Russell A. Cardwell Online

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

—Helen Keller

• No related posts

Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

—Colossians 3:17

The air surrounds us all the time; we couldn’t live without it. But we don’t ordinarily notice its presence. Only when a fresh breeze caresses our skin or a hurricane uproots a mighty oak do we become aware of it.

So it is with God. As Paul told the Athenians, “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) He makes his presence known to us at various times, but that doesn’t mean we notice him all the time.

Awareness of God’s presence is a skill that requires practice to develop. The first step, according to Brother Lawrence is not so much a change in what we do, but in our attitude about what we do. We do not need to be in church to worship him, he said. We can make our heart a chapel by carrying out our ordinary activities as acts of devotion and love for God. Paul said, “Do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) If there are activities in our lives that we cannot do for the glory of God, we need to cease doing them. Brother Lawrence described this as eliminating “whatever does not lead to God.”

“Pray without ceasing,” Paul said. (1 Thes 5:17) This is the next step. Brother Lawrence recommended offering brief prayers often during the day, instead of wordy prayers that “encourage wandering thoughts.” I know that in a short time my ADHD brain starts replaying conversations from last week or itemizing to-do’s for next week. It’s heartening to know Brother Lawrence and his readers struggled with the same problem over 300 years ago. Rick Warren suggests short breath prayers—brief phrases or sentences that we can say throughout the day, no matter what we’re doing. Some of my favorites are, “Thy will, not mine, be done,” “I am yours,” or “It’s all about you.” This does not substitute for regular times of prayer, study, and worship. But we should not think of these times as being different from any other. Instead, we should try to draw near to God in our daily activities, just as in our quiet time. This is a way to “take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” (Romans 12:1)

Third, we are not chasing a feeling or experience of God’s presence. Sometimes his presence is palpable; sometimes not. God sometimes presents us with vivid demonstrations of his presence. Sometimes we are caught up in ecstasy, consumed in worship, or steeped in an exquisite infusion of profound peace. Other times we don’t have any sense of his presence. This is natural—chasing after sensational experiences is not what awareness of God’s presence is about. C. S. Lewis calls these experiences signposts. They are not the goal; they simply point the way to it. They are more significant early in our relationship with God. As Lewis described it, if we are lost in a wilderness and come upon a signpost after long wandering, it is much different than if we are traveling the King’s highway and have been passing signposts at regular intervals. We should be grateful for them, but should not stop to admire them, but rather “press on toward the goal.” (Phil 3:14) Awareness of God’s presence is not a sensation, but a way of living in relationship with him.

A great and strong wind tore into the mountains, . . . but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

—1 Kings 19:11-12

Only when he heard the still, small voice did Elijah step forth to speak with God.

We do not have to stand outside during a hurricane to be aware of the air. All we need do is breathe. And so with God. He is with us in good times and bad, in triumphs and in trials, in mourning and in dancing. When we go out weeping, and when we return in joy, he is with us. Through the high points, the low points, and all those ordinary, everyday points in between, he is there.

In fact, Jesus was called Emmanuel—”God with us.” (Matt 1:23) He is always present; whether we are aware of him depends on us.

And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

—Matt 28:20

• November 20, 2005
• If You Can’t Worship While You’re Doing It . . .
• November 14, 2005
• Holy Ground
• My Soul Waits for the Lord

Here’s a report on some scientific research into the benefits of gratitude:

Gratitude Theory: Researchers find the virtues of gratitude include good health.

And a blog that references the article:

more on gratitude ~ “Gratitude Theory”

Here’s another article on the psychological benefits of practicing gratitude:

Cultivating Gratitude: An Interview with Robert Emmons, Ph.D.

In 2005, about a month after the hurricane, I did some exercises from ReflectiveHappiness.com, which focused on recording and describing a list of blessings experienced each day. I can verify that doing this on a daily basis for several weeks brought me quickly back from a very dark depression. The immediate aftermath of the storm had been a period of intense activity, excitement, and camaraderie with fellow early-responders. But after a month, the glamor wore off and the sense of adventure paled. Driving around this devastated community, I was pummeled by an awareness that things would never be back to the way they were, and the life I knew would never be the same. I grieved intensely for what was already lost, and for what in my prescience I could foretell would soon be gone. There had been much to lose, after all. Little of it was material—not the important parts, anyway. I saw it slipping away.

