Shema
Angie Miller • January 8, 2024
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
I know we all have our daily routines, comforts and schedules. The Shema could be included in your daily routine. It comes from the books of, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-4. The reason the Jewish families pray the Shema morning and evening is from Deuteronomy 11:13-21 when the Lord tells us to recite His truths when you lie down and when you wake up. What a beautiful discipline to settle our hearts and minds on our Father God when we wake up and when we lie down to sleep.
It has been my prayer, truly, that the Lord our God is the only God I serve. The one true God. So much fights to be our gods.I have so many constantly fighting for my attention. I am sure we can all count what gets our attention every single moment of every single day. How does the Lord get our affections, our time, our talents, our everything? How do we submit ourselves to the one true God, our Lord and Savior? By consistently showing up to be with Him. Reading His Word to know Him. Thanking Him for all the blessings we have all throughout the day. Consulting him in all of our affairs. Surrendering our ways for His!
I’m praying for however you spend your day, that you would consider, praying a morning and evening prayer from the word to center everything on the Lord! He is so worthy of our praises! It is my prayer that Jesus gets my first every single day! Praying for you as you head into 2024, how will you come to know Jesus more and more this year? You are loved!
FCA NOCO Blog
I recently spoke at a few high schools about Loving Like Jesus. This devotional is a moderately condensed version of the talk I gave, but wanted to share with you all!
For the last several weeks I have been in Galatians and Romans. I’ve been considering the life of the apostle Paul. Two primary components have surfaced for me and have been filling my quiet spaces with questions and conviction. Paul not only had a reputation, but he seemed to have a platform in every city. This platform seemed to be a result of his teaching as well as his redeemed demeanor. Every single day that Paul lived, after coming face to face with Jesus, was approached with expectation and urgency. Paul did not have a transactional experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he had a transformation that utterly and completely altered the trajectory of his life. Lives that are changed by transaction look more like moral reformation. Paul’s life was absolutely transformed by the love of Jesus Christ. A life that is transformed transcends our own ability to reform our behavior. Our lives transformed by the love of Jesus results in a response that alters our behavior. Paul was so keenly aware that his redemption had absolutely nothing to do with his abilities, and his life’s pursuit to be righteous. Jesus paid the debt not even Paul could pay, and the response was a captivated heart with the beauty of his savior. Paul also had significant clarity around “his sermon”. An old friend of mine wants told me that pastors sometimes take a bit to “find their sermon”. That one quintessential conviction that finds its way into every sermon they preach. For Paul, it was an amazing clarity around the gospel and the urgency to abstain, absolve and flea from false gospels. Paul was a dog with a bone regarding the gospel and how he traveled from location to location and nothing else in his life mattered much outside the gospel and the proclamation of the gospel every chance he got. The platforms that Paul had were ordained and prepared by the Holy Spirit. The gospel of Jesus Christ is what was amplified and proclaimed by Paul. I am compelled and filled with affection for the gospel, and the older I get it is quickly becoming the single thing in my life that addresses every aspect of a life long sanctification process.
In our first sermon at church this year, our Pastor mentioned the word “recalibration” and ever since, I haven’t stopped pondering upon the word. It means resetting or adjusting settings to help stay on course. Many may understand recalibration when flying a plane since pilots are consistently gauging the course to ensure they are not veering off trajectory. At home, many of us may readjust or recalibrate settings on the thermostat in our home… especially those in Colorado as we experienced a magnificent cold front across the Front Range. How does this apply to faith? That's where it stuck out to me. Our pastor shared about recalibrating to stay on course with the Lord’s plan and using references to Jeremiah 29. The Israelites were held in captivity, yet the Lord speaks in verse 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons & daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too many have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek peace and prosperity in the city which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:5-7).” Amid exile, the Lord is speaking of building houses & settling down, getting married & multiplying. Can you imagine? In the thick of surviving exile, the encouragement is to dig into it & thrive in exile. And our pastor brought up the fact that we may not be in similar exile in Jeremiah 29, however, Peter reminds us that we are “aliens and strangers [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges [those dishonorable desires] that wage war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). In this world, we are captives, heaven is our home. Our world is not. So how does that reconnect to recalibration? Sometimes our situations, scenarios, and circumstances can veer us off track. And we may even be doing all the right things in the church, ministry, home, and all our relationships. But being 1-degree off course can eventually lead to miles off course. To pilots, being 1 degree off course is detrimental enough to completely change coordinate points. Similarly in walking with the Lord, being 1 degree off course is detrimental enough to cause a mission drift. A mission drift is where we get off course of what the Lord has called us to do. Recalibration is a key to helping us realign with what God has for our lives. Even if our current condition feels like exile where we can’t get out or it is harder than we called for, we must trust in the Lord because he knows the plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). When we recalibrate to reset our settings to the Lord’s direction, we can continue to build & thrive & plant and multiply no matter what climate we are facing.
