John D. Willome

1 Timothy 2:1-8

2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. ²Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. ³This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. ⁵For,

There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. ⁶He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. ⁷And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth.

⁸In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Dear God, wouldn’t it just be easier to complain about my leaders than to spend the time praying for them? Yes, I’m being sarcastic about this, but isn’t this what a lot of us do? What I do? If I were to count the number of words I’ve spent on praying for political leaders and compare it with the words used complaining about leaders or policies, well, the prayer words wouldn’t even show up on the scale the disparity would be so large.

So how should I pray for my local, state, and federal leaders, not to mention the leaders of other nations? My first prayer for them is that they will each experience you today. As I think about my local mayor, county judge, lieutenant governor, governor, vice president, and president, I pray that each of them will experience you today. That you will raise up people in their lives who will be your voice to them. That they will find time to get alone with you and pray. That you will do something supernatural in each of their lives that will help them to repent where necessary and lead as you have called them to lead. As I think about the politicians running for office in these mid-terms, I pray that you will influence all of them to yield to you first and not their constituents. I pray that you will not let anything happen in this country that is outside of your plan for the world. And for the world leaders who are making big decisions and impacting lives outside of their own countries (I’m thinking about wars in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza, not to mention conflicts in Africa and then the world powers like China), I pray that you would do something remarkable in each of their lives. Do something that will help your children. Ease pain. Feed the hungry. Save the wounded and sick. Bring repentance on all side. Bring mercy and forgiveness on all sides.

Father, even praying these prayers left me feeling very inadequate. I am not good at intercessory prayer. I don’t do it enough. But help me to do it so that your kingdom will come and your will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. When it comes to politics, I often say that I just have one vote and a very small sphere of influence. But I have more than anything else I can have. I have prayer. And I do pray for all of these people. Move supernaturally. Bring them to you. Love them. Have mercy on them. And help them to repent where necessary.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 15, 2025 in 1 Timothy

Tags: bible, Faith, God, Jesus, Prayer

John 3:13-17

14 Sep

¹³No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. ¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

¹⁶“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:13-17

Dear God, I have a couple of people in my life right now who are in a lot of pain. Help me to both look to Jesus, who has been lifted up for me, and then point each of these people to you. Help me to know how to do this. Give me words. Give me vision for them. Give me comfort for them. Give me encouragement for them. But the first thing they need, to the extent they are able to grasp the depths of it, is faith in you and following you. Help me to offer them to you today.

I remember preaching on this passage several years ago as a guest pastor at a church. It stuck with me so much that every time I see a cross in a church I think about it. When they are processing with a cross on a staff, or when there is a big one at the front of the church, I almost always think about it. I try to remember that I am as a person struck by the snakes of my own sin and I need your redemption. I am a slave to death. I need your redemption out of that slavery.

Father, I’ve talked about one of these visits that I’m having with these people to a couple of friends, and I’ve gotten some good advice. But what I need is for the Holy Spirit to speak through me, guide me, and give me ears to hear and eyes to see. I need you to help me be discerning and loving. I need to be exactly what you need these people to have. Help me to be that for them. For your glory, Father. For your glory and not mine.

I pray this In Jesus and through your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 14, 2025 in John

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

Luke 6:43-49

13 Sep

⁴³“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ⁴⁴A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. ⁴⁵A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

⁴⁶“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. ⁴⁹But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Luke 6:43-49

Dear God, I don’t normally follow the gospel readings for the Catholic church day to day so faithfully, but these are from the mini-Sermon on the Mount and I’m loving it. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t read the Sermon on the Mount–the OG in Matthew–every day, as a discipline. Or maybe record it and listen to it in my earbuds as I go to sleep at night. Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about that.

Okay, I just took a moment to go to YouTube and find it. Of course, someone put it up.

I’ll need to bookmark it and try that. In fact, my wife and I were talking this morning about bad dreams and things to help. Maybe this is a way to go.

Now, back to Luke 6. Two things here. First, fruit [of the Spirit] that comes out of us as we live how you taught us. It’s interesting how I can see two people who disagree on a lot of things, but when they are both really pursuing and loving you with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving their neighbor as themselves then they can be very close and loving to each other. The good fruit rises above any disagreements. I fact, I’ll see them influence each other. I think about how my wife and I have influenced each other over the years even though we don’t agree on everything. Our good fruit (what I hope is good fruit from me and I know is good fruit from her) reigns.

