Every so often people ask me about my devotional practices. I don’t think I’ve ever written about that before, but it strikes me a something that some folks might find helpful. I don’t share what follows as if to say that everyone should pattern their devotions after me. In fact, my own pattern of devotional … Continue reading Pastor Note #51 — Here’s How I Do It: The Devotional Life of One Christian
Tag: prayer
Prayer Note #45 — The Arithmetic of God
Where do I find hope, except in you, Good Father? Yet, I continue to look in other places. I continue to behave as if I expect to find something better, more pleasing than you. Of course, I never find anything remotely approaching you. Everything I find is cotton candy, sugar water, candy corn. You … Continue reading Prayer Note #45 — The Arithmetic of God
Prayer Note #44 — Longings
Lord Jesus, you are King and Lord. There is life nowhere except in you. Apart from you is the abyss, the nightmare, the acid fog that corrodes my flesh and my spirit and my life itself. In you, Good Savior, is freshness. In you is soothing sunshine and richness and life overflowing. In … Continue reading Prayer Note #44 — Longings
Prayer Note #43 — Fleeing My Pursuing God in the Dark Before Dawn
Lord Jesus, I'm scared. I'm far from you in my heart, and I persist in the things that will keep me far away from you. And yet, I feel you pursuing me. Your pursuit both comforts me and scares me. I know that because you still pursue me, you have not given up on me. … Continue reading Prayer Note #43 — Fleeing My Pursuing God in the Dark Before Dawn
Prayer Note #42 — A Prayer from Matthew 4:12-23
Read: Matthew 4:12-23 It must have been really hard, Lord, for Peter and Andrew, James and John to get up, leave their stuff behind, and follow you. I say that because I know how hard it would be for me to do that. But, Lord Jesus, why do I say … Continue reading Prayer Note #42 — A Prayer from Matthew 4:12-23
Prayer Note #40 — On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers — Nehemiah 1:1-2:9
On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers Nehemiah 1:1-2:9 Nehemiah presents us with a picture of a practical, detail-oriented, can-do sort of man who is also a man of deep, dangerous, desperate prayer. For some reason, we can sometimes think that the practical and the prayerful can't function in the same heart. Nehemiah demonstrates that that kind of … Continue reading Prayer Note #40 — On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers — Nehemiah 1:1-2:9
Prayer Note #39 — On Not Being All That I Could Be
Let me have ears to hear you clearly and a heart and mind to understand you deeply and a strong inclination to go as you lead me and to use what you have given me, and so to glorify your name. You have given me many gifts, many resources, many tools. But mostly I squander … Continue reading Prayer Note #39 — On Not Being All That I Could Be
Prayer Note #38 — The Voice
Oh, Lord, how I long to be intimately familiar with your voice. Your voice is full of power -- whether you speak with rock-breaking loudness or whether you whisper quietly in my ear. Your voice is full of soul-transforming power. Let that powerful voice pierce to the center of my mind, to the core of my … Continue reading Prayer Note #38 — The Voice
Prayer Note #37 — On a Summer Morning
Lord, the sun is warm and pleasant on my back. The birds of all sorts are chirping and twittering in the trees around me this morning. Lily, my gracious, canine companion, is lying beside me with her chin on the bottom rail looking out into the backyard, watching everything and nothing in particular, patient and … Continue reading Prayer Note #37 — On a Summer Morning
Bible Note #16 — By the River Jabbok
The tinkling of sheep bells was the last sound audible to him fading away up the path and over th hill on the other side of the small river. The crunch of foot and hoof on the sandy gravel of the path had been lost to him fist, washed away by the splash and rush … Continue reading Bible Note #16 — By the River Jabbok
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 