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Leviticus 19:1-18

23 Feb

19 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

3 “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.

4 “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you will be accepted by God. 6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.

9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.

11 “Do not steal.

“Do not deceive or cheat one another.

12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.

13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.

14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.

15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.

16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.

“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.

17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:1-18

Dear God, when I read the Old Testament reading for the Church this morning, it made me think of the poster from years ago: “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.”

Sure, this advice isn’t exactly the same, but your commands are basically that we be good people and treat people well. It makes me wonder what kind of commands followers of Baal wrote down as from him. What does the Quran say we should do? Are there any other Gods that simply call us to be good people? It seems like what I hear about the other ancient religions of this time is that they celebrate selfishness. The god is selfish and it encourages the people to be selfish. I don’t know this for a fact, but it seems like passages like this are what set you apart from what the world is calling me to. What my idols are calling me to. My idols tell me to max out my bank accounts and keep my money for myself. My idols tell me to get my wife to meet all my needs. My idols tell me to look to my government for safety and security and my children and job for self-esteem.

Father, you tell me to just worship you and be nice. Do the right thing. Do the right thing by you. Do the right thing by others. Be on the lookout for how I might serve. And I’ll be the first to say that I miss a lot of opportunities to love you and love others. I’m sorry for that. Help me to be better today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2026 in Leviticus

 

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Romans 5:12-21

22 Feb

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. 15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

20 God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. 21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:12-21

Dear God, would I be willing to give up sin for Lent? Not would I be able to, but would I be willing to even if I could?

My wife and I were talking yesterday about the idea of giving up lying for Lent. It was kind of a joke, but I started to think about whether or not I’d be willing to tell zero lies for the next six weeks. As I sit here right now, would I be willing to commit to total and complete honesty? No little white lies about how great of a job someone did when maybe they didn’t, or how much I enjoyed something that I thougth was meh. No selective truth about what I want someone to know and obscuring what I don’t want them to know. No lies of omission? And that’s just lying. Coveting. Hate. Lust. Not only can I give up every sin in my life, but am I willing to try?

Then there’s Jesus. Jesus denied himself and the temptations Satan threw at him, but he was also more about being one with you and he let that be the driver of who he was and the actions he took and how he thought about people than he was about disciplining himself to not sin. Going back to the quote I mentioned a few days ago, “The pure in heart should be known more for their God-attentiveness than their sin-avoidance.”

Father, Jesus was not only redemption for us and a contrast with Adam, but he was also an example for us of what it looks like to be yours. So help me to be yours today. Help me to love others well and love them through the things that frustrate me. Even the things that have hurt me. Even now as I type these things I find myself thinking about ways I’ve been hurt and getting angry. Help me to deal with this anger in a healthy way and love through it. Love beyond it. There’s an appropriateness to anger. We can use it to help us know where to build boundaries and inform our decisions for the future, but there’s no room for bitterness in it. Help me to let go of my bitterness and simply worship you through it, remembering there are plenty of things I’ve done to anger others. Going to the verses for today from Psalm 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, in your good ness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2026 in Romans

 

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Isaiah 58:1-9a

21 Feb

58 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
    Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2     Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
    and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
    that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
    pretending they want to be near me.
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
    ‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
    and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.
    “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
    you keep oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting
    when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
    will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves
    by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
    like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
    and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
    Do you really think this will please the Lord?

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
    lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
    and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
    and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
    and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
    and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
    ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Isaiah 58:1-9a

Dear God, this is actually yesterday’s Old Testament reading, but I didn’t read it until after I had done my prayer journal yesterday morning. It’s so good. It’s so convicting!

Of course, the first thing I wanted to do when I read it was judge others. Judge some people who carry the Christian mantle but do not draw close to you. They come in your name, but they come with meanness, lies, and judgment in their hearts. Self-righteous and apart from you. And then I remembered that I’m no Disney Princess. Am I like this? Am I doing these things? Am I using you for my personal gain or am I sacrificing my personal gain for your glory? I don’t think I am, but reveal to me where I am guilty of these things. I just want you.

