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Luke 11:1-10

15 Oct

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.

I pray this through Jesus, my Lord,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 15, 2022 in Luke

 

Galatians 5:18-25

12 Oct

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,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 12, 2022 in Galatians

 

“Living Water, Bread of Life” by 4Him

11 Oct

“Living Water, Bread of Life” by 4Him

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

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Mark R. Harris

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,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 11, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Miscellaneous

 

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Malachi 3:1-4

10 Oct

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,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 10, 2022 in Malachi

 

“How Long, O Lord?” (Hymn)

02 Oct
From Glory & Praise hymnal, third edition

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,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 2, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms

 

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Mark 9:2-10

01 Oct

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,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 1, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Mark, My Utmost for His Highest Scripture of the Day

 

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“Love Will Be Our Anchor” by Gary Chapman

29 Sep

“Love Will Be Our Anchor”
by Gary Chapman, Michael Omartian, and Amy Grant

We said I love you with initials and an arrow
Hearts were carved, our lips touched
And the love we chose was on the straight and narrow
And love will be our anchor
We know the days will bring us things we’re not prepared for
Night will fall, love will call
And every morning we will wake up feeling cared for
And love will be our anchor

Life’s not easy
And it helps if you are lucky
Rain will fall on the good and the bad
I will give you
Everything that I am able
And love will be our anchor

And when you can’t believe the answers
To the simplest of questions
And your heart has grown cold
Love is still the rock of ages
And the rock will not be shaken
It’s an anchor to hold

And when the waves have tossed our lives in reckless motion
Wind has blown, we have grown
We will make it all the way across this ocean
And love will be our anchor

Life’s not easy
And it helps if you are lucky
Rain will fall on the good and the bad
I will give you
Everything that I am able
And love will be our anchor

And when you can’t believe the answers
To the simplest of questions
And your heart has grown cold
Love is still the rock of ages
And the rock will not be shaken
It’s an anchor to hold

We said I love you with initials and an arrow
Hearts were carved and our lips touched
And the love we chose was on the straight and narrow
And love will be our anchor
This love will be our anchor

Dear God, I have found myself singing this song this week. I guess I’ve been thinking about marriage for a bit, and I think it’s a good one. In fact, it occurred to me as some point that it would work well for an anniversary slideshow should I ever be tasked with putting one together for someone.

I guess I should clarify that this song was written at a time in Christian music when the song writers would substitute your name, God, with love. I think it was so it would have the potential to get crossover play on secular radio. “Love” plays anywhere. “God” does not. With that said, when I hear this song or sing this song, in my head, I’m singing, “God will be our anchor.” The problem with this is that “love” is used in the traditional sense in this song too, so it can be hard to remember that the anchor love represents you.

The lyrics start with the idealism of young love. Maybe even naive love. It’s easy to have a love that is straight and narrow when it’s young and unchallenged. When it’s fresh and exciting. But that’s just a season. Emotions fade. Selflessness and service are what remain.

I remember when my youth minister in high school got married and the pastor was teasing him from the pulpit about being a newlywed. “He thinks that marriage is exciting right now. Sex every night (yes, he said that in a Baptist church from the pulpit). But it won’t always be like that.” It’s true. It’s okay that it’s true. It’s nothing to be afraid of. But it’s true.

I heard someone say recently that choosing a mate isn’t about picking that person who excites you or turns you on the most. It’s about picking the person who will be good to go through life’s challenges with. That’s true too.

So back to the song. When life’s not easy and the rain falls. When the waves toss our lives in reckless motion. When night falls. Will we have built our foundation on you and relationship with each other. I remember being grateful as empty nest approached that my wife and I enjoy each other’s company. We work to serve each other in the little things. No, we aren’t perfect. Yes, we frustrate each other sometimes. But we also give the other the latitude to be who the other is. But you are our anchor–at least, as best as we know how to make you our anchor.

Holy Spirit, be with me today as I go through this day. Love my wife through me and give her what she needs through me. Be with the marriages that are on my heart. Be with those who are single and trying to find their way in the world. Forgive me for when I have failed you as your son-in-law. Forgive me for the times I fail your will for your daughter. Help us to model what you have for men and women to be as husband and wife as others such as our children, relatives, and friends look at us. Inspire others through us. And raise up people who will inspire us to be more as well.

