Writing Down and Colouring Verses to Slow Down

2 July 2021 Leave a comment

Memorising verses was something I did as a spiritual discipline in the early years of my spiritual growth. I was influenced by the Navigators in the late 1970s and 1980s when the Lord raised this ministry to add a solidity to the growth of the Singapore church during that period.

MEMORISING SCRIPTURES

I recall attending Navigator conferences that packed large halls and practical workshops that motivated us and gave us practical instructions that helped us to grow spiritually. One of these workshops was on memorising scriptures. It fuelled me to buy memory packs and make my own personal store of memory verses. I memorised over a hundred verses.

I read somewhere that Jesus often quoted verses in his preaching and teaching ministry. If I recall correctly there are about 150 different verses that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, and this is only what had been recorded by the writers of the gospels. What if the unrecorded were included. I figured that if the sinless Son of God needed to keep so much of God’s word in his heart I dare not conceive of living with less.

That season lasted for a few years and continued into my National Service days when I met with two other Navigator trained Christians in the NS Christian Fellowship at Mindef. As iron sharpens iron, so we sharpened each other.

TO SLOW DOWN AND GIVE ATTENTION

Recently, I found the Lord inviting me gently into this spiritual exercise. It started with a difficulty in concentration during my daily scripture reading. The words passed over my mind like birds that swiftly flew by. So I simply began to write down and coloured the verse that caught my attention. I did it deliberately to slow my mind down, to give attention to each word, to allow God to give insights. I found it helpful because it prevented me from merely going through the motion of “having done my quiet time” for the day.

I was going through Psalms after I retired. When I reached Psalm 103 I found that every verse were so meaningful that I decided to slow down and try to memorise and meditate on a verse a day. Then this was followed by Psalms 112. I was surprised at the grace given to me to do this. Prior to this the only psalm I have memorised was Psalms 23. Having done these two psalms, I felt drawn to memorising passages in the epistles that are packed with teaching about Christ’s finished work and new covenant blessings. So now I am “in Christ” and in “heavenly places” in Ephesisan 1.

I do not know how much longer I will continue with this spiritual exercise. As long as it gives me life, I will continue with it. However, the Spirit blows where it wills, and I want to follow where my faithful friend drops markers of nourishment and life.

Maybe reading this stirs in you a prompting or desire to try this. To write down and colour verses to help you slow down when reading scriptures. Or to go further and memorise and meditate and pray scriptures. Whatever you choose to do, let me know in the comment box how it turned out.

The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him.

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How To Pray Without Ceasing

20 May 2021 Leave a comment

This excerpt is taken from M.Basilea Schlink’s book “Keeping In Touch With God.” I find it helpful and relevant in the very challenging times the world finds itself in. Cultivating a life of prayer talking to the Lord as a friend would to a friend is something very precious and life-giving for all who would make prayer without ceasing a spiritual discipline. The title of this excerpt is “Pray Without Ceasing”.

“HOW WONDERFUL IT IS when a person is so gripped by the spirit of prayer that these words can be written about him: He lives a life of prayer, because he does everything prayerfully. 

I am reminded of an incident may years ago, during my travelling ministry. It struck me especially forcefully, since I was not familiar with such a life of prayer at that time. A woman had asked her colleague to take some goods to the railway station to be transported somewhere. As the young co-worker was about to leave, the older woman paused for a moment in her work, folded her hands in prayer, and commended her colleague to the blessing of the Lord. 

An insignificant incident – and yet it had a message. Here was a woman who led a life of prayer. She could not help but do everything prayerfully. Prayer shaped her whole life. Prayer was such a reality to her that its impact was felt in every area of her life, guiding what she did or did not do, causing her to pause in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. 

As I watched that woman stop to pray, her action deeply convicted me. To be sure, I had my quiet time every morning, when I brought everything before the Lord in prayer. However, in the course of the day, I would go about my various tasks without first pausing to pray. Often, I was so taken up with my work that there was no time to stop and think, or – to be honest- I did not take time to stop and think, the time to be still before the Lord. 