The next thing is what I noticed first when I saw these verses yesterday at a Friday Catholic mass. When I saw the part about the type of fasting you want–basically, loving others in need–I thought of the Pharisees getting on to Jesus about healing on the Sabbath. I wonder how they would have responded if Jesus had given them these verses from Isaiah at the time.

Father, none of this is about me. And it’s hard, especially as a modern American who really has no idea what it means to suffer, to know what doing these things looks like. Help me to see what it looks like to fast in the way you would have us fast. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the funeral I’m attending later. The family is sad and struggling, but they also have some big decisions to make about the living situation and care for one of them. That process can be full of pride and conflict, or it can be full of humility and love. I pray for humility and love.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2026 in Isaiah

 

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Finding Home

20 Feb

“Chapter 10 is about ‘home,’ and about how we’re all looking for it even if we’re running from it, and the home that awaits us that we can taste and sample now. Maybe because my relationship with ‘home’ is complicated because I grew up with a tumultuous childhood. That was the one, for me that, this chapter, I don’t think I’m done with it even though I think I’m done with it.”

Hannah Miller King on The Esau McCauley Podcast, Episode “Lent After Loss: What Christian Hope Really Looks Like”

Dear God, I was listening to The Esau McCauley Podcast for this week yesterday when I heard Hannah Miller King say the quote above. It brought me to tears. I found myself in my truck, crying and repenting. This little 60-second, if that, soundbite drilled into my heart and found a piece of pain.

I have pain around home. I have loved ones who would fit this description of looking for home in the midst of running from home. And maybe they’ve found what they’re looking for out there. But seeing the home they ran from and the pain that caused brought me to tears. I found myself praying for them. I found myself praying that they would find home and find that home in you. I prayed that they would forgive their past and be healed from it. Then I was repenting for any role I played in their pain, known or unknown. I’m not a proud man. I’m humbled before you.

I suppose that’s what the Lenten season is about. Getting to know different parts of ourselves that need to be seen, repented of, and then redeemed by you. Corrected. Eliminated. And the more transparent I am with you the more humble I’m able to be with others.

While I’m here, I suppose I should think about my own search for home. What is home, anyway? I think it’s that place where you’re supposed to feel safety and rest. And let’s face it, there aren’t many places in this world, even in the houses in which we live, where many people can say they find safety and rest there. I’m fortunate that I can say I find safety and rest here with my wife but even that is fragile. We are just one illness or accident away from losing that rest and sense of safety. We are one tragedy from outside of our home that might impact us. No, if I make this house and the life my wife and I have built my source of safety and rest then it will fail me. That idol will fail me. I can’t put that kind of pressure on her. She can be a way that you provide for my emotional sense of safety and rest, but she cannot be the source of it. And I can’t be that for her.

Father, I pray for my loved ones, that they will find their home in you. If they haven’t found you then I know they’ll be searching for home and nothing they find will ever quite satisfy. This kind of plays into what I talked about yesterday with the pure in heart being able to see you. To use the quote again, “The pure in heart should be known more for their God-attentiveness than their sin-avoidance.” I pray that it would start with me. I need to be more about attentiveness to you than a puritanical lifestyle. You will drive those things out of me. I can see you doing it. So I give over any idol worship I’ve given to these loved ones. Any sense that my home is found in them. My home is in you. Help me to live that and then share that concept with others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Matthew 5:8

19 Feb

8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.

Matthew 5:8

Dear God, I was listening to the Slow Theology podcast yesterday, and I was really struck by their discussion of this beatitude. Blessed are the pure in heart. What does it mean to be pure in heart? Does it mean to be sinless or does it mean to humble, repentant, and guileless? It’s the latter, but so many times, in the church, we act like it’s the former. We have an intolerance for sin in each other while we hide our own sin. My favorite quote from the episode was, “The pure in heart should be known more for their God-attentiveness than their sin-avoidance.” If I draw near to you then you will draw near to me.

I was at an Ash Wednesday service last night, and, for the first time, I got ashes on my forehead. I’m 55 and I’d never done that before. I can’t remember if it was before or after (I think it was after) the ashes I was having a real moment with you before communion. Your sacrifice, Jesus, of being beaten and bleeding–suffering–and then being killed for me really hit me. I had tears in my eyes. I could only whisper the Lord’s Prayer. You did that so I could draw near to you. You took care of the sin. You just wanted me. During the repentance part of the service, I examined my heart and did my best to repent. I know I missed things. How could I not? But you know the guilelessness of my heart.

