Author Archives: John D. Willome

¹² “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? ¹³ And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! ¹⁴ In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18:12-14

Dear God, it’s important to remember the context of this statement by Jesus. He was answering the question about who is the greatest in the kingdom. He starts by talking about the value of children. Then he goes into talking about not causing someone else to sin. Then in tells this story of the one sheep and the 99. So the answer to the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” is that we are all precious–even that 100th one that wanders away. That lost one must be found. That child is precious. We are precious. I am precious. But when I look at other Christians and what they are doing, there should be no enmity between them and myself. I should not be jealous of another Christian who is living a more obviously “victorious” or “impactful” life than I am (and I confess that sometimes I do get jealous in this way. No, I should delight with you in them. I should ask if there is a way I can support them. I should pray for them that they not be led into temptation and delivered from evil.

Father, help me as I go into this day today. I have some work to do. I have some people to love. Help me to love. Help me to work fast and efficiently. Help me to worship you in everything.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

³⁵ Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. ³⁸ So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. ² Here are the names of the twelve apostles:

first, Simon (also called Peter),
then Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James (son of Zebedee),
John (James’s brother),
³ Philip,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew (the tax collector),
James (son of Alphaeus),
Thaddaeus,
⁴ Simon (the zealot),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

⁵ Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, ⁶ but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. ⁷ Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Dear God, I never put this together before, but this story of healing a bunch of people and then sending the disciples out comes right on the heels of Matthew 9:30, when Jesus tells the two blind men he healed not to tell anyone. What changed between 9:30 and 9:35? I don’t know that I can come up with an answer for that question, but it’s an interesting one to consider.

And then he empowers the disciples to go out and do the same thing. Go heal. Go preach. Go and make yourself conspicuous for me. This is not a quiet display of power he’s wanting to have them exhibit. He wants them to put themselves out there–even to the point where they will be arrested an beaten (Matthew 10:17). Jesus’s time here and his strategy for using his three “ministry years” to accomplish the things he accomplished is sometimes confounding to me. But like most things about you that confound me (e.g., why you built our scriptures the way you did, why you had to use Jesus life as a sacrifice of us like you did, etc.), I really can’t think of a better alternative. I have no opinions on what I think you should have done.

I guess the other interesting thing about this story is that you wanted to focus on the Israelites first. No Samaritans for this trip. No Gentiles. You wanted to reveal the Kingdom’s nearness to your people first. The Samaritans and Gentiles would come later. I guess that’s the way the plan needed to go as well, and it was the best way to do it in the long run.

Father, I have a job to do today. I’ve been given a fascinating task, and, frankly, it feels above me and over my head. I feel overwhelmed by it. Help me to lean into you today. Help me to hear your voice in the midst of the noise. If there is something you want to do in the world through me today, let it be so. Let it be so, oh, my Father. Oh, my Jesus. Oh, my Holy Spirit. Use me today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²⁷ After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸ They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”

“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” ³⁰ Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.” ³¹ But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.

Matthew 9:27-31

Dear God, I normally read the story of Jairus’s daughter out of Mark 5 and not Matthew 9. Mark kind of skips over this story of the two blind men after Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead, but Matthew gives it to us. So this is part of a string of pretty incredible healings. In Matthew 9, he healed a paralyzed man, the woman who was “bleeding,” Jairus’s daughter, these two blind men, and then after this he casts out a demon. Yes, the fame of Jesus was growing a lot.

Here’s the part that always hard for me: “Do you believe?” Do I believe? I have so much love for you and yet so little faith. If I had more faith, well, I don’t know what my life would be like or how it would change me. Would I be more focused on intercessory prayer if I had more faith? I kind of believe in amazing healings–I’ve seen them–but if I really believed, would I pray that much more? My prayers tend to be more about changing my heart and the hearts of others than they are about praying over physical maladies. I even pray more for provision for needs than I pray for healings.

