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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

 

Matthew 6:9-13

12 Mar

Matthew 6:9-13 [NLT]
9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.

Dear God, it’s interesting to compare the different Bible translations for the Lord’s Prayer. Subtle word changes can make a difference. I normally use either the New Living Translation or the New American Standard. In this case, I’ve put the NLT above.

I want to start this by putting some other versions below. Let’s start with the one a lot of us know by heart–the King James Version:

King James Version

9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Then I want to look at the most popular version when I was a kid, the NIV:

New International Version

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

And finally, for some variety, The Message:

The Message

With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

A couple of interesting things. First, for whatever reason, the KJV adds “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.” Where did that come from? Not that I disagree, but the others don’t have that at all.

I also think The Message is a radical departure from the others, and I don’t like it. I think Mr. Peterson changed too much to make it contemporary. Having tried to take some old English texts and translate them into modern English, I can appreciate how hard this is. That being said, I think he went too far afield from what is meant.

The part about “trespasses,” “debts,” and “sins” is interesting. Of course, most of us learned trespasses, but I never understood that as a child. I had a pastor in middle school and high school that used “sins.” I like that better.

With all of that said, when I am in church and saying the prayer, here is what I say. And I pray this to you now:

My Father, who is in Heaven
Hallowed (I’ve never found a better word than that) be your name
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Give me this day my daily bread
And forgive me of my sins,
As I forgive those who sin against me
And lead me not into temptation,
But deliver me from evil
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
Now and forever.

I pray all of this by the power of the blood of the man, your son, who taught me to pray it,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 12, 2019 in Matthew

 

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Taking a Tour of the Valley

11 Mar

Emails to God from July 21, 2012

Dear God, one of the benefits of doing a prayer journal is getting to go back and revisit a previous time in my life through more than just my memory. I don’t do it nearly enough, and today’s prayer journal makes me think I should do it more.

In this case, yesterday, I was thinking about the song “Mountain of God” by Third Day and I wondered if I had ever done a journal about it before. It turns out I had. It was July 21, 2012. That date immediately meant something to me. I now know it as the beginning of a five-year valley with my wife and children. I have often thought about that summer and some of the things that happened, including starting counseling with a therapist, and how it set the stage for what was to come.

Of course, at that point, I had no idea what was to come, how hard it would be, or how deep the valley would get. But it’s interesting to see how I expressed my faith in you at the time, and gratifying to be able to look back and see what you have done and what you have taught me. I made a lot of mistakes while I was in that particular valley. I continue to make them. I’m sorry for that. But I am also grateful that, while there were times when I was desperate and in tears, I never felt alone.

Father, I can almost never figure out what you are teaching me in real time, but I can sometimes get a glimpse of it in retrospect. Help me to learn what you need me to learn, understand what you need me to understand, and grow how you need me to grow. Be glorified in me and help me life to count for your glory in the lives of others.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 11, 2019 in Hymns and Songs, Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

The Temptation of Christ — Matthew 4:1-4

09 Mar

IMG_1704
This image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The image was created by Matthew L. Clark.

Matthew 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 

Dear God, I might or might not have noticed this before, but this morning what strikes me about this passage is the fact that the Spirit appears to Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism, and then it is the Spirit that leads him into the wilderness to be tempted. You didn’t shield him from temptation. You actually led him into it so that he could learn and be stronger.

That’s one of the hardest things to understand as a parent. Where is the line between protecting our child and getting in the way of the lessons they need to learn for later in life? And it changes with every age. There are the early stages when they reach for an electrical outlet and we physically prevent it because they cannot understand. Then there is the phase where we warn them with words, but sometimes they disobey us and get hurt anyway. And then there are the times when they are adults that we offer them our love, but we also offer them tough love and truth (not that tough love isn’t appropriate during the earlier parts as well).

In the spirit of looking at the art that Ned Bustard put with these Bible stories in Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-ups, I want to spend some time with the artist who did a piece about this picture and see what he/she noticed that I might have missed or interpreted differently. In this case, Matthew L. Clark did this piece called “Temptation.”

So what do I notice in this piece?

  • Jesus looks pretty haggard. I’m not sure that I’ve ever thought about what he would look like after being in the wilderness for 40 days with no food, but I suppose he wouldn’t have looked like the pretty pictures of him I saw in Sunday school. This is a good point by the artist.
  • This image focuses only on the first temptation. The first words at the top are not explicitly said by Satan, but they carry that feeling of self pity that we all get from time to time. Self pity is the root of a lot of sin. “I have the right.” “I deserve better.” “How dare you?!?” In this case, Clark is suggesting that part of Jesus’ temptation is the idea that he might be questioning what all of this is for. “Why did the Spirit lead me out here for 40 days to do this?” “Is this suffering necessary?”
  • The words “Stones” and “Bread” set the stage for the temptation Clark is addressing. It’s hunger, but he is also suggesting in the first one that it’s also about doubting you and doubting the Spirit.
  • I couldn’t tell what the image is at the top of the top speech bubble. In the description, it is apparently batwings. It is to indicate that this is not scripture. Clark says he took the line from Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • I wondered what Satan is wearing in the picture. Is he a king? Again, thankfully, Clark gives us an explanation. He has Satan appearing to tempt Jesus as a Jewish holy man. Someone whom he should trust. How many times have I been led astray by those I trusted? How many times have I led others astray who trusted me

Finally, here is what Clark has to say about his piece:

I think an important thing not to overlook here is the fact that this was a real temptation. Jesus had to really be tempted if this episode was to have any significant meaning. As such, I tried to show him emaciated and weak. At least physically weak. I have no idea if forty days of fasting leaves one spiritually weakened or strengthened. But I assume it would be immediately weakening or Satan would not have chosen that time to act.”