Anyway, it was a very depressing time for me. Developing the practice of “counting my blessings” every day quickly alleviated the dark mood and enabled me to carry on with renewed strength. i have continued the practice off and on since then. And in October, 2006, I started keeping a book to record miracles and special blessings whenever they occur.

Gratitude works!

John Henry Jowett, the English pastor who served for many years at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, said, “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” Researchers are now beginning to discover scientifically a truth that religious leaders have taught for millennia.

And gratitude is the beginning of discipleship. In Romans 12:1, Paul says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Gratitude is the end of religion and empty ritual, and the start of a genuine relationship with God. In gratitude for all that God has done for us, to give ourselves wholly and without reservation to him, is true worship. Only then we can begin to experience the benefits of the indwelling Spirit of God:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

—Galatians 5:22-23

Gratitude is the key that unbars the gates to God’s favor, and releases the flood of blessings that God has in store for those who love him. Gratitude births joy and wholehearted love for God, the qualities that made David a man after God’s own heart. Gratitude enables us to live the kind of life God blesses.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

—Colossians 3:12-17

Henri Nouen (whose birthday is today) said: “God is always active in our lives. God always calls, always asks us to take up our crosses and follow. But do we see, feel, and recognize that call or do we keep waiting for that illusory moment when it will really happen?”

What are you waiting for?

• God’s Word and God’s Works
• Satan’s Garage Sale
• Trust and Obey
• Ask, Knock
• What Ships are Built For

Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.

     —Philip Yancey

• Faith is . . .
• Dream and Work
• The Greatest of These
• All the Little That I Know
• Rules for Christian Living

The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar. . . .

—Rick Warren

• Jesus’ Friends
• Who Are You Living For?
• Delight Yourself
• Half Full or Half Empty?
• God Cared Enough to Send the Very Best

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
—Romans 8:28-29

You were set apart by God for a special purpose. Your anointing, your unique combination of gifts and talents, your passion for God and for serving his people, make you a special threat to Satan. He will go to great lengths to ensure that you do not fulfill your calling. To this end, he will stop at nothing. He will use every means at his disposal to stop you. If possible, he will turn you away from God and the church altogether.

Why does God allow this? Because God must be foremost in your life. To fulfill God’s purpose for your life, you must love him more than you love anything else. If you love your church more than you love God, you cannot fulfill your purpose. If you love your friends more than God, if you love your ministry more than God, if you love the people you serve more than God, God will allow Satan to take them. And Satan, in his desire to separate you from God and from your destiny, will use the very things you love most as his weapons. He will spread his lies and slanders, and infect and poison the hearts of those you have cared for, and make them into his most lethal weapons.

God wants you to understand that all the love and everything else you have poured out upon the people you served is not lost. All of it came from him. He is the sole provider and source. You have no reason to expect them to return anything to you. They do not have your passion; they do not have your anointing. Their destiny lies elsewhere. But nothing you have given is lost. Nothing you have done through the power given you by the Holy Spirit can ever be undone by Satan. All that you poured out came from God, and he will continue to provide you with everything you will need. He is still your only source, and as you have been learning, his provision is more extravagant in its abundance than your most forlorn hope.

So continue to love the Lord. Continue to wait upon him. Continue to do what is right with what he provides you. Continue to pour out all you are given upon those of his children he places before you. Continue to be faithful in the small things he entrusts you with as he continues to entrust you with larger and more challenging things. This is the way he has been preparing his servants from time immemorial. Look how he prepared Joseph—how he carefully brought him through stages to ready him for his service. But then look how he blessed Joseph and how he used him to bless others. God greatly blesses those he greatly uses, so that his blessings can be greatly spread. But he greatly disciplines those he greatly uses, to transform them into fit instruments for his service.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
—Romans 8:18-21

God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
—Hebrews 13:5-6

His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
—Matthew 25:21

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
—Genesis 45:4-8

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
—James 1:2-4

• God Abhors a Vacuum
• Messy Meditation on Discipline and Stuff