“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against. Luke 12:49-52
Dear God, my first thought when I read this passage this morning was, “Mission accomplished!” It feels like it’s all burning right now. It feels like the division has happened.
I’ve always seen this as you/Jesus being the one to instigate the division. You were the provocateur. But I wonder if it isn’t the world that gets so frustrated with your disciples that they are the provocateurs and the disciples are simply living their lives in peace. It can be very frustrating for a person who is not at peace to encounter someone who is at peace. It’s as if they are asking, “Why are you not as bothered as I am?” “Why are you not as scared as I am?” “Why are you not as insecure as I am?” As a disciple, the trick is to keep my branch truly connected to you and be close enough to your Holy Spirit so that the moment I start to slip into a worldly perspective I can recognize it and cling to you even harder.
Holy Spirit, please be with me. Guide me. Comfort me. Counsel me. Teach me. Convict me. Live through me so that others will be drawn to you. Do it all for your glory so that I am giving my utmost to you for your highest.
“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready. Luke 12:35-38
Dear God, I grew up in a period of the late 20th century when rapture talk was very prevalent. I went to a private school for part of sixth grade, and they showed us the movie A Thief in the Night which was about people who experienced the Tribulation because they missed the Rapture. Now that I think about it, I had a New Testament class in college and I remember the professor spending some time on theology debates between the Rapture being pre-Tribulation or post-Tribulation.
Recently, I heard a podcast that discussed how many children in the 80s and and 90s were scared into faith through Tribulation-Gospel. One woman talked about a friend whose family staged a Rapture to show her what it would feel like if she were “left behind” (which happens to be the name of a fictional Christian book and eventual movie series of the time that focused on all of this). She came in and everyone was gone. Things were left undone (e.g. pile of clothes, water running, etc.). She was terrified. And it worked. It put her over the edge in her decision to submit to you and accept Jesus and his grace. But was it the right thing to do?
Back to this passage, I simply can’t live my life with the idea that I’m doing it for the day of the Rapture. That motivator wouldn’t work for more than a week or two. No, I need to see something deeper. For me, it’s about being ready through my relationship with you for anything that might come my way. It’s about attaching my branch to your vine and experiencing your peace in any given moment. It’s about giving the Holy Spirit good soil in my heart to grow the fruit you need me to have for my sake and the sakes of those around me. It’s about putting me in position to hear your still, small voice. It’s about keeping me from sin and clinging to your mercy when I fail. No, it’s not for the Rapture/Second Coming. My readiness is for whatever life might bring me today. Help me to be ready.
Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:13-21
Dear God, I had someone ask me an interesting question today: “How do you know if you are a Christian?” She had been discussing it in a Bible study with two other women. I returned her question with a question. I asked her, “What do you mean by your question? Do you mean, ‘How do I know I have my fire insurance [will get into Heaven]’, or do you mean, ‘How do I know if I am a Christian right now in my life?'” Then we talked a while about those two answers.
I’m thinking about that now because of the last line in verse 21: “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” My answer to the second question was that being a Christian happens in a few steps. Step 1 is to repent before you and ask Jesus life, death, and resurrection to cover my sins. There are other steps beyond that involving discipleship, prayer, Christian community, etc. Those are important to maintaining a Christian life that is as an ambassador for you in the world. No good ambassador ignores the will of that which she or he represents. And you have to know the will of the one you represent through relationship, study, and communication. So that’s all important. But none of it can happen unless I first submit to your Lordship, ask for your forgiveness through Jesus, and then turn from my selfish life and into you.
Father, I don’t know what kinds of stores I will have in this life. Right now, I have some equity in my home, retirement accounts and savings. I have life insurance to benefit my wife should I die. I have practically no debt. So, yes, I have stored up some treasures. And my goal isn’t so that I can one day retire into a life of luxury. Frankly, there isn’t enough there for that. But it is there for the day when I am too old to be of value doing work that will bring enough financial return to support my wife and me. I hope there’s enough for that. But I am comfortable that I’m at least in relationship with you. Sure, I don’t worship as much as I should. I realize that I miss the opportunities to be your ambassador all over the place. However, I’m here, giving you my utmost for your highest. And doing it as humbly as I can. Thank you for the grace I need so that you can be here to meet with me.
