Learning from the Puritans

The Puritans have a way with words that I have not encountered in any other group of people in Church history. It's not just the beauty of the images they paint for us to help us understand their message, or their uncanny ability to peer into our thoughts and the goings-on in our hearts that is admirable. It is their unmistakable love for Christ and their desire and determination to live their lives for Him.

Just read their prayers - you can almost see the tears wash down the pages as they lay their hearts bare before their Savior or hear their sighs of amazement because of the grace that they experience from knowing the Lord.

Here's an excerpt from the "Valley of Vision", a collection of Puritan prayers edited by Arthur G. Bennet

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

What does it look like?

I am always excited to hear about the different styles of "personal Bible study" people use because it helps me in my pursuit of the spiritual disciplines and helps me get to know my Savior more. God used these people to show me tools already available to me - like praying through Scripture, using a Bible reading plan, and books to read among others.

One such group of people is Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters. They have been doing an excellent job writing about the topic of Biblical Femininity in their blog called "Girl Talk". One of the topics they post about is on spiritual disciplines. You can read about how they do their devotions here:

http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/spiritual_disciplines/index.html

I also highly recommend this post on the spiritual disciplines:
http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2006/01/planting_a_seed.html

Enjoy!

Use "quiet time" in a sentence

We will be talking a lot about quiet times in our book and in this blog, so I thought it might be helpful to quickly discuss, "what are quiet times?"

Generally when we talk about "quiet times" we may also use the words "devotions" or "personal Bible Study." It refers to a time we set aside to meet with God by reading, studying, and meditating on His word, and also by spending time in prayer.

Sometimes quiet times are not so quiet. Some people I know pull out their guitar and sing a praise and worship song. Some pray out loud. Some cry. Usually people try to find a secluded place - maybe it's a coffee shop, their bedroom, or any room where they know they can focus on reading and praying. People also vary in length of time--some may only have10 minutes in the morning, or some may have an hour.

Even though Christians around the world have their quiet times differently, the bottom line is that quiet times are special times set aside to have a one-on-one conversation with God. We have our quiet times because we love our Savior and want to get to know Him more. The great thing is that the more we know about Him, our love for Him will naturally grow!

Have you spent time with Him lately?