NACR Daily Meditation

[NACR Daily Meditation]

************************************************************

NACR Daily Meditation for Wednesday 16th of August 2017  

************************************************************

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, 
so that we may receive mercy and find grace 
to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:16

Many of us find it very difficult to feel confident in intimate relationships. If we learned early in life that the people most important to us were unapproachable, then confidently approaching others as adults may be difficult. There are many ways to learn that approaching other people is dangerous. It can come from abuse, or criticism, or disinterest.

One result of experiences of this kind is that we find it difficult to be confident when we approach God. This is particularly true when we are feeling fragile, weak or needy. The last thing we expect is mercy and grace in our time of need. We expect to be criticized. We expect God to say 'why are you still so needy?'. We expect to be abandoned. We expect God to say 'I'm busy now.' We expect to be rejected. We expect God to say 'If only you had more faith or prayed more or read the Bible more or trusted me more.' With expectations like this, it is no surprise that we lack confidence when approaching God.

But God offers us an invitation we long to hear. He invites us to approach. And, God invites us to come with confidence. God will pay attention. God will hear us. God will be interested in our well-being. God will respond with mercy, grace and help.

I don't have much confidence, Lord.
I don't trust other people very much .
I don't trust you very much.
I don't expect mercy and grace
from anybody, especially in times when I'm this needy.
I expect criticism, abandonment, and rejection.

Thank you for inviting me to come to you.
Thank you for providing good reasons to have confidence in you.
You are full of mercy and grace.

This is a time of need for me, Lord.
Give me confidence to approach you today.
I need your mercy and grace.
Amen.

Copyright  Dale and Juanita Ryan 

Dale Ryan is an Associate Professor of Recovery Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. Juanita Ryan is a therapist in private practice. You can read Juanita's blog at www.juanitaryan.com


************************************************************
Help us to continue developing resources of this kind by supporting the National Association for Christian Recovery. You can make a tax-deductible contribution online at

http://www.nacronline.com/nacr-store/donations

************************************************************
ROOTED IN GOD'S LOVE (the book from which these meditations are taken, is back in print! Order online 

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rooted-In-Gods-Love-Meditations/dp/1440437378/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352915297">here</a>

************************************************************
Meditations from previous days can be viewed at:  

http://two.pairlist.net/pipermail/nacrmed/

************************************************************
To stop receiving these meditations send an email to nacrmed-request at nacronline.com with the word unsubscribe as the subject.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist2.pair.net/pipermail/nacrmed/attachments/20170815/01ed4500/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: logo_for_email.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 11275 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist2.pair.net/pipermail/nacrmed/attachments/20170815/01ed4500/attachment.obj>