This small incident conveyed an important truth: Our life will become a life of prayer only as we live in the presence of God; that is, only as we repeatedly become still before the Lord throughout the day, bringing before Him our thoughts, plans, intentions and actions, submitting everything to Him, asking for His guidance and blessing. This is probably what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Pray constantly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

What a privilege to do everything prayerfully, in keeping with His will, listening for His directions and instructions. When we submit everything we do and say to God, calling down His blessing upon it then our actions and words will acquire a heavenly radiance and yield fruit. Yet how seldom we make use of this privilege! Are we surprised that our words, dealings with others, work and various activities produce so few lasting results? Only a life of prayer is fruitful, for it is lived in close communion with Jesus, who said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

It is not enough to commit the day in prayer to God in the morning and then ignore Him as we throw ourselves into our activities. No, prayer is the breath of the soul. I need to breathe over and over again; otherwise I cannot live. Leading a life of prayer means discussing with God everything the day brings, everything that touches my life, for prayer is the soul’s communication with God. 

The praying soul is someone who keeps in touch with God. Such a person does not allow people and things to absorb or dominate him; nor does he lose himself in them. On the contrary, a praying soul loses himself in God. He approaches people and situation in union with God. Consequently, the praying person is a person who imparts blessing. Everything with which he comes into contact is brought into the radiant presence of God and under His blessing. A person who blesses lifts everything in prayer into the heavenly regions, so that it bears the imprint of heaven.

Continual communion with the holy God is what gives a life of prayer its special quality, making it fruitful and blessed. Whoever spends his life in this manner is united with God, reflecting peace, serenity and joy. 

Some are experienced in spiritual warfare and yet fail to lead a life of prayer. After engaging in spiritual warfare, they just switch off, failing to maintain a prayerful attitude in word and action. Something is wrong, for the Bible says that everything we do, be it word or deed, we are to do in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17). Because He is the same yesterday, today and forever and always present, we will, if our attitude is right, always aim to live in complete dependence upon Him. God is not interested in us merely engaging in spiritual warfare at certain times, even though this, too, is necessary. His concern is that our whole life will be a life of prayer. 

Without a strong and deep prayer life in these demonic times, we will be lost. We will be at the mercy of depressing events, trials and temptations. The vital prerequisite for experiencing help and deliverance is that we live in intimate union with Jesus and the Father, because it is prayer that changes everything.

God is challenging us to examine our lives in His light. What fills our days? What engrosses our minds? Can we really say that we take notice of the call to devote ourselves first of all to prayer (1 Timothy 2:1)?

Those who do everything here on earth in communion with their Lord will walk with Him above in intimate fellowship. But those who do not lead a life of prayer cannot expect to be close to God above. For we will only be as close to Him then as we are now in prayer.

Can we imagine people who love each other not communicating? If we love Jesus, we will discuss everything with Him, turning everything into prayer. We will keep coming to Him, wanting His direction for every detail of our lives, seeking His blessing. 

How often we may have missed out on a blessing or, as parents and teachers, failed to convey a blessing to those in our care, because we did not consider it so important to lead a life of fellowship with God. Is this the reason why our lives are often so difficult, stressful and unhappy?

“The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and toil adds nothing to it.” (Proverbs 10:22). Everything depends on God’s blessing – at work, in our relationships with others, and so on. Instead of spending so much time talking about our difficulties or fretting about people or circumstances, let us spend more time in prayer, asking God to bless both others and ourselves and all their activities and ours. 

How much power is conveyed by the scriptural prayer, so simply yet so beautifully expressed: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Or we could say short prayers of blessing in our own words: “The Lord bless you in all your endeavours. May He give you love and wisdom to speak and act in His Spirit. Through the blood of Jesus may he guard your soul from all the attacks of the evil one.”

Weak, sinful and mortal though we are, through prayer we can have fellowship with God in our brief lives in this world. Could anything be more wonderful? What a privilege to invoke the blessing of the Most High through prayer. According to Numbers 6:27, blessing means placing the name of God upon a person. In the name of God lies His character. So when we pray of God’s blessing, we are calling down His love, wisdom, truth and salvation. 

