ABIDE resources for 8-9th November

Allow yourself time for this moment with God

Make it special. Will you make a cup of tea? Do you want to sit in a special place? Will you light a candle? Take five deep breaths. Check-in with how you are feeling – in body, in mind, in spirit. Take five more deep breaths and ask God to abide with you in this moment.

Bible reading for today

PSALM 139:1-18

Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it. You are all around me—in front and in back— and have put your hand on me. Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand.

Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me. I could say, “The darkness will hide me. Let the light around me turn into night.” But even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is as light as the day; darkness and light are the same to you.

You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother’s body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old. God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many! If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

Imagine this

Make a (mental) note of something significant that happened in the last hour, the last day, the last week, the last month and in the last year.

Choose one of those moments to recall in as much detail as you can.

What happened?

What did you see and hear and feel and think?

How might God have been present in that experience?

Do the Bible reading a second time

Take some time to read the Bible passage again slowly (and out loud if you can). What word or phrase stands out as important? You might like to say it gently in your heart a few times to allow it to sink in even deeper.

Enjoy a chat with God

Talk with God about the word or phrase that stood out for you as you looked again at the Bible reading. Tell him about your day. Take time to savour the Lord’s Prayer with him.