Redeemed for Good Works: Will God Ever Ask Us to Do Something We Do Not Possess any of the Skill Set to do? Ephesians 2:7-10

Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Redeemed for Good Work: Masterpieces

Ephesians 2:1-10 Easy-to-Read Version

From Death to Life

2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. ²Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers^[a] that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. ³In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.

⁴But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. ⁵We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) ⁶Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. ⁷God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

⁸I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. ⁹You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. ¹⁰God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.

It is said that when Michelangelo, the great Renaissance sculptor, looked at an ordinary piece of marble, he envisioned his masterpiece long before he put his chisel to stone. In his mind, his creation existed even before he began to create.

Did you know that God, the greatest artist, has a glorious vision for each of his masterpieces, including you and me?

Long before creation, God had a purpose for our lives.

The apostle Paul tells us that we are God’s work of art.

He has been busy fashioning us in Christ to be his masterpiece.

But God did not create us merely for display.

God has created us so that, in turn, we too become artisans.

We are saved by God’s grace so that we will fulfill the plan God has had for us from the beginning.

What plan is that?

First, the good works God has prepared for us include a life of holiness.

And, remember, God created us to work: to cultivate his garden and to draw out the potential embedded in creation.

Though sin has damaged and distorted that plan, Jesus’ work on the cross has redeemed it.

We are re-created so that we may fulfill God’s original purpose for work!

How are we doing the good works which God has prepared in advance for us?

Will God Ever Ask Us to Do Something We Can’t Do?

There are an endless number of callings God gives to His people to labor at.

In each situation, we can probably come up with an infinite number of reasons we can’t follow through on those callings.

What we fail to consider is would God ask me to do something I cannot do?

Would God ask you to do something you cannot do?

Would God ask His Church to do something it cannot or will not do?

To answer this question, we must also consider why God created mankind in the beginning and consider how can we know when God is truly calling us.

Consider This: Why Did God Create Man?

Genesis 2:15 Amplified Bible

¹⁵So the Lord God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

On the first pages of Scripture, we witness the creation of the world, including man. God created the heavens and the earth before he made Adam because He already knew where mankind would live and exactly what their purpose was.

Genesis 2:15 states “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.”

We see similar instructions given to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:1, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’”

In the beginning and after the destruction by the flood, God specifically states His purpose in creating humanity.

He wants us to work and watch over what is His.

He wants us to be fruitful and multiply by keeping the values of family in our hearts.

To obey these instructions, we each must be willing to follow through on the calling(s) He has for us.

For God to call us to do something, He must know what we can do – even if we ourselves are not as aware of our skill set as God is of our respective skill sets.

Our individual gifts come from God, and he intended for us to use them to grow His kingdom.

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible

¹⁰For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

Consider this: A Biblical Lens on God’s Instruction

God knew that mankind would always have questions about their purpose.

Because of that truth, He revealed many great personal examples in Scripture.

Moses was asked to bring the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.

He questioned God.

He said he could not complete the task because he could not speak well.

But God had a plan already and knew that Moses was the one to save His people.

Then there was Esther, a young Hebrew girl who was to become a queen.

She may have thought she could not save her people, but God knew she could.

Through God’s plan, Esther became a queen and saved her people.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah did not want to go.

He felt he could not because the Ninevites were dangerous people.

God knew Jonah could and gave him three days in a whale’s belly to consider his choice. With God’s help, Jonah went to Nineveh and proclaimed what God had told him. The Ninevites turned from their evil ways and were not destroyed.

The disciples may have thought they could not drop their fishing nets and just follow Jesus because they only knew the water and the nets.

When they did, the disciples were witnesses to the miracles and teachings of Jesus. The three years they spent walking and talking and listening with Jesus molded them into the witnesses for Christ that helped build the early church.

God has always been asking His people to obey commands.

In each situation, God’s instruction is doable because He has already set his own plan into motion. God did not leave Moses, Esther, Jonah, or his disciples.

It was with Him they accomplished their tasks.

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. ¹⁸Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

Today, the Great Commission is still exactly the same; nothing has changed.

God will always be with us, as promised; Until the end of the age; God does not call us into ministry and mission to obey Him and leave us to our own devices.

How Do We Know What God Wants from Us?

James 4:7-10 The Message

^7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

As God’s people, we want to do whatever God asks of us. The problem we have is that too often we struggle to know what God wants us to do. We spend a lot of precious time questioning Him and that can leave little time for obedience.

So, how can we know what God wants from us? We must start by preparing our hearts to hear the Holy Spirit. (James 4:8)

Preparation always starts with prayer.

It does not have to be an elaborate and elegantly worded prayer. It can be a simple prayer, one in which you confess your sins and God cleanses your heart. Prayer will fine tune our spiritual ears to hear the commands of our Lord.

We also need to search the Scriptures.

Isaiah 8:20 says, “Go to God’s instruction and testimony!”

Isaiah 8:19-22 The Message

^19-22When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
    Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
    get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
    People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
    they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
    cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
    up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
    They end up in the dark with nothing.

Everything we need to know is right in front of us when we open God’s Word.

If we saturate our hearts and minds and quicken our hands and our feet, with eyes and ears tuned to God’s truth, we cannot miss what He is calling us to do.

God speaks in various and mysterious ways.

To allow yourself to hear Him, you must silence the distractions you have in your life.

We must turn the TV and social media off at times.

We must not fill our schedules with earthly obligations and forget the sacred obligation we have to the God who created us.

We must also seek counsel and consider the context of what we feel God is calling us to do.

Proverbs 11:14 says “Without guidance, a people will fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.” Godly counsel will help you and me know if what we are feeling aligns with the character of God and will then produce kingdom fruits.

Consider: Why Do We Miss God’s Call?

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

^5-12Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

I believe the number one reason we can miss God’s call is that we are simply too busy to hear him. We naively rely on our own understanding, miss the mark.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us we are to rely only on the Lord and when we do, our paths will become straight.

Our doubts can also keep us from seeing and hearing God’s call.

The idea that we cannot do something or don’t have time to carry out God’s instruction seriously clouds our judgement and hinders our faith in God.

Hebrews 11:5-6 The Message

^5-6By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

We expect God to always speak in a bold, dramatic way.

God is not always going to give you loud, vivid instruction.

You may not get your answer from a burning bush; Elijah received his answer in a gentle whisper outside a cave on a high mountain top (1 Kings 19:12).

1 Kings 19:7-12 The Message

⁷The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”

^8-9He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.

Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

¹⁰“I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”

^11-12Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”

A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

When we quiet our souls is when we will hear Him call.

Missing God’s call can also happen when we do not prioritize worship.

God did not intend for man to do everything alone.

He wants us to have a strong Christian community that will encourage us, pray for us, and make disciples out of us.

Consider These Final Thoughts

1 Corinthians 15:58 Amplified Bible

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

Will God ask you to do something you cannot do?

No. God’s purpose for humanity was to steadfastly do the work He called us too.

Through examples like Moses, Esther, Jonah, the disciples, and many others in the Bible, God showed us that He would never call us to something we cannot do because we can do anything with His strength.

Philippians 4:10-20 Amplified Bible

God’s Provisions

¹⁰I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, that now at last you have renewed your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned about me before, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances. ¹²I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need. ¹³I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] ¹⁴Nevertheless, it was right of you to share [with me] in my difficulties.

¹⁵And you Philippians know that in the early days of preaching the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of ^[a]giving and receiving except you alone; ¹⁶for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. ¹⁷Not that I seek the gift itself, but I do seek the profit which increases to your [heavenly] account [the blessing which is accumulating for you]. ¹⁸But I have received everything in full and more; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent me. They are the fragrant aroma of an offering, an acceptable sacrifice which God welcomes and in which He delights. ¹⁹And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰To our God and Father be the glory ^[b]forever and ever. Amen.

If you feel that God is calling you to do something, put the distractions and doubts aside.

Pray and search the Scriptures.

Participate in worship and lean on your Christian community to guide you.

If you do these things, you will be given the strength and knowledge to do whatever God calls you too.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, our Creator, Jesus, our Blessed Redeemer, we are in awe of the way you re-create broken people like us to be your masterpieces. Help us to honor you each day by doing the works you have prepared in advance for us to do. Amen.

Psalm 119:105-112 The Message

^105-112By your words I can see where I’m going;
    they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back
    from living by your righteous order.
Everything’s falling apart on me, God;
    put me together again with your Word.
Adorn me with your finest sayings, God;
    teach me your holy rules.
My life is as close as my own hands,
    but I don’t forget what you have revealed.
The wicked do their best to throw me off track,
    but I don’t swerve an inch from your course.
I inherited your book on living; it’s mine forever—
    what a gift! And how happy it makes me!
I concentrate on doing exactly what you say—
    I always have and always will.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Today, I am Contemplating, Praying, Upon Some Very Powerful Truths Our Prayers of Intercession Will Reveal… 2 Corinthians 1:8 – 11

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 Amplified Bible

⁸For we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about ^[a]our trouble in [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], how we were utterly weighed down, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life [itself]. ⁹Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death [and were convinced that we would die, but this happened] so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. ¹⁰He rescued us from so great a threat of death, and will continue to rescue us. On Him we have set our hope. And He will again rescue us [from danger and draw us near], ¹¹while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then thanks will be given by many persons on our behalf for the gracious gift [of deliverance] granted to us through the prayers of many [believers].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Truth: Jesus Always Lives to Intercede and Intervene

Today, I find myself reflecting on the indelible truth that Jesus intercedes for us, and that encourages us to intercede for others. As we pray for others, we lift them up to God, asking that in Jesus’ name God’s blessings pour into their lives.

As we contemplate the magnitude of that truth, as we pray for others, it’s important to know that our requests are not limited by time and space.

In today’s passage we read of Paul’s greatest struggles, both physical and spiritual, in carrying out his calling as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Time after time Paul suffered severe life threatening beatings, a few assassination plots, shipwrecks, imprisonment, the imminent threat of immediate beheading.

I do not guess that there are many people who will come to read this will have experienced the breadth of suffering Paul did. However, it is a distinct reality that this devotional will encounter someone who has suffered a deep measure of personal injury, sacrificed far more than their “fair share” for their faith.

For them, we lift them up in our prayers knowing God through Jesus answers.

Yet we also read throughout his letters it did not prevent him from asking God to fill the lives of his fellow believers there with the power of spiritual blessing.

When we pray for others, we ask, plead, God to pour out his resources on them, showering them with his limitless love and grace. It’s because we recognize our own limits we’ll ask God to do for others what we are powerless to do ourselves.

Intercessory prayer demonstrates our love for others.

We forget ourselves in prayer and seek God’s best for others—even going so far as to pray for those whom we consider our enemies.

Matthew 5:43-48 Amplified Bible

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor (fellow man) and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, ^[a]love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him]. ⁴⁶For if you love [only] those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers [wishing them God’s blessing and peace], what more [than others] are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles [who do not know the Lord] do that? ⁴⁸You, therefore, will be perfect [growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life], as your heavenly Father is perfect.

One of the kindest, most powerful things someone can ever say to us is

“I’m praying for you.”

It means they want us to thrive in ways that only God can accomplish.

Whom is the Lord leading you to pray for today?

Contemplating Powerful Truths Paul’s Prayers Reveal about Spirit-Led Living Today.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 The Message

^8-11We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

I deeply believe that one can tell a lot about a person based on how they pray.

Thankfully, God invites us to come to Him authentically, laying bare our souls before Him, expressing our heaviest and rawest emotions. (Psalms 13, 51, 63)

Unveiling the deepest parts of us to the One who loves us unconditionally, when we praise Him, when we cry out in frustration, is an indelibly beautiful thing.

In fact, the greater our intimacy with Christ, the less filtered our words become.

This is precisely why I find Paul’s prayers so empowering and deeply inspiring.

Through them, the first century church planter demonstrates what it looks like to live in the depths of full blown crisis and to fully yielded to God and His plans.

His prayers recorded in Scripture reveal characteristics of a Spirit-led Christian.

1. They Make Intercessory Prayer a Lifestyle Choice

As we grow closer to Christ, our desire to connect with Him, hear from Him, and participate with Him in His kingdom plans increase.

Matthew 9:36-38 Amplified Bible

³⁶When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

We also recognize we cannot love Him and others well in our own strength. We realize, in progressively deepening, thought provoking, spirit quickening ways, just how much we and our world need His wisdom, power, presence, and grace.

In discussing Paul, his biblical letters, late Reverend Dr. Timothy Keller wrote,

“He does not see prayer as merely a way to get things from God but as a way to get more of God himself.”

He turned to the Lord, his closest companion and ever-present source of strength, for every need, with every frustration, and with every praise.

