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Jonah 1:1-3

22 Oct

1 The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

Jonah 1:1-3

Dear God, I’m teaching on Jonah coming up. I was inspired by the Catholic Old Testament readings a couple of weeks ago, so I’m going to do Jonah one week and Habakkuk the next for the two weeks I’m teaching. So I thought I’d go back and spend some more time with these stories and marinade in them a bit as I put together my lessons.

With that said, I’m stopping quickly in the narrative this week because I have two things that strike me in these three verses.

  1. Why did you even care about Nineveh and its repentance in the first place.
  2. I didn’t appreciate Jonah’s run from you until I looked at a map and figured out where he started from, where he went to, and where you were sending him.

So, why Nineveh? They were Assyrians. They were the capital of Assyria. They Assyrians were Israel’s biggest Gentile enemy at the time. What were you doing? The truth is, I don’t know. I’m not sure if there are other examples of you sending prophets to Gentiles in the Old Testament, telling them to repent. Okay, I just Googled it, and apparently Obadiah and Nahum got this kind of assignment as well. I’ll need to read those later to see if there is a similar thread. My initial wondering was a more strategic one than just about your mercy. “Maybe you were softening their hearts towards Israel through their repentance before you and worship of you.” But hey, maybe you just loved them. I’ll need to look into this more.

The next is simply Jonah’s run. I didn’t understand that Tarshish was on the Atlantic side of the Spanish coast.

He might have gone to Joppa and just said, “How far does this boat go?” I also didn’t appreciate how far away Nineveh was from Jonah’s home. He really, really didn’t want to help these Gentiles.

The biblical commentary I was reading pointed out that Jonah didn’t believe you were for non-Israelites. Gentiles need not apply for your mercy or grace. Isn’t it funny how our nature is to be so tribal? What is it in your insecurity that drives us to want to separate ourselves from others?

Father, this was a good start. I’ll look into Obadiah and Nahum a little more today and get their stories. But in the meantime, keep me loving others. Help me to love my “enemies.” Help me to be willing to give my life for all.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 22, 2025 in Jonah

 

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Luke 12:35-38

21 Oct

35 “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 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. 37 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! 38 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, what does it look like to be ready? Am I ready? How do I get myself ready?

The first word that comes to mind is perseverance. I once heard Gary Thomas say during a Sacred Marriage presentation that one of the keys to anything in the Christian life is perseverance. He said that he never hears sermons on it, but it’s critical.

So what does perseverance look like in a life well-lived? First, starting with the spiritual aspect of my life, it means disciplining myself to find this time with you. It also means doing the other things I determined were the least I need to do each day/week to live a life that is complete in you.

  • Do my prayer journals each day
  • Give at least 10% of our income
  • Listen to outside Bible teaching at least once a week
  • Spend quality time with my wife every day
  • Stay sexually pure
  • Volunteer and serve others outside of my job
  • Stay in touch weekly with my male friends
  • Exercise at least four times a week
  • Serve my wife

Coming up with that list almost 14 months ago has been a great thing for me. It has really helped me to be accountable to you on the things I must persevere through in order to be “ready” for your return or when I meet you through death. The only way I will die at peace is not through accomplishing things, but through having persevered in doing at least these minimum things plus the other joys you have put into my life that add on to them like teaching/writing, being part of a church community, listening to Christian music/podcasts, etc.

Father, I have some work to do this morning that combines a “have to” (volunteering) and a “get to” (teaching). I need to finish preparing my lesson for the Christian Men’s Life Skills class tonight. Be with me as I finish this process. Plant seeds through me. Prepare the hearts of the men to hear your word, take it, and let it grow in their hearts. Give me one word that might bless someone there tonight. And do what you need to do in me as well. And I pray for my co-teachers for tonight, my coworkers today, and how I interact with all of them. Be powerful. Be loving. Be merciful. In me. To me. Through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 21, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 12:13-21

20 Oct

13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 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. 19 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!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “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’ve been stewing on something I read on Facebook yesterday. Yes, I got on Facebook and I regret it. But it’s interesting. This man was showing a picture of himself protesting against the “No Kings” protestors in our town and, of course, it got a lot of responses. The comment that caught my eye was the man’s answer to a question about one of the flags he was carrying. He said, “It is the Crusader flag. To me it represents militant Christianity.” I was kind of taken aback and surprised no one had commented on the phrase “militant Christianity.” I don’t want to get into a public debate with this man, but I’m considering private-messaging him and asking him to unpack those two words for me a little. To me it’s not that far off from the parable Jesus describes here of accumulating possessions for yourself. The person in the parable is making his possessions fulfill his need for certainty. If certainty is the idol then the possessions are a representation of his idol. I think the same can be said for political power and influence. If my certainty is bending the will of others so they will make decisions that make me feel safer then controlling them becomes my idol. And how do I do that? Through “militant Christianity” I suppose.

But here I am. I’m just a guy who loves you. And while I want to convince people that a life lived for you is the best way to go, I want to do it for their sake and not mine. And so if they don’t follow what I want, I can still love them and wait for the opportunity to once again invite them through the narrow gate. And if the whole world ultimately turns against me and I have nothing left then so be it. My job today is to worship you as best as I can, with everything I have, and then love everyone in my path. To offer mercy and be a peacemaker. To comfort the mourning and bless the poor in spirit. To accept any persecution on your account that comes my way. To raise the standard on myself and not just accept the 10 commandments, but look to see what they represent in my heart and go to that level with them. To trust you for what I need. To pray well. To intentionally choose to walk through the narrow gate. This is who I want to be today.

Father, help me today. You know some of the prayer requests on my heart. I have a couple of things that have burdened me all weekend, and I need you to intervene. I need you to guide my conversations. I need your help to live up to the ideal I just prayed in the last paragraph. Be with me, sweet Jesus. Be with me, Holy Spirit. Be with me, Father God.

I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2025 in Luke

 

Luke 18:1-8

19 Oct

18 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

Luke 18:1-8

Dear God, I have a couple of things I’ve prayed about for years and years, and they haven’t been answered in the way I want them to be answered. Why not?!? I put that exclamation point in their intentionally even though I don’t really mean it. I’ve prayed about you not giving me the answer I want before, so I don’t want to go there. What I’ve finally come to is that answering my prayer the way I want it answered would either not be the best for the people I’m praying for or for myself.

So, in relation to this parable, that leaves me with continuing to pray. Continuing to bring my heart to you. But I shouldn’t just pray for what I want. I should let your Holy Spirit mold my prayers into looking for what is best for those I love and for your plan regardless of what it costs me. And that is where I am, at least in this moment. I’m leaning into Acts 20:24 (I consider my life worth nothing to me…). I’m here to do your bidding. You aren’t here to do mine. Yours isn’t to figure out how you can indulge my selfishness. Yours is to love me and offer me relationship with you and then eternity with you, and to accomplish everything you can through my life in the meantime.

Father, as I sit here now, I ask that you not let the pain and sorrows of my life be wasted. Use them. Use them for your good in the world. Use them for those I love, to draw them into you and help them lead whole lives in relationship with you. Use them to mold me into the man you are calling me to be. My wife and I were talking about Moses raising his staff during Joshua’s battle with the Amalekites. When the staff dropped the Amalekites had the advantage. But when your staff in Moses’s hands was high the Israelites had the advantage. Why? Because it was your reminder to them that their victories were about you and not them. So help me to remember that everything good is from you and everything that is a challenge is not of you but you want to walk with me and support me through it. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 19, 2025 in Luke

 

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Leadership

18 Oct

Dear God, I am supposed to be helping teach a class on leadership this coming Tuesday. I’m puzzling over it a little. As I think about the definition of leadership and examples of leadership (both good and bad) in the Bible, I wonder how I should really approach this with the men in the class on Tuesday.

Here are the Bible stories that have disjointedly occurred to me:

  • David and Goliath: Young David setting the example for the older soldiers and Saul.
  • David and the two opportunities he had to kill Saul.
  • David leading his men with the intent to kill Nabal (example of bad leadership).
  • David honoring Israel’s anointed king (both Saul and then Ishbosheth).
  • David not dealing with Amnon’s rape of Tamar (example of bad leadership).
  • Naomi leading her daughters-in-law after their husbands die.

I could go on and on with Old Testament examples, but David is a nice mix of good and bad. When it comes to the New Testament, the gospels give several examples:

  • Herod’s killing of the innocents (example of bad leadership).
  • Joseph caring for Mary and Jesus regardless of what it cost him.
  • James and John wanting to sit at Jesus’s right and left hand in heaven (example of bad leadership).
  • Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.
  • Jesus telling James and John not to cast down fire on the Samaritans.
  • Jesus helping Martha understand what’s important.

Again, I could go on and on–especially about Jesus. Yeah, there are zero examples of bad leadership from Jesus. How could there be?

