RSS

Author Archives: John D. Willome

Unknown's avatar

About John D. Willome

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

Luke 4:40

02 Sep

As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one.

Luke 4:40

Dear God, I’ve always struggled with healing. Just how much do I believe in it? I pray for sick people, but I’m always cautious because I am acutely aware that your answer is often, “No.” Do I need more faith? Does my level of faith affect your answer?”

It reminds me of the story in the next chapter (Luke 5:12-14) when the leper comes to Jesus and says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Then it says Jesus reached out his hand, touched him (which was a risk in and of itself) and said, “I am willing. Be healed!”

Note the exclamation mark and where it’s placed. “Be healed!” I don’t often pray with that much confidence. Is confidence the difference.

Father, I can think of several patients here at the clinic that need your healing. I can think of friends and family that need your physical healing. If you are willing, please heal. I also have friends who have tragically lost people close to them. Please draw them to yourself and heal their hearts. Please use all of these situations for your glory. Do not let one ounce of pain be in vain, but use it all so that each life that touches these situations will find its peace in you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
1 Comment

Posted by on September 2, 2020 in Luke

 

Proverbs 22:6

01 Sep

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.
Proverbs 22:6

Dear God, this reminds me of the line in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when Elizabeth Swan keeps talking about the pirate code and Captain Barbosa eventually says that it’s really more of a “guideline.” That’s how I feel about this passage. It’s really more of a guideline than a rule. I suppose most of the proverbs are.

One really only had to look at biblical characters (including the author of this proverb) to see that this is a nice thought, but not a hard and fast rule. Starting with Cain and then moving throughout history, the Bible is full of stories where people tried to do the right thing by their children, but the children did not walk with you (I’m looking at you, Parents of Samson). Things happen. Life happens. Free will happens. What I’m left with is hoping that the work I did as a parent (and it was far from perfect) established some sort of a tether between my children and me so that if they wander from the path they will at least know that they are never not loved.

Father, I took this verse much more seriously 20 years ago, when my children were one and four years old. Now I have let go of it and I look to other verses about dying to myself and living by faith and not by sight to guide me. Of course we should do our best to raise up our children in the way they should go. That’s part of the deal. But this verse isn’t your promise. I’ve decided it’s just a guideline. I hope that’s not heretical to say, but it’s the best I know to say given my life experience. Guide me in who you need me to be for my two adult children today.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on September 1, 2020 in Proverbs

 

Psalm 95:1-3

31 Aug

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:1-3

Dear God, is this a psalm we would be willing to sing today as Christians (or Jews)? Can we look beyond the anger and hate happening around us–perhaps even through us–and come together as the church to worship you? Can we allow our eyes to drift beyond the “reality” that they can see and use your eyes to see the reality you know is there? Can we allow our hearts to worship and rejoice when our instincts are to be fearful and feel sorry for ourselves?

I guess I should change all of those questions to declarations.

Father, I will worship you and rejoice today. I will reject the anger and hate I feel and embrace the faith of a true disciple. I will try to put myself into community with your body of believers. I will strive to see more than my eyes can see. Please give me your eyes. I reject fear and self pity and embrace the peace that comes from turning loose of my own life and its outcomes and resting in whatever lot you have for me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 31, 2020 in Psalms

 

Ephesians 5:25-30

30 Aug

25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.

Ephesians 5:25-30

Dear God, I was talking with a friend the other day who was telling me about some issues he is having with his wife. She is experiencing a lot of anxiety and anger over the current societal issues (politics, pandemic, and social unrest), and it is spilling out into how she responds to him. At the same time, he is incredibly stressed at work. He feels overloaded and burned out. Unfortunately, because I had to push our meeting about 30 minutes later than we originally scheduled it, we didn’t get as long as I would have liked to visit with him more about his situation. But I’ve thought about it a lot over the last two days.

