Breathe Deeply

Genesis 2:7—And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The very ability to breathe is a gift from God—in fact, it is the first gift He gave to man and in so giving He created life.  We ought to cherish each breath we take, but we so often take our breaths for granted.  They are reflexive after all—we don’t even have to think about breathing because we just do it.  If we take a moment to pause and focus on our breath, though, we begin to see life from a new perspective and we can even spark change in our lives by simply focusing on our breath.  For example, if we are feeling angry and we take a few deep breaths we can infuse our bodies with peace and calm.  If we are feeling sad and crying, regulating our breath can help to calm us down.  Deep breaths can also refresh us and make us feel more alert.  When we stop to honor our breath we are simultaneously honoring God by showing reverence to the first gift He gave to us. In developing a more intimate relationship with God, we ought to cultivate a practice of deep, measured, and rhythmic breathing to tune our spirits with His.

Today as you meditate on His Word, listen to your breath and practice breathing in deeply and slowly until your whole body fills up.  Then release that breath completely.  Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your breath and make His presence known with every breath you take.  Envision God breathing life into you with each breath, just like He did at the very start of creation.  Praise God for blessing you with the gift of breath and pledge to honor His gift every moment of each day.

Why Did He Choose Me?

Ephesians 2:8-9—For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Do you ever stop in the middle of your day and thank God for just being God?  Do you ever wonder why the Creator of the Universe would choose you, would choose of any of us?  Why does He desire relationship with us?  When you stop to ponder the magnificence of His ways, do you see the beautiful mosaic He has created of your life?  Glorious is His masterful weaving together of light and dark, hard and soft.  His perfect prismatic vision sees goodness and light even in the darkest corners of our souls.  His beautiful design is to cherish and turn that inside out.  He is perfect and brilliant.  What man could have possibly dreamt of such a happily serendipitous way for His Creation to worship and bring Him honor and glory.  We don’t have to earn His love and forgiveness—He has already given it.  We couldn’t earn it, even if we tried.  But God turned His favor forever toward His Creation through His Precious Son to give us the gift of eternal salvation.

Today, as you pray and meditate on His Word, thank God for the gift of His favor.  Praise His Holy Name.  Rejoice in His Gift of a Savior, His Holy Son, who came to this Earth to experience life as a human being and to suffer for all of our sins.  Worship Him today as you pause from whatever it is you are doing to acknowledge His Greatness and the wonder of His love for you.  

Love--the Only Weapon Against Evil

Romans 12:19-21—Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It can be challenging to pour out love on our enemies because inside of ourselves we are feeling tons of negative emotions like anger, fear, or hate.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to learn not to be defined by the emotions that we are feeling.  We can acknowledge those emotions, and then make the choice not to label ourselves as that emotion.  We can choose to act in love, even when we feel hate.  We can choose to act compassionately, even when we feel afraid.  We can do all these things because we are filled with Christ’s love and He promises to care for us.  We have no reason to fear, be angry, or hate because God is always with us and He conquers all.  By choosing to love, we benefit our own spirits by overcoming the negative emotions and making space for peace in our hearts.  There is an external benefit, too, though.  Jesus has told us that in loving others and treating them with kindness we “heap burning coals on” the heads of our enemies.  What does this mean?  Put another way, it means that evil cannot survive in the face of love—love destroys evil.  Love is the only thing that can overcome evil, you see.  Hate feeds evil.  Anger makes evil thrive.  All negative emotions are like fertilizer for evil.  So if we let our negative emotions take over, we are making it worse on ourselves and on the world by growing evil.  But if we turn up our love, evil cannot survive, and we make the world a better place for all.  Love is the only extinguisher of evil.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, consider any negative emotions you have been feeling lately.  Write down those emotions and the causes of those emotions.  Pray over the list and ask God to take up those matters on your behalf and heal your heart.  Write down ways you can show love toward those situations despite your negative feelings.  Pray for strength from the Holy Spirit to infuse this world with love to overcome evil.

