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Yesterday I went to Panera, one of my favorite bakeries, for coffee and quiet time with the Lord. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with some responsibilities. When I arrived I saw one of my pastor friends and smiled, walked up to him, and greeted him with a warm “hello!” He said, “Catherine, how are you?” I told him about some exciting things that were happening and then I shared how I was feeling just a bit overwhelmed. He smiled and told me a story about his daughter and how she had called him and said, “Dad, I’m just not sure what I’m going to do in my life.” He responded to her by saying, “There’s your problem. It’s not your life. It’s His life.” Oh, I needed to hear those words!! What an incredible reminder to me about WHOSE I AM!! It’s not I who live, but Christ lives in me, according to Paul in Galatians 2:20. The whole truth about belonging to Christ and His work in and through us is so powerful. I spent some time today writing a quiet time and even embedded a little audio file at the end just for you. It’s in Acrobat pdf format and you can actually just click on the links for the Bible verses. You can type your insights in the quiet time then make sure you save it to your computer. God bless you dear friend and enjoy!!!

Not Your Life Quiet Time With Message

In my Bible reading today I came across a law given by God to Moses that was so meaningful for me. In the seventh year of service the master was to set his servant free. However, if the servant declares “I love my master…” and does not want to go free, then the master could take him before judges and then “take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl” (Exodus 21:6). Then he would be a servant for life.

When I read these words I was reminded of something Dr. Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade wrote in the foreword of my book, Revive My Heart, many years ago. He wrote, “A most memorable occasion was in the spring of 1951, when Vonette and I got on our knees in our home and prayed. This was a very special and unique devotional time that changed our lives and that, by His grace, the Lord has used to touch literally billions of people all over the world with His message of love and forgiveness. We prayed, ‘Lord, we surrender our lives irrevocably to you and to do your will. We want to love and serve you with all of our hearts for the rest of our lives.’ We actually wrote and signed a contract committing our whole lives to Him, relinquishing our rights, all of our possessions, everything we would ever own, giving Him, our dear Lord and Master, everything. That Sunday afternoon, in the words of the apostle Paul, Vonette and I became voluntary slaves of Jesus, by choice, as an act of our wills. In Romans 1:1, Paul wrote of his love for Christ and said to the Christians in that great city: ‘This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God’s Good News’ (TLB).” Dr. Bright continues on, “Astonishingly, within twenty-four hours of that prayer and in another quiet time, the Lord gave me the vision for Campus Crusade for Christ and helping to fulfill the Great Commission!”

I am moved today as I read those words of commitment by a humble man who is now face to face with His Lord. There’s a song related to this passage of Scripture in Exodus that is my prayer: “Pierce my ear, O Lord my God. Take me to Your door this day, I will serve no other gods. Lord I’m here to stay. For You have paid the price for me, with your blood you’ve ransomed me. I will serve you eternally, a free man I’ll never be” (© 1980 Dayspring).

May we all serve the Lord with a whole heart and willing mind and spirit. Everything we do, from the smallest thing to the greatest, is in service to the King of Kings. We can never forget that someday we will be face to face with Him. And we want to always live in the present with eternity in mind. And so, today, may we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” and “please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light” (Colossians 1:10-12). God bless you today!

