Prayers for 2019

As many of you know, I do not make resolutions to start a new year, but a prayer list instead. Here is my prayer list for 2019--some I pray every year; some are on my heart for "today."

1. May every student who enters my room feel safe physically, educationally, emotionally, and spiritually.
2. May I never let education get in the way of my meeting the needs of my students each day.
3. May I love with a holy love--with a love that is unaffected by the response of the ones I am called to love.
4. May I see the sorrow of the world and respond with action.
5. May those I love who are away from Him come home.
6. May I always have a heart filled with gratitude--may I always pray with thanksgiving.
7. May I honestly present my requests and petitions to Him and then, always, respond with the prayer of surrender--"not my will, but thine."
8. May I be Christ-in-the room--spontaneously respond with grace and truth--integrity--to all people and situations. May Christ be seen in me.
9. May I rejoice each day in the beauty of His old age gift to me--The Acres.
10. May each time that I share His Word one heart be moved to a deeper obedience--beside my own.
11. May I continue to struggle to learn contentment in all things.
12. May I rest in His inescapable love for me.
13. May my investments be in the heavenly treasures safe from rust and thieves.
14. May I live each day for Him as if it were my last on earth.
15. May I rest in Philippians 1--to be with Him is far better, but since He hasn't called me Home; yet, I must be about my Father's business.
16. May the words of my mouth be acceptable in His sight--may I not curse the deaf man or put a stumbling block in the path of the blind man.
17. May I have an insatiable hunger for His Word.
18. May He give me the strength I need for each day, and may I rely on it and not my own.
19. May I never forget to pray prayers of remembrance for the hurting.
20. May I commit myself each day to the life of His disciple--though none go with me, still I must follow.
21. May I be unaffected by the applause of men--or lack thereof.
22. May I always have a sense of His presence.

The Foot of the Cross

When I think of the faith of Mary and Joseph, I wonder if it can ever be put into words adequately. To be chosen by God to be the parents of His Son--can there be a greater commendation to a calling? And we know so little about them honestly. Spoken to by angels; obeyed and submitted to the impossible. The birth of the Child interrupted by a flock of shepherds. A visit to Jerusalem days later and to encounter Simeon and the prophecies concerning their Son. How do you take all that in and not be overwhelmed? Even terrified. Then, nothing for two years--why did they even stay in Bethlehem and not go back home? Suddenly, a visit from the Magi--and they bow down and worship your little boy as the King. Then, the escape to Egypt at night--Herod is trying to destroy your baby! (Of course, the gifts of the Magi will meet all expenses--God's provision.) And how do you raise a sinless two-year-old? A sinless teenager!!!!? Then to return and have to "hide" in Nazareth. And He and they knew who He was--"I must be about My Father's business"--at twelve! Implication--"Why did you not look here in the temple first? Where else would I be?" I can't imagine. But we do know how Mary (and I assume, Joseph, "handled" it all) "And Mary took all these things"--all these events--Shepherds, Simeon, Magi, Herod, Egypt, Nazareth, Temple--"and treasured them in her heart." She may not at times have understood--but she always loved her Treasure. And "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And so where do we find her at last? Standing at the foot of the cross. How could love be anywhere else? I pray today that He is your treasure--the riches of your heart. So when you do not understand, you will take yourself to the foot of the cross--the place where love embraces love through all the tears.

Christmas

What does Christmas reveal to us about our God?

His love is for all--from poor shepherds in a field to the richest of men in a land far away
The power of faith: Mary: "I am His servant; I will do whatever He asks of me." Joseph: "His name is Jesus."
He celebrates the arrival into the world of the little ones; He loves the little children--the babies in their mother's arms.
The omnipotent God is humble.
The darkness cannot hide Him.
The angels adore Him.
He wants us to celebrate His coming with joy and with the sharing that He has come.
He loves the interconnections and beauty of family.
His ways are not our ways; yet, His ways are perfect.
He is the ruler of the stars.
His prophecies are true--they are unstoppable; then and now.
He loves His old saints too--His Simeon and His Anna.
God is with us.

Seekers

Thousands of miles away some unknown men rejoiced that the King of the Jews was born. And set aside everything to go and seek Him. Several miles away the people who were looking for a Messiah and knew exactly where to look didn't "move a muscle."

