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Like most of you, I have grown up
in a profession where there were roll calls or shift briefings before
we hit the streets every day, without fail. In fact never did I work
for a law enforcement agency that offered optional attendance at these
events.
These briefings, often accompanied by short training sessions,
always prepared us for the daily grind by passing along the latest
information from the preceding shift and alerted us to any pertinent
BOLO's that we might need during the upcoming tour of duty. Sometimes
the information received at these briefings had little impact on my
shift and the incidents I handled, while on other shifts it had a
critical impact.
Recently there was a young boy kidnapped and within days, the
information passed along to some officers in Missouri, I am sure via
BOLO's, resulted in their recognizing a vehicle similar to one I am
sure they had been alerted to in a BOLO as being involved in the
kidnapping, and the final outcome was not only the return of the
kidnapped youngster, but the return of another young man kidnapped some
four years prior to this event. I would say that information had a
great impact on quite a few folks, wouldn't you?
There is, or should be, a daily roll call or briefing in our spiritual
lives too. A time when we get together with God and let Him brief us on
His word. Some of us might call it a "quiet time" or a "time of
devotion" or maybe a "time of contemplation". No matter what you call
it, it should never become an optional time anymore than the briefings
or roll calls we attend for our employers. I can't imagine telling my
Sgt or Lt that I had decided to only make one or two roll calls a week
because I could make better use of my time. Yet many of us do exactly
that when we tell God that we just didn't have the time to meet with
Him that day. When we think a time of devotion or contemplative prayer
is a good idea but optional, we give ourselves the rational of lowering
its priority in our lives and most of us will then opt out and lose a
real stabilizing base for our daily activities.
We probably are familiar with the basic word "Prayer". But, do we
really realize that there are many types of prayer and that each one
has its place. There are prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of praise,
prayers uttered during critical spiritual battles and prayers of
petition for our needs, wants and desires as well as intercessory
prayer for the needs of others. Each of these is an important part of
each of our prayer lives, but the need for a time of devotional or
contemplative prayer is paramount.
How can I say this? Easy, because it is the one area of my own prayer
life that gives me the most trouble. I wear a watch and God doesn't. I
am harried by the many tasks that I seem never to have enough time for
and I am all too ready to relegate my devotional time to the back
burner. God shakes His head a great deal of the time at my activities
and my secular prioritization I am sure.
When I do get my priorities straightened out and resume my time of
devotions and contemplative prayer, God then has the time necessary to
work with me on refocusing my life and to speak to me. It may not be a
voice I hear out loud, in fact it is usually that still small voice
that invades my mind and helps me assess my own life. That still small
voice needs a quiet environment. It is in this peaceful environment
that we can focus on the matters of the heart and not of the world. We
can contemplate our interaction on God's behalf with those people with
whom we interact as we go about our professional lives and our personal
lives. We can think, during this devotional period, about the way we
are conforming or not conforming to the image and will of Christ.
Remember the way we interact with others, especially in times of crisis
reflects the true character we possess. The real nature of our heart
will be made known in our daily activities. All too often many of us
fail to take the time to really look at our lives as God looks at them
and we fail to give Him the time to assist us with the refocusing we so
desperately need. We often fail to see the roots of our personal and
professional problems, let alone our spiritual problems.
I seem to recall Jesus saying "...Out of the overflow of the heart, the
mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up
in him and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in
him." (Matthew 12: 34-35)
In our early spiritual battles we faced the more obvious temptations of
the fleshly or natural man such as lust, ambition and material gain. As
our maturity increases we find ourselves facing the more subtle
temptations we harbor in our hearts. What will happen if we never take
time to examine our hearts?
Each of us needs to make a commitment to make the time every day to
meet these enemies and reflect on their defeat. This time must be a
disciplined undertaking and must result in our scheduling a specific
amount of time daily. Start small so you won't fail to accomplish the
task and you can increase the time as you become habitual about it. As
you sit contemplatively before The Lord, present him the circumstances
and relationships really on your heart. Get used to opening your life
up to him, since He already knows everything that is there. Be
sensitive to the thoughts and impressions you receive, as they may be
the Lord's way of communicating with that still small voice of His. The
impressions may be His way of showing us what repentance and growth we
need to focus on.
Then, as I bring this to a close, don't forget to act on the messages
the Lord leaves with you as you begin to grow in His grace. Learning to
do something and never doing it is wasting that education. Work with
other mature Christians as you begin this journey. That is why God gave
us each other, and remember that obedience to God's instructions,
especially those regarding fellowship and mutual accountability, can
produce life changing events, while disobedience will definately harden
the heart as it it did in Pharaoh's case.
My advice to you is the same as it is to myself.
First examine your prayer life. Is it revolving more around petitionary
prayer focusing on your wants desires and needs or is it directed at
edifying your spiritual development?
Second, work on disciplining yourself to include a period of devotional
or contemplative prayer time to spend with the Lord. Working on
increasing the time spent as you develope this most beneficial habit.
Thirdly, as you become more attuned to listening for that still small
voice of God, be specific about what you are discussing with Him and
expect Him to deal with your issues.
The more exposure you have to God's presence in your life, the more
crisp the image of Christ in your life will become. Just as the image
on a photographic plate is enhanced by its exposure to intense light.
That is what we all desire isn't it? To have the character of Christ,
his Humility, His Compassion, His Integrity, His Truth and His
Compassion reflected in our own.
My prayer for each of you and myself is that since it seems that we are
so impressed by the world, Christ will help us take hold of our lives,
attitudes and philosophies and begin to focus them on the proper
targets. I pray that He will help all of us discipline ourselves to not
only schedule time alone with Him each day, but, to make those
appointments a priority in our lives. We so desperately need that time
of introspection. Jesus take control of this time and superimpose Your
will upon ours, Your nature on ours, Your personality on ours and may
the evidence of our time with You be stamped indelibly on our character.
Amen
Until next watch, I'll say 10-7 for now
and may God bless you all
Remember, when you came into this world,
you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life for Christ,
with honor, courage, integrity and compassion
and when you leave this world
it will cry and you will rejoice
Ray R Fairman, Ph.D
Chaplain
Winterville GA PD
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