Oh that we would make more full use of this opportunity! Our lives would be transformed into a life of prayer. Then we would be more restrained in saying, doing and writing things which, were we at death’s door, we would deeply regret. First, we would bring to the Lord in prayer everything that stirs us, talking it over with Him. Then He who is love and humility would point out the way of love and patience. Though it leads through the valley of humiliation, it is there we find God’s blessing, which transforms us and others, and circumstances. 

What a blessing the life of prayer is! What a blessing it is to do everything in union with Jesus, the fairest of the sons of men (Psalm 45:2)! One with Him in thanksgiving, supplication, worship and intercession, our souls rejoice, saying, 

Living and dying in You,

May all I do – or choose not to do-

Be inspired by You. 

Help me to keep this my pledge

In loving faithfulness

Till my dying breath. 

(Albert Knapp).”

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Deeper Friendship with Jesus

23 March 2021 Leave a comment

A deeper friendship with Jesus – this was one of the strong desires that surfaced during my prayer retreat I made last year before my retirement in November. I did not want my times with God to be dominated by ministry burdens, decisions, church issues, and preaching preparation as it was during my pastorate. I wanted my relationship with God to be more like a friendship. “I not longer regard you as servants but as friends” was what Jesus said to his disciples before his passion. There would be a greater warm intimacy, more disclosure and collaborative partnership in the relationship. When I am with my pastor friends I do not only ask favours and request information and talk about ministry issues, I also talk about what’s going on in my family and life, my everyday stuff, and light-hearted matters and incidents too. I wanted something of this in my relationship with the Lord too. So I have been praying more for this grace recently: a deeper friendship with Jesus, and started talking to him about anything and everything about the day that passed. In addition, I saw a small booklet at my bedside table titled, Keeping In Touch With God by M. Basilea Schlink, the founder of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. I browsed the pages and saw that this could be helpful in fulfilling this desire that surfaced during my prayer retreat last year. Let me share a snippet here, a prayer she wrote that I found resonant with what I want in my relationship with God. I hope it stirs a similar desire in you to want a deeper friendship with Jesus too.

JESUS, YOU SHALL BE FIRST IN MY LIFE.

I want to talk with you and work for you.

I want to think over everything with you, making all my decisions with you.

Nothing shall be done without you, for I do not want to shut you out of my life.

Bind me tightly to you so that nothing – no work, no burden, no other interest, no joy – can separate us during this day.

So may I constantly live in your holy presence: FOR YOU ARE THERE!

M. BASILEA SCHLINK
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Distractions That Spoil A Silent Retreat

18 January 2021 Leave a comment

WI-FI USAGE & WORK

Whether it is a laptop, cell phone or tablet, any kind of device that gives you a wireless connection will be a major distraction. Our frequent usage of mobile devices and its resultant positive emotional rewards have conditioned us to a habitual pattern of usage whenever we hold our cell phones in our hands. Our muscle memory takes over and we unconsciously repeat our usual routines of phone usage. In normal life, this is at worse, a time stealer. In a silent retreat, this becomes a distracting idol that disrupts the time you have set apart for the Lord and Love of your life. 

The cell phone can be a major distraction

There was one recent retreat where I thought I was able to limit my usage to using the Bible App in my cell phone, and take pictures for blogging and sharing with loved ones. I was fooling myself. I got absorbed in it, and the digital idol took over and became a major distraction from listening to the Lord. 

I felt that the precious time I had set apart to be with the Lord would have been better if I had not bought that Thai local SIM card at Changi Recommends. If I needed to communicate with my family or church office, I could do it when I arrived on the first day. Most cafes there have free wi-fi and I could have communicated my whereabouts from there. I regretted falling into temptation and learned an expensive lesson.

An even greater distraction is urgent work. Do ensure your work will not chase after you where you are. Finish whatever you have to before the retreat proper begins. 

BOOKS

Silent retreats can be forbidding and we wonder how 16 to 18 waking hours will pass. We may think one way to pass the time is to bring along books for work, for spiritual nourishment and for leisure. Most books are not helpful and may not flow in tandem with what the Spirit is wanting to accomplish in you. Why not let the spiritual director guide you in your meditations and readings if any? Let him or her sense what God is doing in your soul and direct you to scripture passages or spiritual exercises that will facilitate, and not hinder, God’s ongoing deep work. 