Father, the more I see you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by drawing near through humility, repentance, and transparency of soul, the more I will know you. I feel like I get to know you more each day. Help me to know you better today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2026 in Matthew

 

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Joel 2:12-18

18 Feb

12 That is why the Lord says,
    “Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
    but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
    He is eager to relent and not punish.
14 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,
    sending you a blessing instead of this curse.
Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine
    to the Lord your God as before.

15 Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!
    Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together
    for a solemn meeting.
16 Gather all the people—
    the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters
    and the bride from her private room.
17 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

18 Then the Lord will pity his people
    and jealously guard the honor of his land.

Joel 2:12-18

Dear God, I want to bring you the ashes of my life this morning and ask that you redeem them into beauty (Isaiah 61:3). I want to gather with other believers and worship you. Not only today, but tomorrow and all of the tomorrows. I just want to be yours. I see how far away I am from being yours. Truly yours. But you are patient. You love me. Jesus, you did this unbelievable thing for all of us.

I was talking to my wife this morning about how we are forged through fire, and as I start Lent, I have a couple of things I am giving up for these 40 days that will make me think about you every time I think of them. If we are forged in fire, then giving up these two things for me is about the equivalent of a candle flame. But you can still use it. Oh, use it, Father. Use it to forge something new in me that you need me to grow to be.

Father, I come here this morning simply to worship you and thank you for you loving me. I love you. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Holy Spirit. I love you my Triune God. Help me to be everything you need me to be today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2026 in Joel

 

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Lent – Matthew 4:1-11

17 Feb

4 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.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
    and serve only him.’”

11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Dear God, two things occurred to me while I read these verses this morning. And they aren’t necessarily new thoughts. I’ve heard others mention them before. But I think they are worth pondering this morning.

First, the Spirit, your Holy Spirit, led Jesus into temptation. Had he been keeping temptation from Jesus for the first 30 years? Was this a new experience for Jesus? Or was it just a time of more intense temptation. No pressure, no diamonds. Did Jesus need this 40 days of fasting, praying, and listening to you/learning from you before he started his public ministry? Am I missing anything by not fasting more often and for longer periods? Do I need to pay more attention to fasting in my life? I do it selectively and for not huge periods of time. Almost always a day. Never more than three days.

Second, there was a chance Satan could have ripped part of you from yourself. If there weren’t a chance, then there wouldn’t have been temptation. But the chance was real. The temptation must have been real. Meet your personal physical need. Meet your ego need. Meet your power need. Those must have been real temptations.

Father, as I get ready to go through Lent, select something to give up, and figure out how I should be meditating and praying through this time, please guide and direct me. Give me a sense of what it is in me that you want to purge. That you know needs purging, and only the sharp claws of Aslan can rip it away (see Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Eustace). Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 17, 2026 in Matthew

 

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1 Corinthians 2:1-13

15 Feb

2 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.”

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

1 Corinthians 2:10-13

Dear God, this happens to be the New Testament reading in a lot of denominations this morning, and it fits with the rest of my morning. I’m going to be talking to a church this morning, and I’ve been turning over what I’m going to say in my head for a couple of weeks. I’ve kind of got it down into four main parts.

  • Set-up: How I started doing these prayer journals
  • Results: What happened when I started journaling through Nehemiah
  • Other examples: What happened when someone else obeyed you (starting the nonprofit where I work)
  • Call to action: How will they listen for your voice and follow you

Here’s where I’m kind of hung up. I heard a Tim Keller talk to other pastors earlier in the week where he challenged them to always bring it back to Jesus. Jesus is the part of you that reached out and brought me into right relationship with you. I can’t do this without Jesus. Jesus is the perfected me that I’m striving to be like, but who is also the savior who links me to you. In the case of my talk today, Jesus is the perfected Nehemiah. Jesus is the perfected woman who started our nonprofit. Jesus is the perfected them (the people in the sanctuary today). Jesus is the one who made the way, set the example, and is now working through the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are in him.