His prayers reveal a quickened heart that remained vitally connected to Christ, in both joyous and frightening moments, and that at the sacrifice of everything he held dear, wanted others to experience the same intimacy with the Savior.

Numerous times, he mentioned how he “always” prayed for various people or “constantly” remembered them in his prayers.

In his letters to the Romans and to the Colossians whom he never saw, he thanked God for the witness of their faith, in 2 Corinthians 1:11 for the Lord’s comfort for the hurting, and in Philippians for their partnership in the gospel.

In his letter to Timothy, he urged the leader to pray for all the people, and in Ephesians he asked for all prayers that he might fearlessly share the gospel.

In each of these instances and more, Paul demonstrated his humble, ongoing communication with His Savior and how much he absolutely prioritized this in his life and ministry.

How much of a priority is intercessory prayer for you in these challenging days?

2. They Celebrate God and Celebrate Evidence of Grace

John 14:12-14 Amplified Bible

¹²I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in My name [^[a]as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask Me anything in My name [as My representative], I will do it.

I know it is said somewhere in the bible “when we celebrate God, we multiply.”

Consider some of your most motivating experiences — the teacher who spoke words of affirmation that led to your current career.

Or, perhaps a coach saw and called out one of your emerging talents.

Most likely, such encouragement motivated you to try harder, work harder, study harder — to become the student or athlete they envisioned. I imagine we can all think of times when a critical statement produced the opposite effect.

Perhaps Paul, a thriving early church leader, understood this, or maybe he was simply overjoyed by the spiritual progress he witnessed.

Regardless, he always seemed to recognize God’s hand in people’s lives.

To the believers in ancient Corinth, he wrote,

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way — with all kinds of speech and with knowledge — … Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Corinthians 1:4-7).

In Colossians, he thanked God for the people’s faith in Christ and love for all others, both of which sprung “from the hope stored up” in heaven (Col. 1:3-6).

³We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [how you lean on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness], and of the [unselfish] ^[a]love which you have for all the saints (God’s people); ⁵because of the [confident] hope [of experiencing that] which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel [regarding salvation] ⁶which has come to you. Indeed, just as in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and spreading [by God’s power], just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth [becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it].

He expressed similar gratitude for those in Thessalonica, stating,

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

To the church in Rome, he wrote, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world” (Romans 1:8).

I find these words particularly significant when I consider how some of the first century Christians to whom he wrote behaved.

Although some of the churches, such as the one in Thessalonica, were thriving, others were experiencing serious problems.

For example, in Corinth, people were excusing blatant sexual immorality – including temple prostitution and incest – as being permissible because of one’s freedom in Christ. The community was also plagued with division fueled by not so choice rhetoric, finger pointing, wild accusations and favoritism.

The church in Rome, comprised of Jews and Greeks, was divided as well.

People argued about the right way to follow Jesus and what and how Gentiles were to participate in religious sacraments.

But, while Paul addressed these issues, calling believers to holiness, he didn’t allow their sinful behaviors to overshadow God’s grace.

Plus, most of these men and women were relatively new in their faith.

Likely, Paul understood that it takes time for one to change from deep pagan, polytheistic mentalities to a gospel-infused worldview that permeated every area of one’s life.

I’m reminded of my early twenties. Although I somewhat responded to the word of God as a child, I didn’t grow in my faith until my early to mid forties, when I connected with a group of committed bible believing Christ-followers.

My perspective, formed by popular culture for over those intervening two decades, changed slowly, one Bible lesson, sermon, and prayer at a time.

This held as true for first century believers, especially those with deep pagan backgrounds, as it does for the men and women sitting in the pews beside us each Sunday. And if in a crowded gym, what is the assortment of their beliefs?

One morning when I was working out on a treadmill, I saw a young lady with a rainbow t-shirt on which said; “ask me what real inclusion means.” Genesis 9

May we, like Paul, remember, wherever they, or we, are at in our journey, where they live into their journey as we are always lavished with grace on top of grace.

3. They Yearn for Everyone to Come to Know Jesus

2 Corinthians 9:13-15 Amplified Bible

¹³Because of this act of ministry, ^[a]they will glorify God for your obedience to the gospel of Christ which you confess, as well as for your generous participation [in this gift] for them and for all [the other believers in need], ¹⁴and they also long for you while they pray on your behalf, because of the surpassing measure of God’s grace [His undeserved favor, mercy, and blessing which is revealed] in you. ¹⁵Now thanks be to God for His indescribable gift [which is precious beyond words]!

God’s love has a multiplying effect.

The more we take it in, the more we have to give.

Scholars also teach us to teach others that we become like the thing we worship.

Therefore, the closer and longer we follow Jesus, the more we resemble Him.

His desires become ours, and His driving focus, outside of bringing glory to the Father, is bringing life to souls once dead.

His passion for me, you, his church and the world was so great that He willingly endured one of the cruelest executions known to man, to bring us salvation and entrance directly into God’s global, eternal family.

Paul embraced hardship and intense persecution for the same reason.

He was willing to endure anything, everything even intense pain, if through it, others might turn to Christ.

Philippians 3:7-9 Amplified Bible

⁷But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. ⁸But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, ⁹and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

That included those who with animosity, envy and jealously followed him from town to town, hoping to immeasurably increase the intensity of his difficulties.

But he refused to waste time on bitterness. Instead, he wrote:

Philippians 1:15-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁵Some, it is true, are [actually] preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry [toward me—for no better reason than a competitive spirit or misguided ambition], but others out of goodwill and a loyal spirit [toward me]. ¹⁶The latter [preach Christ] out of love, because they know that I have been put here [by God on purpose] for the defense of the gospel; ¹⁷but the former preach Christ [insincerely] out of selfish ambition [just self-promotion], thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment.

In Romans 9:3, he wrote, “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race.”

These words gain significance when one recognizes that the men following Paul from one village or city to another were, like him very Jewish, Paul’s people.

While they ultimately longed to increase Paul’s persecution, and incited a mob to help, Paul, instead, prioritized God and Jesus and prayed for their salvation.

Throughout his letters, the evangelist taught many important lessons and spoke powerful, life-changing truths. He encouraged, inspired, and corrected.

