Category: First Steps

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First Steps – August 10, 2020

Often, I get asked, ā€œWhat do I need to pray?ā€  Normally, this question is asked when a person desires a more intimate prayer life. Unfortunately, many people approach praying from a right/wrong dichotomy. One thinks there is a right way and a wrong way to pray. Therefore, one overly focuses on what the words need to be.

If Iā€™m describing you, I offer you St. Jeanne de Chatal, Co-Foundress of the Order of the Visitation (early 17th Century).  She spent the majority of her life as a spiritual guide for so many. She said, ā€œSometimes put yourself very simply before God, certain of his presence everywhere, and without any effort, whisper very softly to his sacred heart whatever your own heart prompts you to say.ā€  

Do this continually and you will not have to worry about if it is right or wrong. Do this continually and you will have a very meaningful intimate prayer life.

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Luke 6
  • Tuesday – Luke 7
  • Wednesday – Luke 8
  • Thursday – Luke 9
  • Friday – Luke 10
Please Pray for:
  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • Teachers and students as they transition.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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First Steps – August 3, 2020

ā€œThere are three kinds of flatterers:

The first kind praises and encourages someoneā€™s good behavior. But they overdo it. They make a person feel better than they really are. Lavish praise is the first type of flattery.

The second kind takes an openly soiled reputation that is beyond denial and makes light of it. ā€˜You are not the first person to do this. Many other do things that are worse.ā€™

The third kind of flatterer is the worst of all. They praise an evil personā€™s conduct. To a knight who has robbed the poor they will say, ā€˜Thatā€™s not a bad thing to do. Prune a willow and it will sprout even better.ā€™ Such misguided flatterers actually blind the ones who listen to them. They cloak a foul odor with perfume. This is too bad. If they smelled it, it would make them sick. They would hurry to confession and avoid it in the future.ā€

The author is anonymous and judging by the wording one could attribute this to the Middle Ages. What I find fascinating is that it is still true today. Perhaps it is better to simply tell the truth.

This Week’s Readings:

  • Monday – Luke 1
  • Tuesday – Luke 2
  • Wednesday – Luke 3
  • Thursday – Luke 4
  • Friday – Luke 5

Please Pray for:

  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • The World.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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First Steps – July 6, 2020

Sometimes the best devotional is not something that one reads but what one does.Ā  Therefore, for today, I hope that you will spend some time in reflection of the many freedoms that have been provided for you.Ā  At the same time, I hope that you will spend time in prayer, giving thanks for what others have provided, secured, and continually give so that others can be free.

On a cosmic level, that is what Jesus did for every soul and circumstance.Ā  Johnā€™s Gospel reminds us, ā€œFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal lifeā€Ā (John 3:16).Ā  ā€œTruly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.Ā The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.Ā So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeedā€ (John 8:34-36).
Give thanks for freedom and liberty in whatever forms they are presented to you.

This Week’s Readings:

  • Monday – Revelation 2
  • Tuesday – Revelation 3
  • Wednesday – Revelation 4
  • Thursday – RevelationĀ 5
  • Friday – Revelation 6

Please Pray for:

  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • The World.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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First Steps – June 29, 2020

One of the reasons why I appreciate church history is because it gives examples of different people who lived and breathed their faith.  It is one thing to know or believe, it is something else to faithfully live in times of ease or persecution.  Apollonius the Apologist was one such person who faithfully lived as a follower of Christ regardless of his situation.

He was a philosopher and a member of the Roman Senate.  He was denounced as a ā€œsecretā€ Christian by fellow senators.  Naturally, he was brought before the senate for his belief because it was illegal to be a Christian.  The account of his trial was marked with civility.  Both Apollonius and his accusers treated each other with respect and courtesy.  Though he lived in the 2nd Century, the way he treated his accusers is a lesson for the modern person.

Even in disagreement, one can treat another with respect.  For Apollonius, to treat another otherwise, would be to discredit the God he worshipped.  I wonder what would happen if followers of Christ treated every single person the same way they would treat Jesus Christ.  How effective would the witness be!  Give it a try this week.  Imagine every person around you is Jesus and let that image dictate your actions.

This Week’s Readings:

  • Monday – 1 John 5
  • Tuesday – 2 John 1:1-13
  • Wednesday – 3 John 1:1-15
  • Thursday – Jude 1:1-25
  • Friday – Revelation 1

Please Pray for:

  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • The World.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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First Steps – June 22, 2020

Gregory of Nazianzus was often known as Gregory the Theologian. He studied in Caesarea, Alexandria, and finally in Athens. Ā For the ancient world, he had an excellent education and was highly respected because of it. Ā A Bishop of The Church in the 4th Century, he is most known for his teachings concerning the nature of the Godhead and his stress of the oneness of the Trinity. Ā Saying that, he was heavily concerned with personal holiness and how one lived faithfully day-to-day.

He said, ā€œThese three things God requires of all the baptized: Ā right faith in the heart, truth on the tongue, and temperance of the body.ā€

Here are what followers of Christ need to constantly remember: Faith, thoughts, words, and actions are connected. Ā What one believes determines how one thinks, speaks, and acts. For us, we are people of the Kingdom of God. Ā We live by faith, we adopt a standard of life, ethics, and structure that is conducive to Christā€™s teachings.

Draw strength from knowing that you are connected to God. Know that you are connected to a long line of believers whom have lived the same journey of faith under the God of grace and mercy.

This Week’s Readings:

  • Monday – 2Ā Peter 3
  • Tuesday –Ā 1 JohnĀ 1
  • Wednesday – 1 JohnĀ 2
  • Thursday – 1 JohnĀ 3
  • Friday – 1 John 4

Please Pray for:

  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • The World.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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First Steps – June 15, 2020

N.T (Tom) Wright, former Anglican Bishop, is currently the Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Oxford.  I have a deep appreciation for his research and writings. He wrote this reflection about Acts 18 and Paulā€™s ministry in Corinth and Ephesus:

ā€œLuke offers us no set pattern for the way in which people come, step by step, into full membership in the Christian family and full participation in all the possibilities that are opened to them. Sometimes it happens this way and sometimes that way.  Just as humans grow to maturity at different paces, and some make great strides in one area while others have to catch up later, so it seems to be in the church. What matters is that we are open, ready to learn even from unlikely sources, and prepared for whatever God has to reveal to us through Scripture, the apostolic teaching, common life of believers, and the Holy Spirit.ā€

I marvel at this reflection because I think he has his finger on the pulse of faith development.  It is not and never has been a one-stop-shop.  It is the one God in Christ whom is the driver behind faith development; but God works in tandem with the person. This means the speed of faith development is largely due to the person.  God is always waiting and wanting but isnā€™t a violator of oneā€™s will.

Therefore, a premium is placed on oneā€™s openness.  We need to always be open, ready, and willing.  If we are, God will always do what is needed to form the nature of Christ in us. Thanks be to God!

This Week’s Readings:

  • Monday – 1 Peter 3
  • Tuesday – 1 Peter 4
  • Wednesday – 1 Peter 5
  • Thursday – 2 Peter 1
  • Friday – 2 Peter 2

Please Pray for:

  • Our ministers and their families.
  • Those who are unwillingly absent.
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • The World.
  • The Lost.
  • The lives of those touched by the Coronavirus.
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