Fear and Knowledge

Proverbs 1:7—The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

“Fear” in the context of this proverb really has nothing to do with what we commonly think of as fear—that distressing emotion associated with danger, evil, pain, or threats.  Rather, fear in this context refers to an awe and reverence for the Lord God.  It has much more to do with a feeling of respect for His Great Power to command the Universe.  The Bible teaches us that developing awe, reverence, and respect for the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  When we are humbled by our contemplation of the vast glory of God, He begins to reveal Himself to us in marvelous ways.  We are infused with knowledge even beyond human comprehension because in our worship of God He fills us up with knowledge of His Ways. When we seek God, we seek wisdom and overcome the foolhardy ways of the world.  We cannot sit idly by secure in worldly wisdom once God’s Wisdom and Knowledge is open to us.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, worship God for revealing Himself to you and desiring a personal relationship with you.  Praise His Almighty Name and declare your reverence for His Awesome Power, Might, and Love. Pray that He would infuse you with Divine Wisdom and Knowledge that you might be a worthy witness for Him on this earth.

Be Impeccable with Your Word

James 3:9-10—With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Words are powerful.  Just think back to how God created the world – He spoke.  And before anything even existed, there was the Word.  God created us in His own image, and He uniquely gave us the gift of words as a method of communication.  So often, though, we abuse this gift and do not use it as God would have us use it.  We often speak out of anger and frustration. Our selfish motivations cause us to say words that hurt other people.  As Christians, we are called to become increasingly aware of our tongue so that we become impeccable in our words.  What I mean by “impeccable” is “without sin” so that we are not hurting others or ourselves in a way that creates distance from God.  Every human being, even those we may not like so much, is created in God’s image, and we must never forget that the power of our words should not be used to harm any creature, especially one created in God’s image. To be sure, controlling our tongues isn’t about becoming a Pollyanna who doesn’t ever deal with the negative things that do happen in our world.  Rather, it is about choosing what we say and how we say it so that we build each other up in Christ’s love.  Sometimes we must simply practice saying, “I have no words.”

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, thank God for creating us in His image and empowering us with the gift of words.  Offer yourself as His faithful servant and pray that He would guide you in learning how to control your tongue.  Ask Him to help you practice saying, “I have no words,” during those times when the tongue should simply be silent.  Pray also that He would fill you with the words He would have you say so that you can lift up your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ’s love.

Nothing Can Separate Us

Romans 8:38-39—For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What amazing assurance this Scripture gives us.  To be sure, there are times in our lives when we might question God’s plan.  We might even question if God is really nearby.  But God’s promises endure forever, and He has promised to abide with us and in us.  We cannot ever be separated from Him once we accept Him into our hearts because there is no power strong enough to break His Love for us.  During those times when we question His Plans and we cannot understand His Ways, we must rely on our faith and trust that He is in control.  We can rest confidently knowing that nothing can ever separate us from our Creator.

Today as you pray and meditate on this passage, declare your faith in the Lord and offer prayers of thanksgiving for His steadfast presence in you.  Praise His Name and worship His Abiding Spirit by declaring His Divine Dependability.  Thank Him for protecting you, leading you, and making you part of His Plan for creation.  Ask Him to use you as He sees fit and to continue wrapping you up in His Protective Power.

Be Spontaneous

James 4:13-14—Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

This Scripture reminds us to live in the moment.  Sometimes it is easy for us to get so caught up in our own plans for our lives that we forget to listen to God’s plan for us.  But in the grand scheme of things, our plans are so meaningless.  As humans we sometimes think we are really in control of everything that is happening to us.  The reality is, though, that God is in full control.  Our job is to listen to His Call and honor Him by pursuing Him above all else.  Each day, we are blessed with opportunities to connect with God and with each other in new and more meaningful ways.  When we allow ourselves to be open to pursuing the opportunities that God has placed before us, we trust Him to carry us into a more intimate relationship with Him. 

Today as you pray and meditate on this Scripture, humble yourself before God.  Call on Him to lead your path.  Place all your personal wants and desires before Him and surrender yourself to His Call.  Pray for His Holy Spirit to speak to you and guide you through each moment of every day.