I drove to Newport Beach yesterday for a meeting with my publisher and agent. I was looking forward to it not only for the meeting but also because I wanted to take some special time to be alone with my Lord. And one of my favorite places for just such a time is the ocean. So this morning I got up early and asked the guy who brought my car to the front of the hotel, “How can I get to the ocean?” He smiled knowingly, and gave me directions. I drove to Balboa Island, found a coffee place, and got a piping hot cup of coffee - especially important so early in the morning :). I found a parking spot, grabbed my Bible and coffee, and walked out towards the beach. Before I even saw what I had come to see, I heard the crashing of the waves. And then, finally, there was the ocean, where sky seems to touch water in the distant view. I sat on a ledge and read Psalm 73 and 62. Then, I talked with the Lord for awhile. Then I thought about the handiwork of the Lord seen and heard in the ocean. So I walked out and just stared at the crashing waves for a long time, thinking about the mighty power of God. I committed anew everything He has called me to do. And I gave Him me, all of me, once again. I do believe such surrenders are daily in the course of our everyday lives. I love what Jan Johnson said in the Fall/Winter 2007 issue of Conversations about these “monastery times” as she calls them: “The courageous gift of the monastery to me is permission to run away. It’s not an excape, as so many people believe, because we bring everybody else with us in our heads, but we have enough distance from the chaos to quiet them. It’s ’soul school’, a space in which God can speak to us about what it would look like to love the difficult people in our lives and how the neediness of our spirits drives us to do foolish things. It’s a refuge where we know we are loved by God even when we accomplish nothing.” I especially love that last part. I truly believe in such quiet times we are actually accomplishing much more than when we are extremely productive. Investments in heart and soul care with the Lord, opening our Bibles, living there, and talking heart to heart with our Lord, yield eternal results. To God be the glory.

I found this cool Greek study tool over at Marc Driscoll’s website, written by Zack Hubert, and I think it is amazing. Use your mouse to hover the cursor over any of the words and they are defined in the lexicon below. Also, you can click on “Other Translations” and get a side-by-side comparison. One of my favorite ways to explore God’s Word in my quiet time is to look up a word in the original language. I like to use many different study tools, especially the Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, Zodhiates’ Key Word Study Bible, and Wuest’s Word Studies. But this little tool is just a great quick way to look something up. I’ve added it to the sidebar of my blog - “Study The Greek” in case you want to ever use it again. God bless you as you continue to draw near to Him!

This morning I thought long and hard about the words of Oswald Chambers from My Utmost For His Highest. He commented on 2 Peter 1:5, “And beside this…add…” He said now we need to form “habits, give diligence, and concentrate.” Then he goes on to say that none of us are born with habits; “we have to form habits on the basis of the new life God has put into us.” This morning I began my quiet time in Psalm 57 and then read from the little devotional Scripture Union puts out, Encounter With God. In there I read this comment about David, “David is more concerned that the Lord’s name be exalted than that he be delivered from the cave.” I thought about that statement - you can’t manufacture those kinds of character responses. They are built into the fiber of your being, little by little, as you walk with God, moment by moment. Through habit, diligence, discipline, and concentration, like Oswald Chambers encourages, the Lord forms our character within, transforming us - making us like Christ, “conforming us to the image” of Christ (Romans 8:29). I am thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness in bringing me back to the “one thing” whenever I am distracted by “many things”. He helps me focus and walk with intention. May we this day keep our eyes fixed on Him and desire the exaltation of His name more than our own comfort and satisfaction. Blessings to all.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, tent meetings were held and as many as 20,000 would travel from more than 50 miles away to hear the messages of forgiveness and salvation. By the 1940’s and 1950’s more than 100 revivalists would travel around the country, often holding their meetings in tents to accommodate large crowds. Well, guess what! Our most recent Women of Revival conference was held in a tent! What an exciting day. Jesus House of Prayer, the sponsoring church meets weekly in a tent. Part of their mission includes feeding the hungry and they give away hundreds of free meals each week. On Saturday, May 31, we held a Women of Revival conference in their tent. Hundreds of women came from miles away to spend the day focusing on the theme “Set My Heart On Fire”. As you can see, even from the highway, people could see that something was going on I’ve never seen a sign quite like this! We had an amazing day together. First, the amazing Stefanie Kelly led us in worship. Then, I spoke on what it means to have our hearts set on fire and the need to get back to the Bible. Conni Hudson taught on quiet time and Shirley Peters shared her incredible testimony. Then we broke for a catered lunch in another tent.