I have a friend who I talk to every Friday morning, and this morning we were talking about health insurance, healthcare, and faith in healing. He doesn’t have health insurance and is of the mind that if sickness comes then sickness comes. That’s a little too fringe for me. But I get it. I think it’s also easy to say about yourself, but when it comes to your wife or children, is that really the level of faith I’m prepared to live at? Luke was a doctor (although I have no idea what made someone a doctor as opposed to anyone else 2,000 years ago). How did he feel about it? I do know in the story of the woman bleeding, he took a more sympathetic tone towards doctors of the time.

Father, the only thing I really know to pray in this moment is for you to increase my faith, but I am terrified at the thought of what kind of trial would come my way that would grow my faith. But I will pray this. Give me whatever you need me to have so that I will continue to grow into the man you want me to be. Be glorified. Be worshipped. Be loved. Help me to be your ambassador in every situation I find myself in today. Help me to decrease so that you might increase in my life.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²¹ “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. ²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Matthew 7:21-27

Dear God, I was just talking to my wife about how overwhelmed I am right now. Part of it is seasonal with work, but there are about three or four layers that are put on top of the seasonal things that are making me feel under pressure. Even saying these words to you feels a little foolish and helps me to start to put things into perspective a little. To start, my problems are first-world problems. No one is persecuting me. I have food and shelter. I have much more than just food and shelter. I have a good woman as my wife. No, in the grand scheme of things, I’m doing just fine. It’s in the minutia that I’m feeling the pressure, I suppose.

My wife talked about me turning each thing over to you, which is how I got here from this passage from the end of the Sermon on the Mount today. It’s interesting that Jesus ended the sermon this way. Basically saying, “I just gave you a lot of stuff. If you do it, you’ll be good to go. But if you try to do all the stuff you grew up hearing you should do to show you’re tight with me (casting out demons, prophesying, etc.) and ignore what I just said about holding yourself to a higher ethical standard and loving God and your neighbors then, well, we won’t know each other.”

Father, I want to know you. I want to know you through holding myself to the spirit of the law that goes beyond the letter of the law (“You have heard it said…, but I say…”). I want to lead with love. I want to lead with compassion for others. That might include hard words for people that they don’t want to hear but are for their own good. And maybe you have hard words for me that I don’t want to hear but are for my own good. Whatever it is today, Father, one step at a time, help me to be exactly who you need me to be for your glory’s sake. Help me to decrease as you increase. I don’t care if anyone sees me. I only want them to see you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²⁹ Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. ³⁰ A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. ³¹ The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

³² Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”

³³ The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”

³⁴ Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”

They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”

³⁵ So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.

³⁷ They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. 

Matthew 15:29-37

Dear God, I just want to sit with lack of faith this morning. Sit with the idea that I don’t bring my cares to you enough. Sit with just how far I have to do in my walk with you.

I was listening to N.T. Wright talk about Ephesians yesterday with Russell Moore, and he was talking about “the armor of God” (your armor) and how it occurred to him recently that the armor Paul calls us to put on is armor that you reference to yourself in different parts of the Old Testament. It is truly your armor that we are to wear. Do I really put that on.

I woke up a few times last night and also this morning with a gnawing in my gut. There’s something in my life that is causing me angst. So what am I doing with that angst? Am I running from it and trying to distract myself from it? Am I trying to figure it out on my own and force my will upon it? Or am I bringing it to you and asking you to guide me and the others involved? Am I putting on my armor? Am I bringing you my fish and loaves, admitting it’s not enough, and asking you for a miracle–or at least a blessing?

Father, I do want to bring my little bit to you, sacrifice it before you, and then have you do something amazing with it. Be glorified in all of this. Be powerful. Be amazing. And don’t do it for me. Do it for your kingdom. Do it for everyone involved. Do it for their personal lives. Do it for your life to shine through them. Do it so that we might all be a reflection of you and your power might come into the earth.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen