WRITING A DEVOTIONAL

WRITING A DEVOTIONAL

Back in 2003 after having spent the year before reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's book "Simple Abundance" I took her suggestion to heart and wrote my own daily devotional. Each day I took a line or two from one of the various spiritual authors from the last three centuries I was reading and wrote my own thoughts on the subject. I then looked for a scripture that illustrated the truth that had been revealed to me. What follows is the result.

"Our greatest bondage is to have our own way; our greatest freedom is to let God have His way." Warren Wiersbe

Saturday, December 10, 2011

December 10


“It is no accident that Friends still generally refrain from calling the Bible the “Word” or “The Word of God,” since we hold that only Christ is the Word of God, not as a closed intellectual formula but as a fluid, creative, open-ended, personal, and living power...”  William Taber, 1984, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 11/21

One of the definitions for Spirit in the Greek is breath so I’ve begun the exercise of thinking of my inward breath as a filling of Spirit and the outward breath as giving love.  I’m using this whenever I feel an inward anxiety.  It not only provides needed oxygen to my physical body but also is a wonderful reminder that perfect love casts out fear.  When I read the Quaker practice of only using The Word to refer to Christ I saw the truth in the practice immediately.  The Bible holds truth and wisdom, instruction and direction, and everything we could possibly want in the way of information, but it isn’t The Word Himself.  The words of the Bible are information, but it can’t help us to apply that information.  Only the Holy Spirit can do that.  In the beginning the Word was God and God became flesh for a time and we called Him Jesus.  But now we have God as the Holy Spirit.  The Word lives within us now willing us to do what is right.  We need to hold the Bible in esteem, but it must never replace The Word--Christ Himself who lives in us.

“He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.”  Revelation 19:13
Posted by Cathy at 7:25 AM
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 17, 2011 at 9:53 AM

    I agree. Continuing this thought of the Word is God and not the Bible, I can see why some "christians" then judge others by what the Bible says, claiming it is the Word of God,(anti gay for example) when in fact the Word is God. Since God is love, then the Word is Love. Judging others is not love, it's personal choice to make us feel better.

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  2. CathyDecember 17, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    Yes, but we must be careful that our hearts don't deceive us into a behavior that goes against God's expressed Will and Scripture reveals what that is for His Children. Nevertheless, we are to love others and not judge them which is to say we are to love the sinner but not the sin.

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  3. SandyDecember 10, 2016 at 6:18 AM

    I love your analogy "One of the definitions for Spirit in the Greek is breath so I’ve begun the exercise of thinking of my inward breath as a filling of Spirit and the outward breath as giving love". I just need to pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to remind me to reply in "love words" instead of reacting to those that offend me. Thank you for this reminder.

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