How to do Lectio Devina:
Sisters, this is really your time with the Lord. This will be a challenge but so fruitful. There will also be a short reflection. Give this a chance and see where the Lord takes you.
There are a couple of different ways to do this but there is one way that I will point out. This is a simple way to pray. A great resource here is your prayer journal.
1: Read the whole Scripture: James 5:16-18
2: Reflect on it for a short time (3 min or more) and see if any particular verse stands out to you.
3: Read the verse that stood out to you again.
4: Reflect on it and see if a particular word stands out to you (3 min or more)
5: Reflect on the word and see what the Lord is trying to point out to you.
You can go back and read any verses that you stood out to you and just spend a short time in prayer (silence) and listening to what God wants to point out to you. God will show up. He always does.
Short Reflection
The power of prayer is insurmountable. With that, the power of confession can turn any sinner into a saint. What is the point of confession? The prodigal son displays this well. He asked for his inheritance from his father while he was still alive. This would be like telling his father that he would rather have this money than to have his father alive. The son did an awful thing to his father and he took that inheritance and gambled it away and he lived what would probably equate to a party lifestyle.
When the son's money was gone and he had nothing and no one left, his first thought wasn’t t to come back to his dad. Nope, he tried to work. He tried to get a job to support himself. He got a job with the pigs. For Jews, touching or even being near a pig meant uncleanness and defilement. This probably represented the state of his soul.
But when he realized he didn’t have to do that any more, that he was made for more and he had a father who loved him, he humbled himself and started on this long journey back! That’s the key. This humble state that says "we cannot do it on our own and we need help". We need to come to realize that we can't live this life on our own, and if we try, we will only find something as good as working with the pigs.
God is so merciful. I have to think about this everyday. I don’t believe I deserve all the good things I have in my life right now. I know I have struggled and fallen a lot lately. When go back to prayer, God is inviting me into his heart. And I tell him: Lord, I cant, I cant go there. I’m a sinner and I’m so dirty, I don’t want to make something so precious that you are giving me, dirty. And he tells me, “It is not you who are making me dirty but its me who is making you clean.” What love is this!? I don’t know what to say to that. He only meets my questioning with love. I can't help but feel humbled before God. How can I be so silly to think that my sin is greater the merciful love of Christ? He will engulf my sin with his love and make me clean again. He will do this to each and every one of us.
Side tangent: If a protestant ever asks you where confession is at in the bible, please refer back to this verse in James 5:16. Also note that Eli’jah was a prophet, he was called by God to do something great by simply living for Him. Sisters, we are also called to something amazing in this life by simply living for Christ. Let us go to confession as often as we need it and continue to walk with God, the path he already paved for us to walk. Pray for me and I for you.
Christ loves you, sister.
