daily spiritual reflection: mar. 4

daily spiritual reflection

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: You are the Light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and then put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in Heaven. (-Jesus)

- Matt 5:13-16

THOUGHT: Light is a great metaphor for God's role in the world, and our connection to his activity today. Imagine the world with no sunshine-- not only would it be depressing and grey, it would literally be lifeless; nothing could even grow.  There would be no sense of time because the sun would never rise or set. There would be no vision, because all we'd see is darkness. Warmth, light, our days & time, energy, all these things come from light. In the same way, God is the essence of provision and life in our world.

Jesus calls us the "light of the world."  Do you feel that way?  If we were honest, our answer might be dependent on our attitude or on what happens throughout the day.  What if our answer only depended on our relationship with God and us letting him shine through us.  The clue about "and glorify your father in Heaven" lets us know that it's really not our light that everything's about. Instead, if God is the sun, it's like we're his little moons, reflecting his light into the world.  If this is true, then we don't have to work really hard to try to make up the light on our own. But for us to shine and for us to shake off the darkness that hurts us, we need a source of light-- we need to interact with God's sunshine.

When anyone turns to face God's light full on, we're going to feel exposed, because truth is always a bit scary. But soon we feel comfortable in that vulnerability-- we've all met those kind of people who we can tell anything to without feeling judged or isolated, right? God never stops shining his loving light on us, and we find that, after we've adjusted to his brightness and all that he sees, it's a light of warmth and good things. And soon he's started getting down to the roots of who we are in our hearts, and loving us there.  We start to shine freely, and reflect his light-- it comes right through us! And soon we're the ones bringing life into situations in our world.

CHALLENGE:  Sit down.  Ask yourself, "If God shone his light on me, what would I do?"  Examine how you see God.  Is that light harsh?  It it loving?  No matter what you feel right now choose to see God's light as one that brings hope, love, joy, and peace.  If God's light brought those things, where would you want that light to shine in your life?

Ready? Set? BREAK!

it is time, my friends.

 It's much easier to build new habits into our lives during transitions, when our schedules are fluid and depend more on personal choice than previous commitments. So, with the start of Spring Break comes the perfect chance to try starting a new thing for Lent!

 Bible readings are available for those who might be looking for reflection and practical opportunities on how to explore life with God (ask juliet). This will be a holistic plan that includes Old Testament and New Testament texts and some commentary that is hopefully relevant and thought provoking. As agent JB, i'll remind you to be realistic about the commitments you've made-- if you only want to spend 10 minutes a day in the Bible, maybe commit to reading one of these reflections a day, not the whole day's reading.  A great adventure is to come, let's dig in!

=) juliet

step 3.

You have a team.

You have a mission.

It is time to set things in motion. 

(again, it's never too late, also! Always feel free to email yalerockslent@gmail.com with questions or for a group/help/etc.)

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Begin your disciplines on March 4 (Friday). 

Schedule your first meeting with your accountability team for this week, so that you can get some prayer and encouragement in before parting for Spring Break. It can be over a meal, over coffee, in a common room or a prayer room.

Most importantly, commit to staying in touch over spring break, through phone, email, or skype.

--> I'll be in touch again soon.

-Agent JB

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SOME GUIDANCE ON WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MEET:

1. When you first sit down to meet, spend some time praying and praising God before anything

2. Then, decide together how you'd like to structure your meetings. Here are some possible questions to ask each other:

- How is your prayer life going?

- What have you been learning from God's word?

- Have you have been enjoying Jesus lately?

- When/how have you struggled with sin this week? In what ways do you need God's grace to forgive and transform you? (If you are seeking accountability for a particular temptation/sin pattern, you may tell your partner(s) to ask specifically about that.)

- In what ways has God blessed you this week? How have you shared your blessings with others?

- Have you shared your faith in Christ with anyone lately? Who can you be praying for?

- What has been hard or disappointing this week? How ahve you responded to suffering and trials?

-MORE IDEAS: http://www.edstetzer.com/2008/05/accountability-questions.html

3. Share life and enjoy each other's company. Accountability can be uncomfortable and difficult at times, but it is such a rewarding way to pursue God.

4. Pray for each other!

step 2.

Have you assembled your team yet? Are you ready for step #2?

**If you haven't assembled a team, feel free to email yalerockslent@gmail.com for help at any time. It's NEVER too late to start =)

Ok, for those who are ready...

2. Choose a spiritual discipline that you would like to challenge yourself to pursue (for the first time, or in a greater measure) during this season. 

Some examples:

- fasting: give up cheese, give up meat, do a "daniel fast", give up sweets, give up facebook, give up coffee... 

- prayer: commit to being still each day and praying for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever time amount would be a challenge for you

- take on something new: commit to writing a worship song each week, or reading a chapter of the Bible every other day

- tithe: if you don't already give 10% of your time, talents, gifts, and offerings to the church, consider trying it out this season

- sabbath: restructure your life so that you take one day (or one specific part of a day) each week to not do homework. avoid scheduling meetings and non-prayerful hang-outs these days. avoid emailing these days. instead, use these days to rest, pray, and worship.

- service: commit to some form of service unique to you: perhaps you'd like to work with the homeless, or go to Leeway, or bake cookies for my freshman (jk jk), or take out the trash of other people in your college... be creative!

- Bible Study: follow the lenten prayer bible study, which will be sent out tomorrow sometime. commit to being in the word with God each day. you may have to give up some of your homework time, sleep time, hang-out time, or extra-curricular or email time to do this. 

Be wise in how much you commit to. Taking on only 1-3 of these disciplines is more than enough... 

make your decision.

put it into writing.

post it somewhere VISIBLE (on your computer desktop, on your dormroom door...)

await further instructions. you will receive them soon.

signing off--

Agent JB

the mission begins... step 1

Have you accepted the mission God is calling you to on this campus? Are you ready to begin?

Here is step number 1.

1. Choose a friend or small (2-3 people) accountability group, 

and commit to meeting with him/her/them every week, 

either in person, over a meal, in writing, or over the phone, 

up until Easter (April 25).

- If you want to participate but you are unsure of a person in your life you'd like to meet with each week, please email yalerockslent@gmail.com. We will do our best to pair/group people up for the season. And many members of the leadership team are excited to partner with some of you in prayer!

- If you don't mind us following up with you about how this goes for you, and being connected to more resources, email yalerockslent@gmail.com with the names and contact information of your partner/group members. We'll check in periodically to see how it's going, and you can help inform us about what your needs are during this season. You don't have to though!

Signing off--

Yale Rocks Lent team --> Agent JB =)

Announcing... YALE ROCKS LENT.

Greetings, saints.

Lent is a time to walk with Jesus through his hardest days, to prepare our hearts for his suffering and subsequent RESURRECTION, losing our lives to gain all that matters. You will soon hear more about a very special season in which...

Yale Rocks Lent.

Should you choose to accept this mission, 

you will find yourself a part of the greatest underground movement this world has ever known-- the Kingdom Coming. We will be living amidst adventure, thrills, courage, difficult choices, and working alongside a hero unlike any other. We will be battling some of the scariest evil forces that work in this world. During the busiest and hardest season of Yale, we will seek out spiritual health. We can be lights to those around us. We can defeat fear. We can pour out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. We can REFUSE TO CONFORM and instead cling to God...

GET EXCITED.

Another email with more details is coming  s o  o   n .

signing off---

agent JB