Your COMPASS for the Journey…on the PATH of Discipleship: March 6-12, 2011
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation
Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship is a daily resource designed to help you find direction in your walk with Christ. It includes a ‘Compass’ (a daily reading), a ‘Map’ (a brief comment to aid your understanding of the reading), and an application section called ‘Journey.’
During Lent and the first few days of Eastertide, Your COMPASS will cite portions of the ‘2011 LENTEN DEVOTIONS,’ a guide published by the Worship and Music Committee of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita Falls, Texas. Copies of the printed guide are available at the church.
Saturday, March 12, 2011 THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP
Compass:
Mark 12:30 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…mind and…strength.’
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Map:
Where am I on the PATH of Discipleship?
Pursue your relationship with God.
Answer the call to your true vocation.
Be Transformed in your thinking.
Nurture a Heart for others.
Journey:
Prayer: In all areas of my life, Lord, help me to be disciplined — to spend time in prayer, to be transformed in my thinking, to open my heart to others, and to answer Your call for my life. Amen.
Tomorrow: FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
Friday, March 11, 2011 THE FOURTH CROSS
Compass:
Mark 8:34 ‘If anyone would come after me, he must…take up his cross….’
‘Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”‘
Map:
‘Three crosses stood on Calvary stark against the sky.’
Journey:
Three crosses? But there is a fourth cross…. Did not Jesus say, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’? …Jesus was not talking about giving up something frivolous…. Jesus was demanding…that I abandon the direction in which my life may be headed…. ~ Earle W. Crawford
Tomorrow: THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP
Thursday, March 10, 2011 ADVANCING THE CAUSE
Compass
Mark 5:19 ‘…Tell…what great things the Lord has done for you.’
Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
Map:
Many Christians are well-equipped, well-trained, and well-financed…. But are we really advancing the cause? Are we winning our friends to Christ? Are we witnessing for him? ~ David Jeremiah
Journey:
Have you shared your story lately? With a friend or a stranger? The story of what Christ has done in your life?
Tomorrow: THE FOURTH CROSS
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 ASH WEDNESDAY
Compass:
Matthew 6:17-18 ‘…When you fast….’
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Map:
Nothing is more alien to our culture than fasting. But Moses, Jesus, and saints throughout history knew the importance of fasting.
Journey:
Fasting isn’t giving up something harmful; fasting is giving up something good, which I do without for time for the sake of God. ~ James C. Howell
Tomorrow: ADVANCING THE CAUSE
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 THE TRANSFIGURATION
Compass:
Matthew 17:1-9 ‘…He was transfigured before them.’
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Map:
On the mountain, Peter, James, and John see Jesus transfigured before their eyes, and they hear the Father’s voice declaring, ‘This is my Son,’ just as others heard the Father say the same thing at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:16-17). This revelation of Jesus’ glory was given to prepare his followers for his crucifixion, which would soon take place.
Journey:
Jesus is human, but he is not just human. He is also God. When we see his eternal glory shine through on the mountain, we understand how great was his sacrifice on the cross. Take a moment to contemplate his love, and give him thanks.
Tomorrow: ASH WEDNESDAY
Monday, March 7, 2011 CLOSE ATTENTION TO SCRIPTURE
Compass:
2 Peter 1:16-21 ‘…We were eyewitnesses of his majesty.’
16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Map:
The Apostle Peter is looking back across the years to that day when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain. He and James and John actually saw it. Peter all but says, ‘I’m not making this up.’ What this has done, Peter says, is: It has made ‘the word of the prophets…more certain.’ Scripture is true, and we ‘will do well to pay attention to it.’
Journey:
What can you do today to pay close attention to Scripture? ?Reread a passage? Memorize one or more verses? Read what a commentary has to say about a portion of Scripture? Meditate on a selection from the Bible? What will you do today to saturate yourself in the Word of God?
Tomorrow: THE TRANSFIGURATION
Sunday, March 6, 2011 WAITING FOR GOD
Compass:
Exodus 24:12-18 ‘…On the seventh day the LORD called to Moses….’
12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Map:
Moses was called by God to come up on the mountain. It is remarkable that, once Moses entered into the Lord’s presence, he was there forty days and nights. But even more remarkable is the fact that he waited six days on the mountain before the Lord acknowledged him.
Journey:
Waiting for God is among the most difficult of disciplines, yet it is something all of us are asked to do. If God should test your patience as he did that of Moses, you will want to prove yourself just as faithful.
Tomorrow: CLOSE ATTENTION TO SCRIPTURE
Photo Credit: Waalbrug bij Nijmegen vanaf de Belvédère by Bas Boerman