The weather was beautiful and women were sharing together everywhere. I was loving it! Then, after lunch Stefanie led us again in worship and sang my most favorite song of hers “I Know He Knows”. Julie Airis spoke and shared many of her unbelievable stories. Kelly Abeyratne led us in a time of prayer. I gave another challenge to personal spiritual revival. Then we watched “The Revival Hymn” (you can watch it up here on my blog - see the sidebar under Main). This is probably one of the most amazing and heart-challenging messages you will ever hear - quotes by men like A.W. Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill - then an eyewitness account by Duncan Campbell about the Lewis Revival. Then I gave a closing challenge to everyone to commit themselves to radical intimacy, radical authority (the Word of God), radical revival, radical power, and radical discipleship - you can read more about these challenges in my book, Set My Heart On Fire. Everyone stood as I gave these challenges and we closed in a powerful time of prayer. What an exciting day. My heart was set on fire to see so many hungry, thirsty hearts longing to draw near to God. The Lord ministered to us in a truly powerful way. What a joy to have had the privilege to serve Him there in Joshua Tree. And may the Lord multiply all that He did there to men and women throughout the world. And may He get all the glory!

Today is the birthday anniversary of F.B. Meyer, born April 8, 1847. F.B. Meyer is one of the great heroes of the faith and one of my very favorite authors. In fact, if you can get any book by F.B. Meyer, grab it and live in it for awhile. You’ll come away knowing God better. Joseph Parker of London once said, “Meyer is to me ever a welcome visitor; he brings with him ever a benediction, and he never leaves me without the impression that I have been face to face with a man of God.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Meyer preaches as a man who has seen the face of God.” I just read an interesting story about F.B. Meyer that I actually put in the book I just finished writing on prayer. Meyer lived during the time of two other great preachers - names you may have heard of - G. Campbell Morgan and Charles Haddon Spurgeon. They all preached in England. Well, as you might imagine, Spurgeon and Morgan drew huge crowds and that dramatically impacted the numbers for Meyer’s church. When F.B. Meyer went to the Lord about it, he was encouraged by God to pray for an increase to the ministries of Spurgeon and Morgan. Well, that idea wasn’t too exciting for F.B. Meyer, but he yielded to God and began to fervently pray for them. God so exploded the ministries of Spurgeon and Morgan that the overflow crowds packed out Meyer’s church. Now that’s an answer to prayer!!! One time Meyer said, “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other; and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other; and that it is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping lower; and that we go down, always down, to get His best gifts.” And here is a prayer by F.B. Meyer that is our prayer today: “O God, make the most of me that can be made for Thy glory.”

Oh how I love spending time with the Lord. I thought I’d post a picture of my quiet place in our family room where I spend time with the Lord EARLY in the morning. I say EARLY in capital letters because I do get up quite early for my quiet time. I get my coffee brewing, pull my selected books, Bible, and notebook out of my basket and sit on the couch and spend time with my Lord. Currently, my quiet time looks like this: First, I read from Springs In The Valley by Mrs. Charles Cowman - I just love how she writes and all the different devotional reading she includes. Then I read from Daily Light. Then, the Psalm of the day from my Bible. During this time I usually write in my journal in the Prepare Your Heart section of my Quiet Time Notebook. My writing includes my response and favorite quotes and Scripture from what I’ve read. Then I read in my One Year Bible - New Living Translation - my current reading plan. It’s probably my favorite reading plan because there is a reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb. Today I read from Daniel, 2 Peter, Psalm 119 and a couple of verses from Proverbs. As I read in my One Year Bible, I underline significant verses.

Today the most significant was from 2 Peter 1:5-8, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I loved these verses because in them Peter makes clear how we should grow. I want to be “productive and useful” and these verses show me how. The Bible is my handbook for life, my map for the journey, and my love letter from my Lord. Oh, how I love His Word!! It is, as I read today, “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

After I read in my One Year Bible, I talk with the Lord in earnest about those things that are burdening my heart. I lay out all my requests and then I “HOPE” - holding on with patient expectation. And then, these days, I’ve been closing my quiet time by reading from a little devotional I found that I just love, Moments Of Peace For The Morning. That’s just a brief summary of my quiet time. I keep track of important requests in my Quiet Time Notebook. May the Lord continue to grow us in our time alone with Him.

