironic that we try to impress people by saying clever or funny things, yet nothing binds one human being to another more than the sense that they have been deeply, carefully listened to. It is no accident that we speak of paying attention to people; attention is the most valuable currency we have.”
Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them
by John Ortberg

my Prayer:
Lord, help me to listen today. Help me to SEE people you want me to listen to today. Please help me to turn off the auto-pilot I so often find myself operating in and really look people in the eyes. Bless me with patience and empathy today, Lord. Allow me to be an instrument of your unconditional love and to share it authentically with someone else through my silence, patience and eye contact. Help me to hear the real messages behind the words instead just the words – appropriate words, carefully formulated as an expected or proper response.

Please keep my pride in check and help me to remember that I don’t need to try and control how other people perceive me. Help me to be authentic, knowing that not everyone will respond positively to me today. Instead of trying to make sure I don’t look like a fool in front of anyone today, please help me to be real with people, giving you a chance to show someone else that they are not the only one who’s got problems.

the Word: My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak . . .
James 1:19 (NIV)

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.