 A descendant of Esau believed the message that He was born--and sadly, horribly, sought to kill Him.

 The scholars who knew the Scriptures didn't believe the message that He had been born. Spiritual blindness is a terrible thing--deadly. 
 

Only one group found Him. "If you seek the Lord with all your heart, you will find Him." That's His promise--because He is eagerly seeking those who are seeking Him. Yes, as amazing as it seems, the Eternal, Creator God of the Universe deeply desires to have a relationship with you. So deeply, that He died on the cross to make it possible. And when you "find" each other--He will never let you go.

Approval

I'm often encouraged by the fact that God thinks more of us than we do of ourselves. I mean, look at some of His disciples from the Old Testament. My naturally critical spirit always seems to zoom in on their failures--some quite egregious--and their mistakes. But then God says of them that they are men and women who exercised their faith in Him in such a way that He was pleased. They "gained approval through their faith." His approval!! I hope my heavenly story has wri...tten in the summary: "He pleased Me through the faith he placed in Me. I approve of him and the depth of his faith." And God adds of these men and women--faults and all, known and unknown, named and not named--that they are men and women "of whom the world was not worthy." That's God's Holy Spirit inspired view of those old saints I have a tendency to be critical of. And whose opinion matters, do you think?
And then He uses them to challenge us: "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Yes, when we, too--just like they did--find ourselves "encumbered" and "entangled," let us be encouraged to exercise our faith in Him, endure to the end, and gain the same greeting I'm sure that each of those saintly witnesses to God's existence and power and graciousness received--undoubtedly received--"Well done, good and faithful servant." He who knows you best, loves you best, and rejoices even in your mustard seed faith because it says to those around you--"God is real. You should seek Him in the day of trouble. He is faithful. He will use your faith to gain the victory and glorify Himself. He rewards those who diligently seek Him--faults, failures, and all."

(P.S. And remember that when you start being critical of others who have a deep desire to please Him but make mistakes in the struggle. See them, instead, as God sees them: rejoice in their faith instead of being critical of their faults and failures. God will be pleased.)

All

"If anyone will be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."


We are redeemed to be disciples. And the first step of discipleship is denying ourselves. It is more than self-denial. Self-denial is the process by which we decide which things we will give up to follow Him. To "deny himself," a disciple must give up his entire life to be used when, where, and how Jesus desires--to give up total control of his will to His will. "All to Jesus, I surr...ender, all to Him I freely give." Too often, I find myself willing to give some of life, some of my hopes, dreams, and aspiriations to Him, but tightly hold on to others. Those things I hold on to are, of course, idols I have erected in my heart--which is His temple. And they may be more than tangible things--like, for me, The Acres. They may be my perceived need for the applause of men or for positive responses to the grace and love that I show to others. Those--and other similar "things"--are self-centered ambitions. It's not that I want to lose The Acres, or have my grace-giving taken advantage of, but I must embrace God's will in all things. Yes, my prayers, petitions, and requests should be an honest reflection of my heart's desire; "this is my wish, Lord." And sometimes my honest request in situations has been "Do anything but this, Lord." But when His answer is. "no, this is what is necessary for you to become more and more like me, to reflect my nature to the world," then I must be willing to surrender to His will. To not surrender to His will in all things means that my ability to bear my cross in those situations is imperiled. The joy that strengthened Him to endure the cross will illude me. The grace that prayes, "Father forgive them," will die in my heart. The resurrection power that is essential to following Him as a faithful disciple will be short-circuited. And is there any life more miserable than trying to live the life of Christ in the power of my own flesh. And such a disciple, sadly, tragically, lashes out at those in his or her life that they have been called to love. May He enable me to close all my times of honest prayers with the simple cry, "all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all to Thee. Not my will--ever--but Thy will be done--always, on earh as it is in Heaven. Above all else, Jesus, I desire to be more like You this day then I was tomorrow--regardless of the circumstances and people you are using to give me a heart like Your heart."

"If anyone will be My disciple, let him deny himself . . .

Timing

"In the fulness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman."


