RSS

Tag Archives: Prayer

Emails to God – Prophecy & Encouragement (Matthew 17:22-23)

06 Mar

22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

Dear God, sometimes you keep us on a need-to-know basis (for our own good), and sometimes the path becomes apparent. But I go back to what my dad said once about prophecy. He said, “Prophecy isn’t as much about us knowing the future now, but about us knowing that God is in control as the future unveils itself.” In this case, Jesus was doing his best to let the disciples know what was going to happen so that they would have some string of hope to hold onto after he was killed.

As for Jesus, I am sure that his time with Elijah and Moses in the Transfiguration plays into this somehow. Were they confirming for him that what he felt was going to happen was really going to happen? Or were they just encouraging him as he faced the last lap of his earthly life? I have a feeling that Jesus knew what was going to happen so he didn’t need that confirmed. I think that God allowed Jesus to spend some time with Moses and Elijah so that Jesus could feel their encouragement.

There are times when you send me encouragement. I talked about it yesterday. There was another time, almost exactly a year ago, when I was concerned about an aspect of my marriage. My wife and I were worshipping at different churches because I had a mental barrier regarding going to the denomination she attended. She had started going there, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Thankfully, I was having breakfast with a friend on Friday morning and I was telling him about how I was feeling a distance between my wife and me. His admonishment to me was that I needed to “suck it up and go to church with my wife.” That was excellent advice. I followed it, and we have been attending together ever since. That whole experience taught me the importance of not only worshipping with my wife but also having someone in my life besides her who you can use to encourage and advise me.

Father, help me to hear your words through others. Give me the words for others and speak to them through me. I found out late yesterday about a man who passed away over the weekend. He was a patient at our clinic who we sent to specialists, but eventually advised to go on hospice. I feel bad for his family. I feel like I should find a way to reach out to them today, but I’m not sure what to do. I hope that you will provide them comfort and direction. Help them to feel your love for them and draw them into you through this experience.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 6, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Emails to God – Why Don’t I Fast More? (Matthew 17:14-21)

05 Mar

14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [21]

Dear God, Mark’s telling of this story includes the line about this kind only coming out through prayer and fasting. Why don’t I fast more? I can tell you that every time I have fasted I have seen you move.

The most recent time was about two months ago. I was facing a funding crisis for a project on a Monday that would cost a lot of money. I was overwhelmed and distraught. So I decided to do something I haven’t done in a while and take a day to fast and pray about the situation. I did so the next day (Tuesday). The first thing that happened was that a large donor called me out of the blue on that very day and told me that he was thinking about us and the situation and to let him know if we need anything. Basically, he was good for a chunk of it. Then I contacted two different foundations who know us. They each told me that they would be willing to get us 1/3 of it. Then on Friday I talked to a fourth resource who told me that they would help. So, within four days I had nearly all of the money lined up. Why? Because I was so brilliant? No. I am convinced it is because I took the time to fast and pray, asking you to intervene in a big way—which you graciously did. I even emailed the first man and told him how you used him in my life.

Father, there are other things that I should fast and pray for. The leadoff hitter is probably my kids. They are teenagers and need your protection. I need to fast and pray for them. My marriage is approaching the 20-year mark, and I need to spend more time fasting for it. I have friends who are struggling. I need to fast and pray about that. Our organization at work is still facing formidable challenges. I need to fast and pray about that as well. So I commit to you that I will do that. I am going to pick a day that week to fast and pray to you so that you will be glorified in all of these areas of my life.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 5, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – When Life Just Feels Bigger Than You (Matthew 17:1-13)

01 Mar

1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Dear God, it can be so hard to understand what is going on around us at any given time. The stories of two different people come to mind.

The first is a news story I watched this morning about a man who moved to The Sudan with Samaritan’s Purse nine years ago. Now, Samaritan’s Purse has evacuated and he resigned from the organization so that he can stay. He married a local woman and can’t stand the thought of abandoning these people to war while he retreats to the safety of the United States. I admire this man’s convictions, love, and loyalty. I wonder how much of what you are doing in his life he really understands. I’m not saying he isn’t doing your will. I’m sure he is. I’m just saying that life must seem so much bigger than he can handle sometimes.

Then there is a friend who is a missionary overseas. I received a newsletter from him and his wife last night. Frankly, his wife, in the article she wrote, seems depressed. I don’t think she likes the city where they live and I think that other aspects of her life are overwhelming her. Raising her children. Supporting her husband. Missing her family. A lack of ability to use her own gifts. It feels like it is too much. She is trying to make sense of it. In her article, she says that she is seeking you and what you have for her in this time. She doesn’t use these words, but, reading between the lines, she seems to be crying out to you and begging you to get her through this.

Verses 10-13 make me think of all of this because the disciples had a lot of stuff going on around them that they didn’t and couldn’t understand. There is no way they could grasp the scope of what was happening. They didn’t realize that they were part of a plan that would launch your plan for the whole world for thousands of years. They didn’t realize that I would be reading about them thousands of years later. They didn’t realize that there would be churches all over the world named after them. It was just too big for them to understand.