Turn Down the Volume!

Exodus 33:11—The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Moses to be so tuned into God that they spoke face to face, as friends do?  Have you ever audibly heard the voice of God, not just in your heart or mind, but out loud like a friend is whispering in your ear?  These days, we do not often hear about God speaking to anyone out loud.  And if we have occasion to hear of it, we tend to think the person making the claim suffers some sort of mental illness.  We know that God is steadfast and does not change, although our understanding of who He is certainly may change over time as we grow in His Love.  So, I believe that God still desires to speak to us out loud, and He may even be speaking to us out loud without us even realizing it.  Think about those ancient days when no one was distracted by television, internet, telephones, and other modern technology.  They spent time with each other and in nature.  The world was much more quiet. If we turn down the volume in our world, do you think we could hear God speak out loud?

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, find quiet by turning off the technology all around you.  Pray that God would quiet the chatter in your mind.  Lift up praise to God and ask Him to speak to you like He spoke to Moses.  Declare your faith in Him and commit hearing His Voice in your life.

Practice Stillness to Overcome Adversity

Psalm 46:10—He says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

This verse is one of those short easy ones to commit to memory, but is it one that you have ever taken the time to think about deeply?  What does it really mean, and how are we supposed to be still and know that God is God?  This morning as I was practicing yoga, we came to the midway point in class where we get a two-minute savasana.  Savasana means “corpse pose,” and we all lie on our mats very still and very quiet for two minutes.  Some people think this is the hardest pose of the class because it is so difficult to lay still both in body and mind.  What the teacher said today brought this verse to mind instantly—she said, “Everything in this class is about overcoming adversity.  It’s hot, you are pushing and pulling your body to do things you don’t normally do, and your mind is telling you all the while that you can’t do it.  Savasana is the time to practice being still.  You have to practice being still so that you can overcome adversity.”  God promises us that He is always with us—He is the one who carries us through every trial and triumph—He is the One who helps us overcome adversity.  What’s more, without Him our existence is meaningless.  So, we must practice stillness.  We must practice quieting down our minds and relaxing our bodies so that we can truly know God.  He is ready to reveal Himself to us—we are the only thing standing in the way.  Through stillness, we can intimately come to know our God who conquers all adversity.

Today as you meditate and pray, concentrate on stillness.  Find a place of quiet, even if it is only for two minutes.  Quiet every thought in your mind and every movement in your body.  Speak to God and tell Him that you are prepared to hear Him.  Praise Him through you meditation of stillness and shut down the chatter in your mind so that you can hear Him as He speaks to you.  Worship God through peaceful stillness.

Love-More than a Feeling

1 John 3:17-18—How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?  Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

The older I get, the more I realize love is not about a feeling—it’s an action.  We don’t have to know or even like someone to show them love—we can be kind, offer help to the needy, or lend a listening ear.  Conversely, when we separate ourselves from others, we are the opposite of love.  Have you ever seen someone who is in a dark place?  Maybe they are having financial difficulties and dealing with a bankruptcy or foreclosure.  Perhaps they are dealing with an addiction.  Or maybe they are enduring some other “consequence” of their life decisions.  As Christians, we must resist the urge to blame and judge.  We must resist the urge to label the other person as something less than who we are.  We can show love to others when we see them as simply a person. And let’s face it—we all need to be shown love.  By thinking about love as an action, we can choose to take action to be a source of love in our communities.

Today as you pray and meditate, lift up praise to our God who is love.  Thank Him for loving us and sending His Son as an example of true love on Earth so that we would know how to love one another.  Open your heart and pray that He would fill you with love for all those around you.  Ask Him to show you opportunities to actively love others throughout this week.  

Are Your Actions Enough for God?