One of the things I’ve considered is how my favorite marriage book, Sacred Marriage would address his issue. Starting with the premise of its subtitle, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy,” I found myself wondering how you might be working on my friend’s faith through this situation and through his wife. What are you teaching him in this that he apparently wouldn’t learn any other way? While I don’t know the answer for him, it would probably be a good question to ask him.

I picked these scriptures this morning because they are our command as husbands. Love your wives. Cherish them. Cleanse them. Present them as holy. Give yourselves up for them. It’s not about them taking care of us. It is about us taking care of them. If you inspire them to care for us then great, but we need to learn to go into our marriages as your servants. You came as our servant even when we didn’t deserve it and your love guides us into being whole. If his wife isn’t whole right now, your love, through him, can get her there.

Father, help me to know how to help my friends. And help me to be the husband and father you are calling me to be. Do it all for your glory and so that you might use my marriage to make me holy more than to make me happy.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 30, 2020 in Ephesians

 

Masculinity vs. Maturity

29 Aug

The Holy Post Podcast, “Episode 419” (1:03:20 mark)

Skye Jethani: I’m thinking back to years ago. I was being interviewed on a Christian radio program. It went to a commercial break and during the break the host said, “Hey, when we come back I’m just going to throw some questions at you. I’d love to hear your response to them.” And I’m like, “Okay, sure.” So we come back from break and he starts talking about how effeminate Christian men have become, and how ineffective they have become and how we’re sitting around all the time just on the sofa watching TV. And we’re not leading and we’re not guiding our churches…So I’m listening to this for awhile as he’s monologuing and I’m going, how on earth am I going to respond to this? And he was putting all of the blame on feminism. And so finally he turned to me and said, “Well, what do you think about all of that?” And I tried to not completely blast him, but my interpretation was he’s attributing those negative qualities to femininity, and I said, “I don’t think it’s that men are behaving like women. I think it’s that these men are behaving like boys. That this is about immaturity, not masculinity.” And that kind of blew his mind. He had never heard that before. Because in his mental framework, there’s masculinity and femininity and that’s the spectrum. And if men aren’t behaving the way men should behave it’s because it’s because they are behaving like women. And I was saying, “No, I think it’s that men aren’t behaving the way they are supposed to behave because they’re behaving like boys. They’re immature. That axis did not exist in his conceptual framework.

Dear God, I heard this yesterday and it really gave me something to think about. Maturity vs. masculinity. In another part of this conversation they were talking about how exhibiting the fruits of the spirit can possibly come across as not being very masculine. In fact, if you express love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, and self control all of the time then it can come across as feminine and parts of our Christian culture can tend to look down on men who always exhibit those virtues.

First, let me interrupt this prayer by pointing out to you something you already know–it must be so amusing to you to see us all struggle to wrap our human minds around life and existence. We learn. We grow. We mature. And we try so hard. How often we must just look so foolish to you.

But back to my thoughts on this. When we first moved here there was a pastor at one of our town’s larger churches who was having difficulty with some of the parishioners. There was a faction within the church that I considered to be Unitarian that was trying to influence the theology taught, at a minimum, in their Sunday school class, and, at a maximum, within the entire church. As they positioned themselves against this pastor, who was trying to put an end their liberal, unChristian teaching, one of the criticisms made against him was that he wasn’t very masculine. And he was not a macho guy, but he was very masculine. He dressed nicely and wore suspenders. He didn’t care for sports. But if you decide to not care if he liked sports dressing in a more macho way, you saw a sensitive man who was compassionate and caring.

Ironically, the next pastor who replaced him was the opposite (by design). He was much more macho. Of course, the complaint about him was that he wasn’t empathetic or compassionate enough. He was insensitive. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?

Going back to this quote from Skye Jethani, what does a mature Christian man look like? What does it mean to grow up and no longer be a boy? Again, ironically, as I sit and think about it, to be a mature Christian man means to exhibit those fruits of the Spirit and put them into action. It means to wake up in the morning loving you with all of my heart, soul, and strength and then loving my neighbor as myself. It means being a good neighbor. It means working hard and being responsible and a good steward of the things you’ve given us. It means seeking out the place in the world that you have for us.

