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

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.

Why We Pray

Todd R 3 Comments

Why do Christians pray, and why should they pray?  We probably pay a lot more attention to what we are praying than why, and maybe sometimes we don’t pray because we don’t think its necessary.  This may happen when we don’t know the why.

There are many reasons (many “whys”) we could think of for why Christians should pray, and here are some:

Do we pray to tell God what we want or need?  No, because the Bible tells us[1] that God already knows what we need.  He already knows everything, including knowing what we need better than we do, as our Creator.

Do we pray to convince God we are worthy and deserve His audience?  No, because on our own we are unrighteous sinners and only deserve separation from God.  Jesus has already accomplished everything we need to be able to approach God.

Do we pray so that God will love us more?  No, God’s love is based on His own character, not our actions.  He can’t love us more, and won’t love us any less, than He does.  That He gave His Son to die on the cross for us proves this.

So, why?

Before teaching His disciples how to pray using what we now call the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said to them: “Pray then like this.”[2]  We often think of the Lord’s Prayer as instruction on how to pray, but maybe miss that Jesus told His disciples to pray.  It’s something He wants us to do, and regularly.

We pray because Jesus tells us to.  “Pray then like this” said Jesus because God desires a relationship with us and a big part of that relationship should be time spent in prayer.

Thomas Becon, an English cleric and Protestant reformer in the 1500’s, wrote this about prayer[3]: “For God neither for our worthiness nor for our unworthiness heareth us; but for his commandment and promise sake. He hath commanded us to pray; therefore ought we to pray. For if we should never pray till we were worthy of ourselves before God to pray, so should we never pray: but we therefore pray, because God hath commanded us so to do. Our worthiness is the humble confession of our unworthiness; and our obedience unto the commandment of God to pray maketh us most worthy.”

Therefore, pray, and often.

“Pray without ceasing” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

[1] Matthew 6:8, 6:32, Luke 12:30
[2] Matthew 6:9a
[3] McKim, Donald K.  Everyday Prayer with the Reformers (2020).  P. 65.

Praying for Our Leaders

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King David was known as a man who sought God’s will in all things, even though he often failed.  The Psalms record many of his prayers for God to guide him and make him a good leader.  Psalm 26 is one of these prayers, and verses 8-10 include good objectives for any leader:

“O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
            and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
            nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil devices,
            and whose right hands are full of bribes.”

Sometimes we may not know how to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions,”[1] as Paul suggests, but in this cry to God, David gives us at least 3 things to pray about.  He lists qualities he wanted to pursue, and some he wanted to avoid, but which are good for any leader.  Therefore, on the model of Psalm 26, we can pray for the leaders of our countries and communities today.

We can pray for political leaders who:

  • worship God (who “love the habitation of your house”)
  • do not seek violence and vengeance (who are not “bloodthirsty men”), and
  • are not corrupted by money (whose hands are not “full of bribes”)

All leaders can use our prayers today!

[1] 1 Timothy 2:2

Jesus is the Best Fisherman

Todd R 2 Comments

During His life on earth, Jesus called 12 men to special positions as His disciples or apostles.  Out of these 12, at least 4 and possibly 7, were fishermen, a common trade at that time.  The gospels have many fishing stories, including one in Luke 5 when Jesus is about to call His first disciples.

One morning after Simon Peter and some other fishermen had been working all night without catching anything, Jesus decided to preach from Simon’s boat to the crowd that was following Him.  After teaching, Jesus told Simon: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”[1]  Simon answered: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”[2]

Simon ended up obeying, but not before objecting: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!”  Some questions may have gone through Simon’s mind: Did this travelling rabbi just tell me how to do my job?  Nighttime was the best time for fishing, and they caught nothing, so why did He tell them to try again?  Maybe Jesus, as a non-professional, didn’t know that?  Maybe the felt like “I’m the expert here!”

However, Jesus knew what He was doing because when they obeyed, “they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.”  There were so many fish that, they “filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.”[3]

One lesson of this story is that Jesus can perform miracles by controlling nature.  Another is that Jesus had an unlimited ability to help Simon and the others do their jobs!  And if Jesus was better than professional fisherman at fishing, what does that mean for other jobs?  Jesus always knows better than we do about any job!

So, whether you’ve had a productive day, or you feel like you’ve “toiled all night and took nothing” don’t hesitate to ask Jesus for career advice! As Simon (later known as Peter) wrote in his own letter, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

[1] Luke 5:4b
[2] Luke 5:5
[3] Luke 5:6-7