Father, help me to prepare to teach this class, and teach me through this. I’ve been struggling with my own leadership at work lately, and I feel like I could use these lessons as much as anyone. Give me ears to hear and eyes to see. Be glorified through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 18, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Luke 12:1-7; Romans 4:1-8

17 Oct

12 Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!

4 “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. 5 But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.

6 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Luke 12:1-7

Dear God, duplicity is such an interesting thing. Being on thing behind closed doors and another thing in public. Hypocrisy. It’s so easy. We want so badly for people to think well of us because we want to be liked and admired. I still have that in me although I’ve tried to wrangle it out of myself. But the more I look to you as my source of self-worth the more I let go of my public image and make my private life reflect who you want me to be because you are with me all the time. So the more I figure out how to find my worth in you the more my hypocrisy shrinks.

I want to also take a moment to look at the other New Testament reading for the church today. It is Romans 4:1-8:

4 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

4 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. 5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. 6 David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

7 “Oh, what joy for those
    whose disobedience is forgiven,
    whose sins are put out of sight.
8 Yes, what joy for those
    whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”

It’s all about faith over obedience. Love for you over achievement for ourselves. Abraham did some terrible things. So did Jacob. So did David. But here they are, pillars of your people’s history? Why? Not their works. It was their faith. Honestly, I still don’t quite get Jacob, but that’s up to you, not me.

Father, help me to lean into my faith in you today. You know I’m still working through some tricky things at work. Help me to know how to be a blessing to each person who needs me there. Help me to be a blessing to those whom you love (which is everyone). Help me to worship you well. Help me to love my wife and children well. Help me to be the man you need me to be.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 17, 2025 in Luke, Romans

 

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Luke 11:45-54

16 Oct

45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. 47 What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. 48 But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’

50 “As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world— 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.

52 “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

53 As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. 54 They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.

Luke 11:45-54

Dear God, I’ve said many times that, if I had been there 2,000 years ago I can see in myself the kind of person who would have been against Jesus. I wouldn’t have trusted him. I wouldn’t have believed he was the Messiah. If I literally saw or even heard about some of the miracles, then maybe I could have been swung around, but I am slow to accept new paradigms, and Jesus was teaching a whole new paradigm.

So I have two thoughts this morning as I read this passage. First, thank you for protecting me from myself and my own pessimism by having me born now and not then. Second, help me to know who to trust and who to oppose now. There are different teachers who teach very different things. They all carry your mantle, but they can’t all be right because some are diametrically opposed to each other. Okay, I know that none of us are completely right. Even the best of us have problems in our theology somewhere because you are simply too big for our human minds to know completely. So lead me to the teaching you want me to have, speak to me in these times and at other times throughout the day and show me the way you have for me, and help me to just humbly love others and not teach any heresy when I have an opportunity to speak to others about you.

Father, I’ve been thinking the last couple of days about compassion fatigue and wondering if we aren’t all just boiling in the pot a little. If our collective societal psyche isn’t damaged and warping our sense of reality. And I think it’s affecting all of us. It’s making our patients more irritable. It’s making our staff and volunteers more irritable. I think it’s affected my overall outlook. It’s made me feel more tired and discouraged than I probably should be. So bless us as we are poor in Spirit. Comfort us. Make us peacemakers. Help us to receive and extend mercy. Help us to not fight against persecution for your name’s sake, but delight in it.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 16, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:42-46

15 Oct

42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.

Luke 11:42-46

Dear God, I’ve had a frustration rolling around in my head over the last 12 or so hours that my first temptation is to take these verses and apply them to the people who are frustrating me, making them the Pharisees and experts in the law and me, well…, Jesus. Okay, even on the face of it, that is absurd. But one thing you’ve taught me to do when I read a biblical story that includes clear delineations between good people and bad people is that I need to first consider that I might be the bad guy in the story. How am I like the Pharisee or expert in the law? Does Jesus have an admonition and correction for me in his words here?

So let me start with the idea that I might be missing the important things. Are there important things I’m missing? And how do we define important? I might tend to think of great political policies as important. I might even think of programs in our city that could help the poor. That could be important (and I think on Jesus’s “important scale” that might be closer to important than the political policy issues). But maybe the most important is the person right in front of me and their need. Am I missing them.