I pray this, asking that you advocate for me to the Father through Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 29, 2022 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Ezra 3:10-13

27 Sep

10 When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord, just as King David had prescribed. 11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord:

“He is so good!
    His faithful love for Israel endures forever!”

Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.

12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. 13 The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.

Ezra 3:10-13

Dear God, this passage resonates with me today. I was listening to the Bible in a Year Podcast from Ascension Press this morning and this was one of the things Father Mike read. It took me back to five or six years ago when I was at a retreat at Laity Lodge. The leaders were talking about the rebuilding of the Temple, but he was telling the story from Haggai. One of the things Haggai told the builders was that this Temple would not be like the old one. It would be a new Temple. It might not be a grand and ostentatious as the first one, but it would be good and it would please you. At the time, things had really fallen apart for my family, and I felt your Holy Spirit say the same to me. You told me that I was obsessed with trying to go back and build the Temple in my life that I had ten years before. But that Temple was gone and destroyed. What I needed to do now was work with my wife to build a new Temple. To start over.

Over the years, that’s what we’ve tried to do, under your authority. And things are still not the perfect way we would want them. There are still deficiencies when I compare my life to the dreams I had for it. But the truth is, life is good. A couple of days ago, my wife and I were in our couples group from church and we were going around the circle and giving our “highs and lows” from the month since we last met. My wife said that just the enjoyment we are having in each other is a high for her. It’s one of the nicest and most affirming things I could have heard. Goodness knows I want to be everything you need me to be for her sake.

Father, Holy Spirit, there will come a day when the Temple my wife and I have currently build will take damage and maybe even be destroyed. I went to a funeral for a woman yesterday who left behind a husband of 55 years. That man is going to have to start building a new Temple. I came across some people over the last few days who lost children too young. They have new Temples to build. I have another friend who has seemingly averted getting a divorce, but now the long task of Temple building under your authority is ahead of them. I have another friend whose divorce will soon be final. He has a new Temple to build as well. So my prayer for these friends, for my wife, for me, for my children, and for the rest of my family is that we will go about building the Temples you have us to build. Temples that will glorify you and see your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Temples for our good, but also for your glory. Temples that will require us to be submitted to you and molded by you as we build them. Humble Temples that will point others to you and you alone as the God of the universe.

I pray this through the ultimate new Temple/Covenant, Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 27, 2022 in Ezra

 

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“Oh, My Soul” by Casting Crowns

26 Sep

“Oh, My Soul” by Casting Crowns

Oh, my soul
Oh, how you worry
Oh, how you’re weary, from fearing you lost control
This was the one thing, you didn’t see coming
And no one would blame you, though
If you cried in private
If you tried to hide it away, so no one knows
No one will see, if you stop believing

Oh, my soul
You are not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down
‘Cause you’re not alone

Here and now
You can be honest
I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out
‘Cause this is the valley
And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones
And there will be dancing
There will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone
This much I know

Oh, my soul
You are not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down

I’m not strong enough, I can’t take anymore
(You can lay it down, you can lay it down)
And my shipwrecked faith will never get me to shore
(You can lay it down, you can lay it down)
Can He find me here
Can He keep me from going under

Oh, my soul
You’re not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down
‘Cause you’re not alone
Oh, my soul, you’re not alone

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bernie Herms / John Mark Hall

Dear God, I’m still not sure what happened yesterday. Was it good? Did I do something wrong? Did I leave something crucial out? Or was it exactly what it was supposed to be? I taught a Sunday school class on Hezekiah and his desperation in praying before you. I used “He’s My Son” by Mark Schultz as an illustration of what pleading with you looks like. It’s a song I’ve certainly prayed. I’ve ugly-cried to that song. I ugly-cried yesterday. But playing that song yesterday ended up being a trigger for some of the people in the room. Some have had their children die. Some have children in prison. Some have seen their children go through horrific physical issues that resulted in them living but with significant remnants of the disease they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Some have broken relationships with children.

I feel bad right now. Did I do the wrong thing? I know I just asked this, but it’s the question that is running around in my mind. If I were to be teaching the class next week I might continue with healing and leaning on you. What that looks like. What it doesn’t look like. One thing it doesn’t look like is just “being fine.” No, sometimes this is just going to hurt, and sometimes the hurt will never go away. Like I said yesterday, sometimes that anchor will be there, but you can use it to form us into something that we’d never have otherwise been.

