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.

Matthew 5:13-16

23 Jul

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16

Dear God, what kind of salt and light do you want me to be within my sphere of influence? I guess another question is what kind of salt and light do I allow into my life to strengthen my relationship with you and my faith? What do I listen to? What do I read? With whom do I visit? If I am the average of the five people I spend the most time with, what does that mean about them and about me?

But back to me being salt and light, I think sometimes it is easier to be salt and light in a secular environment. I know how to talk about my faith and the difference you have made in my joy and peace with people who do not have that frame of reference. For whom it is a foreign concept. The tricky part for me is how to get past the cultural acceptability of being a “Christian” in my community and drill down to the differences between being a nominal Christian and being a disciple.

I’m about to spend the morning with our staff in a staff meeting. I will have an opportunity to show your love to my coworkers and inspire them into deeper discipleship. I will have an opportunity to learn from them and grow stronger in my faith through their inspiration. Then we can take that salt and light and take it to each other, our volunteers, and our patients. When people come to us and they are hurting, scared, and desperate, we have something beyond our services to offer. Help us to remember that.

Father, help me to be salty and light-filled today. Help me to shine for you and spread your salt to others. And put your saltiness and light into me. Through your Word. Through your Holy Spirit. Through my interactions with others. Let it be all about you and bringing you into this world so that your kingdom might come and your will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 23, 2024 in Matthew, Sermon on the Mount

 

Tags: ,

Matthew 5:1-12

22 Jul

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.

He said:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:1-12

Dear God, who is “them”? “He began to teach them.” Was he teaching the crowd or his disciples? Or both? It’s interesting that he sat down. That’s one of the things that makes me wonder who he was addressing. If it was a crowd I would think that he was standing up. I would also think he would have taken a lower spot elevation wise so his voice would project into them and not over them.

For just a moment, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before and think of this as just being for a group of 75 or less. Maybe more than the 12, but less than the crowds.

With that said, these Beatitudes are interesting because he might be teaching the disciples that they should appreciate these people. “If you see someone who is poor or even poor in spirit then you better love and respect them because your father loves and cares for them.”

The first two, poor in spirit and those who mourn, are changeable conditions. Love on those people. But the rest are attitudes of the heart. Meek, hunger for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers. And then we double around and come back to a possible temporary condition of life, persecuted. “If you’re doing these things and persecuted for it then you’re doing the right thing.”

Father, give me a heart to spend time with and live on those who are poor in spirit and mourn. Give me a heart that pursues you in mercy, hungering for righteousness, meek, and striving to make peace. Glorify your name through me. And if I am really living into this well and someone persecutes me for it, may my persecution be a pathway for them or someone else to follow you.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit.

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 22, 2024 in Matthew, Sermon on the Mount

 

Tags: ,

Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)

21 Jul

Dear God, I was listening to a great interview this week with Rich Villodas about his new book The Narrow Path: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies our Souls. It’s about the Sermon on the Mount, and I look forward to reading it soon. I’ve been asked to teach a Sunday school class for a couple of weeks in a row in a couple of weeks, so I think I want to explore if maybe this is something you’re leading me to.

For today, I thought I would just sit and write an outline of the sermon over the three chapters. I would have sat down earlier today to do it, but I knew it would take some time, and I did not want to be rushed. Okay, here we go:

  • Jesus outlines what the life you bless looks like and how you bless us — the Beattitudes
  • Our job in living for God – Salt and Light
  • The law is still in effect
    • It’s easier to break the law than you think
    • Take seriously to avoid temptation (take out your eye, cut off your hand, etc.)
    • Divorce is serious
    • Oaths are important
  • Eye for an eye was never law, but permission. Now the new standard is turn the other cheek
  • Love your enemies and pray for them
  • Give to others
  • If you seek reward for behavior now it will be denied you later
  • (Here’s the one that is hard for me, but I think I’m doing this for the right reasons–to inspire others to spend time with you) Private prayer is important. It needs to be earnest and not for show.
    • How to pray — The Lord’s Prayer
  • Forgiveness is critical for our well-being and to secure your forgiveness
  • Do not fast for acclaim, but for our own development in you
  • Do not make accumulation of wealth a priority
    • Money is dangerous and can easily be an idol
  • Worry is a lack of faith
  • Judging others is really bad. We have enough wrong with us without worrying about someone else
  • You love us enough to give us what we want in our prayers if it is good for us
  • Finding the path to a good life with you is hard, but worth it
  • Choose who you listen to or trust by their fruit
  • Following Jesus’s teaching here will lead to peace, even in the midst of storms, on the narrow path

Father, this sermon is a tall order, but it’s remarkable. I am grateful Matthew recorded it for us. One thing that Villodas said is that some people see this sermon as something we strive to achieve so that we might achieve redemption in you and reconciliation with you, but he taught that we should see this as the fruit of a life lived in worshipping you and following you. And I can say that, while I still fail throughout this sermon, I am better now than I once was. Yes, I still judge people, but I am quicker to remember to have mercy on them and consider their perspective. I am also better at stopping myself and doing some self-evaluation when I start thinking about how others are sinning. That’s just one example. I could list many more. But the truth is that I am just grateful to be here praying to, loving you, and even sitting here this afternoon and appreciating what Jesus taught almost exactly 2,000 years ago. Thank you, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 21, 2024 in Matthew, Sermon on the Mount

 

Tags: , ,

1 John 1:5-10 / “In the Light” by dc Talk

20 Jul

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

Dear God, I came across this passage this morning, and it made me think of the song by dc Talk (written by Charlie Peacock), “In the Light.” Humility before you. Introspection before you. Repenting before you. Acknowledging exactly who I am before you. All of it can be very cathartic. Yes, I am sinful. Yes, I fall and fail. Yes, I do things that don’t hurt you as much as you get frustrated because they hurt me or those I love around me. The more I am in your light the more I am free.

I was texting with a friend yesterday who is reading through my series of these prayer journals I did on fathers of the Bible. One of his comments to me is that I am kind of hard on myself. I replied that when I start praying before you and bringing myself into relationship with you then some of this stuff starts pouring out. At the same time, I am experiencing your forgiveness as I put it into the light, and it is actually quite, well, as I said before, cathartic.

Some of the lines of this song I love:

I keep trying to find a light on my own apart from you — What foolishness!

What’s going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior! — Echoes of Paul in Romans 7:15-20.

Every attempt on my behalf has failed to bring this sickness under control — Only you, Jesus. Only you.

Father, I have the opportunity today to live in the light. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. I have experienced evil this week. I have done evil this week. I am sorry. Help me to be totally in your light today and to then carry that light to others.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 20, 2024 in 1 John, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , ,

Isaiah 41:8-10

19 Jul

8 “But as for you, Israel my servant,
    Jacob my chosen one,
    descended from Abraham my friend,
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
    saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
    and will not throw you away.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:8-10

Dear God, I had an interesting dream last night. Frankly, my wife puts more stock in my dreams than I do, but when I woke up I tried to remember it, and then I asked myself what it could me if it had a meaning at all.

Without going into too many details, I was traveling on the highway when I came upon heavy rain. I kept raining, but when I came over a rise I saw a bridge and at the bridge it had iced over and it was white with snow on the other side. I hit the brakes and safely skidded to a stop in the median. I was tucked safely away behind a barrier while cars crashed around me. Ultimately, I was able to see a live stream of the place where I was heading, and I saw that the sun was out and people were outside enjoying beautiful weather. The bad weather I was experiencing ultimately cleared, and I proceeded on. There are some other details involving my wife and I being physically separated from each other and me finding her before we moved on, but that was the gist of it. As I wondered what it could mean if you intended it to mean anything, what I thought about was how things might be dangerous ahead so stop and seek shelter. Things will crash around me, but then everything will clear up and I’ll be able to continue on my journey to a place that is good and peaceful.

So that almost sounds like the kind of thing I would draw up as a sermon illustration. You will take care of me here. Ultimately, the new earth you have for me is good. Don’t be afraid of the danger and chaos in the present. Stay as close to my wife as I can, even when we are not physically together. Okay. I’m good with that. That’s not to say that I think bad things can’t happen to me in this life or that I expect you to keep me from bad things. That would be haughty and arrogant of me to expect or ask. Who am I to not suffer compared to the wonderful people around me?

Then I read the Bible Gateway verse of the day this morning. Isaiah 41:10:

10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

I don’t like taking Bible verses out of context–especially the middle of a prophecy. So I captured some of the verses before this one too, but this verse seemed to play into the narrative of the dream I had. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged. You are with me. You will strengthen me and help me. You will hold me up.

Father, I’m not claiming any of it. If you offer it, of course, I will accept, but I would never expect that my life should be better than the next person’s. There is no reason Ukrainians, Russians, Palestinians, or Israelis should suffer more than I do. There are good people all over the world suffering now. So I ask, for my life, that you help me to take the gifts you give me and use the for your glory. If it’s to be safe and secure, help me to not waste the time. If it’s to have sorrow and suffer, make it count for your glory. But I am yours either way. I love you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 19, 2024 in Isaiah

 

Matthew 11:28-30

18 Jul

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Dear God, I have a little confession here. I don’t think I’ve every really understood this passage. I can kind of get my head around laying down…hold it. Wait. I just realized something as I looked at these verses again. I’ve always read it that I’m supposed to lay down my burden and not carry it anymore, but carry your burden instead. But that’s not what this says! I just double checked a couple other translations as well. What it says is that I bring this burden to you, hook myself up to your yoke, and then, at least how I am reading this passage this morning, the act of bearing your yoke will help me to carry my burdens. My burdens are still there. My sorrows are still there. But now I am attached to your yoke. I’m typing on the computer, but if I were using emojis on my phone I would put the “mind blown” emoji right now. I’m a little stunned.

Oh, Father, how wrong am I every day? About my theology? About my opinions? Oh, how I was so smart and understood it all when I was younger. But the older I get the more humbled I am. I told someone yesterday that I’m convinced that the more dogmatic someone is about a certain opinion means they are actually afraid they are wrong about it. They don’t want you to challenge it because they aren’t convinced they can defend it. That might not be 100% true, but it feels generally true. As for me, I am getting more and more comfortable with the idea that I am wrong about a lot of things.

So back to this passage, if I’m reading this correctly (now), this is what reconciliation with you is all about. It’s not about me walking away from my burdens. It’s about sharing them with you. It’s about remembering to seek you in solving or resolving them. It’s about turning over the outcomes to you, trusting that you have a plan that is bigger than I can see. It’s about remembering that you are my everything.

Father, help me to hook up to your yoke today. Help me to walk in your joy. Help me to carry that yoke to others and invite them to join me in my journey. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m grateful to understand maybe a little better why this passage never made sense to me and now it does. It’s interesting that chapter 12 starts with the disciples and Jesus breaking some Sabbath rules, and it actually links the stories with these words from Jesus by starting chapter 12 with “at that time.” Oh, Lord, be with me today in every moment.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 18, 2024 in Matthew

 

Psalm 94:3-11

17 Jul

3 How long shall the wicked, O Lord,
How long shall the wicked exult?
4 They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly;
All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.
5 They crush Your people, O Lord,
And afflict Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger
And murder the orphans.
7 They have said, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.”

8 Pay heed, you senseless among the people;
And when will you understand, stupid ones?
9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
10 He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke,
Even He who teaches man knowledge?
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are a mere breath.

Psalm 94:3-11

Dear God, I don’t know why, but I’m just kind of down today. I was yesterday too. Maybe it’s a residual of being around the difficult family dynamics over the weekend. Maybe it’s having some of my own sorrow stirred up. Yeah. Maybe that’s it. Right now, I just kind of want to curl up and recede for a little while. But I don’t have that choice. There is work to be done. I have responsibilities that must be met. What I need is you. What I need is your healing.

Frankly, I don’t know that any of this has to do with the psalm above. In the psalm, the psalmist is looking for retribution for the wicked. And I am all for some level of justice for those who are really wicked (human traffickers, people who commit violent crimes, people who steal from the vulnerable, etc.), but at some point the wicked line reaches me because I am certainly somewhere on the wicked scale. At what point am I asking for your retribution against me? Should I ask you to allow just a little evil so that I will be spared?

Father, I’m just in a funk right now. Help me to find my solace in you. My comfort in you. Help me to connect my branch to your vine so that I might feel held by you. Draw me into yourself as I make myself completely yours. Oh, how I want to be completely yours. Holy Spirit, walk with me and fill me. Jesus, teach me.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 17, 2024 in Psalms

 

Colossians 2:8-15

16 Jul

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Colossians 2:8-15

Dear God, when I read this passage this morning, my first thought was to beware of people that come along with theologies and teachings that are contrary to what I was taught about you all of my life. Some people call it deconstruction. Beware of deconstruction. But then I read it more closely and realized that I think Paul is actually saying quite the opposite. I think the people of whom he is telling the Colossians to beware is the people who will teach Judaism the way Judaism had been taught for a long time at that point.

