Mindful Prayer

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
You display your power among the peoples.
With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Psalm 77:12-15)

One thing I have found helpful in my prayer life is to read a passage of Scripture and reflect on it in a journal. Often, I will use the Psalms as my models for prayer, letting them shape the form and content of what I want to say to God.

I believe God appreciates it when we search for a better understanding of Him through prayer. This involves more than our feelings, but also our thoughts. Abraham Kuyper wrote –

"[Prayer is impossible] without an act of the mind, choosing the words to express our adoration of the divine virtues."

Meditate on how great God is. Consider God’s wonderful ways. In your prayers, think about things God has done and is doing in your life and give God the praise – not just with your heart, but with your mind.

The Word for Me

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm
119:105)

One thing I try to do in Bible Studies I lead is to make it clear that we look to Scripture not just for information, but for formation. You can know the Bible better than anyone and still not be able to put it to good use in your life or in your faith.

Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said this --

“When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, 'It is talking to me, and about me.''”

A Child's Prayer

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name… (Matthew 6:9)

Prayer is simple, as simple as a child making known what it wants to its parents. (Oswald Chambers)

Faithful Mothers

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. (2 Timothy 1:5)

Throughout the ages, mothers have played a crucial role in the spiritual development of their children. Paul here reminds Timothy that the faith now growing in him stems from the faith implanted in him through the nurture of his mother and her mother before her.

You can’t overestimate the role of mothers promoting positive spiritual values in society. A man named John Abbott once wrote -

"Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations, as all other causes combined."

Today and always celebrate the God’s gift of faithful mothers.

Life Forever

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand
forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

This is good news. But it can be disturbing for people without faith. Many people in the world want to live forever. But this simply can’t happen. We aren’t built this way. Nothing in creation is. And who would want to live forever? Life is precious partly because it is so short. But for people of faith, life does go on forever, in Jesus Christ. It’s simply that life takes a different form. We live – not for ourselves – but in Christ. Christ is the Word of God that stands forever.

The end of life, sad as it can be for loved ones, can be an occasion for celebration. Tony Campolo illustrates this well when he writes -

“When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this: When you die, will YOU be happy when everybody else is crying.”

Put Up With It

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another,
forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must
forgive. (Colossians 3:13)

Sometimes – in a marriage, in families, in work relationships, and in the community, it’s hard to put up with people. Things they do irritate us until eventually we want to shout out - “Would you just STOP it!” As patient and forgiving as we try to be, we all have our limits.

Reflecting on this passage, Matthew Henry describes this dilemma well –

“Many can bear a short provocation who are weary of bearing when it grows long. But if God is long-suffering to us, under all our provocations of him, we should exercise long-suffering to others in like cases. We have all of us something that needs to be endured, and this is a good reason why we should bear with others in what is disagreeable to us.” (Matthew Henry)

In other words, put up with each other just as God puts up with you.

No Strings Attached

[Jesus said], “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled,
the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot
repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
(Luke 14:14)

If you only show hospitality to those who have the means to return the favor, you’ve given to no one but yourself. True giving is sacrificial, with no strings attached.

This is a challenge for all Christians and for the faith community. Do we give sacrificially, or do we give in order to receive? The church struggles to carry out our mission in a climate of distrust, particularly when it comes to finances. On the one hand, some have a genuine desire to see that their gifts are used well for the glory of God. This holds the church accountable and is a healthy concern. On the other hand, some only give to the church when they can benefit from it or manage how it is spent. From a church perspective, we receive gifts of all kinds and pray that we can faithfully put them to use for the kingdom of God.

The Bible encourages us as we give to focus on God, not how our gift is received or whether it is returned. Give freely and cheerfully and you will be abundantly blessed – in this life and in the life to come.

Convicted

Create in me a pure heart, O God. And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

King David is crying out to God for forgiveness after committing adultery with Bathesheba and having her husband Uriah essentially murdered. David wants to be made pure, to be given another chance.

In the same way, the followers of Jesus all gave in to sin when they betrayed, denied, and abandoned him on the cross. But, and this is an essential distinction, they did return to faith. In this way, they were unique, and their faith became contagious.

Billy Graham writes –

“The men who followed Jesus were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up.”

When Christ convicts our hearts of sin, when the Holy Spirit sets us on a good and level path, there is no stopping us. The world will never be the same.

A Joyful Spirit

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the
bones. (Proverbs 15:30)

As I think of the Christians that have had a great impact on my life and faith, the one common thread that ties them together is this – joy. Joy expressed through smiles and laughter – never at anyone’s expense, but out of a sheer love of God and God’s Creation.

While we certainly will have down days, it is important for us as followers of Christ to share the good news of his love with a joyful Spirit.

St. Francis warns us –

“It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

Feel the joy of your salvation and share your joy with others.

Have Mercy

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his
covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
(Psalm 103:17-18)

We sometimes think of the God portrayed in the Old Testament as full of vengeance and wrath. It’s true God punished those who were bent on self-destruction and destroying others. It’s true that God is angry when we fail to live up to standards that would give us a more abundant life. It’s true God occasionally turned His back to get His children to seek Him in the midst of their suffering.

But above, our God (the God of all Scripture) is full of mercy. If we are to follow God in the Spirit of Christ, we are to likewise show mercy.

St. John Chrysostom put it this way -

”Showing mercy is one way we imitate God and disappoint the devil.”




Walk in the Way of the Lord. Have mercy.

Coming to Life

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him
to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought
tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and
the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. (1 Kings 17:17-22)

“Elijah says, ‘Give me the boy,’ but he doesn’t keep the problem to himself, because it would crush him and overpower him. Instead he prays. He turns to the one person who can help and prays that God will move in that situation. He prays, ‘Oh, Lord, let this boy’s life return to him.’