Now, for the foundation built through following you. I remember when I had a plumbing issue with my first house over 20 years ago. It had a slab, but a sewer pipe in the slab that was made of cast iron collapsed. They said we had to choices. One was to dig into the slab and repair the line at that point, or we could run a new drainage line through a wall and then go underground with it, tapping into the original sewer line in the yard in front of our house. Someone warned me I didn’t want to mess with the foundation, and I agreed. So we ran a new line. A year or two later when we sold that house, the inspector told the buyer about the problem we solved and indicated that we had chosen the correct path. We didn’t want to tear into the foundation.

A few years later, I was at a relative’s home where they were faced with the same situation, but they chose to cut into the slab and repair the line. There were all sorts of cracks in their walls. The foundation was shifting and unpredictable. The house wasn’t on the verge of falling down, but it had been weakened.

So if Jesus says when the storms come and not if, then how do I make sure I have a foundation ready for the storm? I think it goes back to my prayer from almost exactly a year ago about the “floor.” What is the least I need to be doing to worship you. Here is what I wrote at the time:

The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a have to for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.

So then what are some of the things I “get” to do, but aren’t necessarily something I “have” to do every week?

Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

Father, help me to be mindful of the work I need to do to build the best foundation I can, and help that lead to your best fruit in me. Let that fruit bless others around me, starting with my wife. Love her well through me. Give her what she needs through me. Be glorified in my life regardless of what it costs me. I consider my life worth nothing to me, Father. It’s all yours. Use me as you will.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 13, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, God, Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Strong Foundation, Tree with Good Fruit

Luke 6:37-42

12 Sep

³⁷“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

³⁹Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.

⁴¹“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴²How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Luke 6:37-42

Dear God, I’ve heard all these verses about not judging before, but what’s catching my eye today are verses 39 and 40. I’m blind. I’m foolish. I know so little. Can I really claim to have the ability or authority to lead others? And I love the idea that, although I am your student and certainly not greater than you, if I am fully trained I can become like you.

So how do I let you train me? I think it happens in times like this. Times when I honestly try to look at myself and pray that you will reveal my faults to me. When I read the Bible and look for myself in the bad examples and not just the good ones. Then it comes when I engage in relationship with like-minded people in whose faith and relationship with you I trust. My wife comes to mind. I have a few friends that come to mind. I need them to challenge me. To change me. And this has certainly happened over the years. Then there’s the media I consume. I must confess I’ve spent too much time violating my abstinence from social media and looking at some comments that last 24 hours. I’m sorry for that. It has not helped me to grow. Even Christians are fearing. If I get afraid, let it be on behalf of others and not myself.

Father, help me to take one more step through the narrow gate and on the narrow path today. Help me to simply be in your presence at all times, share your love at all times, and then be a source of comfort and clarity to others around me as i figure it out too. Let me be someone who is taught by you so I can become more like you and then help me to take that and teach what I learn to others so they can be more like you as well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 12, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

Luke 6:27-38

11 Sep

²⁷“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. ²⁹If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. ³⁰Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. ³¹Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

³²“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! ³⁴And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

³⁵“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. ³⁶You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

³⁷“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6:27-38

Dear God, I have a pastor friend who likes to talk about walking around with leaky buckets and letting you flow through us to the people around us. I would think verse 38 here might be at least one of his inspirations for that metaphor, and I like that. I think about it sometimes when I’m interacting with people.

I was actually thinking about this passage and its corresponding passage from Matthew 5 yesterday when I heard the news about Charlie Kirk. Frankly, I didn’t know who he was when I heard the news he had been assassinated. From what I can tell, he was a Christian who felt a calling to admonish those he felt were going down a liberal path. Assuming that, like everyone else in the world, that there would be things he and I would agree on and disagree on, the thought that kept going through my mind when I thought about the tragedy was, Would Christians be willing to lean into Jesus’s words here and in Matthew 5? Will we be able to love our enemies and lean into their abuse (verses 27-29)? If he was truly representing you in his life and in the moment he was killed, then will we be able to rest on Jesus’s assurance that you bless us and blessed Charlie “when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted the same way”? (Matthew 5:11-12) Will our Christian leaders lead us in this to follow these principles? Will we take the momentum out of the pendulum that is swinging wider and wider between the right and the left and bring it back to the middle so we can show the world who you are and how you designed us to live–getting our freedom, peace, and joy through submission to you? Will we be “the salt of the earth”? (Matthew 5:13) Will we let our good deeds shine for all to see so that everyone will praise you? (Matthew 5:16)

I was talking once again to someone the other day about Ted Lasso. I still think the show is so remarkable because the main character exhibits almost all of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and people are amazed by it. He forgives quickly and easily. He loves. He is patient. Nearly all of them (except peace, which I think is only really felt through accepting your love and redemption). Can we, as Christians, do that in this moment?

And can all of us realize this is happening on both sides and see our own hypocrisy when we are outraged by an assassination on one side of the political aisle and not the other. I’m thinking about the Minnesota state legislator, Melissa Hortman, and her husband who were assassinated in their home along with another one who was shot a few months ago, leaving behind orphaned children. Are the people who were outraged that day as outraged now? Were the people who are outraged now outraged when that happened? When will we let Jesus take the wind out of these outrage sails and love our enemies?

Father, let it start with me. Help me to forgive, to love, and to accept my fate, whatever it might be, as your child and worshipper. If someone wants to take my life or hurt me for my faith in you and in my love for others then I pray that somehow, in the doing of it by them, you would get glory in their eyes and in the world’s eyes. I pray that you will not waste the pain that we are experiencing by this loss yesterday. I didn’t even know of Mr. Kirk 24 hours ago, but now I pray that his family will be comforted. You promised that to those who mourn. (Matthew 5:4) I also pray that they will be able to extend mercy and be peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7, 9). I pray that you will bless them for the persecution they’ve experienced. (Matthew 5:10). I pray that you will use this to teach your believers how to be merciful and to change the tide. There’s a line in the song “My Shot” in Hamilton that has stuck with me: “And if we win our independence\Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?\Or will the blood we shed begin an endless\Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?” Use your people to break this cycle. Use your people to preach love and mercy. Let this be how the world sees us and draw conservatives and liberals alike to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 11, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

Tags: "My Shot", Beattitudes, bible, Charlie Kirk, Faith, Fruits of the Spirit, God, Jesus, Love, Melissa Hortman, Sermon on the Mount, Ted Lasso

Luke 6:20-26

10 Sep

²⁰Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
²¹God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

²²What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

²⁴“What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
²⁵What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
²⁶What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Dear God, I have probably been too judgmental of The Chosen. One of the things I’ve said about it is that I’ve spent so much time with these stories and I’ve got them so pictured in my head that I don’t want their telling of the stories to taint what I have. But, frankly, that’s a pretty arrogant thing to say. I’ve made all kinds of conjectures about these stories. I’ve tried to read between the lines. I’ve tried to infer tone of voice. Why have I made my interpretation of it so sacred?

I bring this up because someone told me that The Chosen portrays Matthew writing Jesus’s notes down as he prepare the Sermon on the Mount. Help records it as Jesus fleshes it out and develops it into a kind of stump speech that he will give over and over again. Now, I don’t know if any of that is true, but I do like the idea of Jesus honing the message of the Sermon on the Mount down and then giving it over and over again. Today’s passage is an example of Jesus delivering this speech. It’s a little condensed from the Matthew 5-7 version, but the bones are here.

In this case, all of these blessings and warnings of this part of the sermon are all based on circumstances others and life circumstances are foisting upon me. Whether it’s persecution for following Jesus, hunger, or sorrow, there is a blessing to be had at some point. There is hope. Life is not hopeless. Had those people ever heard that before? Had they ever been given a hope of better days (or an eternity) ahead?

And the arrogant who looked down on the poor and reveled in their prosperity, they were warned too. And don’t we still have that sentiment today? Don’t I still get it sometimes? Don’t I judge those who don’t seem to be working hard enough and assume I am better than them? I know some who look at people who are in our country illegally and throw a blanket judgment on them without knowing the particular circumstances that led to their undocumented status. For example, I have a friend from grade school (almost 50 years ago) who was here illegally for a while in high school. She was from England and her father left her, her siblings, and her mother stranded in Texas with no way to get back or means of support. And it took years to get her documentation in order. There are an awful lot of people like that, but we cast judgment on all of them as law breakers who need to “go home” (even though it’s a home they’ve never known).

Father, my point is that I need to continue down this road of receiving your hope in my grief and mourning. Receiving your joy in my sadness. And receiving your mercy in my sin. And then generously giving your mercy to others, sharing my resources with others, and simply letting you live through me. Help me to do that today. Help me to know what it means to forgive those who have hurt and/or betrayed me. Help me to know how to love them–how to love everyone.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 10, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus, Luke, Sermon on the Mount, The Chosen

Romans 8:26-28

09 Sep

²⁶And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. ²⁸And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:26-28

Dear God, this is one of those precious passages that is so encouraging. The problem is it’s also easy to misinterpret if one is a subscriber to prosperity gospel teaching. But before I get to verse 28, I want to spend some time with verse 26.