But most importantly, he routinely turned to God – in every season, whether hungry or fed, joyous or discouraged. Sprinkled throughout his New Testament letters, his intercessory prayers reveal patterns and passions of a Spirit-led life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Thank you, Lord, for putting neighbors in my life who pray for me. You bless and strengthen me by their prayers. Help me to pray for others too. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13 Amplified Bible

⁹“Pray, then, ^[a]in this way:

‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
^[b]Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰
‘^[c]Your kingdom come,
Your ^[d]will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹
‘Give us this day our ^[e]daily bread.
¹²
‘And forgive us our ^[f]debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].
¹³
‘And do not ^[g]lead us into temptation, but deliver us from ^[h]evil. ^[i][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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The Bride and the Bridegroom, The Husband and the Wife; When You Are Simply not Feeling very Compatible. 1Corinthians 1:10

1 Corinthians 1:10-25 The Message

The Cross: The Irony of God’s Wisdom

¹⁰I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.

^11-12I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”

^13-16I ask you, “Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul’s name?” I was not involved with any of your baptisms—except for Crispus and Gaius—and on getting this report, I’m sure glad I wasn’t. At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name. (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas’s family, but as far as I can recall, that’s it.)

¹⁷God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.

^18-21The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,

I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as shams.

So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered stupid—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

^22-25While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so cheap, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

I am wondering today as I write this devotional today if we can all agree on this;

Brides and Bridegrooms, Husbands and Wives, the Body of Christ, we all called by God to be holy and set apart unto Him but we are also called into fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. We are each urged by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be of the same mind and of the same judgment.

The divisions and the disunity that was evident within the Corinthian church so long ago, is equally, publicly, conspicuous in the Body of Christ today, and Paul and the community and unity of the Trinity are lovingly exhorting each one of us to agree amongst ourselves so that there is no disharmony, disagreement, or dissention amongst us. Can we stop taking shavings out of the Cross of Christ?

This call for singleness of heart is founded only upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and never our preferred preacher or favored ministry, or our preferred theologies, ideologies, political zealousness, denominational tactics.

We are to have the mind of Christ. We are to develop the same attitude of heart toward each other Christ Jesus has for us so that with one mind and one voice we may only glorify our God Who in heaven, our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Timothy 2:4-7 The Message

^4-7He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

In a time when there are ever deepening divisions in the world, how important is it to go out of our way to love our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ?

Can we not just be about God’s business; let us be those who build each other up in love, encouraging and comforting each other as we see the day approaching?

And can we not just be husband and wife, being husband and wife in unity, may our love for each other flow out into the world so that unbelievers may see our love, be drawn to Jesus, and enter into a saving knowledge of our loving Savior?

When You Simply Aren’t Feeling the Compatibility

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁰But I urge you, believers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in full agreement in what you say, and that there be no divisions or factions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your way of thinking and in your judgment [about matters of the faith]. ¹¹For I have been informed about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels and factions among you. ¹²Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” or “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” or “I am [a disciple] of Cephas (Peter),” or “I am [a disciple] of Christ.” ¹³Has Christ been divided [into different parts]? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? [Certainly not!] ¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶Now I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know if I baptized anyone else. ¹⁷For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the cross of Christ would not be ^[a]made ineffective [deprived of its saving power].

Some say opposites attract.

Others urge couples to marry someone with whom they have lots in common.

Regardless of how the relationship starts out, there will almost inevitably come a season or two in a couple’s life where they just aren’t feeling very compatible.

People will inevitably grow and change over the years as individuals, so what perhaps started out as having a lot in common, morphed into having more differences than connections. This growth and its subsequent change can be very discouraging for couples, and even turn into a frequent source of conflict.

In a very tangible sense, Jesus Christ and compromise is usually the key.

If one half of the married couple enjoys science fiction or fantasy movies, and the other prefers dramas, documentaries or romantic comedies, take turns.

Someone loves Thai food but hates seafood?

Simply switch out who gets to choose on every other date night.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require a generous, humble and patient and merciful heart toward your spouse. You might not love the food or activity in question, but you love your spouse, so there is always a measure of joy to be found in going along with what delights them, brings them happiness.

When both people in the marriage do this for each other, unity can be found.

But some areas of differences in marriage don’t always get resolved so easily.

Perhaps your frequent incompatibility with your spouse isn’t over surface level decisions such as what to eat or what movie to watch, but rather, are deeper issues of the heart, such as parenting styles, family relationships, theologies.

These types of differences can grow argumentative, wearisome, but take heart!

If you both take time to pick up a Bible, study it together, pray over it together and patiently wait for God, You just might not be quite as different as you fear.

Step back from the frequent arguing or disunity, take a breath, to look at each other, into their eyes as God looks into ours, and ask yourself these questions.

Does my spouse love God? Do I love God?

Does my spouse desire the best for our family? Do I?

Does my spouse seek to follow after Jesus? Do I?

Does my spouse look to grow our children in the Lord? Do I?

Does my spouse desire unity in our home? Do I?

Does my spouse love me despite our differences? Do I love my spouse?

If the above answers are yes, congratulations!

Start there.

Continue here …

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Amplified Bible

⁹Two are better than one because they have a more satisfying return for their labor; ¹⁰for if ^[a]either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and does not have another to lift him up. ¹¹ Again, if two lie down together, then they keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? ¹²And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Instead of the two of you fixating on what you can’t change about each other, focus with God the Father, Son, Spirit, on where you do agree and build on that.

When Paul wrote to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians, he urged them toward unity. Not because they were arguing over the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, but because of their particularly unique leadership and mentality.

Some were saying they followed the teachings of Paul, others claimed Apollos or Cephas. Paul was reminding them to drop their pride. keep first things first.

1 Corinthians 8:5-13 Amplified Bible

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, ⁶yet for us there is but one God, the Father, ^[a]who is the source of all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things [that have been created], and we [believers exist and have life and have been redeemed] through Him.

⁷However, not all [believers] have this knowledge. But some, being accustomed [throughout their lives] to [thinking of] the idol until now [as real and living], still eat food ^[b]as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and because their conscience is weak, it is defiled (guilty, ashamed). ⁸Now food will not commend us to God nor bring us close to Him; we are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better if we do eat. ⁹ Only be careful that this liberty of yours [this power to choose] does not somehow become a stumbling block [that is, a temptation to sin] to the weak [in conscience]. ¹⁰For if someone sees you, a person having ^[c]knowledge, ^[d]eating in an idol’s temple, then if he is weak, will he not be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols [and violate his own convictions]? ¹¹For through your knowledge (spiritual maturity) this weak man is ruined [that is, he suffers in his spiritual life], the brother for whom Christ died. ¹²And when you sin against the brothers and sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience [by confusing them], you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if [my eating a certain] food causes my brother to stumble (sin), I will not eat [such] meat ever again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

To stay united on what really mattered, to be of one mind and one doctrine.