We have just had the MOST AMAZING DAY at Calvary Chapel Gulf Breeze. I met some of the most on fire for the Lord sisters in Christ ever here at CC Gulf Breeze. Pictured with me from left to right are Jill Brogden, Women’s Ministries Assistant to Lynn Spencer, Me, and Lynn Spencer, Director of Women’s Ministries. Lynn found one of my books in the Christian bookstore - I think Six Secrets To A Powerful Quiet Time. The Lord gave her the idea to have a quiet time conference and so she looked at our Quiet Time Ministries website, then connected with me via email. We planned the conference and then Lynn, Jill, and their team organized everything from the promotion to the worship, a quiet time drama, and lunch. They kept in contact with Kayla at our office, we got our airline tickets and before we all knew it, it was time to get on that airplane and fly to Gulf Breeze, Florida, one of the most incredibly beautiful places I’ve ever visited.

Cindy and I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out the directions from Mapquest. Sometimes Mapquest works and sometimes there are certain turns that don’t make sense. Finally, we abandoned the beginning of the directions and just found the 399 West. From there the directions were correct. My heart began racing with excitement the closer we got to the church. You can’t imagine what a joy it is to me to know I’m going to spend the day with 250 women who love the Lord and who are going to be thinking deeply together with me about knowing God intimately. Oh, I love these days!! We arrived at the church with great anticipation and were greeted by Jill and Lynn. We unloaded our suitcases of books from the car. While Cindy set up the book table, I took my quiet time basket to the front and checked out the stage. Then, the women began to arrive as you can see in this picture. There were two registration tables set up for all the women. I stood and watched, thinking about what God would do during our time together.

Our day began with prayer by Lynn. Then, the most amazing drama on quiet time - well actually it was amazingly funny and also very poignant. I hope they videotaped it because it was oh, so great and really prepared the way for the things we were about to share together on quiet time. The focus was on the struggle we can have with knowing what to do when we finally get to the place where we sit with the Lord. Oh that we might continue to grow in our times alone with the Lord. That is my prayer for all of us. Then, we were led in worship by our worship team. There is something about praise that turns our focus to the Lord. Both the drama and the worship really prepared our hearts to talk about knowing the Lord.

I began by talking about the three questions I would ask throughout the day: What’s It All About?, Will You Dance With Him, and Can You Hear His Music?. I had the opportunity to give my own testimony of surrendering my life to the Lord. I am so thankful for the Lord’s work in each of our lives. It really is His work through and through. I shared a bit about my life verse, Psalm 27:4 and David, the man after God’s own heart. Then, we talked about how to have a quiet time - setting aside a time, a place, and a plan. I shared the six secrets to a powerful quiet time that are found in the book by the same name. Of course, the book goes into greater detail about the “how” of these six secrets than I can do in just an hour. The three hours I spoke just flew by so fast for all of us.

In the middle of our conference we took a break for lunch and what fun that was. The men served the women as you can see in this picture - how cool is that! I was just so blessed by everyone here. It was such a picture to me of what you see in the church in Acts. Our food was great - a choice of salad or a sandwich with even some chocolate for dessert. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE chocolate. They even had a basket in my room with - yes - chocolate. Mmmmmm. It was such a blessing to watch everyone talking and sharing. I just love the sense of community when I’m with those who love the Lord. There is nothing like it. The world is looking for it, but will only know it when they come to Christ.