Luke 10:38-42—As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary was rewarded for choosing substance over form, relationship over work.  In this story, we learn a great lesson about what our Lord God really values, and how that is so different than what humans often value.  As humans, we tend to measure each other’s worth by acts, but that is not God’s way.  God values personal relationship far more than acts because, let’s face it, God doesn’t need us to do anything for him.  This scene gives us a lot of insight into what God expects from us.  Martha was running around doing all the work of entertaining guests while Mary was spending time with the guest. Not only was Martha physically separated from her guest, but she was also frustrated that her sister had left her to do all the work.  She was not filled with joy at hosting Jesus—she was annoyed at having been left to do all the physical work.  Jesus’ response to her must have felt harsh and unappreciative.  After all, she was doing all this work for Him.  I think the point He

was trying to make though, is that her attentions were focused on the wrong thing and she was missing out on the true treasure—having Jesus there in the flesh.  Like Martha, we can get annoyed when we feel abandoned to do all the grunt work, and we also build expectations about the work we and others should be doing.  But Jesus tells us our central focus should be on relationship.  Our challenge each day is to prevent human expectations from dictating our behavior and interfering with our relationship with God.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, thank God for creating you to be in relationship with Him.  Praise Him for loving you. Pray that God would send His Holy Spirit to abide in you and remove all obstacles to personal relationship with Him.

Here Comes the Sun

Psalm 145:1-7—I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

It can be easy for us to get caught up in the ordinary routines of our daily lives.  Psalm 145 reminds us to continually marvel at the majesty and splendor of God and His Creation.  There are so many mysteries that we cannot even yet fathom, even after millennia of learning from our ancestors.  Yes, we know more today than the ancients could have fathomed, but what we know doesn’t even come close to the true greatness of Our Lord and Savior.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, take a moment to marvel at the beauty of the world around you.  Rejoice in the magnificence of the sunshine—be filled with awe at the very waking of day.  Praise the Lord for sharing His Creativity, Majesty, and Splendor with you.  

Soar like an Eagle

Isaiah 40:31—but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

This passage of Scripture has always been one of my favorites.  I memorized it early in my youth, and I have learned at least three different songs centered around these words.  It wasn’t until about 3 years ago, though, that I really understood what it meant to mount up with wings like eagles.  Sure, I got the main idea that God will always be there for us and that when we lean on Him we can do all things because He gives us the strength and power to accomplish it all.  But I never really understood how we gained this strength until I was talking with a friend a few years ago.  She had been reading a non-religious book that explained how eagles are the highest flying birds.  She was telling me how amazing it is that during storms, eagles actually get to their highest heights because the thermal energy produced by the storm engages their wings and lifts them higher than they could go without the storm.  They fly completely over the storm and begin to descend again once they are past that thermal energy.  As she was describing this phenomenon to me, this Bible verse immediately popped into my head and I exclaimed to her “that’s what God tries to tell us in Isaiah!”  It’s not just that God will help us to fly high—he will use whatever storm is swirling around us to lift us up above it, carry us over, and give us newfound perspective until we are past the storm.  Sure, we might feel some turbulence from the thermal energy, but it is nothing as bad as passing through the middle of the storm.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, take a moment to worship Him through song by listening to They Shall Soar Like Eagles.  Thank God for using the storms around you to lift you up and carry you over.  Praise Him for his steadfastness in strengthening you to be the best you He intended.   Isaiah 40:31—but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Direct My Path, O Lord!

Tuesday: Psalm 5:8-11—Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—make your way straight before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Have you ever felt like you have been labeled a target for someone else’s shooting practice?  Are there times when you have tried to be a peacemaker and attempted to do the right thing, yet you are personally attacked and accused of malicious motives? The prayer of David written down as Psalm 5 shows us that David, too, felt attacked at times in his life.  Yes, we can take comfort in knowing that we are not the first to experience adversity or the threat of the Enemy.  We can also learn from his prayer so that we are better equipped to handle the adversity that comes into our lives.  David prayed for God to lead him down a path of righteousness.  He prayed for his enemies’ intrigues to turn against them.  He declared the Lord as his refuge. Praying in this way can bring us comfort, peace, and direction during our own periods of adversity.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, thank God for being your refuge and source of peace. Pray for Him to illuminate your path and lead you in His way. Open your life to His loving protection, and trust Him to reveal His Victory through you.

Avoid the trap!

John 8: 2-7—Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Throughout the New Testament Jesus tells and shows us that we are to be in the world but not of the world.  In this story, we see one example of exactly what He means.  Here, the Pharisees created a whole drama for the purpose of trapping Jesus in a seemingly impossible predicament.  On the one hand, if He showed compassion and freed her outright, it would appear that He was disobeying the Mosaic law.  On the other hand, if He stoned her to death, He would be killing her.  To a human mind, it seems like an impossible choice under the law, but Jesus sees the question completely differently.  To Him, it’s not just about what the woman supposedly did—it’s about what everyone else in the crowd had done, too.  Notice that He didn’t respond to the Pharisees right away.  As the crowd gathered around Jesus and launched accusations at the adulteress, Jesus calmly crouched down and began writing on the ground.  Only after the crowd persisted and continued to question Him did Jesus take their words and turn them around on their head to say “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Just like Jesus was tested, we can expect to be tested in our daily lives.  We must resist the temptation to react and engage immediately with whoever is testing us.  We don’t have to respond to what is being said to us—when we do react, that is a choice we make.  If we pause, we can shift the perspective, shift conversation, and shift the question.  This is how we let God in to do the talking for us when the time is right—it’s about His terms, not our terms.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, pray for insight and patience as you are in this world.  Ask God to temper your spirit so that you do not react to the traps laid around you.  Pray for strength and wisdom to pause and allow God to speak through you.  Rejoice in His deliverance from evil and praise Him for leaving His Holy Spirit as a comforting guide in this World.

Are You Weary?

Matthew 11:28-30—“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Going through life without connecting to Jesus is really hard.  If we think about what it would be like to personally take on every responsibility and every burden for every single event in our lives, it would be overwhelming.  The weight of that responsibility would break most people.  Not only that, but it is also kind of arrogant for us to think we really have control over anything in our own lives.  We aren’t meant to know all the answers.  We aren’t capable of always doing the right thing.  But Jesus has promised all of us that He will give us rest.  When we come to know Jesus, we are turning away from the belief that as a person, we can do it all alone.  We acknowledge that life is just too heavy a burden to carry.  In exchange for lifting that load, Jesus tells us to take up His yoke and learn from Him.  He calls us to be gentle and humble so that we can find rest.  When we take on the gentle and humble nature of Christ, we don’t have to get angry that everything isn’t going our way.  We don’t have to be upset that a co-worker disagreed with us in a meeting.  We don’t have to feel slighted about the way someone has looked at us or spoken to us.  It is enough that Jesus loves us, and we can respond compassionately knowing that the Almighty God has it under control.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, praise God for being in control even when His Ways are mysterious to us.  Thank Him for His Everlasting Love and the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, who has taught us to be humble and gentle.  Pray that God would continually mold your spirit in gentleness and humility that the light of Jesus Christ would shine through you always.

Outcast!

Isaiah 56:6-8—And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. 

God is eager to welcome us to into His House.  He eagerly desires to enjoy the intimacy of relationship with us, His Creation.  His House is open to both those who already know Him and to those who do not.  God takes special delight in welcoming the outcasts into His home—those that society would reject or throw aside have a place with God.  His love for us knows no bounds.  Our responsibility is to continually seek Him and try to understand His Ways.  We should constantly listen for His Call and remove any barriers in our relationship with Him.  Because our God is a god of relationship, we must identify whatever selfishness lies within us and remove it so that it does not interfere with our ability to commune with God.

Today as you pray and meditate, rejoice in God’s Word.  Thank Him for seeking you out and desiring an intimate relationship with you.  Recommit yourself to knowing God through His Word.  Open your spirit to His Call and ask Him to speak to you and guide you in everything.  Pray for Him to bless you with understanding and to replace any selfish desires with the blessings of relationship with Him.

Be Wise

Wednesday: Proverbs 3:13-18—Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold.  She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.

