Daily Meditations from John N N Ng'ang'a: Week of 21st - 25th June 2010 meditation --Come with Me by yourselves to a Quiet Place and get some Rest
 
Day 1
James 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. NIV

'Confession is difficult discipline for us because we all too often view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sin..CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINES BY RICHARD J. FOSTER _CHAPTER 10 :_DISCIPLINE OF CONFESSION …page_145.

I must agree with Foster that confession, especially to others rather than direct to God, is quite controversial. I grew with 'Tukutendereza' fellowship (east Africa revival fellowship) where every sin however confidential was to be publicly confessed to the fellowship for you to know you are forgiven. This is not fully biblical.

Today the Christians have gone to the opposite extreme where no confessions are ever heard .You will be forgiven to assume Christians today no longer fall into sin since all they talk about is victorious Christians living. However since people get to know of the many sinful acts some of us do in darkness but never confess ,it removes the power to witness out of the body of Christ. It also makes Christianity look like an act in a drama rather than something serious.

It is important to know we are human and prone to fall into sin . This will make it easier for us to be willing to confess our failures to the fellowship. It also will help us to accept other Christians despite their failures.

But covering up sin is recipe for spiritual disaster since Christ knows our sinfulness. Yet he has promised that if we confess we are assured of his forgiveness. Some need to be confessed only to God, some only to the one you have wronged, but others need to be confessed to the fellowship.

Day 2
Mark 6:31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." NIV

The first avenue of worship is to still all humanly initiated activity. The stilling of 'creaturely activity as the patriarchs of the inner life called it, is not something to be confined to formal worship services, but is a life- style.'…CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINES BY RICHARD J. FOSTER _CHAPTER 11 :_DISCIPLINE OF WORSHIP ..page_16_)

This is an issue of modernity. We cannot ever want to be 'still' even when doing exercises, we want music and news or simply noise. The idea of what Christians call 'quiet time' is being taken up by something modern Christians call 'morning glory' where Christians are encouraged to wake up early to gather together for common prayer and in that way push out any possibility of a quiet time alone with God as Jesus used to do.

Even in church, worship is interpreted as singing and any time of quiet if frowned upon. The best worship leader is one who will involve us in activity until by the time we stop our bodies are exhausted and we are ready to dose for the rest of the meeting, including not understanding the subsequent preaching.

I agree with Foster, we need to redefine worship. We must note that it is a life style of recognizing our need of God at all times, our acting as he prompts us, and our giving him credit for all we achieve.

Yes we do need a time to quiet very human activity ,to meditate on who he is, what He is saying to us ,but even after that in our 'busyness', we must be fully under his control for this will please him and that is what worship is.

Day 3
1 Sam 3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. NIV

'Neither is the bible sedative. It does not tranquilize. Yet in reading it you will find peace'. …. THE FIGHT BY JOHN WHITE_CHAPTER 3 :_ GOD SPEAKS ..page_42_ '

I agree with Mr White that the reading of the bible brings the reader peace. But I believe the peace comes from realizing a relationship with God, specifically God talking to you as you read.

Like any understanding friend can help you out of a frustration , when God talks with you he gives you an even a better perspective that allows you to see the issues confronting you in a new way that brings you peace.

Reading Gods word for sure then brings you peace. It is not superstition about the book that will help you but thinking about what the word means to you . This is what we call meditating on the word .

If the issues facing you are taking away your peace then the promises found in God's word will bring the reassurance THAT WILL RETURN THE PEACE

Day 4
Ps 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. NIV

Spiritual formation is : The shaping & nurturing of the Christian's inner being after the pattern of Jesus Christ the Lord by the indwelling Spirit in the body of Christ & the living out of the Savior's values in compassionate service to others[i]

anything that would help me to be more like Jesus is part of spiritual formation or simply spiritual growth. The good news on this side of heaven is that I can grow into each discipline as I Learn more and surrender myself further to God's control.

One discipline i have been using since it was was taught to me in high school in 1968 is 'quiet time' which includes a time to meditate on God's word. We are told by ANSWERS.COM that meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth[ii]. But in the bible meditation refers to:

listening to God's word
reflecting on God's works
rehearsing God's deeds
ruminating on God's law and more [iii]
It is then clear that secular meditation and biblical meditation may use the same word but do not have the same meaning .By meditation then I am referring to biblical meditation. Giving myself time to reflect on what God is telling me via his word.

This needs to be my way of life ..where what I meditate on in my heart and what subsequently comes via my mouth should be pleasing to God at all times.

Day 5
Ps 104:34  May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. NIV

I have quiet time but However I do not really spend reasonable time meditating on what I read each day .Yes I take time as the scripture union notes recommended that I pray , then read the bible, then read the comments, but I might at times not spend adequate time reflecting on what the passage means to me . without time to meditate ,the quiet time could be just a duty rather than spiritual discipline.

I HAVE DISCOVERED in my RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, that God wants to have time with me ,not like a policeman wanting to 'do me in' by pointing to my failures each morning ,but like a father wanting to assist me to walk well, similar to a child learning to walk with father's encouragement. Fathers get excited by their child first step despite the fact that he fell soon after the first step.

I have learnt to enjoy listening to what he is 'really' saying, personally to me. I am happy to stay with that realization throughout the day and not just during the quiet time. God is a father who wants the best for me and is happy to have fellowship with me at all times. He is never too busy for me and I can never be a disturbance.