Father, help me to let go of the paradigms the world finds important and to embrace your truth. Help me to internalize that truth more and more each day so that I might find myself just living it naturally as I commune with you. Thank you for blessing the fruit of my work. Thank you for guiding me through various situations. And while I’m here, I am thinking of a couple of recent tragedies friends are experiencing. Please help them to find you through this. Make all of this pain count. There is some terrible emotional and physical pain going on. Please make it count and show me the role you have for me to play in their lives.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 29, 2020 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

Tags: ,

Jesus wept.

27 Aug

Jesus wept.
John 11:35

Dear God, sometimes this is the only verse that makes any sense. A friend tragically lost his son this past Sunday and I found out about it last night. When I asked myself what kind of Bible verse would speak to his situation, this is what came to me. There are no words. There is no making sense of it on this side of heaven. Sometimes it’s just a tragic situation and Jesus, you, and the Holy Spirit just weep with us.

Then I thought of this poetic part of the musical Hamilton after they have lost their son. The song is “It’s Quiet Uptown.” Here is the first verse:

There are moments that the words don’t reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your child as tight as you can
And push away the unimaginable
The moments when you’re in so deep
It feels easier to just swim down

Poetry is amazing at communicating so much emotion and meaning in so few words. And now I’m trying to figure out how to be there for this friend. I don’t think he is a believer, but I’m not sure because it’s actually been well over 10 years since we talked. I don’t want to come in with stupid, empty spiritual jargon. I most especially don’t want to cause any harm. I just want to love and comfort and help him to keep from “just [swimming] down.”

Father, guide me moment to moment in this situation. Comfort my friend. And please make this pain count. Make it count for the murder and his family. Make it count for the victim and his family. Make it count for his classmates, his community, and even our world. Do not let this pain be in vain. Please make it count.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 27, 2020 in John

 

Matthew 23:27-33

26 Aug

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?

Matthew 23:27-33

Dear God, when I read this passage this morning it reminded me of the “Disney Princess Theology.” Surely, Lord, not me. It is those bad ol’ Pharisees who were like that. Our churches today aren’t like that. My church isn’t like that. Surely, Lord, not us.

Well, maybe it is us. Who do I embrace and who do I condemn? Do I embrace the wealthy, powerful, influential person over the weak and awkward person? Do I make decisions to align myself with those who will help me maintain my status and power, or am I willing to sacrifice things that I perceive to be to my benefit so that your greater plan might flourish?

Yes, I can’t help but wonder what areas of my life you are pointing out to me in this passage? I certainly judge people whom I perceive to be making bad decisions with their lives. Why don’t I befriend them and reach out to them? Am I afraid of them, or do I simply not want to extend myself into an uncomfortable situation?

Father, help me to be sensitive to my Pharisee-like ways. Help me to not assume that the bad people in the Bible are not representative of me, but instead be open to examining my own heart and discovering the parts that need purged and healed by your Holy Spirit. Love through me. I will start that process by loving you and then loving others.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 26, 2020 in Matthew

 

Joshua 1:1-9

25 Aug

1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:1-9

Dear God, a dear friend posted a picture of her daughter getting ready for her first day of 4th grade today and said that the daughter was nervous. Apparently, however, the daughter has been memorizing Joshua 1:9: This is my command–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

I decided I wanted to look at that verse and put it in context. Who is talking? Why are they saying it?

Well, it’s you talking. And you have a message for the newly appointed leader of Israel post Moses’s death, Joshua. You are telling him:

  1. It’s time to get going into the Promised Land.
  2. You are going to give them great success and help them inhabit the land completely.
  3. Be strong and courageous (verse 6) because I’ve chosen you to lead Israel through this time.
  4. Be strong and courageous (verse 7) and make sure you obey me (this will become important later).
  5. Study the Book of Instruction (are these the things Moses got from you in Exodus when he and Joshua went up to the mountain and Moses disappeared into the fire?).
  6. Finally, be strong and courageous (verse 9). Do not be afraid or discouraged because I’m with you.

