September Newsletter
To Your Health!
(Spiritual, Emotional Relational, Physical)
I invite you to consider these two principles.
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God who created us desires we be balanced and healthy in every area of life.
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Our “How To” manual for living a balanced healthy life is the Bible.
This is the second in a series of columns that will highlight God’s health building tips.
October’s tip comes from Exodus 20:6-11, Romans 14:5
Tip #2 “Set aside one day each week for Worship, Rest & Renewal.”
(Open your Bible or Bible app to Exodus 20:6-11)
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“Remember” is the first word of the 4th Commandment (Exodus 20:8) Remember through action. For example, when we remember someone’s birthday we send a card, make a call, hold a party or some other action as a means of remembering.
Remember “the sabbath day.”
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.
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Point of clarification: (Open your Bible or bible app to Romans 14:5)
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Before Jesus *Sabbath was a day (Saturday). After Jesus Sabbath is a principle.
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Before Jesus Sabbath was Saturday. After Jesus Sabbath can be a day of your choosing.
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WHY?
11 “For in six days the Lord made” the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
“but he rested on the seventh day.”
We are asked to follow God’s example.
How?
“Remember the Sabbath day “by keeping it holy.” Holy means to set apart. We set apart one day out of seven for Worship, rest, & Renewal.
Action Steps
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Choose a day. Sunday is a good day. However, it can be any day. It can be a different day each week.
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Determine how you will worship, rest & renew on that day.
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Make it a priority.
I encourage you to try having a weekly day of Worship, Rest, & Renewal in October. Let me know how it plays out.
God bless and have a great month!
Hope to See you in Church.
Dan
To my surprise I was wrong about Brother Lawrence.
When Pastor Dan suggested reading the book Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence I was worried it was another book telling me to pray five times a day; Fast from food and use the hunger to point me to God; Set a time and meditate for 30 minutes. Many of the spiritual practices I’ve been taught before are not bad and actually help my focus turn towards God.
Brother Lawrence took a different path to my surprise. I want you to hear his own words on this matter and mind you this was not written in English but French. This is a quote from his Second Letter…
“I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which my state obliges me. And I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God, which often causes me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great that I am forced to use means to moderate them and prevent their appearance to others.”
You heard that right. He quitted meaning he stopped all regular forms of devotion. Instead, he practiced the constant presence of God. He desired to speak to God not with words but with his very soul. Though imperfect as he would go on to explain. The effort was well worth the investment as his mind would focus, not on selfish matters, but on the very presence of God. This is one of his letters on practicing the presence of God.
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While Dan and I have been preaching through the Holy Spirit. We have been working hard to bring the Holy Spirit to our everyday lives. However…
Sometimes the best practice for figuring out the Holy Spirit is simply spending time with Him.
Newsletter Article by Scott Carpenter