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Author Archives: John D. Willome

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About John D. Willome

I post a blog of daily devotions that are my prayer journals based on scripture.

Romans 13:1-7

15 Apr

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
Romans 13:1-7

Dear God, I’ll confess that this has always been a passage I’d rather skip. First, as a general principle, I’m fine with it, but when I think about the man who wrote it, the government under which he lived and the circumstances through which he lived (and died) through the last part of his life, I have to wonder if it should be read with more nuance and not just taken at face value. Then there is the reality that a lot of the world lives under despotic governments. How does the North Korean or Iranian Christian respond to this passage?

As I think about the weaknesses of being a Christian in a more modern society like ours or the Europeans, one thing I note is that life can be deceptively comfortable. A little like the frog slowly boiling in the water. When life is too easy and conflict-free, we get lazy. Then we stop hindering for you and depending on you. We make idols of the society we built instead of worshiping you. Even me over the last few days. I’ve taken moments here and there to pray for individuals in need of your comfort and healing, but I haven’t hungered for you.

Then there are the things that are corroding our society from within. The first among them is social media. But other forms of entertainment are doing it as well. Yes, we are corroding from within.

Father, I suppose at the end of the day respecting our government is our default position, but it shouldn’t be replaced by pursuing you. Worshiping you. Sacrificing our lives to you. Help me to do that today. For your glory’s sake, and for the sakes of those around me who need you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 15, 2021 in Romans

 

Romans 3:23-24

14 Apr

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Romans 3:23-24

Dear God, this is a passage (well, the first sentence is) that my new youth minister memorize when I first became a discipling Christian in 1987. He had us memorize Romans 3:23, 6:23, and 10:9-10.

I was talking with a young man today about what you and I have been talking about lately in terms of my evangelism, or lack thereof. I told him that one thing we need to figure out is what we are selling when we share our faith. Are we selling heaven? Are we selling relationship with you? The fruits of the Spirit? And how do I package all of that into a nice, neat little bundle that will draw someone into an authentic relationship with you?

I guess it starts with the idea that we are all equal, regardless of gender, race, wealth, or social/political standing. We are all sinful. We have all fallen short of your glory. While we see each other as different, I’m sure we would be surprised to see how much you see us all as pretty much the same. From the very genuinely good pastor who lives completely for you to the murderer on death row—on a scale of 1-10, one might be a 1 and the other a 1.5. But I suppose this isn’t about a rating system. It’s simply pass/fail and we all fail.

Father, thank you for sending Jesus and freeing me from the penalty of my sin. Thank you for not seeing me differently than you see anyone else. Thank you for that equality. It takes achievement in man’s eyes off of the table and puts living in worship of you in perspective. So help me to take my eyes off of me, off of my priorities and idea, and put them solely on you and hearing your voice. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2021 in Romans

 

Luke 9:21-27

12 Apr

Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:21-27

Dear God, how much of my life do I still try to hold on to each day? As a percentage, I mean. I’d like to say it’s as low as 25%, but reality tells me it’s probably as high as 75%. I still like an awful lot of what I like and I can be very selfish.

What does a life completely surrendered to you look like? Have I ever seen it? In my American life, I haven’t seen many. Perhaps Jimmy Dorrell. He and his wife are incredibly sacrificial people. They gave up comfort and safety and moved to a very poor, dangerous part of their city to love people. They have sacrificed much more than I ever have. They have given of themselves. They sacrificed what they would give to their children. Yes, Jimmy is probably I’ve known personally who comes the closest this kind of sacrifice. Mother Theresa would be another, but I didn’t know her. My point is, they are truly few and far between—especially in America.

So what am I to do? What am I not doing that you would call me to do? Is there anything? Is there anything else you want me to sacrifice? My car? My nice home? My safe job? How about simpler things like the time I spend watching videos? The time I spend reading about sports? The time I exercise? If I were to truly put everything on the table, what would you have me give, and what would you allow me to keep?

Father, I don’t want to pray this next thing, but help me to see what it means to “give up [my] own way, take up [my] cross, and follow [you].” Reveal to me what you need me to see.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2021 in Luke

 

Acts 4:32-37

11 Apr

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
Acts 4:32-37

Dear God, I think I’ve always read this passage wrong. I’ve always read it as those with material wealth sold everything and brought it. But it doesn’t say that. It doesn’t say they gave up their own homes. It just says they sold their extra things and brought them to give away.