Here’s an example that you just brought to mind. There was an elderly woman in our clinic yesterday. She was there for a dental appointment. She was frustrated that she paid $30 for her first visit in over a year, which by policy was an exam and x-ray only when it’s been that long since a visit, and now she was having to pay another $30 for a separate visit, which was a cleaning. She mentioned that she only had $37 left in her account. We told her she could owe us for the cleaning, but she was still upset she was being charged at all and clearly frustrated. I felt badly for her, but I let her go on her way. I was a little annoyed at how abrupt she was with the staff so my compassion meter got turned down a bit. Now, as I sit here, I’m wondering whether we missed an opportunity to help her. Should we have taken a beat to talk to her about her financial issues and talk with her about resources in the community available to her–utility assistance, food, financial counselors, etc.? Did I miss what’s important?

Father, I am sorry for missing that opportunity yesterday along with so many others. Help me to have real eyes to see and ears to hear what is important. Help me to love. Help me to also re-think our policy and question how we charge patients for their appointments. And find this woman today. Meet her where she is. Help her. I think of the widow and her mite. If this woman is another version of her, help us to be part of your blessing to her.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 15, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:37-41

14 Oct

37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

Luke 11:37-41

Dear God, I’ll admit it can be hard to figure out which rules I’m supposed to follow and which ones I’m not. First, let’s be clear, Jesus was walking into a situation where he knew he was being set up. He knew he was going to have to argue about something. Did he do this so he could set the stage for the argument he wanted to have? Did he intentionally violate the handwashing ceremony so he could launch into the cleanliness of the heart? If so, it’s pretty clever (of course it was clever–it was Jesus).

I think about the things that we do that grieve you and vs. the things we focus on. I think about the parts of Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus does the list of “You have heard it said ______, but I say ______” as he references hate/murder, lust/adultery, etc. Then I think about the things the church is fixated on today. On the LGBTQ+ issue, for example, what would Jesus say? “You have heard it said, ‘Don’t like with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable,’ but I say, ‘If you don’t love your wife as I love you then you are detestable.” That’s just an absolute guess made for effect, but I can’t help but Jesus’s target in the LGBTQ+ issue would be the accusers more than the accused. Heterosexual married couples are grieving your heart as much as anyone. I have grieved you sexually as much as anyone. And that’s just one example.

Father, as I go through this day, and as I prepare to teach the Christian Men’s Life Skills class tonight on Motivation, help me to be loving and not judgmental. These men are all guilty of some crime and this class is part of their sentence. They need to see you in me tonight. They need to see both your grace and your “Go and sin no more.” Help me to be that deliverer. Help the men leading tonight to be those deliverers as well. Prepare hearts to be yours. Prepare hearts for the seeds you are planting. Give us the seeds and help us to sow them generously. And teach me through the other men there tonight as well. Let your Spirit reign in my place of work, in my home, in my vehicle, and in that place tonight. And also thank you for answering our prayers from yesterday. Thank you, Father, for everything–even what I cannot see.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:29-36

13 Oct

29 As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.

31 “The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 32 The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.

33 “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.

34 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness. 35 Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. 36 If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”

Luke 11:29-36

Dear God, I need to remember to repent well. Do I? Do I have some areas of my life that I’d just rather not think about? Or that I’ve accepted as good enough to make it through until death? Are there corners of darkness I refuse to light? Is there dirt behind some of the furniture of my soul that I refuse to move the furniture so I can clean? Am I just clean enough for appearances, but I still have some vices that rob me of the life you have for me and the world for what you might want to do through me?

I want to pray that I want you to come in a reveal every part to me and cleanse me. I want to say that, but I’m afraid to. Am I really ready to go to that level with you. I’m 55 years old. I’ve been following you earnestly since I was 17. Nearly 40 years. I’ve gotten very comfortable with the level I’m at? Are you calling me to still another level?

Father, as I read this passage, I thought about going a number of ways. I thought about wondering what if Jonah had embraced his mission to Nineveh as Jesus did to all of us? And I was thankful that Jesus didn’t ultimately take Jonah’s position and try to run from us and then get bitter when you forgave us in repentance. But instead of praying that, I found myself praying about the dark corners of my heart. So I’m going to go ahead and say it and mean it. Reveal to me the areas of my heart that need to be addressed. As I sit here, I’m not sure what they are, but I have some thoughts. Give me a heart that is ready to deal with them and walk 100% after you with nothing dark so that you might radiantly shine through me. And for good measure, I have a relative who is getting some important medical information today. Oh, my Jesus. Oh, Father. Oh, Holy Spirit. Be with her and her husband today. Love them. Encourage them. Guide them. Heal her. Make her body completely whole. And use the pain and the strain to mold them into your vessels even more than they already are. They have hearts for you. Find them in this moment and help them to find you. Give them a ministry they’d never have otherwise had. But in this moment, Father, I ask that you heal.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 13, 2025 in Luke

 

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