You, Holy Spirit, are so overlooked by all of us, but I think I’m getting a little better at thinking about you and the role you play in my life. The depths of your companionship with me. The teaching. The comfort. And the praying. This is the one I probably don’t think about as much. That you pray for me. And I don’t have to ask you to pray for me “with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” Paul indicates here that you just do it. And I have friends for whom I pray. I hope you are praying for them with groanings too because, frankly, I am just not a very focuses intercessory prayer. I’m not nearly as purposeful or disciplined about it as my wife is. She’s much better at praying for others than I am. But I also believe that you are there just loving me and praying for me and the things I care about.

This leads me to verse 28. The trick on my end is to not expect that I know what my good is. That’s where prosperity gospel teaching fails. It assumes we can identify when something is good for us or not. If I were to win the billion-dollar Powerball that was awarded the other night, I might think that is good for me, but you would know better. How many lottery winner who win large amounts actually have their lives improve? Not many. But there are the more practical things too. I remember in 2005 when I was really mad at you about not getting a specific job, but what I couldn’t see in the moment was you had something different for me. And there are things in my life that I want now. There are broken relationships I long to be healed. But maybe you don’t have that as what is best for everyone involved. I’m too ignorant to know what is your best, so the Holy Spirit is praying for me and my faith allows me (most of the time) to be patient and let you work things out for the collective good, not just my selfish wants.

Father, I love you. I trust you. I thank you. Holy Spirit, thank you for praying. Thank you for all that you do for me that I almost never acknowledge. Thank you for the comfort you give me. Thank you for teaching and directing me. Thank you for loving me. Now, as I have different names come to mind who need prayer, I pray that you will strongly support them. Love them. Bring glory to your name in their eyes and through their lives. Heal, but do it for your glory. Comfort. Teach. Provide. All for your glory. Our utmost for your highest.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 9, 2025 in Romans

Tags: bible, Faith, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Lottery, Paul, Powerball, Prayer, Prosperity Gospel, Romans

Wisdom 9:13-18

08 Sep

¹³For who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?
¹⁴For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail;
¹⁵for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.
¹⁶We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labour;
but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
¹⁷Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
¹⁸And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you,
and were saved by wisdom.’

Wisdom 9:13-18

Dear God, I have a confession to make. As I was looking at the Catholic readings for the day, I almost just prejudicially skipped over this reading from Wisdom because it’s part of the apocrypha and Protestants don’t consider it scripture. And I’ve done this before. I did it yesterday. And last week. So it’s not like this is a new prejudice. It’s a pattern.

Here’s why I think it’s wrong of me to act like this. I’ve done prayers around secular movies. I’ve done prayers around secular songs or just stories. And regardless of this book’s level of authority as scripture, I should be willing to look at it and see if you have something to say to me through it. I am sorry for disregarding something that has been seen as scripture for thousands of years simply because someone took it out of the Protestant Bible hundreds of years ago.

With that said, let’s see what this still set of wisdom proverbs has to say.

This is quite poetic. I love the line, “¹⁵for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.” My physical body puts this finiteness on me and I have huge limitations. I can only think to a certain extent. I can only pray to a certain extent. Move to a certain extent. Live to a certain extent. I can train each of thee things to get better. I can get smarter, be a better prayer, and even train my body to get faster and stronger. But there is still a ceiling I hit. And then all of those things will probably diminish from a peak of performance as I get older. No, it is true that this body certainly weighs down my soul. But the struggle against its limitations makes my soul stronger as I strive to commune with you. Thank you for reaching down to my and my limitations to meet me where I am.

Father, I have some decisions that need to be made today. Please help me to peer into the fog of my limitations and see what you need me to see. Guide me with your Holy Spirit so that I might move in the right direction for your glory’s sake and the sake of your kingdom coming and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. The more I think about it, the more I like the fog analogy. I drove a long distance in a heavy rain yesterday. I had applied Rain-X to my windshield and it helped greatly. I had an advantage to nearly every other car on the road because I could see better. I’m not looking for an advantage over others, but I do want to be able to see as best as I can. Let them prayer be applying you as Rain-X to the eyes of my soul.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 8, 2025 in Wisdom

Tags: bible, Faith, God, Jesus, Prayer

Luke 6:12-49

07 Sep

¹²One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

¹⁴Simon (whom he named Peter),
Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James,
John,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
¹⁵Matthew,
Thomas,
James (son of Alphaeus),
Simon (who was called the zealot),
¹⁶Judas (son of James),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

¹⁷When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. ¹⁹Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.