I have taken some of the art pieces and have linked personal meditations with them.  Sit with the image for a bit, allowing it to sink in.  Read the Scripture that accompanies the piece.  Go to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow says, "I am for you today."   Then read the meditation invitation that follows and reflect on what it evokes in you.

 

 

 

DUSTEATER: Gen. 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

 

Meditation: Reflect on the finished work of Christ. He has broken the power of sin and Satan in your life (this is a reality- something you can take to the bank). In Christ, Satan has no hold over you.

 

AMNESTY: Col 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

 

Meditation: Reflect on any sense you might have that you are still in debt...that something is being held against you or that you are holding against yourself. Picture it being nailed to the cross.

 

BITTER DREGS: Psa 75:8 In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.

John 18:11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

 

Meditation: Reflect on Jesus draining the bitter cup down to its very dregs (the depths). Do a self inventory of any specific sin/s that are weighing you down. If you identify any acts, thoughts, or feelings that are in lodged in your “backpack” write each one down on a piece of paper, fold it or crumple it up, and put it into the cup. If you notice, there is no bottom on the cup that Jesus is holding. That's because he has removed our sins as far away as the East is from the West- He's cast them into the deepest part of the ocean. Nobody will be reading what you put into the cup (it will be contained in the sealed box) and all notes will be burned.

 

LIFTER: Psa. 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

 

Meditation: Reflect on any sense of being stuck or trapped that you might feel. Allow yourself to feel the sense of futility that comes from being in a slimy pit. Imagine that Jesus is reaching his hand down into the pit and is offering to help you find a secure place to put your feet. Feel the strength of His right hand.

 

ALTAR: Psa 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

I will build to You an altar, O God, of the broken pieces of my heart (Unknown)

 

Meditation: Reflect on the invitation from Christ to make yourself a living sacrifice. Allow him to gently but firmly bring His breaking, breaking whatever needs to be broken in your life. Imagine that He and you take the fragmented pieces and place them on the altar.

 

ROOTED: Col 2:7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

 

Meditation: Reflect on how the Master Gardener is at work in your life. Imagine that your root system is going down deep into the soil of His love and grace. Allow that process to spark gratitude and wonder.

 

TRANSPLANT: Eze 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

 

Meditation: Reflect on ways that you have let your heart become hardened. Imagine that the Master Surgeon is offering to do a heart transplant. Invite Him to gift you with a heart of flesh.

 

TREASURE BOX: Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

Meditation: Reflect on where you have been placing your investments. Reflect on your attachments. Reflect on what you have been treasuring. Discover where your heart is located...fixed.

 

MOMENTO MORI: Remember, you must die.

 

Meditation: Reflect on your own mortality. Embrace your finitude. If you wish, write out your own obituary as you would like it to be. What would it say about the meaning of your life?

 

SEARCHER: Psa 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

 

Meditation: Reflect on the Searching God who knows you intimately. Open yourself up to what insights and awarenesses that He has for you. Lay hold of your anxious thoughts, and surrender the future to Him. Reflect on ways that you might be trying to control outcomes.

POUR: Psa 62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

 

Meditation: Reflect on ways that you want to worship Him. Pour out your thoughts and feelings in any way that you want. Let it flow from your heart.

 

PARCHED: Psa 63:1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

 

Meditation: Reflect on ways that you have become desiccated and dried out. Let your whole being long for him and let that longing come out in a cry for help. Imagine his rain gently falling on your dried-up spirit.

 

FLOW: Ex. 17:6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

 

Meditation: Reflect on situations, relationships, and dilemmas that seem unsurmountable and rockhard. Imagine the staff of Moses striking the rock and watch the water pour out. Take a drink from that fountain.

 

GUARD YOUR HEART: Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

 

Meditation: Reflect on ways that you are leaving your heart unguarded. Discern between positive vulnerability and unholy risk-taking. What are the things that endanger your heart? Allow Him to tell you how He wants to protect you, and what He wants you to do to protect yourself.

 

CRAVINGS: Numbers 11 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” ….. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” 

 

Meditation: Reflect on your diet (what are you feeding on) and reflect on your appetites (what do you crave)?. Think about how you are approaching the manna of God's word. Identify ways that you want your appetites to be refined and redirected.

 

PLANKEYE: Matt. 7:4 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

 

Meditation: Reflect on the planks and impediments in your eyes. How is your vision being distorted by lack of forgiveness.... prejudice..... or judgment? Imagine the Healer of the blind coming to you with a poultice for your eyesight.

 

BURNING BUSH: There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

 

Meditation: Reflect on the I AM who reveals Himself and seeks to reveal His calling for our life. Make yourself present. Take off your shoes and imagine the holy ground underneath your feet. Verbalize to Him, “Here I am”. Then just listen.........