Be Still And Know
A collection of daily meditations from LifeJourney Church
Our pastoral staff (and several of our congregants) share daily scripture meditations for Monday through Friday of each week on Facebook. If your daily routine could benefit from some spiritual centering, check out our meditations. Go to Facebook and search for LifeJourney Daily Mediations (Be Still and Know), then ask to become a member of the group. We’ll gladly welcome you! Below you will find a few sample meditations to give you a flavor of what you’ll encounter on our Facebook page.
Why Do I Need A Daily Meditation?
Life is crazy. It can quickly scramble your brain and you soul. People of faith throughout the ages have used spiritual meditation as a way of renewing their peace, power, and perspective on a daily basis. LifeJourney Church strongly encourages you to get into a daily meditative rhythm. As the Scriptures say, “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. ~Psalm 118:24
By Pastor Vivian, Ret
OMG, winter is fully upon us, When the temperature is in single digits, I am loath to go outside. But I had things to do in Virginia and we drove over this weekend. It was bright and sunny when we left. But coming back was a different story. Through West, by God, Virginia, there was one open lane and lots of trucks. A trip that normally takes 9 hours took 11. I must admit that I was not rejoicing on the way back.
Winter weather is to be expected in January, but it still felt…what? Inconvenient? Disappointing? Tiresome? All of the above? I wanted to be home and through with the snow and cold and traffic. I guess I was being a little like Debbie Downer. Remember Debbie Downer from Saturday Night Live? In every skit, we find Debbie in a happy, joyful environment, and within moments she is bringing up horrible facts, or pointing out the negative in life. People loved the skit because, as they say, comedy imitates life. We all know people like Debbie. People who just bring others down. Sometimes we call them Debbie Downers, sometimes we call them Eeyore. If they bring you down too much, you might not call them at all.
I was not really Debbie Downer, but I was tired and maybe a little irritable. I know it’s hard to believe but I’m not always perky and full of smiles. I knew I could get hangry (angry when hungry) but now I know that simply being tired could wipe that smile right off my face. Have you lost your joy? Life never seems to work out for you. Everywhere you look you see something that makes you unhappy…on the news, on Facebook or any other social media. If that describes you today, I want to encourage you to turn over a new leaf. How, you ask?
Ask God to help you:
Dear God, so far today, I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, and I haven’t lost my temper. I haven’t been grumpy, nasty, or selfish. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed and that is when I’m going to need a lot of help.
Life can be difficult, and we all have trials. But we have to learn to have a positive attitude. Your thoughts have power. Negative thoughts can cost you dearly as you refrain from doing something because you don’t think you can. As a person thinks, so they are. ~Proverbs 23:7
Start your day with the right mindset:
You have two choices when you wake up. You can choose to be in a good mood, or you can choose to be in a bad mood. Choose to be in a good mood! If you don’t have time for prayer or bible study, say the above passage out loud and personalize it. This is the day which the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line—It’s your choice how you live life.
Do things that lift you up:
The worst thing you can do is think on things that bring you down. If you are constantly thinking about sad things, guess what? You’ll be sad. If you are filling your mind with negative things or listening to music or watching movies that are sad, depressing, or generate negative thoughts and feelings, you’ll feel negative or sad.
If you want to be positive, then focus on things that will lift you up. Laugh! There is truth in the old adage “laughter is the best medicine.” Watch a funny movie. Hang out with a funny friend, Laugh out loud. Why? Because this is a day the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it.
God bless all who read this. Amen
HAPPINESS IS . . .
By Pastor Jeff
Jesus said, “I have come that [you] might have life and that [you] might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. But the abundance God wants for us can sometimes seem hard to find.
This past week I saw an interview with Arthur Brooks, a professor at Harvard who teaches a course on happiness and has written a book with Oprah called “Build The Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.” Based on his research, Brooks says we should invest in happiness in the same way we invest in our retirement accounts. Namely, we should diversify by investing equally in four key areas:
1-Faith.
2-Family.
3-Community and friends.
4-Meaningful work.
That’s a pretty good check list. It all begins with faith. I recently heard someone say, “Joy is an inner feeling that arises from an eternal perspective.” The happiest people I’ve known have lived this life with a keen awareness of eternal life, which helps them keep the challenges of this life in perspective. It’s hard to get too down if you genuinely believe your future is filled with heavenly delight. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has the human heart conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love God.” II Corinthians 2:9.