Father, I pray for both of the people I mentioned above. For this man that I do not know, use him to end the war in The Sudan. Love him and his family. Comfort them. Protect them. But please use him. Do not let his sacrifice be in vain. I also pray for my friend and his wife. I am sure that he feels as helpless to help his wife as she feels to help herself. Give them guidance and counsel. Help them to emerge from this in a way that makes them stronger with you and more fulfilled in their lives. Unite them together and protect their marriage. Give them hope.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 1, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Jesus Resisting Peter’s Temptation (Matthew 16:21-28)

29 Feb

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Dear God, Jesus’ reaction in verse 23 reveals a little of the strain that He must have been under. There must have been a part of Him that said, “You know, Peter has a point here. This shouldn’t happen to me,” because He responds to Peter as if this is a temptation. Then He goes on to say that it is suffering that lays ahead for all of them. He tells them that following Him means denying themselves.

Frankly, it is a relief to know that Jesus faced temptations. It is nice to know that there were things that He dreaded and had to will Himself to do. Sure, He was facing much more horrible rejection, pain, and suffering than I ever will, but it is still nice to know that part of His humanity was a temptation to take the easier path.

Father, help me to be willing to take the uneasy path. Help me to turn loose of my own wants and desires and embrace you and everything you need from me. My life is worth so much to you, and yet my comfort is worth so much less than I think it should be. So help me to feel your rich love for me and accept whatever path you have for me with joy and peace.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 29, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Finding Comfort in Peter’s Weaknesses (Matthew 16:13-20)

28 Feb

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Dear God, what I love about verses 18 and 19 is that they are about a man who is so flawed and made terrible mistakes, up to and including denying Jesus on the night of his betrayal. Peter didn’t have to be perfect to get this blessing, proclamation, or position. From what I can tell, he just had to be earnest and have a little bit of faith (see walking on the water a little earlier).

There are times when I know that you love me, accept me, and have saved me. But I do often wonder if you can really use me. Can you use someone who can be so timid? Can you use someone who has vices? Can you use someone who forgets to love when he should, judges others too readily, can be so self-centered? In looking at this story with Peter, I think the answer is, “Yes, I can. Just be earnest about loving me and I will use you in spite of yourself.”

Father, I lay my life before you. You have put me in a position of influence, and I want to strongly influence the events that surround me with your wisdom and for your glory. Give me the wisdom to make the right decisions and the courage to use the influence I have to see that those decisions come to pass. Love others through me. Forgive me of my sin. Be glorified in all that I do, even when I fail.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 28, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Have I Allowed the Yeast of the Pharisees in My Life? (Matthew 16:5-12)

27 Feb

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Dear God, I love how obtuse the disciples are in this story. I know that I wouldn’t have done any better than they did in these situations. When Jesus asked a question, I would likely have been the quiet one in the back.

I wonder if the disciples were already feeling bad about the bread and having left it behind when Jesus made his comment. Perhaps that is why they went there when he warned them about the yeast and the Pharisees and Sadducees. They had no idea what he was talking about so they came up with the bread issue. Maybe they thought Jesus was trying to comfort them about having left the bread behind. But that wasn’t it at all. He was trying to let them know that the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees were dangerous because they will grow into something much bigger than they start out, and, in this case, the teaching is wrong and can lead to a lot of misunderstanding of God.

Father, help me to understand when I hear bad teaching and when I hear good teaching. I am sure that I have already taken a lot of bad teaching into my heart and allowed it to grow as yeast grows dough. Help me to figure out where I am a heretic, and then help me to remove those parts of my theology and/or philosophy. Help me to be open to your guidance. Help me to repent quickly and embrace your holiness.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – What Are My Intentions? (Matthew 16:1-4)

25 Feb

1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Dear God, I don’t think the Pharisees and Sadducees thought through it this carefully, but it would have been interesting to ask them two questions:

  • Why are you testing Jesus?
  • What answer can He give that will satisfy you?

I think they could come up with an answer to the first one pretty easily. It would be something like, “We are trying to determine if he is, in fact, the Messiah.” That is what they would SAY. I think the real answer is that they just knew he was NOT the Messiah and they were looking for a way to prove it. They thought that there just had to be a way to discredit this guy.

Regarding my second question, I don’t think they had a clue. They didn’t know what they were looking for. They just knew they would know it when they heard it

There are times in my life when I am asking questions that I don’t really know what I am looking for. I’ll be trying to implement a rule or come up with a punishment for my children, but sometimes it is an arbitrary rule that maybe my parents came up with when I was a kid because their parents came up with it when they were kids. Or perhaps I will be at work and decide to do a fundraising event or enforce a policy because that is the way we have always done it instead of questioning why we are doing it and what the end will be.

A good example of this is collecting data for our diabetic patients and how they are doing. In the past we have felt this need to track how our diabetes patients, as a whole, are doing in managing their disease. Then when the numbers would come back we would always feel like failures because, being a charitable clinic that serves low-income uninsured people, we found that so many of them were not mentally or emotionally capable of managing their disease. So what good were the numbers doing us? We weren’t using them to apply for a government grant. No one was auditing us for them. We finally decided that we were wasting energy on calculating the data because there wasn’t much we could do about it aggregately anyway.

