For the last five years, I’ve been trying to create a devotional time for my family that honors God and is fun for my family. I called our time together with Him, Spiritfire. We would gather in a circle around the ‘fire’ of His presence, and invite Him to join us. I’ve used puppets and stuffed animals to get my children’s interest and attention, and designed times for them to run, jump, and yell a saying of power that will help them throughout their lives.
An integral part of our family’s Spiritfire experience is to begin it with prayer, followed by the statement of power: “I am a child of God! He loves me, so I love me!” With this simple but potent statement, we align ourselves with His heart and plan for our lives. It helps us to see more clearly what we are to avoid as well as what we are to regard as beneficial in this life. After we shout this foundational declaration, we enter into a time of sharing our S.M.O.T.’s- our Special Moment Of Today, that we are thankful for. Again, this helps us to see and acknowledge His activity in our daily lives. Yes, it’s fun for my kids to say S.M.O.T., (sounds like ’snot’). Keeping ‘fun’ part of Spiritfire helps it to remain a vital time for my family.
For the next part, we reflect on His Word. I usually lead this segment with the same script, “God has given each of us a key, and with this key, you, only you, can use it to open a secret hidden room filled with treasure! Mountains and mountains of treasure! Gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, diamonds!” At this point, my daughter yells, “Pink!” because that’s what she wants her treasure room filled with. I then resume the script entering into a question/answer time, “Who wants to add more treasure to their treasure room?” After all of the “me’s!”, I agree that I do too. Then I say, “Good, because I happen to have a book here called…” My kids respond, “The Book of Proverbs!” I follow with, “Written by…” And my kids supply the answer, “King Solomon!” Me again, “To train…” My kids, “Kings and Queens!” Me again, “Now in the book of Proverbs, there is something worth more than all the treasure in the world. What is it?” My kids shout it, “Wisdom!” Then I ask a question to prove it, “Can you make a tree out of gold?” Kids, “No!” Me, “What does the Bible say that God made the world with?” Kids, “Wisdom!” Me, “Now, in Wisdom, how many houses are there?” Kids, “Three!” Me, “What are they?” Kids, “Wisdom’s, Folly’s, and Imposters!” Me, “Who lives at Wisdom’s house?” Kids, “The righteous!” Me, “Who lives at Folly’s?” Kids, “The wicked and dead!” Me, “Who lives at the Imposters house?” Then the race is off to say all five members first, “Violent man, perverse man, gossip, scoundrel, and sluggard!”
At this point, we read the proverb. First, we try to address what the proverb is saying on the material plane, then we look for how Jesus fulfilled it beyond our ability to obey. I’ve tried to share some of these here that the Holy Spirit has given my family. Afterward, we then receive the seed of wisdom each proverb provides. I explain the following, “For at the center of our treasure rooms lie the garden of our hearts, souls, and minds, whose Gardener is the Holy Spirit.” We take this seed of Wisdom and plant it firmly and deeply into that sacred garden and ask the Gardener to multiply it to a mighty harvest.
That is a fuller picture of what we do. If any of it helps you and your family or gives you ideas, amen. I will continue to share our Spiritfires here to help develop what we do so that it may help others who may want to do something similar and have their own family times with God.
Revenge
How do you get vengeance against God?
Are we really narcissistic enough to think our definitions are binding?
He is God. We are not.
Do we really replace faith with a line drawn in the sand?
He is God. We are not.
Have we really remade righteousness into a pile of sticks that we need to jump?
He is God. We are not.
Unanswered prayer creates bitterness.
He is God. We are not.
Bitterness creates madness.
He is God. We are not.
Madness creates narcissism and a false view of reality.
He is God. We are not.
So we target success and say it’s a lie.
He is God. We are not.
So we drink the poison and say He’s to blame.
He is God. We are not.
So we set ourselves for failure and say it’s
He is God. We are not.
What do we want from God, an apology?
Jesus endured the cross.
Do we want to burn the Bible?
Jesus endured our chastisement from God.
Do we want revenge?
Jesus endured the abandonment of God.
Isn’t that what hell is?
Didn’t Jesus go even there?
Lay down your arms.
Let go of your pride.
Be made new into a Living Hope.
All of the ammunition you think you have
may confuse and disillusion His followers, even the faithful,
but they were never your real target anyway were they?