Take your pictures but remember your purpose for being there

PUTTING ON THE TOURIST CAP

It is natural that when you are in an unfamiliar place or overseas for a silent retreat you would want to get to know your environment and surroundings. Some exploration is inevitable and with it the joy of discovery of new sights, things, and experiences. However, if you put on the tourist cap, looking for things to buy and see and experience, it will be a distraction from your main purpose of seeking God. 

DISCOMFORT LEVEL

We Singaporeans are used to a high level of comfort. Our standard of living Is first world. However, retreat houses are not five stars hotels, not even three stars hotels. They are modest spaces designed for worship, prayer, quiet and rest. 

The mattresses are not Simmons or Sealy, but definitely better than a sleeping bag. Some have en suite bathrooms but many, especially in Asia, have common bathrooms. They are not restaurants. You wouldn’t queue up for the food, but it is balanced and we Singaporeans could all do with eating less anyway. 

There are very comfortable retreat houses but they are more expensive and often found in Western countries like Australia, Spain, USA and England. 

Accepting that the comfort level is not ideal in retreat houses, and being mentally prepared will go a long way in helping you focus on seeking God. If you are fixated on fixing your comfort level, you will be totally distracted. Do what you can as you anticipate some problems with comfort, like, bring your own pillow if it is really necessary!! But accept what cannot be changed, and pray for the grace of enduring hardship like a good soldier of Christ. 

What are some major distractions you have experienced in your silent retreats? Share it with all the readers by writing below in the comment box.

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Awakened and blessed

18 September 2020 Leave a comment

I was not aware that I was tired and stressed these past eight months. Working from home, cancellation of ministry, and the imminent retirement gave me the idea that this was a less hectic period in years. But it was not. I realised that the constant changes in government advisories and directives due to Covid 19 were stressful because we had to respond to them and make decisions and changes in the midst of uncertainty. This meant more meetings on zoom, more discussion and flip flopping in response to rapid changes. It also meant we had to record our own messages from home using our handphones. We had to learn digital stuff quickly. I had thought that as it neared my retirement, my workload should have halted, but it did not. It increased. More teaching, more handholding and handover duties, even those of the deaf congregation.

Trees were always significant images in my retreats

Therefore, the first two days of the retreat I slept long hours and took naps after meals. I listened to my body as best I could and found myself in bed more than normal. I realised that I was tired and never noticed it while you are still at work and fulfilling your responsibilities conscientiously. A retreat forces you to listen to the cries of your body and your emotions. So I am thankful for greater awareness of the stress of this year. Grateful that the slowing down and time for reflection awakened awareness and wisdom.

The spiritual director plays a key role and has to be sensitive to the Spirit and have knowledge of the spiritual dynamics at play in a retreat ants soul during the retreat. I was glad Lance Ng, was able to discern what the Spirit was doing in my soul and facilitate what the Spirit was wanting to accomplish. I became aware of blocks that kept me from drawing near to God, and the graces for which I should be grateful during 40 years of pastoral ministry. I learned to wait on God and let Him stir emotions, inspire ideas, and surface desires. I stop brainstorming and listing things. I let the Lord surface them to consciousness. Then I sit and ponder and converse with the Lord about these ideas. Each day I shared what surfaced and the director would point me to the next thing ahead, suggesting scriptures or paths of reflection.

As a whole the director noticed the movements in my soul are towards a deeper friendship with Jesus (apart from my roles) – a friendship without benefits. without a utilitarian purpose, without strings attached. This was all part of a movement towards spiritual freedom from the expectations springing from my role as a pastor over the past 40 years. What people expect of me as a pastor have shaped me considerably and the Lord wants to allow me to be simply a child of God, and not to have my identity, security and significance tied inextricably with being a pastor.

In the end, this was a very fruitful retreat. But it did not begin this way. I was happy with the lovely room, but was grieving over the loss of the food and spaciousness of Seven Fountains in Chiangmai, or Chau Son in Dallas. Still in denial and depression. Have to accept that travel in the coming year is going to be blocked or too expensive. If I need a retreat, I have to accept the more expensive accommodation, restricted space, and less interesting meals. I must not allow these external let-downs block me from seeking what is interior, what is unseen, and the One who waits for in love and total attention for me.

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