With an Open Heart to Receive Your Gifts

Oct 13

You are my child, but you are not a child. You have come before the throne, and you are worthy to be here because I say so, because I have created you so. So stand, not with haughtiness but with assurance that your life shines with my glory because my love is in you. So stand. How will you stand?

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

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In each encounter, we approach the throne of God. We ask for his guidance and love to help us open even more to him. We want our minds to be open to his word. We want our bodies, temples of his spirit, to communicate an alertness to receiving all that he, in this moment, has to give. Most importantly, we want our hearts to appreciate their hunger and want to receive.

So, retreat to a location where you can be still. Ideally, try to choose a place where you think you can be uninterrupted for an hour. But even if you are interrupted–by noise or another distraction–that is okay. Just turn your attention back to him. He is gentle and kind. He does not condemn or push for his way.

In this quiet place, get comfortable. Try to sit openhanded, with both palms facing up in your lap and your feet flat on the floor. Then, as you consecrate this time to God, begin to breathe slowly and deeply so that you feel your lungs rising and falling and your diaphragm pulling in and pushing out air. As you breathe, give God every worry and concern you have right now. You might want to say something like this:

Lord, I give you every worry (and name each one).

And I consecrate my mind, my heart, and my body now. I give all of myself to you.

Lead me in this encounter now. I give you my imagination and my heart.

Next, close your eyes and picture yourself as a child–not necessarily young and immature–but God’s child. Let your imagination lead you to see yourself as God is before you, looking at you. Picture the space–and you with God. What do you both look like? What are you wearing? What are you doing? How do you feel? Stay in this moment, letting Holy Spirit guide you toward a picture in your mind of yourself and God interacting.

If it helps you to focus and stay in this moment–this interaction–with God, get out your journal or a blank piece of paper, and write or draw/doodle/sketch what you feel you hear in your heart and see in your mind.

Continue, for at least 10 minutes, staying in this moment. Have a conversation with God–perhaps speaking in your mind to him–or journaling, or drawing–the following topics:

God, in this moment, I feel….

I wonder…..

I think….

I want….

Next, turn your attention to 1 Peter 2: 1-11. Below is the ESV translation, but you might want to read another translation–or a few different translations and see what God is saying to you through the passages. Read the verses thoughtfully, with an open heart and mind. Let Holy Spirit guide you to hear him speaking to your heart. Read the passages three times, noticing what words and images affect you most deeply.

Write down those words/sentences/ideas in your journal—or draw to express your heart.

1 Peter 2: 1-11

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” and

“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.’

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

As a child of God, what are you longing for right now?e

Lord, I am longing for….. (Be honest….don’t just say what you think you are supposed to say.)

What spiritual milk is God offering you? What gifts? Do you want them? Do you accept them?

Lord, as your child, you offer me the gifts I need most. What are they? Will you show me?

Allow Holy Spirit to show you, in your imagination, what it is God is offering you now.

As your child, Lord, how do you want me to receive these gifts you give me? Show me. Help me receive them.

If you’d like, return to the words we heard from Holy Spirit as we began this encounter:

Remember all that he has shown you through this encounter today–and what he has helped you understand through 1 Peter, chapter 2. What is your response? How does a child of God receive the gifts he gives? Continue your conversation with him. Let him lead you deeper, deeper, into his heart. Trust that it is good. Stay here. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Conclude the encounter with a time of worship. Below are some song ideas.

Amen.