Be freed by the Name of the only One who has already been
where you think you are,
by the only One who has already conquered even your poor reflection,
by the only One who can release you from your bitterness.
Be freed by the Name of Jesus!
For vengeance does not save, only Jesus does.
Something Scary
I once saw a toy go from $100 to $500 as Christmas got closer. Places that at one time supplied them were bought out. There was something scary about that…
And then to think the toy is like God.
Isaiah 55:6-7
A Thought
You have a thought, do you act on it? Even if doing so makes your thought ultimately meaningless? Or do you keep playing the pointless game that offers emptiness as its reward?
Jesus is the only point to anything.
Everything else is madness.
Top 20 Ways I Am Not Like Jesus, among many others…
- I wouldn’t have talked with Satan. I would have fought him ‘end times’ style.
- I wouldn’t have chosen Judas or Peter.
- I wouldn’t have ended with one wedding party. Jesus Water business!
- I would have rescued John the Baptist.
- I would’ve eaten during every Sabbath right in front of the leaders. “Hey Caiaphas, could you pass me the lamb?”
- I wouldn’t have spoken in parables. I’d have spoken plainly. “What are you doing?”
- I would’ve talked more ‘trash talk’ to the storm. “Ooo, big scary storm!” I’d have turned it on/off again just to scare the disciples.
- I would’ve pushed off the bleeding woman and rushed off to save the kid.
- I would’ve fed the whole world and have given it a continual source of nourishment until the end of time.
- I wouldn’t have put up with the Pharisees.
- I wouldn’t have spoken so harshly to the Syrophonecian Woman.
- I would’ve done miracles with a little more style. Call out for a crowd, door prizes, etc.
- I would’ve constantly kept name dropping after the transfiguration. My bro’s!
- I would’ve made more of a show during exorcisms. Maybe karate casting…
- I would’ve destroyed the perverse/wicked/evil people and delivered
my people from Rome. - I would’ve made everyone rich.
- More karate at the temple for a black belt cleansing.
- I would’ve talked more trash to anyone who would question me and then do a miracle showdown.
- I would’ve dubbed the teacher of the law who answered wisely as a replacement disciple.
- Crucifixion? No way!
If I was Jesus, mankind wouldn’t be saved, and we’d still be under the law. I’d still be alive healing and helping the world. It would probably be a mix between the king the Jews wanted and a Marvel superhero.
My wife didn’t want me to think this way and would rather me consider ways I am like Jesus. But I told her I’d rather see the mysteries of His plan. His plan IS a source of nourishment until the end of time, the bread of life/living water. He is the fulfillment of the Wisdom of God, worthy to be praised. I wouldn’t have bothered with prophecies. Only He held the keys to God’s plan, I wouldn’t know what to do with them, nor do what was necessary to pave the way for our salvation.
I know it’s a backward way to get there, but even wrapping my mind around what He did and why brings me to worship. Amen.
He Considers You
Do you know He considers you?
He sees you in the perfect Light of His Son.
You are not hidden from Him. You are not hidden.
He has plans for whom He has made.
He has not forgotten you. You are not forgotten.
His
The Maker of all considers you.
He knows all and He loves you.
Now in His
With this
You can run faster than the speed of light, light is too slow.
You can escape the grip of regret in His pace.
He equips you in love.
Only by His grace can you be untouched by the gravity of the past.
With Him, time holds no authority.
Now in His
It is more refreshing than any waterfall.
Underneath this
Every drop washes, every drop creates.
The powers of this world seek to hold, they seek to stain, they seek to scar.
But they don’t want you to know His stains of blood shed for You.
They don’t want you to know His scars that paid the price of salvation.
For God holds us ever closer than our mistakes.
Our mistakes want to see themselves.
They want us to see their reflection.
But He makes us beautiful.
They will not like the view.
The Halo
A couple of weeks ago, I was outside watching the sunset. I know a lot of what we are able to witness outside involves timing, and that evening was no different. As I watched the sunset I noticed little rainbows in the clouds on either side of the sun. I found out that since the 1600’s people have called a similar phenomena ‘sundogs’. As I watched the rainbow clouds fade in and out of sight, I commented to the person standing next to me that I wondered if they ever connected to form a halo around the sun. Then as I watched, I saw a thin layer of cloud provide the canvas and a faint halo appeared. I excitedly asked the person next to me if he saw it. At first, he said no, and I felt sad for him. I told him it was there and I encouraged him to look harder. Then as we watched, it became brighter till finally, he said, “Yes, I can see it.”