I’ve been wrestling probably for a good portion of my life without really even knowing it. What do I love? Seems pretty easy right? Even where I spend my time and energy, does not really reflect what I love? Some of you will read this and others will not, but I would love to interact with you in this short writing if you would.
Romans 2:4 says, “it’s His kindness that leads us to repentance”. Lately, the Lord has given me a phrase to be that I have found myself asking often (and over and over), “What am I a slave to?”
My church recently went through a series on the Holy Spirit and a key point that was made during one of the sermons was “ What God forms, He fills . ” I’ve been spending a lot of my quiet time meditating and reflecting on my relationship with each part of the Trinity and on the aforementioned point.
“I hope we get to go swimming today.” “I hope the Avalanche win the Stanley cup.” I have said phrases like this all my life. I began to wonder about where does this hope come from? Hope is not an accident. Hope is an indicator, it is a bi-product of something going on within. When we refer to hope based on a circumstance or a specific context it reveals our affection, our hearts attention. It is normal and good to look forward and to anticipate things in our life that we enjoy. However most of those things are temporary. Hope that is robust, sturdy and eternal is something a bit different. Developing a hope that you can build a framework to live by is a process that takes time and begins with suffering.
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3: 7-8
I have been reminded this last week the power of people in your life.
It is such a joy to be called to shepherd the FCA Coaches’ Ministry in Northern Colorado! We are fortunate to have so many amazing coaches in this region and many of them are making an impact for JESUS . One of my favorite things is getting to share a weekly devotion with them. I affectionately call this MMM (Monday Morning Minute) and is intended to be an encouragement as they begin their week. I am including my most recent devotion and I hope it will encourage you as well! Good Morning! Would you describe yourself as a COACH or as a referee? It is not unusual in the sport world to try to be both at the same time. If you look at synonyms for these 2, it is difficult to be both simultaneously: COACH – GUIDE, MENTOR, TEACHER, DISCIPLER REFEREE – OFFICIAL, UMPIRE, JUDGE Although both of these roles are critical in the world of athletics – they serve very different purposes. A COACH is responsible for leading, directing, mentoring, and thus DISCIPLING! An official (thankless job) serves the purpose of protecting the integrity of the rules, making JUDGEMENT calls, thus protecting the participants. In the “game of life” we also have COACHES and JUDGES, but the difference is man/woman are only called to fulfill one of them – DISCIPLER (COACH)! Clearly in Matthew JESUS identifies our role in this world: “ Therefore go and MAKING DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 The bible also tells us what our role is NOT: “Do not JUDGE, and you will not be JUDGED. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:37-38 As CHRIST followers we need to be mindful that our role as COACH is to care for others by leading with LOVE NOT JUDGEMENT ! We are called to DISCIPLE (COACH ) and allow ALMIGHTY GOD to do the rest!!! To paraphrase the words of JESUS when teaching his disciples in Matthew 22:36-40 – the 2 greatest commandments are: LOVE GOD! LOVE OTHERS! The good news: COACHING and DISCIPLING is “ LIFE GIVING”, whereas judgment is “life draining” - and we can choose the first! There is no better day than today to get started! DISCIPLESHIP (COACHING) is an act of LOVE and MAKES A DIFFERENCE! Blessings! Coach Bradley