I pray this through the forgiveness afforded to me through Jesus,
In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel. Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, “Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. Moses’-hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Exodus 17:8-13
Dear God, I really don’t give the power of prayer enough credit. This is the Old Testament reading for church today. The Gospel reading is from Luke 18:1-8. It’s the story of the widow who petitions the dishonest judge relentlessly about injustice done to her until he relents and addresses her issue. Both stories indicate to me that I need to take petitioning prayer—supplication—much more seriously. I’m good at praying to you about how I’m forming my faith. Like now. This topic. Thinking through how I view you and supplication. Praying to you about it. I’m good at that part. I’m pretty good at worshipping you in my prayers. I’m okay at repenting and confessing my sin to you. But supplication…well, I do it, but my expectations are limited.
I think one of the reasons I lower my expectations is because I don’t want to underestimate how your timing might be involved. You have a plan that is wiser than mine. You have a perspective that is complete while mine is partial. For some of the things for which I pray, the timing might not yet be right. If you did what I wanted you to do when I want you to do it then it might short-circuit the greater work you are wanting to do.
Holy Spirit, teach me to pray both more expectantly and patiently. Raise up people around me like Aaron and Hur. Not that I’m Moses, but when I’m praying, give me people who will strengthen me and help me persevere through the battle. For the cries of my heart, even as I sit here, please bring your healing. For physical issues. For relationships. For internal wounds that are bound as secrets, bring your healing.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Dear God, a couple of days ago I asked you for something fairly boldly while praying with my wife. It’s been a couple of years of silence on this issue, but I felt compelled to pray about it that day. Then, I was surprised later that day when my wife contacted me and told me there had been a breakthrough. I immediately thought back to my prayer with her that morning. Are you moving? Did the Holy Spirit prompt me to pray about it? What could be next?
When my wife and I pray together nearly every day, we pray for a lot of things and a lot of people. Some of it feels hopeless. Some of it feels like a waste of time. And some of it feels like simple duty. I love these people, and although it feels hopeless to pray for it I have a duty to pray for them. So I pray. I don’t quite understand how my prayers work. I don’t know how much they change you/your mind, how much they empower your Spirit and/or angels to work, or how much they just change and shape me. According to this passage, my prayers have the potential to actually change your mind and move you into action. That seems amazing to me. I can see them inviting your power into a situation and increasing it. I can see them changing me and my heart. But to get you to change course? Is the fate of the world really dependent upon what your people ask for in prayer?
Father, I guess the prayer today is that you would teach me to pray. I’ve never been as good as my wife at intercessory prayer. I wonder if you are calling me to be better at it. So, Holy Spirit, lay something on my heart for which I should pray at an intense intercessory level. And if it moves you into action where there would otherwise have been no action, so much the better, but use it to speak to me and grow my heart towards yours.
18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Galatians 5:18-25
Dear God, I was thinking this morning that I’ve been spending so much time in the Old Testament through the Bible in a Year Podcast this year that I am kind of missing the New Testament. I looked at what the New Testament reading is today for the Catholic church and, low and behold, it was one of my favorite passages–the fruits of the Spirit. Yay!
Verse 18 is fascinating (shocking?) and needs a little more context. I’m not under the law if I’m directed by the Holy Spirit?!? What does that mean? Well, here is the verse right before that:
17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:17
I have a particular assignment today that makes me nervous. I’m starting to mentor a boy who likely has a troubled life. I’m nervous. I’ve mentored two other boys through the Academic Boosters mentoring program, and neither turned out like I had hoped. Will this one go better? Did I make any kind of an impression on the other two boys? Will you be able to impact this child through me?
My wife and I were praying to you together this morning, and I prayed about this. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would lead me in my interactions with the boy. And now here I am reading about the Spirit guiding me. So I’m trusting that the Holy Spirit–you, Holy Spirit–will be with me today.
Holy Spirit, Father, Jesus, channel through me today. Guide me. Help me. Help me with this boy. Help me at work. Help me with my wife and children. Help me with my family. Speak to me in your still, small voice and love through me.