Father, I will face temptations today. Help me to recognize them when they come. Help me to renounce self pity and embrace the work you have given me to do today. Guide my heart into the channel of your will for me regardless of its benefits or costs to me. And help me to know how to parent my grown children. Help me to not do anything that will get in the way of what you are trying to do in their lives. Love them richly. Love my wife as well and help me to know how you need me to love her. Again, do all of this for your glory, your plan, and so that your will and kingdom will come to earth.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 

 
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Posted by on March 9, 2019 in Matthew, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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What makes something precious?

08 Mar

“It was a different kind of impoverishment for men who had found fellowship in commiseration. Their ‘living thing’ with all its quirks, foibles and peculiarities had become a predictable commodity.”
Fred Smith — “A Living Thing“

 

Dear God, I read Fred Smith’s weekly blog this week, and, as is not unusual, I found something in it that I want to chew on with you for a while. It revolves around this quote I pulled from it and pasted above.

It’s interesting to try and ascribe a rationale for what makes something precious to me. Why do I like what I like, love what I love, and do what I do?

I’ve often wondered what it is about the knowledge that there are two individuals out there who are my children, and that knowledge makes them mean something different to me than anyone else in the world. When they were little and performing on stage, my eye almost never left them. Not because they were that different than the other children (although, of course I thought they were the most talented) but because they were mine. I loved them and I wanted them to see what they had to show the world. I think when it comes down to it, there is something in my brain that triggers and says this person is special to me. They are my child. They are my responsibility. I’m sure you buried that down somewhere deep in me–in all of us. And like the Jaguar owners in Fred’s piece, we get to sit around the Sunday school classes, or workplaces, or dinners with friends and commiserate on how hard parenting is.

There are other things that are precious to me. My wife tops the list. In fact, she is in a special place that even my children don’t quite sit in. I chose her (as she chose me). While my children will always be my children, even if we are out of relationship, my wife and I continue to be married by choice. I’ve had the opportunity to watch her perform on stage as well, and I can say that my eye followed her the whole time too, even though she was pretty much used as a prop on the stage. But what makes her precious? I met her when she was 18 and I was 19. We fell in love (only you know why we had a special chemistry that caused that to happen), but we’ve both changed a lot since then. Staying in love and staying together means rooting for the other, even at our own expense. It means giving the other space to struggle and grow. It means dedication.

I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m really coming up with an answer to my question, “What makes something precious?” When I list the things that are precious to me, my first thoughts go to my wife and children, but then they go to my job and the work you’ve given me to do. They go really to my own life and trying to make sure that, as small and insignificant as it might be in the grand scheme of things, it is used to maximize your will being done and your kingdom coming to earth as it is in heaven. And in the spirit of Fred’s piece about his dad and the Jaguar, I have to admit that the little car I bought a year and a half ago is my most precious material possession. I love that little thing. Not because I get to enjoy it with others. In fact, I enjoy it the most when I am by myself, top down, music loud, and the RPMs between 4,000 and 6,000. But I love that car.

Father, I have a lot of work to do today. Help me to identify what is important to do next. Sometimes it will be the thing that is precious. Sometimes it will be the thing that it hard and not enjoyable. And help me to not put any of those precious things before my love and devotion to you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 

 
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Posted by on March 8, 2019 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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“Thy Word” (Psalm 119:105) by Amy Grant

07 Mar

“Thy Word” by Amy Grant

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid,
Think I’ve lost my way,
Still you’re there right beside me.
And nothing will I fear
As long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus be my guide,
And hold me to your side,
I will love you to the end.
Nothing will I fear as long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,
And a light unto my path.
You’re the light unto my path.

Songwriters: Amy Grant / Amy Grant Gill / Michael W. Smith / Michael Whitaker Smith

 

Dear God, I opened up YouTube this morning and ran across some concert footage of Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith performing this song. I think this was originally released on the Straight Ahead album around 35 years ago. Of course, it is based on Psalm 119:105. It’s interesting to note how much the two artists got from that one verse. I guess that’s kind of what I do with these prayer journals. I read your scripture and then see where your Spirit takes me from there.

Baylor University has four statements written on the top of its administration building, Pat Neff Hall, and this verse is one of the statements. “Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet.”  I need to live that out today and every day.

Then there are the verses of the song that encapsulate what making that verse of scripture a part of our lives look like

  • When I feel afraid…
  • Nothing will I fear…
  • I will not forget…
  • Jesus be my guide…
  •  Nothing will I fear… (I never noticed this is in there twice.)

