# Spaciousness Day 2 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Teach me, God to make room for you in all the events and affairs of my days. Then I shall find rest. Then I will be at peace with myself and with you. (Norman Shawchuck in A Guide To Prayer for All Who Seek God)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 18:16-29 *16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters.17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.* *20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,and have not wickedly departed from my God.22 For all his rules[a] were before me,and his statutes I did not put away from me.23 I was blameless before him,and I kept myself from my guilt.24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.* *25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27 For you save a humble people,but the haughty eyes you bring down.28 For it is you who light my lamp;the Lord my God lightens my darkness.29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.* #### Scripture for the Day: Deuteronomy 8:1-20 #### Remember the Lord Your God *8 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word[a] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.* *11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.* #### Reading for Reflection: *We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (Romans 5:2 - The Message)* *I read these words the other day and just can’t get away from them, they have continued to echo and reverberate deeply within me. I guess that's because the idea of spaciousness has been one I have always been drawn to. Maybe it’s because of the freedom (and life and grace) that is inherent in a spacious place. A spacious place offers room; room to roam, room to grow, room to flourish, room to be—and room to become. I like room, I don’t like to be crowded or constricted or constrained. And I don’t just like room, I need room…the life of God within me requires it. It seems to me that the very life of the Spirit is one of spaciousness, ever expanding us within. The more deeply we journey into God, the more room there is, and the more spacious and free life becomes. I like that…I like it a lot. It is so inviting. It makes me want to throw my doors open completely to him; knowing that when I do, I find his doors already wide open before me—with the wide open spaces of his grace and love going on and on and on. What could be more inviting than that? ~Jim Branch, October, 2011* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us *How deep the Father's love for us* *How vast beyond all measure* *That He would give His only Son* *To make a wretch His treasure* *How great the pain of searing loss* *The Father turns His face away* *As wounds which mar the chosen One* *Bring many sons to glory* *Behold the Man upon a cross* *My guilt upon His shoulders* *Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice* *Call out among the scoffers* *It was my sin that held Him there* *Until it was accomplished* *His dying breath has brought me life* *I know that it is finished* *I will not boast in anything* *No gifts, no power, no wisdom* *But I will boast in Jesus Christ* *His death and resurrection* *Why should I gain from His reward?* *I cannot give an answer* *But this I know with all my heart* *His wounds have paid my ransom* ### Closing Prayer: *O Lord, the house of my soul is too small for you to enter: make it more spacious by your coming.*