I pray this through the privilege afforded to me through Jesus,
Like a deer, panting for the water I was thirsting for so long, I was so dry So I set out on my journey, not sure what I would find But I found an everlastin’ river of life
Ooh, it’s just like fallin’ rain I will never thirst again
Living Water, Bread of Life Come and quench this thirst within me Fill this hunger deep inside For so long I have been empty
Nothing else will satisfy You alone are what I need, Lord Living Water, Bread of Life
I had looked this whole world over for the answer Wanting just to fill this void inside All the things that were material, they could not satisfy For my hungering was for the Bread of Life
Ooh, it came like manna from above I can never get enough
Living Water, Bread of Life Come and quench this thirst within me Fill this hunger deep inside For so long I have been empty
Nothing else will satisfy You alone are what I need, Lord
Living Water, Bread of Life Come and quench this thirst within me Fill this hunger deep inside For so long I have been empty
Nothing else will satisfy You alone are what I need, Lord Living Water, Bread of Life Living Water, Bread of Life
Dear God, I couldn’t tell you what the dream was about last night, but I know that in the dream I heard this song playing and I was singing along with it passionately. Well, I figure that’s worth a deeper dive.
As I thought about this song this morning while I was getting showered and dressed for work, I had a couple of thoughts. One of my thoughts was about the story from John 4 when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. In John 4:10, Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” I know the lyrics are largely based on Psalm 42, but I thought about Jesus referencing the living water that comes from him.
The other thought was about a discussion I heard yesterday on a podcast about what is important to Evangelical Christians. According to a survey, what did they believe were absolutes and what were they more unsure about as a group. It was only about half who understood Jesus is part of you and your nature. As the creed says, “Begotten, not made.” But over 90% believed in sexual purity and that it should only be in the context of traditional marriage. There was more agreement in how we should treat sex (although most of us don’t live out that purity) than there was about the nature of who you are. That got me to thinking about why we become Christians. Why we do what we do. When I was a kid, a lot of the sermons I heard were about me getting my “fire insurance” so I wouldn’t go to hell.
That’s where I want to combine these two thoughts. The woman at the well is us. The living water is what we, as Christians, are offering to the world. Life lived in communion with you might not always be easy. It absolutely won’t be easy. But it can be peaceful with a peace that passes all understanding.
Holy Spirit, be with me today. As I work with our staff, volunteer, patients, and old friends. As I love my wife. As I love my children and family. As I love you. Be my counselor, my comforter, my instructor, and my convictor. Show me the Father. Jesus, teach me. Father, draw me near. My Triune God, I worship you.
I pray this through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus,
3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
Malachi 3:1-4
Dear God, my wife told me that these first three verses constitute three separate songs in Handel’s Messiah. As he wrote his tribute to the life of Jesus, these verses of prophecy must have captured his imagination. I have spent next to zero time in the book of Malachi in my life. This might be the first time I’ve journaled on anything from it. But knowing that three of these four verses impacted Handel so much has made me want to look at them more closely.
“The messenger of the covenant, whom [I] desire, will come.” Okay, I don’t know if the “you” in the verse pertains to me, but since I’m taking this verse into my modern era, it’s pretty easy to apply it to myself. What about right now, sitting here on October 10, 2022. Am I waiting for a messenger of the covenant? Obviously, Jesus has already come, so I’m not waiting for the Messiah to come. But am I listening for you now?
“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” Am I ready to be refined? Am I ready for the launderer’s soap? Of course not. I have so much dross in my silver it’s ridiculous. I’m still very selfish. Lazy. Judgmental. I don’t love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I love some neighbors as myself, but certainly not all of them. How will you work on me? How are you currently working on me? Am I up to it? The good news is that part of Jesus’s coming was to provide a way for me to “endure” and “stand.” That’s the irony. He brings the realization of my sins, but then provides the means by which I am cleansed of them with his refiner’s fire and launderer’s soap.
“Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.” Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus, thank you for making a path for me to bring my pitiful offerings in righteousness. Thank you for counting me, a Gentile, as one of your own. Be gentle as you refine and cleanse me. But also be effective as well. Make me into the man you need me to be.
I pray this through the cleansing that Jesus gave me,
Dear God, there are times when this hymn is appropriate and there are times when it isn’t. For an oppressed people like those right now in Ukraine, it’s a perfect song. For an American church that likes to feel sorry for itself and feel like it is being persecuted, it’s the wrong song. For some, it is about desperation and devotion to you. For some, it needs to be about repenting and submitting to you.