Now there had never been a resurrection in scripture up to this point. This is the first one. Elijah is praying, ‘Lord, I want you to do what I’ve never seen you do, what no one has ever seen you do. I want you to do the impossible.” (Clive Calver)

What impossible thing might we ask God to do in our lives today?

Real Resurrection

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

There are those outside of (and even within) the Church who deny the resurrection on the basis of scientific or historic probability. There are others who believe alternatives to the resurrection (such as re-incarnation) based on philosophies foreign to our faith.

In the face of this, we need to stand firm in our faith that the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened and that His resurrection makes our life purposeful – now and forever.

Presbyterian professor, Elizabeth Achtemeier, once wrote –

“Not to know and trust Christ risen from the dead means finally not to be human, for it means really that there is nothing and no one beyond this world to whom we owe our being. If God did not have the power to conquer the grave, then he had no power to create in the beginning, for surely a God defeated by death could not make the wonders we find in this universe, much less the amazing creatures we call human beings.”

Blessed to Bless

[God said to Abraham], “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)

God chose Abraham not to put others down, but to help lift them up. This is true for the spiritual descendants of Abraham as well. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in Jesus Christ, who came not to condemn the world, but to save it.

In the Spirit of Christ, we too are chosen not to selfishly enjoy benefits, but to sacrificially serve others. John Calvin put it this way –


“All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors”




God has blessed us to be a blessing to others.

Killing with Kindness

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” (Proverbs 25:21-22)

This Proverb may seem to contradict what Jesus teaches us about loving our enemies. It seems to suggest that our motivation for serving our enemies is to get back at them.

But when you think about it, this is not necessarily the case. You can love someone without liking them. Love can be expressed through service, meeting a need regardless of how you feel about the person.

Still, it can be fun to, as a friend of my father’s says, “Kill your enemies with kindness.” I like what Oscar Wilde once said –

"Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.”

Genuine Courage

[Jesus prayed], “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he knew what lie ahead. He knew about the betrayal, the abandonment, the mocking, the beating, the hanging and death on the cross. Naturally, he did not want to face it. Who would?

But Jesus knew that His purpose on earth was to sacrifice his life for us. He had the courage to let go of his human desires and accept the divine plan. G.K. Chesterton defines such courage in this way --






“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”

Spiritual Leadership

Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? (Ecclesiastes 8:7)

It’s good to have goals to strive for – whether it be for our personal lives, our families, our career, our church, etc… Without clear goals, we are bound to flounder just doing “one thing after another.”

But there is a difference between having goals and trying to fix the future. In an effort to contain and control what happens in our lives, we often try to manage the change that comes rather than just going where God leads us.

Erwin McManus, a very vibrant Christian leader, writes this –

"Too many times as leaders we feel pressure to
tell people things we don't know. In other words, we make them up.
Spiritual leadership is not the ability to define everything the future
holds. It is the willingness to move forward when all we know is
God.”

Godly Grief

Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. ( 2 Corinthians 7:10)

Grief (or regret) can be good. It can produce in us the desire to change, to turn away from paths of destruction. Regret can also be damaging, when it causes us to merely stew about things beyond our control and do nothing to change our behavior.

John Piper draws two distinctions between “godly” and “worldly” regret –

“Worldly regret is when you feel sorry for something you did because it starts to backfire on you and leads to humiliation or punishment. Godly regret grieves that God's name has come into disrepute. The focus of godly regret is God. Godly regret is owing to God's Word putting its finger on sin in our lives Worldly regret is owing not to God's Word but to the attitudes of men whose praise we don't want to lose.”

When you regret what you’ve done or failed to do, let God turn this regret into repentance that leads to Life in Christ.

Certain Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

Some people try to prove the existence of God based on science. Some try to prove the validity of the Resurrection of Christ based on history. As important as it is to present to the world a “reasonable faith”, there is no way we can offer proof that is beyond the shadow of a doubt. Doubt is part of our make-up as limited, flawed creatures.

But God helps us move beyond our doubts. Philosopher Blaise Pascal, who was anything but an orthodox Christian, nevertheless hit on a truth when he wrote –

“Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.”

Walk in the Lord

I will strengthen them in the LORD and in his name they will walk,” declares the LORD. (Zechariah 10:12)

Christians are called to “walk the talk” and “talk the walk”. We need to have integrity – a consistency of character – if we are to be faithful in representing Christ to the world.

Too often, I fall far short of this ideal. I rely so much on my own strength to accomplish things in pastoral ministry that I have little energy left to devote to being the spiritual head of my household. More than anything, I need the balance we gain when we walk steadily in the name of the Lord.

Nathaniel Hardy wrote –

"Spiritual rest maketh no man idle, spiritual walking maketh no man weary."

When we walk the Lord, we get the rest we need, and gain the strength to follow him wherever he leads us.

False Flattery vs. Genuine Praise

They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. (Psalm 78:35-37)

One time I was given an award for community service. At first, I felt both honored and humbled. But when I met with the team that selected me, I gained an increasing sense that they were falsely flattering me. I felt very uncomfortable. Later, I learned the presentation banquet was essentially a fund raiser for their ministry. They were hoping I would draw people not just to support me, but to further their cause.

When we give someone positive feedback, we need to examine our motivations. Are we flattery them for our own benefit, or are we praising God for what God is doing through their lives? A man named Wendell Phillips once said –

"Many know how to flatter, few know how to praise."

We need to let go of false flattery and develop the discipline of praise for God in the lives of God’s people.