For this little girl, it’s time to go to school. It’s go-time. You will be with her so she should be strong and courageous. And I know her parents will encourage her to study our version of the “Book of Instruction” (the Bible) and to obey your commands. They are wonderful people.

As for me, I know you want me to be strong and courageous, but what exactly do you want me to do? There are seemingly so many possibilities at work. I could lead our nonprofit in any number of directions. What are you calling us to do? What is our Promised Land? I think that sometimes we can get ourselves into trouble trying to create a Promised Land and not waiting on your timing. It’s a fine line. In Joshua’s case, because of Israel’s rebellion, you had to wait until Moses and his generation were gone. He was ready to be strong and courageous back when he and Caleb were spies with the other 10, but only they were ready to take the land. He was strong and courageous, but he also wasn’t the person at the top. It’s easier to be strong and courageous when there is someone above you who has the ultimate responsibility. It might have been a little harder for him to gather that strength and courage since he was not in charg.

Father, keep me from being foolish, but also keep me from being lethargic. Help me to be strong and courageous at work and in my personal life. Lead through me. Guide through me. Love through me. Bring your kingdom to earth and your will to earth through my life and the life of your church. Make me just one of billions who will represent you to our neighbors.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 25, 2020 in Joshua

 

Revelation 21:22-23

24 Aug

I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
Revelation 21:22-23

Dear God, I can only imagine. “Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel?”

I saw that the New Testament reading for the Catholic Church today was in Revelation. I don’t normally read Revelation. In fact, I find myself avoiding it because I just don’t know how to get my head around it. It’s a little like physics or even a circuit board for electronics. It’s like trying to understand how “time” works. I know those things are out there. I know I need them and they are important. But it’s hard to see the value in understanding everything about them. It’s enough to know it’s there. It’s enough to know you have this figured out. My job is to love you and love others. The rest will take care of itself.

Father, I might have the wrong attitude about this. Perhaps I should care more about the content and imagery in Revelation. If I should, please put it on my heart, and then give me a pathway into understanding the messages you want me to take from it.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 24, 2020 in Revelation

 

Exodus 2:1-10

23 Aug

1Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Exodus 2:1-10

Dear God, I don’t have the time to do it right now, but I really want to spend some time with Andy Stanley’s “Not In It To Win It” sermon. Maybe I’ll do it later when I’ve finished some other work. But I just keep coming across this concept lately–losing to win. The Israelites lost for hundreds of years for this very moment. All of the centuries of slavery led to the birth of Moses. Joseph (Jacob’s son) lost to win. Even Hagar. Job. David. Jesus. It’s there over and over again.

So it makes me wonder why we try to so hard to win. Why do we struggle for dominance and power? Why do we struggle for security? Why do we struggle to be right and prove others wrong? We have placed much too large of an importance on our own lives. I doubt people in third-world countries think as much of themselves and the impact their voice should have on the world as we do. I think that’s one thing that social media has given us–a false impression of the breadth of our influence. Ninety-nine percent of us only have influence on our immediate sphere, but somehow social media makes us think we have a platform. In reality, the only people listening to our opinions on social media are those who already agree with us. Everyone else stopped following us a long time ago.

Father, My life needs a complete paradigm shift. You’re getting me there. I can feel it. I’m sorry for my confusion from day to day. I’m sorry for feeling overwhelmed and not just looking to you for wisdom and direction. I”m sorry for my sin and selfishness. Thank you for the people who suffered to give me what I have. Help me to not squander what I have and to be willing to take a step back, to lose a battle, so that you might ultimately win the war, whether it happens in my lifetime or not. I guess that’s why I will not be afraid. Take the November election for example. I really don’t know which candidate will bring about your plan. I certainly know my preference, but I will not fear if my preference does not win because I know that your plan is much more thoughtful than mine could ever be.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 23, 2020 in Exodus

 
← Older posts
Newer posts →