We can learn the exact same lessons in our marriages. Running with endurance alongside our spouse is a sure way to keep our focus on God and Jesus, off petty differences and toward common goals – unity and community, pray together, ask the Lord to unite you in the areas where it matters most—on His kingdom.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, forgive the times when I have allowed foolish pride or a careless attitude to cause disunity to fester within my heart towards my brothers and sisters in Christ. May I be of one heart and mind with other believers, knowing that we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.

Matthew 6:9-13 Amplified Bible

⁹“Pray, then, ^[a]in this way:

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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God’s Indictment of His own People: Where Are my Measures of Justice, Kindness and Humility? Micah 6:1-8

Micah 6:1-8 Amplified Bible

God’s Indictment of His People

6 Hear now what the Lord is saying,
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills [as witnesses] hear your voice.
²
“Hear, O mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
And you enduring foundations of the earth,
For the Lord has a case (a legal complaint) against His people,
And He will dispute (challenge) Israel.
³
“O My people, what have I done to you [since you have turned away from Me]?
And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.
⁴
“For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
And ransomed you from the house of slavery,
And I sent before you Moses [to lead you], Aaron [the high priest], and Miriam [the prophetess].
⁵
“My people, remember now
What Balak king of Moab devised [with his evil plan against Israel]
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him [turning the curse into blessing for Israel],
[Remember what the Lord did for you] from ^[a]Shittim to Gilgal,
So that you may know the righteous and saving acts [displaying the power] of the Lord.”

What God Requires of Man

⁶
With what shall I come before the Lord [to honor Him]
And bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
⁷
Will the Lord be delighted with thousands of rams,
Or with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my acts of rebellion,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion),
And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

God’s Case Against His People

What God Is Looking For

6 ^1-2Listen now, listen to God:

“Take your stand in court.
    If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;
    make your case to the hills.
And now, Mountains, hear God’s case;
    listen, Jury Earth—
For I am bringing charges against my people.
    I am building a case against Israel.

^3-5“Dear people, how have I done you wrong?
    Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!
I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;
    I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you—
    and Aaron and Miriam to boot!
Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,
    and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.
Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.
    Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”

An important part of many court decisions is known as “restitution.”

Restitution means that a guilty person’s sentence includes making amends for the wrong that was done. So that when someone is found guilty of theft, he is not only punished for his crime but is also ordered to repay what he stole.

Today’s Bible reading portrays the ultimate courtroom drama. God has a case against his people, and the entire creation is called in as the Lord’s witness. In the first five verses of Micah 6, God pours out his heart like a rejected lover.

“Hear, O mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
And you enduring foundations of the earth,

Shouting at the mountaintops unto the enduring foundations of the earth, What did God ever do to you, deserve the way he was treated by his unfaithful people?

The people stand silent before God, their Judge. Their guilt is obvious, and no defense argument can be offered. So verses 6-7 move right into the matter of restitution. But how can sinful people ever repay a holy God? Micah confirms that no sacrifice on our part can ever sufficiently provide restitution to God.

How fully wonderful that the good news of Jesus announces God’s provision of the sacrifice we could never make. In Paul’s words, Jesus is the one who “loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice unto God” (Ephesians 5:2).

Nothing we could offer would be enough to make restitution.

But the offering of Jesus, who laid down his life for us, is.

So, what is it that we are supposed to offer at least as a show of good faith?

Justice.

Kindness.

Mercy.

On the same measure as God as when God sent His only Son to us. (John 3:16)

Except, where is it?

God searches for it, searches everywhere, God never stops searching for it.

But, even at the minimal discernable, detectable levels, they are not found!

We know how God feels about this … we have the words of Micah 6:1 – 5.

But, what we do not have is what is man’s response to this grievous crime?

Sitting in our witness chair, being questioned, silence, We have no response.

We knew what was going on, we knew we were guilty, we have no legal defense to protect us, yet we would plead our innocence before God, righteous judge.

Just what were we thinking?

Were we thinking at all?

“And are we yet disproportionately alive in ourselves versus alive in God?”

Detectable Degrees: Justice, Kindness, and Humility?

Micah 6:6-8 The Message

^6-7How can I stand up before God
    and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings
    topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,
    with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,
    my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

* * *

⁸But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

It is quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, do not take yourself too seriously, take God seriously!

So, God, through His words of truth, to the ancient Prophet Micah says;

It is quite simple …

Do not take ourselves too seriously. (How hard can this possibly be?)

What is that supposed to mean to me?

What is that supposed to mean to you, the reader of this devotional?

What is that supposed to mean to the church, to not take itself too seriously?

And if God’s word teaches us that “Truth be Told, It is really quite easy,” then what are we missing here … easy for God – but isn’t everything easy for God?”

When John Newton, the 18th-century hymn writer and pastor, preached on this verse, he entitled his sermon “No Access to God but by the Gospel of Christ.”

Why would he use a title that seems to lack any connection to the verse?!

Newton himself commented, “There is hardly any one passage in the Bible more generally misunderstood.”[1]

1 The Works of the Rev. John Newton (1808), Vol. 2, p 543.

His sermon title, it seems, was prophetically aimed at correcting the common misunderstandings.

Reverend Newton’s title alerts us to the danger of reading the virtues described here, justice, kindness, humility, then attempting to live them out without the gospel, or proclaiming them in place of the gospel, as a means of access to God.

Neither of these does justice to what the prophet—and the Lord—intended.

The best way to understand Micah 6:8 is not to just give us, a list of things, that contribute to our justification, but as evidences of our justification.

When we view it this way, with the proper motivation and goals established, we can truly understand what the Lord was calling Israel, and is calling us, to do.

The Lord, through Micah, tells us first to “do justice.”

This means a commitment to act in accord with God’s will and purpose.

For example, in Deuteronomy,

Moses says that God “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18).

We want to care about the things God cares about, which means taking such priorities seriously, seeking to never get tired to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

Second, the Lord tells us to “love kindness.”

If doing justice is the action, then loving kindness is the heart attitude that fuels it. It’s deep warm-hearted compassion, ensuring that we pursue justice not as a big media circus performance of some duty but as a glad action of benevolence.

Third, we are to “walk humbly.”

In other words, we are to surrender our inflated self image, walk in submission to God’s will, to embracing our utter dependence on Him every step of the way.

Why does Micah end this verse with humility?