Father, as I go into this morning, I want to be completely dialed in on who Jesus is in all of this. I want to glorify Jesus, worship you, and help people hear your Holy Spirit and sink into it as they make moment-by-moment decisions about their lives. Help me do that. Plan through me. Speak through me. Communicate through me. Love through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2026 in 1 Corinthians

 

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“Your Love Broke Through” Keith Green

14 Feb

“Your Love Broke Through” by Keith Green

Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky
All my hopes would come tumbling down, and I never knew just why
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes
Well I’ve been blind all these wasted years and I thought I was so wise
But then you took me by surprise

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I’ve been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love broke through

All my life I’ve been searching for that crazy missing part
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone that held my heart
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again
It’s like the power of the wind

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I’ve been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love, until your love, broke through

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Keith Gordon Green / Randy Stonehill / Todd Fishkind

Dear God, I can’t believe I’ve seemingly never done a prayer journal on this song before. Not that I could find anyway. I’m surprised because it’s the first Keith Green song I remember hearing. I might have sung one or two of his other songs in church, but it’s the first time I remember hearing a song and connecting it to this guy named Keith Green.

It’s one of those great, humble songs. My wife and I were listening to it over breakfast this morning, and I just go full-body chills. Just who I am in relation to you. I’m so small. I’m so insignificant in the Kingdom of Heaven, but Jesus reached out and pulled me in. Jesus came. Jesus provided the bridge. Jesus welcomed me. He couldn’t override my will. He wouldn’t make me come to you, but he was ready for me when I was done. I’m grateful, I suppose, that my “hitting bottom” was pretty shallow. I certainly came to the end of myself pretty quickly. I guess what frustrates me so much is how tempted I am to take it back. To take my life back. To take control. To start to set my own agenda. Yeah, that frustrates me very much.

I think I’m going to spend the next few days with Keith Green and some songs. I told my wife this morning that he reminds me a lot of Rich Mullins. He didn’t have a classically great or traditional singing voice, but somehow it makes the great songwriting even better. You took both of them young. I think they were both in their late 30s. Keith died in a plane accident, and Rich died in a car accident. You took them young, you took the quickly. In some ways, I guess they went out like Elijah. For my part, I don’t care how old I am, Father, when you take me. And I guess I used to pray that you take me quickly. But that’s selfish too, I suppose. You just do with me whatever you will. My life is not my own.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2026 in Hymns and Songs

 

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1 Kings 11:26-40

13 Feb

26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim, and his mother was Zeruah, a widow.

27 This is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city of his father, David. 28 Jeroboam was a very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.

29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did.

34 “‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life. 35 But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 Because of Solomon’s sin I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.’”

40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

1 Kings 11:26-40

Dear God, I just spent too much time looking for an image on my phone. I wasn’t able to find it, but I found it in two parts on someone else’s Facebook post when I Googled it.

It basically takes all of the kings of Judah and Israel and labels them as having done right, done evil, or mixed. The first time I saw this a few years ago, I saw that, while Judah had a mixed bag of kings (with most of them doing evil), Israel itself, including Jeroboam in this story, had nothing but kings who did evil. You knew this already in this story. I thought of a line from the opening of the movie Spaceballs as I read this story this morning (paraphrasing): “Unbeknownst to Jeroboam, but knownst to us…” The conversation Ahijah had with Jeroboam that day should have been enough to scare Jeroboam into not falling away from you. But it wasn’t. And all these stories should be enough to keep me from falling away from you, but I do it time and time again. Just yesterday morning as I was reading about Solomon I found myself repenting.

There’s a Keith Green song called “I Don’t Want to Fall Away from You.”

“After all the things that you have shown me, I’d be a fool to let them slip away.” But I am a fool.

Father, once again, I’m here this morning. I always do things I shouldn’t do, but you know, Lord, I don’t want to fall away from you. Help me. My faithfulness to you is the one things you can’t force. Well, you can, but you gave me free will. I can’t pray that you will never let me slip away. That’s my choice. But I can ask that you help me. I am “prone to wander, Lord. I feel it. I’m prone to leave the God I love. If it’s possible, here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2026 in 1 Kings, Hymns and Songs

 

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