The second verse of the song above is what is speaking to me this morning:

Here and now
You can be honest
I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out
‘Cause this is the valley
And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones
And there will be dancing
There will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone
This much I know

Yeah, this might never work out the way we want it to this side of heaven. But there is something you will eventually do for me. At the end of this physical life, you will breathe on my dry bones. There will be beauty made from ash and stone.

Holy Spirit, please be the comforter and counselor for each person in the class yesterday and those who were touched beyond the class. Forgive me if I missed something I should have said. Use the pain that happened yesterday for your good and the good of everyone in there. Use it as an opportunity to heal, call us to repentance, and teach us to lean into you a little harder.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 26, 2022 in Hymns and Songs

 

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“He’s My Son” by Mark Schultz

25 Sep

“He’s My Son” by Mark Schultz

Down on my knees again tonight
Hoping this prayer will turn out right
See there’s a boy that needs your help
I’ve done all that I can do myself

His mother is tired
I’m sure You can understand
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in and holds his hand
And she tries not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone
He’s My Son.

Sometimes late at night
I watch him sleep
I dream of the boy he’d like to be
I try to be strong and see him through
But God who he needs right now is You.

Let him grow old
Live life without this fear
What would I be
Living without him here?
He’s so tired and he’s so scared
Let him know that you’re there

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone
He’s My Son.

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone

Can You hear me?
Can You see him?

Please don’t leave him
He’s My Son

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Don Robey / George Hollis

Dear God, this song means a lot of complicated things to me. I’ve used it to pray for my own children. Not because they were physically ill, but because my wife and I were equally desperate for them.

As I sit here this morning, I am thinking about the hopes we have for our lives when we are young. “When I grow up I want to _____________________.” Answers can be “get married,” “have children,” “be rich,” “play professional sports,” or even “be an accountant.” Whatever it is, we all have our dreams. But then life gets in the way.

I have a niece who got married 18 months ago. In a letter I wrote her before her wedding, I encouraged her to plan more around facing life’s unexpected hurdles together than making her own plans about how life will turn out. My life, for example, overall has turned out pretty well, but there are clouds that hang over me. There are sorrows. I haven’t experienced the pain the parent in this song is experiencing, but I’ve certainly experienced considerable parental pain. I am still considering pain. I still have what feels like an anchor on me that is directing the way the ship of my life is moving. Yes, my ship might still be moving forward, but that anchor is dragging and impacting the course of my life. And I’ve prayed to you. I’ve prayed like the father in this song. I’ve prayed like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:14-19:

14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 16 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

17 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 18 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

And you’ve answered some of my prayers. Okay, you’ve answered all of my prayers, but some of your answers I’ve been able to see. My faith tells me you’ve answered the others as well. And sometimes you’re going to say, “No. No, I cannot answer the prayer the way you want it answered, but you have to trust me that I am doing things beyond what you can see or know.” That’s where the faith of Hebrews 11:1 comes in: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Holy Spirt, Jesus, Father God, please. I lay my heart before you like Hezekiah laid the letter from the Assyrians about before you. It feels hopeless. It is hopeless in my own power. I have no control over anyone or anything. But you can move the heart of Nebuchadezzar and use him for your purposes. You can certainly move my heart to be what you need me to be. You can move others as well. Please work all things for good. I’ve prayed this so many times. Even though I cannot see what you are doing, I pray that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hezekiah decided to ignore the practices of his father and submit himself to you. I’m sure he had dreams of what his kingdom would be like when he took over. How things would run. How his army would be tough. But his kingdom didn’t work out as he thought. Many of the cities of Judah fell under his watch. He paid a tribute to Assyria to get them to go away, but they didn’t go away. He was left with nothing but you. That’s where I am right now. I’m left with nothing but you. And my desires are very selfish. I’m not praying over an entire country. I’m simply praying over the people who mean the most in the world to me. But maybe that’s just as important to you as well. I guess I’ll end with this: I really do love you.

Thank you for allowing me to pray all of this to you through Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 25, 2022 in Hymns and Songs

 

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