Gaining wisdom and understanding can be challenging, especially when we find ourselves in the midst of confusing circumstances.  The older we get, it is impossible for us to process new information outside the context of what we already know.  It becomes increasingly difficult to escape our patterns of thinking or see things from a new perspective.  As children, though, we had an open curiosity about the world around us.  We did not have the foundations to make judgments or the experience to be stuck in a particular thought pattern.  When we study God’s Word, our challenge is to come to it as a child with an open mind and heart so that we may hear God’s Voice speaking to us.  God gives us wisdom and understanding when we read and study His Word with open hearts and minds.

Today as you pray and meditate on God’s Word, come to Him as a child ready to marvel at the wonder of His amazing Ways.  Praise His Holy Name and ask Him to open your mind and infuse you with a Spirit of wisdom and understanding that you might accomplish His Will for you.

Don't you get it, yet?

Mark 8:14-21—Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.  And he cautioned them, saying, watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.  They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.”  And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect? And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Time and again, the disciples struggled to “get it.”  Here they were, not long after the fishes and loaves miracle, and they are complaining that they have no bread.  There are two messages being conveyed here.  The first is the more literal message—obviously, if Jesus has provided for them in the past, He will continue to provide for them in the future.  Their doubts are an insult, especially because they have witnessed the miracles with their own eyes and ears.  They have been a part of the miracles.  The other message is more abstract.  When Jesus warns the disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, He is warning them not to rely on or be lifted up by hypocrisy (like the Pharisees) or by worldly obsessions and man-made religions (like the Herodians).  The Pharisees had already attempted to test Jesus by demanding more miracles, and here, Jesus is telling His disciples to be satisfied and not demand He continue to prove He is who He says  He is.  He is also encouraging them to fully trust Him to provide for them.  We are not so different from the disciples in this story.  We, too, struggle to get it, and we regularly find ourselves torn between the world and our spiritual lives. 

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, declare to God that you want to “get it.”  Pray that He would open your heart and mind to His desires.  Acknowledge your weaknesses and shortcomings before Him and pray that He would fill you with His Holy Spirit so that you might grow in faith and understanding.

A Checklist for Faith?

Luke 18:10-14—“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In their day, the Pharisees were known for their self-righteous piety.  They believed themselves to be better than other “ordinary” people because they were “better” at following the law.  They basically checked off the boxes and sneered down their noses at everyone else battling the plight of human imperfection.  Time and again, Jesus demonstrates that the Pharisees’ attitude of empty obedience to the law is not His way.  We are created to be in relationship with God and with each other.  So, if we get to a point where we are merely checking off the boxes of our faith at the expense of being in true compassionate and caring relationship with one another, we are doing it wrong.  When Jesus came, He turned religion on its head.  He made it okay to do the right thing despite the letter of the law—that’s why He did things like heal and pick grain to eat on the Sabbath.  Over 2,000 years later, we still struggle to find the balance of knowing God through intimate relationship with Him and others and adhering to the rules that are supposed to facilitate those relationships.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, lift up prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of His Word.  Pray for God to speak to you through His Word and reveal His Purpose in your life.  Ask God to show you how to be compassionate and loving in the way that He desires.  Offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice today. 

Should I Keep a Prayer Journal?

Romans 8:26—Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

God has given us an amazing gift in the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is all around us.  The Spirit experiences what we experience and knows what we know.  The Spirit feels our hearts and minds, rejoices with us, cries with us, and even comforts us.  When we pray, the Holy Spirit embraces our words to intercede on our behalf, especially when we don’t even know what to pray for.  When we start to pay attention, we can see the movement of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives.  We can see how the Holy Spirit has carried us through storms to bring us into better places than we could have imagined.  An easy way to start paying attention to the Holy Spirit in your life is to keep a prayer journal where you write down all your prayers.  As you grow spiritually, you can go back and read it to see how the Holy Spirit has answered your prayers, and you can also see how God speaks to you through your prayer life.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, take out a piece of paper and write down everything that is on your heart.  For today, treat your prayer like a letter to God.  Tell Him how you are doing, ask Him the questions that burn your soul, make a list of your thanksgivings and blessings, and write down any requests you have in your life.  Approach God with an open spirit asking Him to speak through your prayers.  Praise His Name and rejoice in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Be Careful What You Pray For...

