Practicing
the Presence of God
Lessons from Pastor Tex Ritter
Lessons from Pastor Tex Ritter
In 2013 we lost a dear friend and
mentor in the faith, Pastor Tex Ritter. He was a delightful man who
was always ready with a joke or quote he committed to memory. He had
a great outlook on life and was always teaching us ways to practice
the presence of God. At GPUMC he led a class on that same subject. He
was an advocate of developing holy habits to make everyday living
easier: Bible study, prayer, meditation, worship. Through these holy
habits we will receive love and power from God to help us in our
everyday life challenges and to grow in our faith journey. Here are
some of the favorite lessons I learned from Pastor Tex.
1. The hardest thing on your body
is stress. Will you use medication or meditation to deal with the
stress? Meditation helps you manage stress.
2. The first language of God is
silence. Use that silence to get in touch with God. The spirit of God
is around us all the time, Have your antennas out to be aware of
God's presence. Silence gives you the perspective to see things
clearly.
3. Keep busy, don't hurry. Trust
God, don't worry.
4. Spiritual growth doesn't happen
in a minute, it takes a lifetime.
5. Faith is a journey, an unfolding
over time.
6. Find a mantra that is meaningful
to you. It can be a phrase, Bible verse, hymn, poem etc. Commit it to
memory and repeat it daily. It can help you focus, stay positive, and
be energized and encouraged.
7. Service is the rent we pay for
being allowed to live on this planet.
8. Turn stumbling blocks into
stepping stones.
9. Believe in people and give them
encouragement. Look for the good in people. You don't need to remind
troubled people of their problems – they already know.
10. Church isn't the only place to
worship God.
11. Don't act like all life is an
emergency – quit wiggling so you can give God a chance to get the
knots out of your life.
12. Exercise both the mind and the
body. Eat less and move more.
13. We may not have the maximum
strength from God because we have not attempted big enough things.
You never receive the power of God till you need it. You can't store
it. You are not going to have power to do great things until you do
them.
14. Everyone has a call from God,
not just ministers or missionaries.
15. God gives us the challenge of
making this Earth a better place.
16. Responsibility: first you
respond, then God gives you the ability.
17. Love is oil in the machinery of
life; hate is sand in the gears.
18. Death is not a matter of
leaving home but of going home. A peaceful death comes from an
acceptance of the process of death and the promise of new life.
19. Don't just fill the mind with
work and concern, fill it with positive things.
20. We don't worship Jesus because
he was born but because he rose from the dead.
Among the many things Pastor Tex
quoted from memory he often repeated the following:
I said to the man who stood at the
gate of the years,
Give me a light that I may go out
into the darkness.
And he said: 'Go out into the
darkness, put your hand in the hand of God.
It will be better than a light and
safer than a known way.'
Prayer: Thank you Lord for those who
teach, lead and inspire us to Practice the Presence of God. Amen.
Pat Deck
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