How Is Your Face Today?

“I was walking to work this week,”  Emma shared, “and everyone just looked sad.  There were a lot of people out, but everyone just looked down.  Then all of a sudden this guy bounds around the corner finishing a morning jog, with such exuberance on his face and lets out  joyous exclamation of accomplishment.  I first thought ‘how could running ever produce such joy,’ but then I found myself asking, ‘I wonder what my face is expressing?’”

It was a great, and quite profound, observation that was shared at a Fellowship gathering a while back.   What do our faces express?  As the church, are we expressing joy and exuberance?  It reminded me of a passage from Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the same Direction in which he quotes a friend:

For if a pastor is not in touch with joy, it will be difficult to teach or preach convincingly that the news is good.  If you do not convey joy in your demeanor and gestures and speech, you will not be an authentic witness for Jesus Christ.  

I think that it is safe to say that this goes for more than just pastors, but for all who would claim to be followers of Jesus.  So how about you, how is your face today?

Thoughts about Prayer

Prayer is one of those things that I  have a real desire to do well.  It is also one of the spiritual disciplines that I feel comes least naturally to me.  I realize that if there is one universal key to a deep and meaningful prayer life it is - pray.  You just have to do it.  But beyond that I am always happy to come across some helpful thoughts about deepening one's prayer life. 
Recently, I have been reading Read the Bible for Life By George H. Guthrie (and this will be the last thought I post form the book - I promise).  There is a discussion with Donald S. Whitney about reading the bible for personal devotion.  I appreciated the attention to balancing reading scripture for the big picture story, meditating on scripture and praying scripture. 

When we pray, we can pray through a passage of Scripture.  After reading a chapter or several chapters in your Bible reading, go back and pick one verse, perhaps a verse that stood out to you.  Or you can pick a verse or passage you beleive is a theme verse or a key passage in the section you have just read.  Then pause over that verse and pray through it.

The chapter provides many insights into the importance of reading the big picture, explains meditation and gives practical examples of meditation and how to pray scripture. 

If you are looking for other resources for prayer I have also been reading The Hidden Life of Prayer by David McIntyre.  It is a little less accesible as the language is a bit older, but there are many helpful insights as well.  You can also follow along with others as they read it together as it is the most recent book in the series "Reading Classics Together" over at Tim Challies blog.  Below is a link to the first post, and they have been doing a chapter a week since then:

Reading Together