Then comes family. There is something sacred and holy and deeply fulfilling about journeying through life with a group of imperfect people that we love unconditionally. A deep commitment to the wellbeing of our family is deeply satisfying. It roots and grounds us. “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13:7. But community and friends also matter. The Bible says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24. Having lots of superficial acquaintances doesn’t do us much good, but having a few really good friends does. Brooks points out that friendships are often our most intimate relationships. Knowing and being known deeply by a few people anchors us through the vicissitudes of life. And finally, don’t forget meaningful work. We spend more time in life working than anything else. Meaningless work equals meaningless life. Doing work that matters to God and people – serving, helping, making a better future – fills us with a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Being able to devote our full time labor to work that blesses people fills us with meaning.
So let’s each take a moment to look back over Brook’s four key sources of happiness and consider: Am I lacking in any of these areas? Is there an area where I need to increase my investment?
God bless those who read this. Amen.
New Beginnings
By Pastor David
I mentioned a few months back that the chemical plant where I work is closing. I have a job here into the first quarter next year, but you have to do what is best. I started responding to head hunters who were contacting me. It was as if they were doing my job search for me. That is what happened when I got my current position.
Yesterday I signed an offer letter. I thought this current job was my last full time engineering job, but that did not happen. That is hard to say about this new job. I am unsure how it will shake out. I have loved everyone I have met. Very nice people. I had to take a personality test before they would interview to make sure I would be a good fit in the organization.
It was not luck. It was not chance. I was willing to take steps even though the head hunters were doing a lot of the work. I felt like I was wandering, but I also felt safe. I was not certain what was next, but I was certain there was a next. God is with me. Time and time again the Israelites found themselves wandering, when they fled from Egypt and even after getting to that promised land.
An example:
Deuteronomy 32:10-14 “God found them wandering through the desert, a desolate, wind-swept wilderness. God protected them and cared for them, as God would protect self. Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the Lord kept Israel from falling. The Lord alone led their people without the help of a foreign god.”God let them rule the highlands, and they ate what grew in the fields. They found wild honey among the rocks; their olive trees flourished in stony ground. Their cows and goats gave plenty of milk; they had the best sheep, goats, and cattle, the finest wheat, and the choicest wine. “The Lord’s people grew rich, but rebellious; they were fat and stuffed with food. They abandoned God their Creator and rejected their mighty savior. Their idolatry made the Lord jealous; the evil they did made him angry. They sacrificed to gods that are not real, new gods their ancestors had never known, gods that Israel had never obeyed. They forgot their God, their mighty savior, the one who had given them life. “When the Lord saw this, he was angry and rejected his sons and daughters. “I will no longer help them,’ he said; “then I will see what happens to them, those stubborn, unfaithful people. With their idols they have made me angry, jealous with their so-called gods, gods that are really not gods. So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry; I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.”
The people of Israel found themselves in a quandary more than once. When they abandoned God, they found themselves roaming the wilderness. Isn’t that what happens to us? They were not certain what was next. They started worshipping false gods in their anxiety of not knowing what was next. They were not taking any ownership in working with God to find their way. God did not put them in the wilderness. We put ourselves there, but it is a place where we can make our way back to God. That is what God wants for us. I look at the jealousy of God as disappointment. Disappointment in not cultivating and maintaining a relationship with God. It is not like God just dropped them. It was really the other way around. But God is not going to make us do anything. It is our choice to work with God, or not. Their own abandonment of God made them more vulnerable. That is what happens to us. We all have disappointment’s in life. It is how we respond that can help us.
It is easy to forget that we have responsibility in what God provides. If I had not updated my resume, responded to the head hunters, etc., a job is not going to fall from the sky into my lap. To receive God’s blessing, we should be doing our part too. We can’t work against God, sit and do nothing, and expect a windfall. When we work against God and nothing changes, what is it we expect if we keep doing the same thing? I would guess the same result.
Be mindful of your relationship with God. All relationships require work on our part. Do the things you need to do to cultivate a deeper relationship with God. Bible study, quiet time with God, conversation with God, prayer, walking in nature with God, listening to music with God, etc … it is all good. When you are in prayer for something, ask God, “What can I do to work with You?” Let God speak to your heart and listen.
God bless everyone who reads this. Amen.