God's timing is always perfect. We, as His children, must confidently surrender to where we are right now. It is where He wants us to be at this moment and in the circumstances He wants us to use for His glory. Who I am, where I am, and what He has me doing for Him is exactly who He needs, where He needs me, and what He needs me to be doing. We must not resign ourselves to waiting, but rejoice in our prese...nt tense assignment. If I am impatient with where He has me, I am not waiting in faith. And "without faith, it is impossible to please Him." And I am not waiting eagerly for His return if I am not lovingly obeying Him right now. What He has planned for my life and for the life of those I love, and the life of those to whom I have been called to minister will occur when, and only when, His love and wisdom know that this is exactly the right time--"the fulness of time." His loving direction for my life has never been late--or early. If I believe that, I obediently rejoice in my now.

Assumptions

When we look at the actions of others and make negative assumptions about their motivations--motivations that we cannot know--we become participants in the new McCarthyism--"guilty until proven innocent." And then we gossip about it--the sin of self-worship--idolatry of the most arrogant kind. We need as followers of Christ to not practice those sins that we are quick to point out in others--we falsely assume the worst and attempt to destroy the character of others--murder by imagination. Too often, we pridefully walk around with stones in our pockets waiting for the opportunity to cast the first one. God is the judge of the thoughts and intents of a man or woman's heart because He knows them--we don't. May God enable me to set aside the natural man's readiness to assume the worse and spread gossip about it, and replace it with the spirit-filled man's eagerness to leave justice in the hands of the just and loving and forgiving God of the Cross.

Pursuit

One of the devil's most effective weapons against a culture and against Christians in that culture is what Jesus called, "Mammon." We call it the pursuit of earthly riches--of temporal things. Our economy calls it consumerism--as if it's a good thing. And too often we buy into it. The accumulation of things, of stuff, of money in the shape of things is a subtle, dangerous enemy of our faith. Not only does it entangle us in the things of this world, but the entangling is ...done with chains. Once our love for "mammon" is ignited, the flame becomes all-consuming. Enough is never enough. Satisfaction becomes the stimuli for the undermining of our contentment with His provision. A heart with the wrong treasures is a heart incapable of finding meaning in life. Because a heart with the wrong treasures is a heart out of touch with God's heart. There is no legitimate list of priorities. There is no stuff first, God second. If the pursuit of stuff is first, God is no longer on the "list" of your loves. And I didn't say that, Jesus did. What are you pursuing? What is the love of your life? Well, are you going to spend more on stuff this month or on God's work? And next month, and next . . .?

Reflections from November 2018

It is true that we are in the world and not of it. But the world should never doubt that we are in it. We must live a life of praise to Him in order to demonstrate our confidence that there is a better place that all who believe in Him are enthusiastically, lovingly, welcome to make their Home too.

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Are you joyfully anticipating His return?  The evidence lies in your daily, faithful, joyful obedience to the calling He has placed on your life right now.

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In the "heat" of life's crises, always flee to the shadow of His wings--His loyal love that He promises to you as His child.

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The greatest tragedy for the fool is that when the storm destroys his house, all those he claims to love will be inside it.  Disobedience always comes with "collateral" damage.

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The purpose of prayer is surrender.

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The command "subdue the earth, be fruitful and multiply" like all God's commands can only be fulfilled from a heart of love and deep concern.  Why is it that those who don't even acknowledge the Creator have a deeper love for it than those of us who claim to know and love the Creator?  Greed and exploitation of this beautiful world for the lining of my pockets with money is not Christian.

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The minute you stop praying for someone or for a situation, you have given up on God--not on them or on the situation--but on Him, the omnipotent, all-wise, all-loving God of eternity. Sound like a logical for someone to make?

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The Gospel message is invincible. Its truth unstoppable. Its victory eternal to those who embrace it. Its message has never interacted with a sinner's heart that it could not transform and redeem. So, share the Gospel.

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Often it takes time to see the good He is doing in your life in the midst of the evil others have done--or are doing--to you. Be a Joseph. Keep believing that you are living in His presence, and so, live lives of obedience until He lavishes you in the good He's been planning all along. Overcome evil with obedient faith--with good.

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He does not save us to live lives of comfort, but to live lives of giving comfort--the comfort He has taught us in the most difficult trials of our life. The trials He takes you through are because He is bringing others into your life who are experiencing the same trial. You are the provider of His comfort to others--you are His heart of love in action.

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The most dangerous lies are the half-truths the enemy tries to deceive us with. The way to avoid such deceptions is to know the whole counsel of God. Nothing else will do.