Where Did You Find God Today?

Ever read something and get a holy chill?

In my church, each Sunday we read an assigned prayer, an Old Testament Lesson, a Psalm, verses from a letter by the Apostles in the New Testament,  and verses from one of the four Gospels. Billions of people in my denomination and six other so called liturgical ones, will do the same this week,  and have done so for centuries. It is called following the Lectionary. In Latin it means: the collection of readings. As a form of daily discipline in God’s Word, I have gone back to reading a portion of the upcoming Sunday’s lectionary every day.

Monday, I read this opening prayer, called a Collect because it gathers our minds towards worship:

Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

It was one of those Holy chill moments. Love what I command so you can obtain my promise. Wow- it took me a while to wrap my mind around that.

Until we learn to live out the greatest commandments to love God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves- which is what Jesus said was the basis for everything else in the Law and the Prophets – then we are still in the “I wanna control” mode. How can we glimpse His promises when we are blinded by our own agendas, emotions, and experiences?

Yes, God can use our unique life lessons to His glory, but only when we choose to hand them to Him, and that means handing Him the control. That takes faith.

Only then can we truly hope – a positive attitude that sees the best possible outcome. With that attitude, we can then release our hands from gripping our own problems and extend them out to others, saying, “I can help you. Grab hold.” That is charity.

Faith, hope and charity – our tree-legged stance so nothing will topple us. That is our Lord’s promise. But first comes accepting His commands.