When I thought on that later, it occurred to me how similar at times seeing that halo was to seeing God’s activity in our lives. We know God is good, trustworthy, and faithful. Even when we may not see Him, and our hopes mislead us, we know He is there.
Like the halo, it started with wonder. Then as I watched, my wonder manifested into reality, and I saw what I had hoped for. Then I wanted to share my excitement that I could see my wonder, my conviction, and through my insistence, another saw it too. This was not by manipulation, but by joy. No, not everyone will see it. Only those who look and seek for God, like the halo, will find Him, Psalm 63.
Oh, what a wonder He is indeed.
Spiritfire, Proverbs 20:10 “The Perfect Measurement”
“Differing weights and differing measures—
the Lord detests them both.”
When we read this proverb we were immediately confronted with how God regards injustice while also recognizing in this proverb’s
Rather than doing a background study of economics, I went with what my kids regularly face- cereal boxes and snack bags. I asked them what they felt about a new box of their favorite cereal that was already half empty when opened or the same with their favorite snack. They growled in frustration at the thought of it. They felt the sting of injustice and immediately knew why God detests
We then looked for Jesus’ fulfillment and saw the
Jesus gives us the righteousness of God, Romans 3:22-24, which enables us to be washed white as snow, Isaiah 1:18. Jesus came and satisfied even our ‘wanting’ by being our bread of life, John 6:35, which fills us with eternal food. Jesus fulfilled the perfect measurement, Hebrews 10:14, and because of His love for us we are saved through His blood, Ephesians 1:7.
Jesus, wisdom’s fulfiller, provided for the measurement of man. He balanced our differing measures with His love and grace. We respond and are to live our lives in obedience to His will, John 14:15.
Deep Under
Thank You, Lord Jesus
for showing us the path
on top of these waves.
My eyes need to be fixed on Jesus.
My faith in the sureness of His steps.
My comfort from His outstretched hand even when I sink.
I welcome His rebuke like living Water to a thirsty land.
May I
but may I relinquish such faulty pride to
It is far
no matter how deep under I am.
What He Meant For Us
When I sit back and think about the world and the different tensions we allow to exist, science and faith being an example, I recognize the false inheritance we’ve gained.
The different players involved that lead the charge to fight for so much less than what Jesus freely gives are people who gladly embrace the leaf that strangles the mayapple. They’ve held on to that which Jesus through His death and resurrection gave us freedom from thinking that by doing so leads to their enlightenment. Stories of looking behind the veil to reveal a fearful old man instead of recognizing how Jesus tore that separation and opened the way for more than what Dorothy could’ve imagined. The Matrix also tried to imagine it, but the best that could be seen was a dark fear based control revealed only when you accept the limits as a choice between two pills. Both pills lead to less no matter what special effects Hollywood, today’s Egyptian magicians, gives it.
No matter the history we are taught in school, no matter the names and titles we give ourselves that only reveal the limits of what we allow ourselves to gain, no matter the level of degrees of our fallen knowledge, we can never come close by our own efforts to that which Jesus accomplished for us. His shores are beyond imagining. The path to get there lies on top of the waves, not through them. The gateway of death itself was broken, the old way of the veil, the leaf, gone.
What were we meant to become? Where healings abound, where visions manifest to alter reality like words to a storm, where acts of wonder transport with no pollution to distances unattainable no matter the speed, no matter the inertia. Jesus, 1500+ years before the Enlightenment, gave us the keys to His Kingdom, and we’d rather these chains. We think that what we can gain through thousands of years of trial and error, achieves for us true, pure, and unadulterated progress. A progress that will forever lead to more chains is what awaits us down that path, but that is the lie you think limits me. That’s fine. Take your path, revel in your discoveries. I will follow my Lord to a place where 5 loaves and 2 fish can feed thousands, where coins are found in a fish’s mouth, where a donkey lies in wait to be called by the King, where water is changed to wine with no slaves.
I sit back and think, why would we do this? A lie is easier, well, that is its call. The inheritance gained is so tragically less, filled with slavery and death. If we would only look at the Door He opened and enter. I can only imagine what Jesus said leads to greater things than what He has done. That is what we were meant for, or rather,
that is what He meant for us.