Tag Prayer

Don’t Leave Love Letters Unopened

Todd R 2 Comments
Photo by John Jennings on Unsplash

An old friend used to encourage me to read the Bible every day, and his reasoning was: “The Bible is 66 love letters from God.  If you got a love letter from any other person, would you put off reading it?”  It took many years before I really took this to heart, but I always remembered it. 

Dear fellow travelers,

I pass along that story, but I’ll also add more to it.  The best times are not when we just read these letters.  Devotions aren’t just lessons, memorization exercises, a disciplinary action, or a time to pay your dues so you can get on with your day.  They are time spent with Someone who loves you more than anything, and who wants you to love and trust Him more than anything.  Treat Him as you would treat an honored guest, because He is really there with you.

Think of it this way – How often do you get to spend time with someone who fulfills 1 Cor 13:4-7 perfectly?

Someone who is patient and kind; who does not envy or boast; is not arrogant or rude. Who does not insist on His own way; is not irritable or resentful; does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [1]

Nobody else we see today will be nearly as good to us.

We all miss days, even weeks or longer, but He is patient and kind.  We can try again tomorrow or later today, and He will be there.

[1] This paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 was suggested in a devotional: “August 30.” James Montgomery Boice and Marion Clark. Come to the Waters: Daily Bible Devotions for Spiritual Refreshment.  (2017).  It was also the basis of a prior post, Jesus is Patient and Kind Even When I am Not

Promises of Life, Godliness, and Excellence

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” – 2 Peter 1:3-4

We do not, and cannot, depend on our own merit to convince God to love us, therefore:
“This consolation I would wish all Christians in their prayers: the testimony of a good conscience to assure them of God’s promises. But to obtain what they ask must only depend upon him, all opinion and thought of our own justice being laid aside.” – John Knox

Today in prayer, seek His power in His promises.  He wants us to have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” and He is faithful.

Post inspired by McKim, Donald K.  Everyday Prayer with the Reformers (2020).  P. 115.

The Sovereign Over Our Blessings

Todd R 1 Comment

40 years after God first made a covenant with Israel, promising to be their God and bless them if they would love and obey Him, the covenant had to be renewed.  Israel had been led through wilderness for decades after refusing to enter the Promised Land, but Moses eventually gathered them again to finally cross the Jordan River and take the Land.  Moses prepared them by renewing the covenant, but before that, Moses reviewed blessings and curses from God that would come with obedience or disobedience.

We know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”[1] and therefore any blessing is an act of grace because only Jesus lived a life of full obedience.  However, the choices of the ancient Israelites, and modern people, have consequences, and these blessings and curses carry a lesson about God’s sovereignty.  God would not make promises or threats that He is unable to carry out and therefore He must have the power and control to deliver on all of them.  Consider these parallel verses in Deuteronomy 28 showing God’s control over…

…all places, rural or urban:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.” (verse 3)
“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.”  (verse 16)

…reproductive and agricultural success:
“Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.”  (verse 4)
“Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.”  (verse 18)

…military success:
“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”  (verse 7)
“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”  (verse 25)

…the weather and its related benefits:
“The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.”  (verse 12a)
“And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.  The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.”  (verse 23-24)

There are further curses, without parallel blessings, where God is declared as sovereign over…

…disease:
“The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.  The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.”  (verse 21-22)

…human psychology:
“The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind.” (verse 28)

…nature, including the smallest worms and crickets:
“You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.”  (verse 39)
“The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.”  (verse 42)

…and even over the fates of nations:
“The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand.” (verse 49)

As we know, Israel was eventually carried away into captivity by Assyria in 722 B.C., and Judah to Babylonia in 586 B.C. because of their ongoing unfaithfulness to God, however God fulfilled His covenant through Jesus Christ, descended from the tribe of Judah, centuries after they returned from Babylonian exile.  In Christ, people from all nations can be His people, and He will be their God.

We are all in exile, sojourning on this earth, but our God, sovereign over all, has Promised a new Land, a new heaven and a new earth, and we know He is faithful, even if it takes centuries.  Therefore, praise God for the blessings He gives His people in all of the areas under His control, which is everything!

Nothing escapes His notice and nothing is beneath Him to be concerned about.  Pray for His blessings in all areas of life, no matter how large or small.

Amen.

[1] Romans 3:23

Let God Speak to Your Inner Wilderness

Todd R 1 Comment

John the Baptist announced the coming of Jesus, baptized Him, and led the way for His ministry to begin.  This John was identified with “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight’”[1] prophesied in Isaiah 40:3-5, which says:

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
            make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
            and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
            and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
            and all flesh shall see it together,
            for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”

Is Isaiah talking about a massive, miraculous geological event, creating an easier route for Jesus to take to His kingdom?  Perhaps in the future something like this will happen, but I think Isaiah is saying that God’s power over nature is a symbol of His power to reform and perfect us into the character of His Son Jesus.

Before Jesus comes into our lives, we are a spiritual wilderness full of uneven ground and rough places.  The path of our salvation begins in this wilderness, an unorganized chaos of thoughts and desires.  We are like “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”  However, the power of the LORD enters our low valleys – our guilty secrets, shame and depression – which will be raised up.  It progresses through our mountains and hills – areas of pride, self-sufficiency, and our desire for power – which will be made low.  God, with the same power that created the universe, removes all obstacles to the coming of His kingdom to us, and to the world.  He has given us His word, His Spirit, and fellow believers to strengthen us, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”  (Ephesians 4:13-14)

John the Baptist called his followers to confession and repentance.  In announcing the coming of the kingdom of God, John anticipated a time when our internal and external wildernesses will become a paradise.  Until then, we each have different hills and valleys, different uneven and rough areas.  Until then, the world remains full of false doctrine, cunning, craftiness and deceit.

Today, pray that the powerful voice of our LORD will reach into your wilderness and remove obstacles on the path to His kingdom.  Pray that His word and His Spirit will reveal His glory.  Pray that all believers will answer the call of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” to build up His church.

Amen.

[1] Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Matthew 4:3.

God Wants to Hear Everything

Todd R 1 Comment

Not everyone has a good friend they can talk to anything about at any time.  But we always have God.  As David tells us in Psalm 62:8 –

“Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah”

When do we need a refuge?  When we have troubles.  He wants to hear from us at all times and strengthen and guide us.  Martin Luther, commenting on the verse, wrote:

“Strength fades, courage fails; God remains firm.  If you are lacking something, well, here is good advice: ‘Pour out your heart before him’ Voice your complaint freely, and do not conceal anything from him.  Regardless of what it is, just throw it in a pile before him, as you open your heart completely to a good friend. He wants to hear it, and he wants to give you his aid and counsel. Do not be bashful before him. Out with everything.”[1]

The word Selah at the end of the verse is mysterious, but many believe it is a signal to pause and reflect.  What do you want to “throw in a pile before him” now?

[1] Quoted in McKim, Donald K.  Everyday Prayer with the Reformers (2020).  P. 37.