The other thing I wondered as I read this is how long this practice lasted. How long was everyone “united in heart and mind?” I know it didn’t last forever. How long did it last and how did it start to end? What were the selfish, arrogant, self-righteous issues that brought the first divisions?

I prayed yesterday about divisions in the church and how pastors have a difficult job right now. To totally die to myself is such a hard thing to do. Even yesterday afternoon, my wife and I were talking about some money we have and how we should allocate it. In our minds, we planned to save or spend for ourselves more than we planned to give away. Not that that is necessarily bad. But I don’t think it’s in this spirit of the early church.

Father, make me sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Make me sensitive to your leadings. Be glorified in me so that I might be the man you need me to be.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 11, 2021 in Acts

 

Romans 5:6-11

08 Apr

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:6-11

Dear God, all of this is a wondrous mystery to me that simply requires my faith. I say that it requires my faith because there are any number of explanations for the existence of the universe, and whether people like it or not they all require some amount of faith. An atheist’s beliefs require as much faith as do mine. But there is too much evidence as I look at it to suggest that you don’t exist. Of course there is a being out there that is bigger than I can know, understand, or even comprehend. From there it becomes about relationship and interaction with that being. Jesus is my pathway to you for all of the reasons Paul mentioned above.

Am I wrong about some things in my theology? Sure. How could I not be? There is no way I can completely know you, your nature, etc. But I can use the basics of my faith to grow into. Being just a little more like Jesus, and hence a little more like you. And the closer I get to dying to myself completely the more I experience the fruits of the Spirit while I am alive. And after I die, worst-case scenario is that I’m simply gone. Best-case scenario is I’m in your eternal realm, worshipping you with the angels and the Saints.

Father, thank you for Jesus’s life, and for your revelations to the apostles and to Paul. Thank you for giving me a path to you. Thank you for taking me as I am and then transforming me into something that is more than the pile of flesh that was born into this world. Use me today. I offer my life to you as my offering of thanks, but also because I know that offering it to you will bring me to something even better both here on earth and beyond this life.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2021 in Romans

 

Galatians 2:20

07 Apr

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

Dear God, I’ve been thinking recently about whether or not I give you enough of the glory and credit, even in my own mind, for the good around me. Do I take the credit? Do I look at good fortune or successes and forget how I cried out to you for help? I think that even at my best, I do this to some extent, but over the last couple of days, especially as I was even giving a presentation to a local club last night, I think I was too much about me and my glory, and not enough about your glory.

Father, if I’m going to live as if it’s you who lives in me then I not only need to ask myself what Jesus would do in a given situation, but I need to actually let the Holy Spirit flow through my life and let him speak and act through me. So, Holy Spirit, I invite you to live through me today. Love through me today. Speak through me today. Be my counselor, my comforter, and my connection with the Father.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 7, 2021 in Galatians

 

Acts 2:22-36

05 Apr

“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. King David said this about him: ‘I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’ “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”’ “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
Acts 2:22-36

Dear God, I read an essay from The Wall Street Journal today about how we try to water some things down about Christianity, including Jesus’s resurrection. But you can’t water down the resurrection. You can discount it. You have to deal with it. Either you believe in it or you don’t. Either these men and women were crazy, liars, or telling the truth. For liars and lunatics, they certainly were consistent in their story and went to their deaths defending the lie.

In this passage, Peter makes it very clear that the resurrection is part of the deal with Jesus. He compares him with David with Jesus, but says that while David “dies and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us…God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.” The resurrection is real. It happened. And if we don’t believe everyone back then was telling the truth then we have to embrace the idea that they were either liars or insane. And when you start looking at what their possible motivations could be to lie about Jesus—Fame? Power? Wealth?—and realize the defense of the lie only led to torture, pain, and premature death (except for John) the idea of them lying about this across the board becomes pretty thin.

Father, my prayer tonight is that I would not water down my faith. I know that parts of my theology are wrong. The problem is that I just don’t know which parts are wrong. I do know, however, that you love me. You sent Jesus to be a bridge between my continued sinfulness and depravity and your holiness and purity. He lived. He taught. He loved. He suffered. He died. He rose again. His life changed the world. Thank you for that. Help me to hear with your ears and see with your eyes as I consider what I am to do at any given moment. All for your glory, my Lord and my God.

I pray all of this in Jesus’s name,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2021 in Acts

 

Give Me Your Eyes – Part 2

05 Apr

Father, it’s the dark day of Easter weekend. It’s the day when your disciples and followers were in their deepest despair. They had lost you. They had failed you. They were doubting everything. They were afraid for their lives. The could not see what was going on around them. They couldn’t see their present, they couldn’t interpret their past, and they couldn’t fathom the future. They were lost in the moment, and I’m sure it was torture to them.

I confess to you that I am not in their desperate situation, but I am just as blind. I have something in my life that is concerning me, and I feel like you are calling me to address it. How do I do it and do no harm?

Fifteen months ago, I had something that was really on my heart, and, while I was at a retreat, I felt the Holy Spirit really urge me that it was time to assess it. I had to take some responsibility and not passively sit back and watch the train wreck that I saw coming. I prayed. I asked for your guidance. And it turned out, in retrospect to be the right thing to do. The last year would have been much more difficult for not only the person who concerned me, but also for their loved ones if I hadn’t. I didn’t know that at the time. I didn’t know the ramifications of my actions. I just knew you were calling me to act.

Now, I’m in a situation where I am trying to discern between the Holy Spirit’s call and my own heart’s desire. And maybe they are one and the same. But I have to be careful on this one because there is a lot of my personal emotion wrapped up in it. I have to be careful.

Father, I know you intentionally keep me on a need-to-know basis. If I knew the future it would change how I respond to the present. If I had known how 2020 would unfold for the person you laid on my heart 15 months ago, it would have impacted what I did. As I look back now, I think I did exactly what I was supposed to do, and, for that, I am grateful. So please lead me in that same way. Help me to not see everything you see. I know better than to ask for that. No, I ask that you help me to see what you need me to see. And I don’t know that I’ll be able to look back on it a year from now and see things wrapped up in a nice, neat bow like they are with the other situation, but if I can just move forward in your Spirit and with your wisdom and leading that will be enough or me. At least I think it will. How about this? I pray that you will guide me through seeing exactly what you want me to see, responding exactly how you need me to respond, and then living in peace knowing you will is being done beyond what I can see.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2021 in Miscellaneous

 

Isaiah 52:13-15,53:5-12

31 Mar

See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about…

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord ’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

Isaiah 52:13-15,53:5-12

Dear God, they had no idea what this would actually look like. They couldn’t recognize Jesus in this when they saw it. And even if someone had pointed it out to them, they would probably have rejected that this was the “messenger” Isaiah mentioned. Why? Because we simply cannot see the reality happening around us in real time. We cannot see what you are doing.

I have a tricky thing to confront right now with another person, and I don’t know how to do it because I don’t know what is really going on. To quote myself from the last paragraph, I cannot see the reality that is happening around me in real time. I don’t know what’s going on in the other person’s heart. I can’t parse my concerns for them from my own ego and the things it desires. My vision is distorted by my own sinful nature. I cannot see this situation with your eyes, but I really want to.

Father, give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see. And then give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 31, 2021 in Isaiah

 

1 Timothy 2:5-6

29 Mar

For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

Dear God, I’m not sure if this goes with this passage or not, but I heard a sermon yesterday that left a couple of things resonating with me.

The first: There is a difference between being a believer in Jesus and a follower of Jesus. There are plenty of Americans who “believe” in Jesus but are not true “followers.” Unfortunately, they do not see the difference. It’s another way of putting the phrase that occurred to me several years ago: Some people have Christianity as their philosophy, but they aren’t following God. When I think about this, I think about the people who identify as Christians and yet stormed the capitol building on January 6. Those people were working through a process of self-righteous anger, but they were not following anything Jesus ever taught.

The second: Temptation will lead us in two areas–gratification and protection. Those two areas are terrible leaders and will cause us to do bad things.

I guess there was a third thing he said that caught my ear. If you have a God that will put up with you just deciding you can sin because he will forgive you later, then you have a weak God who can be hoodwinked and fooled. I’m adding this part to what he said, but when I repent later, I also need to repent and turn from that attitude as well.

So going back to this verse, I am so grateful for Jesus, my mediator. I am grateful for the love you give me, a foolish, foolish man. I am grateful for your forgiveness even when I treat you like you are a fool. I’m sorry when I follow the terrible leaders of gratification and protection. I’m sorry for sometimes acting like a believer and not a follower. I’m sorry, Father. I’m truly sorry.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 29, 2021 in 1 Timothy

 
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