First, because humility is what is required to acknowledge that we do not perfectly obey the call to love kindness and do justice—and so we need the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness of the Lord and not just His commands.

Proverbs 15:33 The Message

³³Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living—
first you learn humility, then you experience glory.

Proverbs 18:12 The Message

¹²Pride first, then the crash,
but humility is precursor to honor.

Proverbs 29:23 The Message

²³Pride lands you flat on your face;
humility prepares you for honors.

And second, because even as we do obey Him in the way Micah 6:8 calls us to, the fruitfulness of our labors is ultimately not up to us.

You and I cannot fix the world; we must instead entrust the solution to the world’s King and Judge.

Doing so both motivates and sustains us, with God’s help, to live out the gospel that has saved us, through expressions of justice, kindness, and humility, for the good of our neighbors, for the witness of the church, for the glory of Christ.

Across the centuries, Ancient words of Micah calls us today to reflect humbly on our need for the gospel, to look deep into your heart and ask the Spirit to grow it in Christlike kindness, then to look to your world and actively pursue what God reveals through the ministry of our Savior Jesus Christ to be fairness to be just.

Ephesians 4:1-3 The Message

To Be Mature

4 ^1-3In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

James 1:26-27 The Message

^26-27Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

We are assured by the truth of God through Christ, revealed by Micah 6:8 that

It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously.

So, what do you believe?

Easy peasy, led, guided and directed by God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Infinitely too complex, immeasurably too Complicated because of our agendas?

In the name of God, the Father and God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 65 The Message

65 ^1-2Silence is praise to you,
Zion-dwelling God,
And also obedience.
You hear the prayer in it all.

^2-8We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
    or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—
    but you get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest
    at home in your place!
We expect our fill of good things
    in your house, your heavenly manse.
All your salvation wonders
    are on display in your trophy room.
Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer,
    Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash,
    of mobs in noisy riot—
Far and wide they’ll come to a stop,
    they’ll stare in awe, in wonder.
Dawn and dusk take turns
    calling, “Come and worship.”

^9-13Oh, visit the earth,
    ask her to join the dance!
Deck her out in spring showers,
    fill the God-River with living water.
Paint the wheat fields golden.
    Creation was made for this!
Drench the plowed fields,
    soak the dirt clods
With rainfall as harrow and rake
    bring her to blossom and fruit.
Snow-crown the peaks with splendor,
    scatter rose petals down your paths,
All through the wild meadows, rose petals.
    Set the hills to dancing,
Dress the canyon walls with live sheep,
    a drape of flax across the valleys.
Let them shout, and shout, and shout!
    Oh, oh, let them sing!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Are We So Unconcerned? Are We Just Passing by on the Other Side? Or Are We Simply Just Passing on Through? Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁵And a ^[a]lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? ^[b]How does it read to you?” ²⁷And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The Good Samaritan

³⁰Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and ^[c]beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. ³¹And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, ³⁴and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵On the next day he took out two ^[d]denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ ³⁶Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” ³⁷And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do ^[e]the same.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Are We So Unconcerned We Simply Just Walk on By?

Luke 10:30-32 Amplified Bible

Parable of the Good Samaritan

³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he encountered robbers, who stripped him of his clothes [and belongings], beat him, and went their way [unconcerned], leaving him half dead. ³¹Now by coincidence a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²Likewise a Levite also came down to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side [of the road].

A Facebook post told the story of a pastor who on his first Sunday in the pulpit at a large suburban church decided to come disguised as a homeless person.

Before the service began, he walked around in his filth, mumbling a greeting.

Only three people bothered to greet him in return.

Walking with his head down, he asked several people for money to buy his breakfast at the McDonald’s just across the street, people hurried past him.

After all, you don’t give money to a panhandler.

Besides, who knew why he was homeless?

Who knew if he was actually homeless – he might be faking it, parking his Cadillac a few blocks away in the parking garage. Many are clever conmen.

He might have been an addict who had ruined his life with drugs or alcohol.

The church members, however, simply “passed by to the other side.”

That’s what the priest and Levite in Jesus’ parable did.

Perhaps in a hurry to serve in worship, or tired and needing to get home, or simply not wanting to get involved, the priest and Levite looked the other way.

They might have witnessed the man being beaten. Not wanting to get hurt or themselves. they decide that the robbed and beaten man was not their problem, and stopping to help as the law had required them to do, could be dangerous.

Of course the real danger is to your own soul in passing by without helping.

It’s definitely much easier to look the other way. For seven years I regularly drove past several homeless shelters without ever bothering to stop and ask how, if they needed any help. I convinced myself I was far too busy to bother.

Considering that I worked at a residential program for homeless veterans at the time as a case manager, 20/20 hindsight, wondering if I should have stopped.

An Ancient Conflict, A New Struggle With Need

Matthew 26:6-13 Amplified Bible

The Anointing in Bethany

⁶Now when Jesus was [back] in Bethany, at the home of ^[a]Simon the leper, ⁷a ^[b]woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive ^[c]perfume and she poured it on Jesus’ head as He reclined at the table. ⁸But when the ^[d]disciples saw it they were indignant and angry, saying, “Why all this waste [of money]? ⁹For this perfume might have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰But Jesus, aware [of the malice] of this [remark], said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a good thing to Me. ¹¹For you always have the poor with you; but you will not always have Me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. ¹³I assure you and most solemnly say to you, wherever this gospel [of salvation] is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her [for her act of love and devotion].”

These are far too common situations:

Families living paycheck to paycheck. Single mothers trying to stretch their resources farther and farther, having to choose between food, utilities and rent.

Homeless men and women on street corners with their children holding signs say, “please help my children” “Will work for food.” the Children are poorly dressed, some can be seen with swollen bellies because they don’t have food.

In place of the rich provision given by God in Eden, we now find poverty and material need. Sometimes poverty is the result of injustice and oppression as we see in many developing nations around the globe, as we witness in Gaza Strip.

Other times it stems from bad choices made by people in need.

Still other times it comes from circumstances beyond people’s control: injury, disability, corporate downsizing, the effects and affects of dealing with wars.

As affluent societies, we’ll “struggle” to know how to respond to inequality.

We assign blame, we walk across the streets, pass by, often in simplistic ways.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 26 about the poor have sometimes been used as an excuse to avoid helping people in need.

But he was simply describing the never ending brokenness in which we live.

He also taught that in caring for needy people on his behalf, we will serve Jesus himself (Matthew 25:37-40). The woman who anointed Jesus was weak and broken. He protected her dignity and honored her struggle while some of the disciples indignantly, angrily wondered out loud why should anyone bother.