But the truth is, I don’t know exactly what Paul is talking about. I went back and read the verses before. They didn’t give me much insight. No, Paul could very well be talking about deconstruction and its dangers. I guess this is where I am right now. I’m trying to know you more and more. I’m trying to cut through the layers of tradition that have been handed down (e.g. rapture theology and tribulation) and see what exactly it is you have for me. What I’m finding, the digger I deep, is that it actually gets really simple. My job as a lay Christian living in the world is to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then love my neighbor as myself. You haven’t asked me to understand how the four rivers flowing out of Eden formed the societies of the Bible. You haven’t asked me to understand how the earth was created and I ended up sitting here this morning. You haven’t asked me to understand how this all ends. What you asked me to do is love you, love others, and then follow your precepts so that I might live a life full of your fruit. Pretty simple.

Father, help me to do those things today. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help me to love everyone who comes across my path. Help me to love sacrificially. Help me to love in a way that draws people to you. And help me to encourage others to do the same.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 16, 2024 in Colossians

 

James 1:19-21

15 Jul

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

James 1:19-21

Dear God, it is interesting that James prefaces the “filth and evil” with talking about anger. To just read verse 21 by itself, my mind might go to the things I watch, listen to, or read. But when I read more closely and check out the footnotes, it says the filth and evil is literally translated “abundance of malice.”

While I still have some malice in my life, I can feel the slow transformation in these areas. While I still am too quick to speak sometimes, I am getting so much better at listening and asking questions of others. The things I get angry about are fewer and fewer. Some Christians would say that I’m getting soft on sin or that I am not living in my convictions enough. I am too tolerant of others and I’m letting them die. But somehow it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like I am seeing people more and more with your eyes. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt more and more. And so while I might not be living into verse 21 in isolation, in the context of verses 19 and 20, maybe I am.

Father, I don’t want to miss you. I don’t want to miss when you do, indeed, want me to be righteously angry about something. But I don’t want to miss the opportunity to love someone who needs loved. I was with someone recently who is so unsettled. Their spirit is so unsettled. If I were closer to that person (both physically, we are separated by over 1,000 miles) and figuratively, I would love to be able to minister to them a little. But there are plenty of people within my sphere who are like them. So help me, Father, to love well, to see others with your eyes, and to be a minister of your presence.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 15, 2024 in James

 

John 15:1-17

14 Jul

15 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.“

John 15:1-17

Dear God, this whole passage is beautiful. Just beautiful. Oh, how I want to be the fruitful person described here. I want to be so close to you that I just naturally bear the fruit Jesus references.

I hope I’ve been able to be a fruitful person for your kingdom over the last two days. I’ve been attending a funeral for a dear woman, and there are multiple layers of family conflict all over the place. I found myself trying to just be a loving, positive presence in the midst of it all. My wife and I both did. And then we heard something from one of our relatives. One of them told us a story from seven years ago. Apparently, at a previous family gathering, one of our nieces, who would have been about 12 at the time, was looking at my wife and me across the room and told another relative that we are “relationship goals.” That was so sweet to hear. I was so grateful to hear that. Not only because it complimented my wife and me, but because I know this child has witnessed a number of unhealthy relationships. To think that when this, now young adult woman, sees us she sees us as an example to consider is…well, it’s a relief. I’m so glad that, if nothing else, we could offer her that.

Even now, as I sit here, my wife is in another part of the house listening to Ashley Cleveland singing “Jesus” by Rich Mullins. She is connecting herself to your vine as we start our day. I am sitting on the sofa praying to you. Connecting to your vine. And I will make mistakes today. I will sin. There probably aren’t many of the 10 Commandments I won’t violate, including observe the Sabbath since I’ll be driving over 400 miles today to get home. But maybe I can start with making you my God and having no others gods before you. Then Jesus can take it from there. Redeem my failures. Somehow use them to touch others. Make be “fruity.” And do it for my good, the good of the world around me, and your glory.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 14, 2024 in John

 
← Older posts
Newer posts →