Both of these Psalms, 13 and 22, are from David. I don’t know what he was experiencing at the moment he wrote them, but there were plenty of times when I’m sure he felt there were enemies all around him, including Saul trying to kill him. What he couldn’t see at the time was you guiding him on the path to being king. Not that all who suffer are on the path to being king, but, at the very least, the persecution can lead us to being on our knees and praying to you like this. It’s doubtful David would ever have prayed like this if he had never felt pain.
Holy Spirit, please be with me today. I am supposed to be giving an invocation for a city council meeting. Please give me wisdom in what to pray. Please join me in my prayer for the people in that room this morning and all of those they represent. Please speak into my ear and counsel me today. Guide me. Love through me. I have an important role to play this evening. Guide me in that as well. May everything you do be done to bring you glory and bring our community into communion and fellowship with the Father. Father, you know my other needs and concerns. You know those I love and how they are on my heart. My friends and coworkers as well. Holy Spirit, please heal. Heal bodies, souls, hearts, and minds. Heal relationships. Do it all for your glory and our best in your eyes.
I pray this through the right afforded to me through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, my Lord,
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Mark 9:2-10
Dear God, verse 2 is the verse of the day from Oswald Chambers’s My Utmost for His Highest. I thought the first few words of his thoughts were a good place to start with this passage:
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley.
The part of you not wanting us to stay there. I guess this is why I’ve always had an issue with monks. It feels like they’ve made an intentional choice to avoid the valley as much as possible. I might be wrong and this might be unfair. Perhaps their valley is being there to greet those who come to their monasteries to find a mountain of their own. But I suppose it seems like a…I almost said selfish, but it’s not selfish because they deny themselves a lot. I guess I’ll say it seems like a decision that does not accomplish as much in the world as you might otherwise through their lives. But again, I don’t understand it and I could be totally wrong about this. I guess I’m just acknowledging where my judgment of monks comes from and thinking through the idea that there is likely more to it than I understand because I haven’t take the time to learn more about it.
I was in our church group last week, and the women had just come back from an ACTS retreat the weekend before. One of them mentioned not wanting to lose the high of the experience of being there with you. It reminded me of a song by Charlie Peacock called “Monkeys at the Zoo.”
It’s about coming back from a mountaintop experience: “Will it be different now or the same? Will I have learned anything? Or was it just a way to spend a day or two set aside for thinking thoughts about you? If that’s all it was, I had a good time…”
I’ve been to several mountaintop experiences and I’ve had that experience of coming back motivated but then not doing the little things to discipline myself to carry you into the valley. I expect the work that others did to provide my mountaintop experience will be enough to sustain me. But that’s like going to a tennis camp, working with a coach to improve my game, and then returning home and not doing anything to sustain my level of tennis. But then when someone asks me to play on the weekend I’m terrible. Why? Because I didn’t put in the work on my own.
It was April 2000 when I returned from a mountaintop experience at Laity Lodge. You laid it on my heart to start taking scripture and journaling to you about it. Praying to you about it. Ironically, I started by taking the My Utmost for His Highest verse of the day and praying over it without looking at his commentary. That was over 22 years go. Now I’ve done thousands and thousands of these prayers through journaling. In the aggregate, I can certainly see that it has changed my life.
Father, help me to keep disciplining myself to spend this quality time with you. I was talking to someone yesterday about how much time my wife and I spend talking to each other. We spend over an hour every day catching up and talking. We also pray together nearly every day. Those are great things and they make all of the difference in the world in our relationship. I need to do the same with you. Not that I need to spend an hour praying every day (although it probably wouldn’t hurt), but I certainly need to spend an hour every day exposing myself to you in some way. Maybe not all at once, but cumulatively. Praying. Listening to Christian music. Listening to Christian podcasts or the Bible in a Year podcast. I need to make sure my mind is on the things of you every day. That’s the best way for me to hear your Holy Spirit talk to me. That’s the best way to feel you presence and follow the nudging of my heart. That’s the way to expose the soil of my heart to the seeds you might want to be planting that day. Really, God. Thank you for everything. I’m here to meet with you. Won’t you meet with me?
In Jesus’s name and through the grace you extend to me through his life, death and resurrection and I pray,
Emails to God 