The poor are always with us. The struggling are also always with us, The hungry are always going to be with us standing in corners. Perhaps in this moment our love for Jesus will yield a refreshed willingness to care for the weak, struggling, those who our societies and cultures refer to as “least of these,” marginalized.

Matthew 10:41-42 Amplified Bible

⁴¹He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴²And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”

If you, like me, have passed by on the other side, ask for forgiveness, and ask the Lord to give you a second chance. Then watch for opportunities to serve.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I ^[a]shall not want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside ^[b]quiet waters.
³He restores my soul;
He guides me in the ^[c]paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the ^[d]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no ^[e]evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You ^[f]have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
^6 [g]Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will ^[h]dwell in the house of the Lord ^[i]forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

“… IF indeed we continue in the faith, well grounded and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that we have heard…” Colossians 1:23

Colossians 1:21-23 Amplified Bible

²¹And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things, ²²yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His ^[a]physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach— ²³[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ^[b]in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Love Rejoices With the Truth

Love does not delight in evil.

Evil is anything that spoils, corrupts, pollutes, disables, destroys God’s good creation.

On the sixth day of creation “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

There was no trace of evil—evil has no right to exist in this universe.

When Adam and Eve listened to the devil and sinned against God, evil began to have its destructive way throughout the creation.

As a result of their sin, every human being is born with a tendency to delight in evil.

For example, we are delighted when an enemy’s reputation is ruined, or when we discover that someone we envy is having financial and or marital problems.

We make fun of people who look different, with mental and physical difficulty.

We delight in bad news and demeaning “jokes” concerning people who are of a different class, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation or religious faith.

But God’s love poured into our heart moves us to rejoice with the truth that God is reclaiming and restoring his good creation through his Son.

“God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things…by making peace [with believers] through his blood, shed on the cross.” We rejoice with the truth that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (Colossians 1:19-20, 2Corinthians 5:17)

Reality is, Though, We Never Quite Seem to Move On

Most 21st-century Western people would say human beings are, overall, good.

One day’s worth of news, however, will quickly call such a notion into question.

And one day in our own biased and prejudiced company should also undermine the claim that we are, “overall good.”

For, if we’re completely honest, we must admit that our thoughts, own hearts are unruly and out of control—and popular solutions to this problem, such as social media posting, social engineering, greater education or changes to social circumstances, just never seem to fix things. Humanity continues to be a mess.

When we turn to the Bible, we discover an ugly truth about ourselves: the reason we feel alienated from the people around us—the reason I sometimes feel alienated from myself—is because we’re far and away alienated from God.

Our horizontal alienation is indicative of a far more serious vertical alienation.

God made us so that we might have an intimate relationship with Him, yet our minds and our tongues are turned away from Him. We don’t think of Him. We don’t love Him as He loves us. We don’t even look for Him as He looks for us.

There is, however, good news.

As followers of Christ, while we were once wasting away, we have now been renewed. We were alienated, but now we’ve been reconciled. We lived in a dark place, and now we’ve been brought into the light. We were trapped, and now we’ve been set free. We were dead, and now we’ve been made alive with Christ.

That’s the reality of the experience of those who know God as He has revealed Himself through His word.

This transformation isn’t simply the result of a decision to revamp life.

At some point, most of us have thought, “I’m turning over a new leaf and making a change. I’m going to be more thankful this year than I was last year.”

And good! There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Our friends and family would probably be thrilled to hear it and actually lived out! But that alone is not the end goal for a Christian though. Rather, change in a Christian’s life is motivated and initiated only by the saving grace of God. We go on as we began: by grace.

The good news of the gospel is the fact that Jesus of Nazareth came on our behalf to bring an end to our alienation.

He, and He alone, has done what we most need but could not do for ourselves.

So the call to us is very simple: to “continue in the faith … not shifting from … the gospel.”

We never need to move on from the simple gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning; in fact, we dare not.

And yet how easy it is for us to grow cold to these truths; for familiarity to breed if not contempt, then stone hardened apathy and mind numbing complacency.

So consider your heart honestly. Acknowledge your sin. And come back to the gospel once more, in awe “that thou, my God, should’st die for me.”[1]

1 Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be?” (1738).

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 108 The Message

Praise and Supplication to God for Victory.

A Song. A Psalm of David.

108 ^1-2I’m ready, God, so ready,
    ready from head to toe.
Ready to sing,
    ready to raise a God-song:
“Wake, soul! Wake, lute!
    Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!”

^3-6I’m thanking you, God, out in the streets,
    singing your praises in town and country.
The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
    every cloud’s a flag to your faithfulness.
Soar high in the skies, O God!
    Cover the whole earth with your glory!
And for the sake of the one you love so much,
    reach down and help me—answer me!

^7-9That’s when God spoke in holy splendor:
    “Brimming over with joy,
I make a present of Shechem,
    I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift.
Gilead’s in my pocket,
    to say nothing of Manasseh.
Ephraim’s my hard hat,
    Judah my hammer.
Moab’s a scrub bucket—
    I mop the floor with Moab,
Spit on Edom,
    rain fireworks all over Philistia.”

^10-11Who will take me to the thick of the fight?
Who’ll show me the road to Edom?
You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God?
refusing to go out with our troops?

^12-13Give us help for the hard task;
human help is worthless.
In God we’ll do our very best;
he’ll flatten the opposition for good.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

What Value to Me, An Eye for an Eye? Is that ever going to get us anywhere? Vengeance Is the Lord’s Department. Matthew 5:38-42

Matthew 5:38-42 The Message

Love Your Enemies

^38-42“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

What do you do when your spouse forgets to pay a bill on time?

Or when your friend makes an insensitive comment?

Or when another driver cuts you off?

What is your first instinct?

An extra lean into your vehicles horn an extra minute or two or three or more?

Follow after them with the idea that at the first opportunity to do the exact same thing and try to cut them off and endangering everyone around you too?

Road Rage? Hit their vehicle from behind with yours?

Road Rage? Wait until the next stop light to stop your vehicle next to theirs, get out of your vehicle and “rage against the system” and their vehicle with fists?

Or maybe, infinitely worse and infinitely more dangerous – reveal a firearm?

Maybe you are the kind of person cannot wait, who wants to fight back when someone hurts you or someone you love, or makes things too difficult for you?

You raise your voice.

You raise your stress levels

You raise your blood pressure and pulse rate.

Your mind and your body goes into dangerous measures of overdrive.