Father, I have a lot happening around me at work, and I’ll confess that there are times when I am afraid, but I try to remember to cling to my faith and believe that I have nothing to fear as long as you are near. I’ll confess that I do sometimes forget and that my heart wanders, but you teach me continuously how to be held to your side. Please be near me till the end.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 7, 2019 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms

 

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Matthew 6:1-6

06 Mar

Matthew 6:1-6 [NLT]
1 “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Dear God, every time I have ever journaled on this passage, it has always been weird for me because I am doing it through a public prayer journal. I’ll admit that there are times when I stop and check my spirit to see if I am doing this for the approval of others or for their encouragement. I THINK it’s the latter. I certainly hope and pray that that is the case.

Another thing as a nonprofit that solicits donations from people is how I treat those donations, and what kinds of motivations I give to people for giving to our agency. The same is true for my wife and me and how we do our giving. Personally, I think it is a positive for the nonprofit when they put someone’s name on a donor list because it is like an endorsement from that donor that says that the donor believes enough in the organization to give money to it. When my wife and I give to a nonprofit, I certainly want that nonprofit to use my gift to its maximum effectiveness, and I think part of that is listing somewhere that I am a donor to them.

Now I am uncomfortable with getting into “donor levels.” One thing I’ve done in the past is asked a nonprofit that separates donations by size in their listings to list my wife and I in the lowest category regardless of how much we gave. I don’t want it to necessarily be known how much I gave, but I do want people to know that we support that nonprofit.

Father, I guess it all comes down to motives and why I do this. I’ll confess that I look at the statistics for this blog and look to see how many visits it gets. I can imagine that it would become a real ego problem for me if I felt like the people reading it knew who I was, but I am usually as anonymous to them as they are to me. But I do pray that the posting of these prayer journals is a witness to others. I pray that they will see the importance of spending time in scripture and prayer. I pray that they will be encouraged by the honest prayers of someone who is just trying to figure out my path by holding your hand through the bad times and the good. I pray that they will also be drawn into spending their own time meditating on scripture and seeking you with all of their strength, heart, mind, and soul.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2019 in Matthew

 

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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“Peace” by Rich Mullins

04 Mar

“Peace” by Rich Mullins

Though we’re strangers, still I love you
I love you more than your mask
And you know you have to trust this to be true
And I know that’s much to ask
But lay down your fears, come and join this feast
He has called us here, you and me

And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls
This drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In the Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

And though I love you, still we’re strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still His light shines in the dark
And His outstretched arms are still strong enough to reach
Behind these prison bars to set us free

So may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Like those little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the draught has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In the Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

Songwriters: David Strasser / Richard Mullins

Dear God, I was thinking about the potentially tumultuous day I have ahead of me today, and I thought of this song. I need your peace to fall on me today and then flow through me. I need it to fall on everyone at the office. I need it to fall on the patients and volunteers. I need it to fall on the staff. Peace. Peace of Christ.

What does “peace of Christ” look like? Well, it’s hard to explain because it is the peace that passes understanding. I cannot describe what the peace of Christ looks like, but I do know some things about it. First, it can get angry because Jesus did get angry. It also looks beyond the surface of others and sees them with your eyes. It comes from loving you with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving our neighbor as myself. It will help me to die to my rights and what makes me comfortable if it means doing what you’ve called me to do, and being truly okay with it.

Father, I am really going to need your wisdom, discernment, strength, and peace today. I submit myself to you and ask that you please be with me. Help me to be firm, but gentle. Help me to do something that is for your good and, ultimately, the good of everyone involved.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 4, 2019 in Hymns and Songs

 

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1 Corinthians 15:50-58

03 Mar

1 Corinthians 15:50-58
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[a] this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Dear God, I prayed a few days ago about friends who are having health issues. Well, I have a couple to add to the list. One guy is about my age (40s) and just got diagnosed with cancer. I don’t know what kind, but he said on social media that is responds well to treatment.

I saw a Facebook post from him today that said all of the things that I would hope I would say in the face of, maybe not death, but certainly a difficult road of treatments ahead. He talked about his faith in you. He talked about his peace. He talked about the greatest commandments of loving you and loving others. It was really perfect. I am also sure that these times of faith will ebb and flow. His faith will probably be challenged and there will be moments where his words on social media will seem to him like someone else wrote them.

As I read this passage, I am thinking about him. I want you to please plant the seeds of those words deep into his heart so that they will truly grow and completely fill him.

I have other friends who are facing the imminent death of a parent. There is one in particular who is on my heart right now. Please be with his mother, his father, his siblings, him, and his entire family. These are all people of faith. Help them to truly embody the stingless-ness of death. Help them to feel your victory. Help them to find the path forward for their surviving parent. Help them, oh Lord.

Father, I give you praise, glory, and honor for all of this. Please be very present. As your eyes move to and fro throughout the earth, strongly support those whose hearts are completely yours (2 Chronicles 16:9).

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2019 in 1 Corinthians, 2 Chronicles

 

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