{"id":21320,"date":"2017-03-11T00:10:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T08:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10210"},"modified":"2017-03-11T00:10:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T08:10:08","slug":"march-11-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/03\/11\/march-11-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"March 11, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cBut the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.\u201d<\/em>
\nGenesis 8:9<\/span><\/p>\n

Circling Back<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

We\u2019re all familiar with the problem of keeping a mind focused on the things of the Lord when we set out to pray for any length of time. It seems our thoughts have a life of their own, chasing rabbits down paths we had predetermined we would not go down again. This happened to me again this morning, as I prayed for a friend in need of healing. Suddenly I remembered something she had asked me to do, which reminded me that I had to get some help with it, which reminded me to look at the calendar to see when he was available, which reminded me that we had made plans for the weekend\u2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as realized what I was doing, I \u201ccircled back\u201d to the Lord. \u201cHoly Spirit, let me focus\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One day I read the same idea in two different devotionals, having to do with today\u2019s Scripture. I hope it will help you as it helped me. When the waters receded from the earth after the Flood, Noah sent out a raven to see if the waters had dried up. The raven stayed out. He was feasting on carrion, the dead, decayed flesh floating about, easily accessible. God made a raven able and willing to do this, partly to keep the ground free of dead, smelly things that would otherwise add misery to our lives. This is the job of a raven\u2014not humans. If we allow our thoughts\u2014or our lives for that matter\u2014to feed on flesh, that decaying, disgusting, dead old life we\u2019ve been delivered from\u2014we will soon die. We are not made for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the dove knew there was nothing out there for her to eat, so she circled back to Noah. This speaks to me of looking for what is good and pure, always coming back to the Lord if we have \u201cflown away\u201d for a bit, even if only in our thoughts in prayer. The dove was, in effect, setting her mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:2). She was not feeding on the flesh that, for a Christian, has died with Christ. If we are feeding on what is dead and decaying, we are unhealthy indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is always a chance to \u201ccircle back.\u201d Bring your thoughts into captivity\u2014take charge of them, praying for the Spirit\u2019s enabling power. In prayer, capture your mind to focus on the Lord. In life, feed on the things of the Lord\u2014the Living Water and the Bread of Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather, forgive us for returning to the dead things in our lives. May we feed on the spiritual food You give. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5xS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}