October 17: God Is Steadfast
- Scripture: Psalm 139:7-10 —
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. - Reflection: While our lives are guaranteed to be full of change, God‘s love and presence are assurances on which we can count.
How can we be attentive to and perceive the presence of God? Tom Schwanda of the CS Lewis Institute offers the following tips (full article: https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/cultivating-attentiveness-to-gods-presence/):
“This exercise is based on two questions: (1) Where have I met Jesus (or God or the Holy Spirit) today? (2) Where have I missed Jesus (or God or the Holy Spirit) today? Ask these questions throughout each day and week, and you’ll be surprised how much more you recognize God’s presence with you.
A variation to this exercise will increase your ability to perceive God. I find it valuable to ask: What helps me pay attention to God? What hinders me from paying attention to God? After you finish this article, I encourage you to set aside a few minutes and return to these questions. Begin by asking, what helps me pay attention to God? Then consider, what hinders me from paying attention to God? After making two lists, carefully and prayerfully review them.
Next, ask yourself: If I know what helps me to pay attention to God, how often do I actually seek to engage those activities or practices? And, if I recognize what hinders my awareness of God, what can I do to reduce or remove those hindrances? Be realistic and select and focus on just one help and one hindrance, so as not to become frustrated.” - Spiritual Practice: Use the questions above to assess your awareness of God’s presence, and to zoom in on a single ‘help and hindrance’ to cultivate that attentiveness.
Song:
- Pay Attention to your Soul by 12 Tribes Music: https://youtu.be/f-01FxH-LlI?si=_7p2G8I4HSZRiBcU
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend … in fact to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.” — CS Lewis
Oct 17 Daily Devotional