Letter Forty-Two

Letter Forty-Two

No Matter Where You Go, I Go

Dear Child:

Don’t hide. Don’t run away.

Draw near to me. I am Abba.

I want companionship with you more than perfection.

You are traveling a rough and dangerous road. I am with you. Nothing is too dangerous, nor is any path too rough for me to walk if that is where you choose to go. I am with you wherever you go.

I’m reaching for you. I’m searching for you.

I can cross any boundary to get to you. Even in the dark and foreboding places in life, I am there.

I am reaching out my hand. Will you take it?

Come to Papa God.

P Michael Biggs

~Hope ~ Encouragement ~Inspiration

Thoughts on Prayer

 Thoughts on Prayer

And what about prayer?

What is prayer all about and how do you do it properly?

If you’ve ever tried to pray, perhaps you have your stories of struggle, of staying awake until the “amen” and of making a coherent string of thoughts in prayer so that God is pleased with you, and you get a gold star for the day because of your prayer.

Hmmm. Consider this:

“Just patch a few words together 

and don’t try to make them elaborate. 

This isn’t a contest but a doorway 

into thanks, and a silence in which 

another voice may speak.” 

Mary Oliver – Poet

Mary was not a theologian nor a biblical scholar. She was in touch with life in her own way as a poet and writer.

However, I think she was onto something with this quote.

Praying is not a contest to see who can pray the most eloquent thoughts, or the most beautiful phrases or string together the perfect synonyms for creative thoughts on God.

Praying is based on sincerity, humility, and intent of the heart.
I love Mary’s analogy of prayer as a “doorway into thanks”. Simple thanks.

Ann Lamont wrote once that “‘Help’ just might be one of the most profound prayers ever uttered.

When the burdens are heaviest, when the way is darkest, when the mind is cluttered with too much information or not enough of a sense of God, then perhaps “help” is the most appropriate prayer we can pray.

I’ve used that one a few times in my life.

Perhaps you have too.

I have some mulling to do on Mary’s last thought.

“And a silence in which another voice may speak.”

Silence. Isn’t that one of the eight deadly sins of the church? We can’t sit still and silent for too long for fear that half of the congregation will fall asleep.

Ah, what if we use that silence as a true tuning in time? What if God wanted to say something to us and was waiting for us to simmer down, hush up, and quite yakking long enough to whisper an important thought into our minds?

Now, wouldn’t that be something.
That’s the kind of praying to which I can relate. It goes like this.

Come in, with no agenda, no prepared speech (prayer) and no worries about what I am going to say and no fear that I’ll say the wrong thing or leave out someone or something for which I should pray. Whew.

And then, in the stillness, the quiet quieter than quiet, what if God whispered to you and me? What if He started with something simple like, “Hey you. I love you.”

That would really be something.

A real, honest-to-goodness God-moment.

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Letter Thirty-One from God

THIRTY-ONE

Dear Child:

Do you think I created you just to watch you struggle?  I don’t play those kinds of games.  My ultimate goal for you is to bring you to my house. 

Here’s the thing.  I’m more interested in finding ways to bring you home to me than for ways to keep you out.

I don’t have a lot of house rules.  I just want you with me, forever.

I’ll always offer you a helping hand and a listening ear.  I’ll never put you down, make life complicated, and I certainly won’t leave you where I found you. 

I want to bring you home with me. 

Do you want to come to my house … forever?

God.

One-Hundred Letters from God,

Offering Hope~Encourgement~Inspiration

P Michael Biggs

From my book – The Letters

Letter Twenty~Six From God

TWENTY-SIX

Dear Child:

The world says “Look like this.  Wear these clothes.  Eat our food.  Listen to this music.  Follow our dogma.  Think these thoughts.  

   Do more.  

      Be more.  

         Achieve more.  

           Earn more.  

              Spend more.  

                Work more. 

Is that how you feel?  I grow weary sometimes of how your world has twisted and misinterpreted my principles. 

I want you to focus on just three words.

YOU ARE ENOUGH!

I created you in my image.  I made you with a blueprint for successful living.  I’ve put talents inside of you that are just below the surface and simply require a bit of exploring and discovery.

You are enough. 

You don’t have to wear the latest fashions.

You don’t have to go to the right school.

You don’t have to believe strange doctrines.

You don’t even have to eat sushi if you don’t want to.

I want you to accept that I made you.  I chose you and put qualities that are unique to you to help you succeed.  You have enough to do what your heart longs to do. 

Be you.

You are enough. 

Your Personal God!

One-Hundred Letters from God,

Offering Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

P Michael Biggs

From my book – The Letters

Letter Number Eleven ~ A Letter from God

Letter Eleven

Hello my friend.  Good morning.  So glad you slept well last night.  

That’s right.  You are my friend.  Did you know that?

One of the meanings of this word “friend” is “ally”.  I am your ally.  I’ve got your back.

How about that? 

That means I care about you.  I esteem you.  I think of you and look for ways to benefit your life. 

Also, I’m looking out for you.  I care, and I am watching to see that you are safe.

When you hurt, I hurt.

When you are troubled, I want to wash your troubles away.

I know you so well.  I’ve watched you since before you were born.  I know about that scar and how you got it.  Better yet, I know something about those scars on your heart that you don’t talk about.  I was there when the hard places came along. 

I am your friend now and I was your friend then.

Reach out to me. 

   Talk to me. 

      Confide in me. 

         Tell me what’s on your mind.

God!

One-Hundred Letters from God,

Offering Hope~Encourgement~Inspiration

P Michael Biggs

From my book – The Letters

Thoughts on God

Thoughts on God

~God IS!  I believe God exists.  I have a mental image of God, but that is all it is … my imaginative version of Him.  The scriptures remind us that ‘no person has seen God.”  Moses was allowed to see the back side of God, according to Exodus 33:18-34:9.  Even that must have been somewhat terrifying. 

~I approach God through faith, much as I approach all of life; faith that He exists, faith that He is the supreme being that I worship, faith that He is ever present, every moment.

~God leads, even in the distasteful moments of life.  In my understanding of the scriptures, He never promises to keep hardships from us.  He just promises to be with us in the middle of the hardships.  Joshua 1:9, God speaks to Joshua and says, “I’ll be with you wherever you go.”  All we have is the assurance of His presence.

~When we confess, He forgives, and remembers our sins against us no more.  That is in 1 John 1:9; and, He removes our sins from us as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12).  That is a long way.  He forgets our sin and sends it a very long way from us.

~God is the embodiment of love.  His love for us, His creation, is beyond understanding.  As Brennen Manning writes – it is a furious love.  A fire-storm of love reaching out to each of us – EACH OF US!  Regardless of our color, our language, our education, our bank account, our physical description, even whether we acknowledge Him, believe in Him, pray to Him, call on Him, curse Him - His love remains constant.  We can’t earn this gracious outpouring of His love.  We can’t read enough scriptures, pray enough prayers, do enough good deeds to earn it.  He gives it freely.  We either accept it or not.  I, for one, accept the full grace of the love of God.

There are other thoughts on God that I will save for another time, perhaps.  The bottom line is this … we approach God from a faith perspective. 

We want facts.  He says faith. 

We want dogmatic proof – He says faith.

Hebrews 11:6 reminds us: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

For me, God is not a myth.  He is not a legend.  Not a super hero.  Not an evil ogre just waiting for us to step across some invisible line of disobedience so He can zap us.  He is a real being.

These are my thoughts on God. 

Internet Church Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Hope Encouragement Inspiration