Father, help me to be discerning about the different decisions I make. Reveal to me when I am being foolish and help me to critically look at my expectations of myself, my wife, my children, and my business. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Give me a sense of your vision and goals for the different areas in my life so that I will spend my energy on the things that are above and not the things below.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 25, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Jesus, How are You Going to Pull this Off? (Matthew 15:29-39)

23 Feb

29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

Dear God, Matthew treats the disciples better than Mark does in the telling of the feeding stories. Mark (which some say is Peter’s version of the Gospel in his telling it to Mark) tends to make the disciples sound a little whiney as they look for excuses to send the people away. In Matthew’s telling, however, they just seem to be a little confused as to how Jesus is going to pull this off.

Being a dad has been the biggest challenge of my life so far. I not nearly as good at it as I thought I would be. I have found that I can be too critical and not encouraging enough. I can also focus on the wrong things as priorities for them. For example, (and I’m going to be intentionally vague here to protect their privacy) there is one character trait that one of them doesn’t have that has really bugged me. I have been totally unsuccessful in trying to bring this trait out no matter what I try. At the same time, I am still praying to you regularly for this child and how they will develop. Well, yesterday, I read an article about some kids who respond incorrectly when they have this trait and it ends up causing another completely different problem. Frankly, I’ve seen a propensity in this child to possibly develop this problem, and in reading the article that if I had been successful in bring this trait out in my child then they might be going down this other road. In essence, I left the article wondering if you hadn’t done my child a huge favor by not answering my prayers in the way I wanted.

Father, much like the disciples didn’t know how you would end up feeding those people, I don’t know how you will eventually work in my children’s lives. All I know is that my deepest heart’s desire is for them to submit themselves to you and love you. All else is irrelevant when compared with that. So please help my children through me and in spite of me. Multiply the fish and the loaves that I try to give them into something that you can use in their lives. Use others in their lives as well. Raise up people through whom you will counsel them and bless them. Unite my wife and me together in our parenting. Unite us in every other way too.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 23, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Emails to God – A Humble and Grateful Gentile (Matthew 15:21-28)

22 Feb

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep ofIsrael.”

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Dear God, I wish I understood the geography better. I see that this woman was from the region where Jesus was visiting, yet he seemed to be able to easily tell that she was not Jewish. What is interesting is that I have always read verse 24 as being directed at the woman, but it almost implies here that he was speaking to the disciples. Hmmm.

But by the time the woman gets in front of him he has a very frank conversation with her. I have journaled on this passage before, and my take now is the same as my take then. I think Jesus was interested in helping her, but only if she really believed and was willing to exhibit her faith in God. In verse 27, her response includes the idea that you are the master, the Jewish nation is your table, and she acknowledges that she is a dog under it. She showed him that she wasn’t just there to “use” him for a miracle for her daughter, but that there was a brokenness in her that included submission to you.

It is interesting to see people who come to our charitable clinic. Some are haughty and arrogant. They are rude and entitled. The staff and volunteers are often caught off guard by these folks. Don’t they realize the gift they are receiving from the community? How can they be so ungrateful? Then there are the others who are truly grateful. They stop me in the store, pull me aside and thank me for what we have done for them. They ask to come into my office to express their gratitude. The encouragement that their words give me is amazing.

Father, help me to be like these grateful patients when I interact with you. Help me to be the kind of blessing to you that they are to me. Help me to remember the blessings you give to me and to count them one by one, the greatest of which is to be able to sit here right now and communicate with you. Thank you for my children. Thank you for my wife. Thank you for my parents. Thank you for my job. I am grateful to have these opportunities to serve others and to feel your affection in return through my labors of love. Help me to learn from the humility and gratitude of this Gentile woman so that my wife will be made complete in your peace.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on February 22, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Jesus, Do You Realize You Offended Them? (Matthew 15:1-20)

21 Feb

1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Dear God, I love how Jesus was trying to make a point to the Pharisees and teach his disciples a principle at the same time, and yet the disciples seem to be wondering just how astute Jesus is. After Jesus goes on his rant “the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” I love that. They must have been so puzzled by Jesus. They must have been wondering, “How can He talk to them this way? Doesn’t he know he is going to get in trouble?” Then some of them might have thought, “Hmm. Maybe He is so in tune with God that He is obtuse when it comes to how people hear what He says.

If I were rating my top five weaknesses in my Christian walk I would say that the fear of offending people definitely makes the list. I want to be liked. I don’t want to push someone too far. I don’t want to do something that might make them feel uncomfortable. Most to the point—I don’t want to do something that might make them not like me.

Father, as someone who raises money for a living I try to stay uncontroversial because I never know whose money I might send away with a controversial statement. At the same time, even when I didn’t raise money for a living I steered away from controversy. I guess I can’t blame that. So I guess my prayer is that I ask you to show me where I am failing you. As lent starts tomorrow, use it to truly purify my heart. Help me to repent of the things that I do against you and turn from them in a real way. Help me to grow over the next several weeks. Use them to make me the husband, father, employee, employer, son, brother, and friend you need me to be.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →