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Category Archives: Romans

Romans 1:18

22 Apr

Romans 1:18
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Dear God, when I read this scripture this morning the question that came to my mind is, What makes you angry? I get it that this passage says that it’s “wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” but what does that look like? And what do you do with that anger?

After I read this scripture this morning, I turned my attention to the news. I didn’t read much yesterday, but I had heard about the attacks in Sri Lanka. There was more information about it today. Tragic. I am sure this attack made you angry. What do you do with that anger? What do you call me to do?

It seems that I am coming up with more questions than answers this morning. I suppose the first thing you are calling me to do is pray. Pray for the survivors who are affected by this crime. That includes the families of the attackers as well as the victims. I pray for the Christian church there as well as the Islamic church. Let this attack backfire on the organizers. Take your own anger and let it burn into love between people. Let there be love that flows between Christians and Muslims in Sri Lanka and around the world. Let there be reconciliation. Yes, some amount of justice needs to be done, and I pray for that justice for those who organized this, but even for them, I pray that someone will find them in prison and reveal your holy anger and simultaneous love for them.

Father, as I go through my own day, help me to know how to handle anger and love. Help me to see each situation with your eyes and offer your presence to it through my life. Help me to completely absorb you. As I’ve said many times before, 1 Corinthians 13 does not say that love does not get angry, but it says that love is not easily angered. Let me not be easily angered as well, but to experience healthy anger and have healthy responses to it.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 22, 2019 in Romans

 

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Romans 15:13

18 Mar

Romans 15:13 [NLT]
13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, what a great thing for me to pray for others. To pray for my children that you would completely fill them with joy and peace because they trust you. That they will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s also a great thing to pray for my wife, my extended family, the significant others of my children, my coworkers, my friends, etc.

And how about myself? Do I trust you so much that you completely fill me with joy and peace? Sometimes. Do I overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit? Occasionally I get there. How can I be a better example of this?

I guess it starts by deciding in what or whom I put my trust. I confess that it is usually me. I usually look to my own solutions. My own ideas. My own skills. But guess what—that method never leads me to joy and peace. Even if it all works out, there is an emptiness to it.

Right now, I am facing a couple of significant challenges at work. I know I have brought one of them to you in prayer and you seem to be moving, but as I sit here and type this, I realize that I have been trying to do the others in my own strength. I have not brought them to you in prayer. I have not put my hope and trust in you to get them resolved. And guess what. About one of my challenges I am feeling peace and joy and about the other two I am not.

Father, help me to surrender my whole life to you so that I might experience your peace and joy. Please guide me in my challenges. Please provide for the needs I have and the needs for which I am responsible at work, in my home, and in my community. Help me to turn it all over to you so that you might use my life to ripple through time as you need it to.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 18, 2019 in Romans

 

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Romans 8:28

13 Mar

Romans 8:28
28 And 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.

 

Dear God, this verse actually works today. I’ve got something difficult happening today. It’s not as much about me as it is a friend of mine. She is very discouraged and tired. A lot of bad has happened for everyone involved. My simple prayer is that you will be in this entire situation today and make this count. Make the pain everyone is experiencing count. The fear, the hurt, the anger–everything. Make it all count for your glory and for your plan in all of our lives.

Help me to be an instrument of your peace. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2019 in Psalms, Romans

 

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

05 Mar

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

 

Dear God, I think it’s impossible to be a good parent. Well, I take that back. I think there are some people out there who are good parents. I’ll rephrase. I really tried, but as I look back on my parenting all I see is failure and mistakes. I wasn’t strict enough here. I was too strict there. I didn’t pray enough here. I was too spiritual there.

I was talking to a woman yesterday who adores her father and talked about all of the lessons and wisdom he imparted to her. I was sitting there admiring the heck out of the guy and wishing I was more like him, but then I remembered something. This woman, who is in her late 20s now, ended up leaving home and moving in with her boyfriend while she was still in high school. She is married to the boyfriend now, but I am sure that that felt like tremendous failure to that father in the moment. Of course, now, the woman is one of the most admirable people I know. I admire both her and her husband greatly. But I’m sure her life and how things were going didn’t always look that promising to her parents.

One thing that I tend to get from you more and more the closer I get to you is that you have made room in your plan for my failures. While I can do some damage, to be sure, in the broad scheme of things, your overall plan has allowed for my mistakes. You are always working for the good for those who love you (Romans 8:28), whether we can see it or not. In the case of this woman, she talked about the struggles she experienced through her choices and how they made her stronger. Her father is very pleased with her now. I’m sure he couldn’t see it at the time, but you were working all things together for the good of those who love you.

Father, I have a lot of work today, and I have a lot of opportunities to really blow it, but I am going to trust you that this path is ordained. Whether it has struggle waiting for me, or even failure, I trust that you will use my work–my life–for your glory. I submit it all to you. To paraphrase an “invitation hymn” from my Baptist days, all to you I surrender. All to you I freely give. I will ever love and trust you. In your presence daily live. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee my blessed savior, I surrender all.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2019 in Deuteronomy, Hymns and Songs, Romans

 

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Romans 12:14-20

17 Dec

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Romans 12:14-20

Dear God, I’m not sure I’ve ever spent much time with is passage. Romans has never been one of my go-to books, but I came into contact with this passage recently so I wanted to think about it a bit.

My first inclination in reading it is to wonder about motivation. I love the first part of this passage, but then the part where Paul seems to intimate that being nice to them is like heaping burning coals of shame on their heads gives me pause. But if your go back to verse 9, it says, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.” At the end of the day, if you really love others, those who you only THINK are your enemies will become your legitimate allies, and those who are truly your enemies will likely experience the confusion and shame that Paul describes here.

I can say that my own hate has never been productive, and has always worked to destroy me probably more than the person I hate. It’s one of those great mysteries of grace—it offers freedom to both the forgiver and the forgiven.

Father, make me an instrument of your peace and help me to decrease as you increase. Help me to see others as more important than myself and to live in your love. I have specific things in my heart that are too personal to mention in this open prayer, but you know what I’m thinking. Be God for us all.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2018 in Romans

 

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Romans 1:16-17

17 Jul

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Romans 1:16-17

Dear God, I think 98% of Christians need training in how to share the Gospel. I’m included in that group. We either don’t know or over time we forget what we are “selling.” In fact, I know there are people in church every Sunday who are there because they’ve heard about this hope, but they still leave having never heard the message: There is hope! There is peace! There is freedom! All you have to do is let go of yourself, accept this wonderful gift of Jesus and then begin a life of discipleship.

I’ve been asked to preach at this one church every month for the last few, and now I’ll be there twice in August. Up until now, I’ve been following the passages the national church assigns for the day and then preaching from that—usually the Old Testament lesson. But now I’m really feeling led to take the second one in August and do an old fashioned Gospel message.

There’s a son by Dennis where the chorus says, “And I wish I could take your heart into my heart. I wish I could show you just how good it feels to let go of the pain you know is killing you and cling to the only one who can heal. But I know if I did then it wouldn’t be you. Because you, you’re the only one choosing for you. It’s true.”

Father, teach me to share the Gospel and make me your messenger. Remind me of the need that you met in my life over 30 years ago and guide me deeper into your presence.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2018 in Romans

 

Romans 12:3-5

13 Jul

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:3-5

Dear God, I have some confessions this morning. I was given a really great award this last week—one of which I’m really proud. A couple of years ago I would never have imagined that they would choose me for it, but my first confession is that this year, with some of the things with which I’ve been involved in the community, I thought I might have a shot at it and I wanted it. So that’s my first confession. I wanted the award I got and I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t gotten it.

Second, I confess that I like the attention. You know me well, and you know that I love to be admired. It is a huge vice for me. I’m getting better—I can feel myself getting better about needing it—but it’s still an issue for me.

Third, there’s a part of me that is tired and nervous that I will allow myself to slump after receiving the recognition. Or worse, that I will make my activities about the recognition instead of about giving you the glory and honor for everything I do, and following your lead and seeking your blessing.

Father, I’m a mess, but you provided me one really gracious thing in this. The award was actually awarded to another person in addition to me, and he is such a great guy. If I put pen to paper, I would say that he is more deserving than I am. I just appreciate and respect him so much. So it is humbling to be honored in this way for doing things that I’ve done out of obedience to you. It is humbling to be put in the same category and league as this other man. My trick is to embrace everyone around me and the vision you have given to all of us as your body. I cannot do everything. I am certainly not good at everything. I need you. I need my wife. I need my children. I need my parents, in-laws, and siblings. I need my friends, my church, and my community. I am just a part, and one unfortunate thing about the role I usually play is that it often gets recognition that other parts don’t get. So help me to be mindful of all of this and to always remember that it’s all about you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 13, 2018 in Romans

 

The Most Popular Verses

05 Jul

Dear God, I’m a devoted reader of Fred Smith’s weekly blog, and I enjoyed what I read this morning about The Soil of Partial Truth. In it, he listed the five most popular verses in the Bible. This is the order in which he listed them. I don’t know if it is by popularity or not. I’d be surprised if it was. They were:

  • Jeremiah 29:11 – …”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope…”
  • Psalm 23:4 – Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, the comfort me.
  • Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
  • John 3:16 – “For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
  • Romans 8:28 – And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Instead of looking at the meaning of each verse and going into whether or not they are out of context (for example, the Jeremiah 29:11 is REALLY out of context if you read that verse alone), I want to talk to you about why we are drawn to these specific verses and what it says about what we need from you.

With the Jeremiah verse, I think it means that our psyche needs to know that you are in charge and that things are going to work out well. Now, while you are, indeed, in charge, working out “well” is a relative term and needs the broader context. But our human hearts want to know that our circumstances are going to work out well for us.

The verse from Psalms is about addressing our fears. we need your comfort during the times that we are afraid–especially of death. Whether it is our death or the death of another, we need your comfort when we are afraid. And that’s okay.

Philippians 4:13 is about leaning on you and looking to you for our strength. It’s a good one and a good reminder that we need you. The Isaiah 40:31 about those that wait on you will mount up with wings like eagles is a good one for this sentiment too.

I love the John 3:16 one because it is actually right in the middle of Jesus’ rant to Nicodemus. He’s trying to explain being born again and gets on a roll. I actually enjoy this whole speech more than just this verse. But in the end, Jesus is convincing an unbelieving Pharisee to believe.

And the Romans 8 verse brings us back to the need to know that it’s all going to be okay. I think the danger here is that we know that sometimes those who love you suffer, and we are looking at these verses and hoping that the suffering will happen to someone else and not us.

Father, I think, at the end of the day, we are just looking for your comfort, your strength, and your reassurance. We need to be reassured that you are there, we have access to you, and that, at least on the other side of death, there is hope. It would probably be good for me to sit down and some point and talk about my favorite scriptures/stories of the Bible. I wonder what looking at that collection of passages would reveal about me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 5, 2018 in Jeremiah, John, Philippians, Psalms, Romans

 

Romans 12:14-16

28 May

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Romans 12:14-16

Dear God, you figured out early on that we all need community. Adam wasn’t doing well just hanging out by himself. He needed relationship. And when we are in community we need to embrace the art of loving you with all our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Taking these verses, when we are in conflict we need to pray for the other person and want the best for them. When someone is celebrating we need to celebrate. When someone is mourning, we need to mourn. We need to get out of ourselves and really care about others. We need to decrease and let you increase through us so that you might reach others through us.

And then there is humility. To be able to acknowledge that every human life is as worthy as mine. I have been very guilty of judging someone’s character by what I observe on the outside only to find that the successful person was morally bankrupt and the bankrupt person had a heart of pure gold. I’m sorry for this.

Father, I submit to all three verses today. Teach me to love well and to learn from everyone around me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 28, 2018 in Romans

 

Romans 12:9-10

24 May

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Romans 12:9-10

Dear God, why? Why do I have to love others? Why is it better to give than to receive? Of course, the answers are pretty obvious, but the failure to really think about the danger of being a self-absorbed narcissist who never shares my time, money, love, or grace with someone else can keep me from truly learning how to let go of my own life and find my peace in you.

I try to remember back to who I was before I started giving more of my time to nonprofit causes. My wife and I have always given our money to things. We have tithed and given extra since before we were married. But I didn’t start getting out of my bubble and experiencing the world through the point of view of others until right at 15 years ago. Now I can feel the disconnect between me and friends and family who don’t do this. I see, especially on Facebook, people whom I know love you and have loving hearts who lack empathy or an ability to embrace the idea that they don’t understand the legitimate reasons that lead others to make decisions that are contrary to their own decisions. Loving others richly really does help open someone up to the concept of just how small and unwise we can be.

Father, “not that I have already attained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12). Help me to love well today.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2018 in Philippians, Romans

 
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