Category: Soul Growth

Discouraged with their new life back in the ruins of Jerusalem in 520BC, the returned exiles turn their focus to building their own houses while neglecting work on the house of God due to opposition, weariness, and low yields of their harvests. They are discouraged by the inferiority of the new temple compared to the past one.

We may wish for past encounters with God.

As we move into the rubble of our own or someone else’s mess, we are easily detracted from the building of the inner temple where God dwells. Discouraged, we can focus on outward endeavors that may bring more immediate returns; whether ministries that make us feel good or outward appearances that gain the praise of others.

God pleads through Haggai, “Consider your ways…!”  Stop and notice your neglect of Me in the inner place. Reflect on these matters. Then God stirs the leader, the priest, and the people to turn toward Him and engage in the temple work, putting their attention there. (Haggai 1:14, 2:4)

Haggai sees the greater glory coming in the future, pulling them from dwelling on the past as wonderful or terrible as it was. He lifts their eyes to the need for God’s presence now, highlighting His divine overcoming of oppressors. “The latter glory will be greater.” (Haggai 2:9) The remnant of God’s people would be established in the midst of turmoil. Their eyes would become fixed on an Eternal King and kingdom.

As we work with Him on our temples (souls) we are lifted above our internal enemies. We name and renounce the shame of our past, defeating its power over us. We can look ahead with hope and endurance even through the “shaking of the nations,”  fixed on the Greater One among us.

This powerfully speaks to those in the rubble of life, dwelling on how it used to be or should be. There’s a time to release that, consider our ways, and hear what God is saying, attending to the “now” of our inner temple, where God dwells.  Let’s work with Him in that place. Build there and begin to see your hope and glory in Him. He is establishing you, grounding you for a better future and hope, even amid the turmoil.

What might be an external focus that needs to be put aside to “heed the voice of the Lord”?

photo by Cheri Magerell

artwork – ALEXANDRA DE BASTO

It’s worth taking a look at your soul for 2023

“Once we accept the gospel of grace and seek to shed defense mechanisms…,  honesty becomes both more difficult and more important. Honesty involves the willingness to face the truth of who we are, regardless of how threatening or unpleasant our perceptions may be. It means hanging in there with ourselves and with God, learning our mind tricks by experiencing how they defeat us, recognizing our avoidances, acknowledging our lapses, learning completely that we cannot handle it ourselves. This steady self-confrontation requires strength and courage.  We cannot use failure as an excuse to quit trying.”  Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning, p. 86

What would you like to see at the end of ’23?

Reflection Guide 2023examine our ways

Halfway

Coming out of a recent jet-lag fog, I noticed the year was more than halfway through.

As that reality settled into my breath, my jumbled thoughts searched for some ballast:

Where am I now and where do I want to be at the end of this year?

I looked through my notes of hopes from January for a reality check and found some good progress, as well as some unreached goals that I rearranged to fit the now.

How easy it is to get stuck in the mire of diminutive thinking, run over with “what ifs” or “if onlys,” that dampen courage and initiative. Jerking off the wet blanket of self-disdain, I regain my bearings, listen to Truth, and recall my firm soul Anchor!

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

Hebrews 6:19 NIV

A mid-year debrief to take stock of life is a creative way to give yourself a pep talk. An honest assessment with gentle grace and stern hope can put your faith into action and keep you from regret and from losing what you’re working toward. Remembering that you are working together with Him, frees you to regroup and re-set.

How are you doing (and being) with your intentions for this year?

What could make this year a success for you? Do you need to simplify and focus?

What happens if you do nothing?

Life goes by too quickly to do nothing now.

“You are just a vapor…”

James 4:14 NASB

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A stirring perspective on transitioning into a new life situation.

Guest post by Summer R.

“The process of being planted:

Tilling the soil:
stirring up holy discontent, a wrestling of self into a place of obedience and willingness to be broken, to be used.

Uprooting:
ripping out things that bind us to the land- becoming free, through pain and loss. A reminder, this is not our home.

The seed:
the call of obedience, the name of a far-away people group, a hope based on things unseen. Promises of the Word.

The planting:
digging in, with purposeful intentionality, the death of self, hidden in the darkness of soil, unknown, unseen.

Growth:
stretching up, slowly expanding, making new discoveries and allowing challenges to shape us, to change us.

Tendrils:
Connections into the community, strangers become friends, sounds become words, cultural understanding, adaptations.

Rootedness:
the Source of nutrients feeding, strengthening, providing for us. Same deep, unshakable God, new community, new belonging.

Fruitfulness:
simple faithfulness, buds of meaningful interactions, the promises of God- abiding will produce good, multiplying fruit.

A year holds four seasons, each unique;
colors, feelings, beauties, change.
God, faithful in every season,
sovereignly unchangeable,
present in changes.
Faithful.
God’s great hand, intricately involved
Loving, caring, gracious, kind.
Creation within the process.
Impossible without Him…
with Him, amazing.
Fruitful.”

God uproots us and then roots us. He unmakes us then remakes us!  (Jeremiah 31:28)

Attentiveness – as I recognize things in my soul that are intruders or annoyances; things that want to stick around and harass,

Do I just put up with it?

What’s my theme or attitude toward what’s going on in me and how is that informed?

How does it carry out into my day?

I noticed a sour attitude toward someone that could’ve just stayed and been tolerated.  I realized how it was tainting my attitude toward other things and distracting me from concentration and effectiveness.  So, I decided to pull it out from under the rug, grab it and hold it in front of me, so to speak, and brought it before the Transformer of my soul for treatment.

There were some reasons I was holding onto it; things I didn’t want to let go, I came to find.  Things I garnered as a way to get what I thought I needed.  Interesting creatures, we are. So much goes on inside us we don’t touch, even though it affects us so much.

What are you carrying around into your day?

Are you stopping long enough to notice?

You might learn some things about yourself and your Transformer if you do!

“Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed…”

Psalm 71:13