I am so blessed to have Cindy, my assistant, travel with me to different speaking engagements. She is a pro when it comes to helping with everything in our ministry. She has served on our team for many years and is such a blessing to us. She always organizes our book table. About the book table - I have long dreamed of having resources available for others so that they can grow in their quiet time. I had no idea we would one day have so many books in addition to the Quiet Time Notebook. I have many to thank for that, especially Harvest House for publishing my books. It was exciting to share with everyone how that door was opened by the Lord - the day I met Bob Hawkins Sr. That certainly altered the course of my life and ministry.

I am so thankful for these two tech guys, Doug and Keith. They worked really hard during our conference and everything worked together without a single glitch. They ran my powerpoint using my notes and the slides I gave them. What pros. You just can’t imagine what it means to me to serve side by side with those who are such servants of the Lord. They had my mike and batteries ready for me at all times. It makes speaking so much easier. Thank you to both of you for being such an integral part of our day.

Well, what a day we had. To my dear sisters at Calvary Chapel Gulf Breeze - I want you to know what a joy it is to have met you and spend the day together. I just know we’ll be together again and I look forward to that day! I’m sad to leave this beautiful place. This morning I got to walk barefoot on the beach. It was so beautiful. I had the most amazing quiet time. The Lord truly surprised me with Gulf Breeze - what a present from the Lord to be here. I collected a few seashells and they are going to sit on my desk as a reminder of my time here. Thank You Lord, for such times as these that provide renewal and refreshment.

Well, as I am writing this, I am watching my husband stand out on the balcony of our Gulf Breeze hotel room looking out at the ocean. Everyone is waiting for me to finish up this blog writing so that we can pack the car and go to the airport. I am sitting here looking out at the ocean and just thanking the Lord for an amazing weekend. May all that He has done be multiplied in our lives and may there be a ripple effect that goes on and on - heaven will tell the story of what the Lord is doing among us as we faithfully walk with Him each day. To God be the glory. God bless you all.

Last weekend I had the most amazing and incredible experience! I had the rare opportunity to view the largest single exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls ever on display - 27 of the Dead Sea Scrolls and 10 which have never before been seen publicly. The weekend was organized by Bethel Seminary (my alma mater for my Master’s Degree). The whole weekend began on Friday evening at Bethel Seminary West in the auditorium with a special presentation by none other than Dr. Ronald Youngblood (pictured with me here), my Old Testament professor and one of the original translators of the NIV translation of the Bible, and Dr. Mark Strauss, New Testament professor at Bethel Seminary.

What a great presentation of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Dr. Youngblood and Dr. Strauss. I learned so much and took a guzillion notes. I remembered why I loved seminary so much - I love to learn and discover which probably fuels my passion to have others open the Bible to discover the Lord for themselves. Dr. Youngblood (pictured here) and Dr. Strauss spoke of the discovery of the Scrolls and their significance for us today. Basically, a Bedouin herder was throwing rocks into caves in Qumran and heard the breaking of pottery. He crawled up into the cave where the pottery had broken and discovered one of the scrolls, amazingly preserved for hundreds of years because of the dryness of the area, and the sealing of the jar. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls found, are 230 biblical manuscripts from almost every book of the Old Testament, dating some 1000 years before any previously known copies. This discovery demonstrates the reliability and accuracy of the Word of God we hold in our hands. It was amazing to hear Dr. Youngblood talk about his own experience, as he was able to actually crawl into those caves, including Cave 4, the most famous of all the caves at Qumran - more than 15,000 fragments from 200 books were found in this cave. The caves are now closed to the public so Dr. Youngblood’s sharing of his firsthand experience at Qumran very soon after the initial discovery was a thrill.

And now it was time to actually SEE the Dead Sea Scrolls. We went to the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park where the exhibit was. I have always loved Balboa Park and if you ever come to San Diego, you’ll want to set aside a day just to come here. There are a bunch of different museums here including the San Diego Art Museum, Timken Art Gallery, and the Space Museum. Also the Old Globe Theatre where you can get tickets and attend plays written by Shakespeare, Moliere, and others. There is even an outdoor Festival stage where I have watched many a play on warm summer evenings. The grounds at Balboa Park are just beautiful.