1 John 5:14-15—And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

God is not a slot machine.  This is what I tell my kids as they are learning to pray.  They actually tend to think of prayer as a wish—yes, they even call it wishing sometimes.  The thing is, lately, I have started to notice how many adults I know who also go to God as if He is a slot-machine.  There is a disturbing movement toward praying specific prayers that seems to condone focusing on and praying for all that we want without much regard for what God wants.  To give you an example, a neighbor of mine (who was a Christian missionary) once boasted that she had spent years praying for the exact house she was living in.  She had drawn pictures and made lists of every feature, down to the paint color and shelving in the pantry, and that one day God had answered her prayer.  To be sure, God is able to answer prayers like that. But all I kept thinking as she spoke was, “Why in the world would you want to limit God’s plans for you?”  God has said, “I know the plans I have for you.”  Scripture also tells us that God knows our hearts and we can approach Him with just sounds and moans and He will know what we need.  Certainly, there are benefits to praying specific prayers.  After all, the more specific our conversations with God are, the deeper our relationship can plunge.  On the other hand, if we are so specific in what we ask that we bind God’s hands or seek to limit His Will for us, our specificity removes intimacy with the Holy Spirit.  In the end, we just might get what we ask for instead of the true blessings God had planned.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, consider making a list of those things you frequently pray about.  Shift your focus from what you want by asking God what He wants in your life.  Relinquish control over these matters and ask God to take up those matters and resolve them in His perfect way.  Listen for His Voice to speak to you and guide you.  Pray that you would grow in understanding the Spirit of the Lord so that any requests you make are first inspired by the Holy Spirit and not by your human flesh.  Rejoice in His Name and give Him praise for all He has done and will do.

The Perfect Prayer

Matthew 6:9-15—“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus taught His disciples very specific lessons on how to pray, and in Matthew, He teaches them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  It is a model prayer that we should continue following even in the modern age.  First, the prayer begins by acknowledging and praising God’s name.  Throughout the Bible, God has many names, but here Jesus tells us to approach God as the Father.  As Father, God is caring and all-knowing, warm and compassionate, and most of all a safe confidante.  The word “hallowed” means holy, consecrated, sacred, and revered.  We praise God and demonstrate our love and respect for Him by saying the words “hallowed be your name.”  Second, Jesus says to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom.  By praying for the coming of God’s kingdom, we are not so much praying for the arrival of some far-off, remote place.  Rather we are praying a very personal prayer that God will become more alive in us because His kingdom already lives within us.  Third, we are to ask for God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven.  In other words, we are asking God to take away our free will, at least some of it, to do as He sees fit rather than as we see fit.  Our personal human desires are set aside in this prayer as we ask God to do His will.  Fourth, we are to ask for our daily bread.  Again, Jesus teaches us to be content with God meeting our basic needs, for which God will always provide.  Fifth, we are to ask God to forgive our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.  This word “debt” is translated in many different ways: sins or transgressions are the other two most common words we see.  What Jesus is driving at here is that the measure by which we have forgiven others who have wronged us is the same measure by which God will forgive us.  When we pray this part of the prayer, we ought to be mindful of any grudges, ill will, and other anger we hold onto, because that failure to forgive will interfere with God’s ability to forgive us.  Finally, Jesus instructs us to pray for deliverance from trials and evil.  We know that by virtue of being human, we are going to encounter trials and evil circumstances in this world.  God is all powerful to deliver us, though, and when we pray, we ought to continually seek God’s wisdom and deliverance.

Today, pray the Lord’s Prayer as your devotional, but pray it with a renewed spirit and newfound understanding of what Jesus was instructing us to do.  Praise God openly and come to Him with a spirit of thanksgiving and rejoicing.  Allow the kingdom of God to light up within you as you invite the Holy Spirit in.  Sincerely ask God to do His will in your life, even if it is inconsistent with what you think you want.  Forgive those in your life who need forgiveness and then ask God to also forgive your sins.  Finally, ask God to send the Holy Spirit to protect you from evil at all times.