Isaiah 48:17 (slow down and let God lead)

Let's welcome God today by reflecting on this short Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (website, Facebook), based on Living Faith. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

I, the Lord, your God ... lead you on the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "When I allow my days and nights to be so completely filled with commitments and activities that I stop leaving space to listen to God, then I am in trouble. If I ignore those nudges [Grace] to reach out and help someone, if I forego my prayer time, if I let myself grow irritable and recalcitrant, then I have slammed the door on God's leadership. Let's slow down our pace so we can be led to where the Holy One dwells." by Sr. Joyce Rupp

Rich's comments: When I taught chemistry at the Air Force Academy, I learned quickly that you never return graded exams back to students at the beginning of class. You always wait until the end of the period, otherwise the students become too distracted to follow your lead in class. With all of the excitement and distractions of this Christmas season, we can also become too distracted to follow Christ's lead. Let's give Jesus our undivided attention at the beginning of our day before we become overwhelmed by distractions. Also try including a few spiritual speed bumps throughout your day (e.g. prayerful meditation, faith sharing, scripture reading) to slow down your pace and re-focus your attention on Jesus.

Faith Challenges: Let's generously share our LIFE Group by forwarding a devotion to others or by using the "invite people to join" link on the Facebook Group. Steve, Rich, or Pat will gladly add others to the email list.

* NEW: Begin your day by focusing your attention on Jesus. Leave time to listen to Him and allow yourself to be led.

* NEW: Please read Sr. Francelle's devotion about following Jesus titled God's Love.

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, American Family Association, Priests for Life
* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images), #1 cause of death in America (23% of pregnancies). Let's courageously share ProLife Truth to create social tension for exposing abortion's unjust peace, rebuilding a Culture of Life for setting the unborn (and parents) free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together. Fasting ideas in footnote below.

* Prayer to end abortion, abused children, chastity, peace, our enemies, our troops, depression/despair, prisoners, politicians, illnesses/injuries, jobs, natural disasters, refugees, addictions, persecuted believers, Peters family (JP, Rebekah), Joe (brother Mike), Aaron Ferrie (special intention), Health care reform bill, Brenda Alvine's father (pancreatitis).

Feast Day: St. Damasus I, "Instead of worrying about the short term of life on earth, St. Damasus took God's view and looked to the things that last. Pray for us that we may be able to look beyond immediate popularity and fleeting favors, and choose to do the things that God wants us to do. Amen."

Faith Quote: "Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God." - Diana Robinson

Through Christ our Lord,

Rich

James 1:22

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn't, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, pornography, bitterness, criticalness, impatience, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don't stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' (Blessed Mother Teresa).
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead a friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service (Matt 28:19).

Colossians 3:2 (Lift Up Your Hearts)

Let's welcome God this morning by reflecting on this short Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which is based on Living Faith. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

"Think of what is above, not of what is on earth." Colossians 3:2 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "At every mass the priest speaks, "Lift up your hearts." The congregation replies, "We lift them up to the Lord." The real struggle in the Christian life is to continue lifting our thoughts and desires to the Lord. A hidden force, similar to gravity, keeps pulling our thoughts down to the mundane. When we mentally let loose of them, they fall. Prayer, spiritual reading and meditation are like helium-filled balloons to help us lift our hearts to the Lord...We obviously have many earthly concerns to which we must give our attention, but with uplifted hearts we can better distinquish between the essential and the trivial." by Fr. James McKarns

Faith Challenge: Let's all invite one person each week (John 14:6) to join our LIFE Group (>220 ProLife Christians).

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, American Family Association, Priests for Life
* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images)...#1 cause of death in America. Let's courageously share ProLife Truth to create social tension for exposing abortion's unjust peace...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16) and setting the unborn free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together. Fasting ideas in footnote below.
* Prayer to end abortion, abused children, chastity, peace, our enemies, our troops, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, illnesses/injuries, jobs, natural disasters, refugees, addictions, persecuted believers, Peters family (JP in hospital), Stephanie Spader (healthy pregnancy)

Feast Day: St. Peter Claver (1654)

Faith Quote: "Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible."

In Christ,
Steve
Romans 12:2

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' (Blessed Mother Teresa).
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service (Matt 28:19).

Matthew 18:12

Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com). All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? Matthew 18:12

Living Faith snippets: "God shows his love by never giving up on us. This seems incredible, but since God is love, it is simply his nature to seek what is lost. Perhaps this is why Jesus so often tells us not to be afraid. No matter what we do, we can never do anything that will cause God to stop loving us." by Fr. Kenneth Grabner, C.S.C.

Rich's comments: I remember going on extremely long shopping trips with my mom when I was young. I would easily get bored following her around the large department store, and usually something would catch my eye that I thought was more interesting. The distraction would keep me from noticing that I was slowly moving further away from her, and before I knew it, I was lost. The distraction quickly faded and I was surrounded with panic and fear as I searched down every aisle of the store, desperate to find her. Just as I was contemplating how a 10 year old boy was going to make it on his own in the world, I heard a loud intercom voice "Would a little boy named Ricky please report to the front of the store, your mother is waiting for you." Sometimes we are not always lucky to have God call us over a loud speaker, but He is there waiting, longing for us to be reunited with Him. Once we remove ourselves from our worldly distractions, we can hear Him calling us home.

ProLife news: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ & http://www.priestsforlife.org/

* Let's pray for courage to communicate the ProLife message through Christ to those around us (John 14:6)...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16).

*NEW: "It is easy to be ProLife. It is much harder to be proactively ProLife" by Glen Flores, leader of ProLife Alliance at the University of Florida

Our Prayers: Prayer to End Abortion, chastity, our enemies, our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, loss of loved ones, lack of faith, illnesses/injuries, John Peak (parent's health & his deployment), Liz Curry (friend Bill recovering from heart surgery), Kathy-jo Peterson (friend Dave with brain cancer), Rich Reich (Grandma with health problems), Pat Castle (neighbor Kathy Ayers having brain surgery today)

Feast Day (St. Juan Diego): http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=73

Faith Quotes: "Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." by Pope John Paul II

Through Christ Our Lord,

Rich

Romans 12:12

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml. Reflection on readings at http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him.'

* Fasting: Let's fast from things that takes our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, judgment, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa.

* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.

Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!