Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -Colossians 3:16-17
Dear Disciple of Christ,
It is so good to have you back in the midst of your brothers and sisters in Christ as we reflect on the Word of the Lord. It was January 1st 2006 when the invitation went out to others in and around Shepherd of the Woods. That’s right. For every day for the last 19 and 1/3 years (that’s 7,060 days) we have provided a reflection on the Word of God. We are just now returning from devotions provided by our national church leaders for Lent and Easter. But like the consideration of the Word provided by pastors and laity at Shepherd of the Woods, it intended to give words of support and encouragement from the Word of God. It is always our prayer that each of us, each provider and every reader, might grow in faith and understanding of the Word.
To be honest, at the beginning of this offering, I wasn’t sure how or even “if” it was going to work. Neither I nor others got extra hours in the day to read or design these devotions. We didn’t send them once in a while or once a week but every day, for more than 19 years now, 7,060 times daily, the Word was shared. Some days we had more time for prep and reflections and other times it was quite a challenge. But it was always a blessing to do them. The more time we had, the better so we could “muse” and reflect. God is always more ready to hear our prayers than we are to pray them. He is always more ready to open up hearts to His Ways than we are to walk them.
After those first years of my doing them every day, we are now blessed to have creators/authors like Pr Phillips, Pr..DiBias and his wife, Shelly, Pr. Peacock and myself each week. We’ve also reflected with congregational vicars and other assistant pastors and some national church leaders. The devotions are sent out by email and can readily be shared with others (forwarding them to others who might benefit from them). Per their request, they can be added to the daily posting.
It is our prayer that the good Lord will speak powerfully and clearly through each of us and that His Word, planted in our hearts, will move each of us to respond with faith.
Blessings to you in another year of His grace.
In the name of the One who is the Word made flesh,
Pastor Johnson
Thoughts For Reflection:
- Is there a time of the day that works best for you to reflect on the Word (early morning with a cup of coffee or last thing in bed with your Bible and prayers?
- If you scheduled a length of time (say ½ hour or so), would it give you more time for reflection and prayer about the Word you heard?
- Do the Sunday lessons in Church increase in depth when the devotions consider each of the lessons read that day?
- Have you considered joining with another disciple (or 2 or more) to do a home or lunchtime work time study with others?