The Practice of the Presence of Jesus: Daily Meditations on the Nearness of Our Savior. Joni Eareckson Tada. 2023. [October] 255 pages. [Source: Review copy]
This is not the same book as the Practice of the Presence of God. Don't be fooled! Instead delight at this inspirational 'spin-off' of sorts. There are quotes from Brother Lawrence sprinkled throughout, but this is a new devotional book by Joni Eareckson Tada. There are over a hundred devotions.
I am not usually a fan of devotional books, key word being usually. But I am a BIG fan of Joni Eareckson Tada. I do love a good devotional book that is substantive spiritually. I don't like light, fluffy, superficial. This one was absolutely wonderful. It was an amazing read. One that I would highly recommend.
Quotes:
True, God remedied our “mischief,” but, oh, at such a cost! So I practice the presence of Jesus every time I take sin seriously and refuse to sweep small sins under the carpet of my conscience. God forbid that I should ever call an offense against God “tiny” when it has caused my Savior unimaginable pain. May I never minimize the sin that made him suffer.
Expect to meet Jesus in your pain, and you most certainly will. For he has already entered that awful place ahead of you. He transformed it by his power and presence and came out the other side. He uprooted its dread and left it a place of resurrection and hope. So take a deep breath and step into your agony, anticipating that you’ll see Jesus.
It is a fight to trust Jesus. I must trust that everything my heart could ever long for is wrapped up in him and that he is far superior to anything the world offers. To not believe this is to demonstrate an utter lack of trust in my Savior.
God allows only those things that are designed to strengthen my soul, stretch its capacity for himself, and increase its hunger and thirst for the grace of Jesus.
If you are perplexed by the secret ways of God in your troubles, always filter them through Jesus, the Way that can be trusted … no matter what.
But Jesus wants to be bothered. It pleases him when we bring him our shame. Pain may insist that prayer will not “make it go away,” but prayer always engages me with the power and presence of Jesus Christ, who gladly pours out a deluge of courage, a reservoir of perseverance, a wellspring of endurance and patience, and a marvelous peace that goes far beyond my understanding. When I remember this, it brings Jesus pleasure. He smiles when I listen to his voice rather than the voice of my agonies.
Jesus doesn’t have what my soul needs; he is what I need.
The best thing you can do for yourself, as well as for the people around you, is to trust God. The harder things are, the better you make God look when you put your faith in him.
If my faith meant only what I believe about Christ in my mind, it would not be faith at all. Faith in Christ will always stay in the world of theory and shadows, ambiguous and hazy, until it is called forth and put to the grind. Faith needs exercise so that when someone asks me, “Who is this Jesus, and what do you believe about him, Joni?” I can confidently respond, “He is my fountain of joy in all my sufferings, and let me prove that by the way I trust him.”
The incomparably great power of Christ is within your grasp. So draw close enough to Jesus to reach out and touch the hem of his garment. He will give you power. Power to endure, hold on to hope, and find courage.
Jesus did not die to make us healthy but to make us holy. He came not to make us comfortable but to heal us of our propensity to sin. The best cures have to do with eschewing sin and drawing closer to Jesus Christ. It’s better than any amount of walking.
I grab my thoughts by the scruff of the neck; I push them into the pages of Scripture to give them a good dose of gospel truth. I show my idle thoughts who is the real boss of my soul, for I must not allow shiftless thinking to rule over me. I am like the psalmist who commanded his foolish musings, telling his soul, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42: 5).
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