Bethel Seminary organized a special lunch for all of us on the rooftop of the San Diego Natural History Museum. The food was great and the view was amazing. So was the weather. I live in the desert where it’s 115-120 degrees and in San Diego there was a gentle breeze and it was 80 degrees. I just couldn’t believe it and let me tell you, I was loving it! What a great preparation for our tour of the scrolls. I had the opportunity to talk with some of the staff of Bethel and even got to see my dear friend MaryLou Bradbury, the librarian at Bethel. I spent many a day in that library studying for hours, spending even more hours up on the third floor perusing journal after journal for information as I wrote articles and papers for my many different classes. Once lunch was complete, it was time to begin our tour of the scrolls. We went downstairs and watched an exclusive virtual showing of what the Essene community at Qumran may have looked like, based on the current archaeological finds. Fascinating, this showing made you feel as though you were there and was a great preparation for looking at the scrolls.

What an amazing experience to actually see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Viewing these finds was like going back in time. My favorite scroll was the one pictured here and wait until I tell you what is so incredible about this particular Dead Sea Scroll called the Testimonia scroll, found in Cave 4. The scroll contains five verses from the Bible, all on the Messiah. The first verse is from Deuteronomy and contains the Hebrew word translated LORD in our Bibles, with the original YHVH, the personal memorial covenant name of God. I had just written about YHVH in my new book, Trusting In The Names Of God. I wrote about how it was considered the most revered name of all the names of God by the Jewish people and it was called the unutterable name of God. If you look closely at the picture of this scroll, look at the first line from this verse in Deuteronomy containing the Hebrew word for Yahweh, YHVH. Note that the scribe who was copying this verse could not bring himself to actually write the Hebrew letters for YHVH - no, instead, he put four dots. Can you see the reverence that this person had for his God, Yahweh! Oh that we might honor the LORD with such reverence. We also had the opportunity to see a large piece of the famed Copper Scroll, with markings for many different locations in Israel, and thought to be an ancient treasure map leading to a buried treasure (not yet found:)

This is a picture of the famed Cave 4 in Qumran. I actually got to see a picture of this Cave 4 with my professor standing at the entrance. You can see how steep it is and that it is not an easy climb to get into it. I’ve heard that people have actually fallen to their death from the opening of this cave and it is now closed to the public. Dr. Mark Strauss shared with the audience on Friday evening how incredible it was that Dr. Youngblood has actually been in this cave. After the initial scroll was found and the significance of the discovery became known to archaeologists, other caves were then explored and many more scrolls were found. The occasion for the storage of these scrolls is disputed. It is thought that either the scrolls were from the library of the Essenes (their community nearby at the Dead Sea) and stored for safekeeping when they were invaded by the Romans. Or it is thought that the scrolls were brought from other areas and hidden from invading troops. What an amazing find to discover these scrolls - here is the romance of archaeology at its finest and best - one of the greatest finds of all time. My first major in college was archaeology and I have always loved learning about the past through archaeological discoveries.

What an incredible experience to attend this Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. I loved every minute of it! My dear friend, Paula U’Ren (pictured here with me) also attended. Paula was with me at the very beginnings of Quiet Time Ministries many years ago and taught together with me for our Bible study here in San Diego. I’ll never forget the day I took her to lunch and showed her my first prototype for the Quiet Time Notebook and shared the idea for Quiet Time Ministries. She dreamed together with me and we took our class through a four week study of quiet time and taught everyone how to use The Quiet Time Notebook. Those early beginnings led to retreats, conferences, books and so much more. I thank the Lord for Paula and her friendship all these years. Well, that’s about it for now - I’m currently editing my new book and writing another book of quiet times on the names of God. Our pilot for Trusting In The Names Of God begins next Tuesday and we travel to Gulf Breeze, Florida a week from today. Yes - it IS the great adventure of knowing God. Blessings to all!