You “dip your tongue” in some ‘wildly inflammable rhetoric’ and light up.

Your soul is seething, light your tongue, You make personal verbal attacks.

Or maybe you’re not the type to lash out.

Instead, you give people the silent treatment.

You ignore them, you avoid them, you do not make eye contact, stop returning email and texts, or you walk out of the room and refuse to discuss any more.

The desire to retaliate is actually rooted in a God-given desire for justice.

We understand intuitively that people should definitely be held accountable for things that they’ve done. Consequences must come. But our best ideas of justice are far too easily tainted by our own anger, our feelings of self-righteousness.

In this passage from the Beatitudes, Jesus leads us in a better way, inviting us to entertain a different mindset, let go of revenge and to trust God as our defender.

God sees and knows our suffering.

God knows our bent to engage our self wills before we engage our prayer life.

But God is also very particular about how we go about engaging our neighbors.

Leviticus 19:17-18 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁷‘You shall not hate your ^[a]fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. ¹⁸You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

He longs for justice to be done. And in his mercy, God also desires that all people would turn to Him from sin, come to faith, and have new life in him.

Accept that Vengeance Is the Lord’s Department

Matthew 5:38-42 Easy-to-Read Version

Jesus Teaches About Fighting Back

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’^[a] ³⁹But I tell you, don’t fight back against someone who wants to do harm to you. If they hit you on the right cheek, let them hit the other cheek too. ⁴⁰If anyone wants to sue you in court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. ⁴¹If a soldier forces you to walk with him one mile,^[b] go with him two. ⁴²Give to anyone who asks you for something. Don’t refuse to give to anyone who wants to borrow from you.

When Jesus uttered these familiar words, to whom was He speaking?

Who was Jesus telling to “stand still,” endure evil and resist retaliation?

It may seem simple, but this question gets at an important distinction that was in the mind of the apostle Paul as he penned his letter to the Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12:17-20 Easy-to-Read Version

¹⁷If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. ¹⁸Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone. ¹⁹My friends, don’t try to punish anyone who does wrong to you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. In the Scriptures the Lord says,

“I am the one who punishes;
I will pay people back.”

²⁰But you should do this:

“If you have enemies who are hungry,
give them something to eat.
If you have enemies who are thirsty,
give them something to drink.
In doing this you will make them feel ashamed.^[a]”

In chapter 12:17, he exhorts his readers to “repay no one evil for evil” and to “overcome evil with good” (v 21), echoing the Lord’s teaching: that we should turn the other cheek.

And yet, just a few verses later in Romans 13, he says that God has established civil authorities as His servants for the purpose of approving what is good and punishing what is evil (13:1-5).

Obey Your Government Rulers

13 All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. ²So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. ³People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you.

⁴Rulers are God’s servants to help you. But if you do wrong, you have reason to be afraid. They have the power to punish, and they will use it. They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. ⁵So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do.

Sometimes, then, evil is quicker to be repaid, justice then served by governing authorities and at other times, unjustly, it is not—at least not immediately.

Both Paul and Jesus recognized an important distinction we must remember between the way individual Christians ought to respond to evil done to them (dealt with in Romans 12) the execution of rule of law (dealt with in Romans 13).

Christians are not to take justice into their own hands.

Rather, we are to entrust the repayment of evil to the authorities God has put in place. Civil authorities are one example. When they fulfill their roles rightly and justly, they serve as a deterrent to bad conduct but not to good. They are there to faithfully serve people, execute the rule of law, to punish those who violate it.

Understanding that God is perfectly just will free us to obey Jesus’ command to stand still, turn the other cheek. This is not a call to pretend that the evil done to us is not evil or to embrace a despairing outlook that says there is no justice or that justice is not equally applied or unjustly applied or it is vengefully applied.

Nor it is a call to accept, when we are victims, that we must not make recourse to the civil authorities for legislative and judicial actions to address injustice.

No, Christians are called to and can endure evil because vengeance belongs to the Lord (Romans 12:19).

On occasion, He permits that vengeance to be carried out in this life as He authorizes human governments to “wield, bear the sword” (Romans 13:4).

But on the judgement day of the Lord, He will be the one directly carrying out His righteous justice, and so every evil done in His world will be repaid in full.

We wont know what that will mean nor how the Lord will manifest His justice.

But, we absolutely must trust that God is always far more righteous than us!

Psalm 65:5-8 New American Standard Bible 1995

⁵By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest ^[a]sea;
⁶Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
Being girded with might;
⁷Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
⁸They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the ^[b]dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

You and I, then, are max free to seek justice from the authorities that God has instituted to protect people and punish wrongdoing. Equally, we are free to turn the other cheek, resisting the all-too-natural urge to take matters into our own hands and enact our own vengeance. Justice will come, and not from our hands.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, help me to turn my hurts over to you rather than seeking revenge. Give me the wisdom to respond with patience and compassion when I feel offended. Amen.

Psalm 65 New American Standard Bible 1995

God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.

65 There will be silence ^[a]before You, and praise in Zion, O God,
And to You the vow will be performed.
²O You who hear prayer,
To You all ^[b]men come.
^3 [c]Iniquities prevail against me;
As for our transgressions, You ^[d]forgive them.
⁴How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You
To dwell in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple.

⁵By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest ^[e]sea;
⁶Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
Being girded with might;
⁷Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
⁸They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the ^[f]dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
You greatly enrich it;
The ^[g]stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare ^[h]the earth.
¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly,
You ^[i]settle its ridges,
You soften it with showers,
You bless its growth.
¹¹You have crowned the year ^[j]with Your ^[k]bounty,
And Your ^[l]paths drip with fatness.
¹²The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.
¹³The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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“On the other hand, do not be naïve and gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good, throw out anything which is tainted with evil.” 1Thessalonians 5:19-23

1 Thessalonians 5:19-23 Amplified Bible

¹⁹Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit. ²⁰Do not scorn or reject gifts of prophecy or prophecies [spoken revelations—words of instruction or exhortation or warning]. ²¹But test ^[a]all things carefully [so you can recognize what is good]. Hold firmly to that which is good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil [withdraw and keep away from it].

²³Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In his final greeting to the Church at Thessalonica, Apostle Paul gives various warnings and exhortations to the Body of Christ on how to live a godly life that is worthy of our position in Christ.

Here in verses 19-22 we are called to a life of examination, life which is devoted to self examination: “Not quench the Holy Spirit. Not to scorn the Word of God. But test all things, examine everything carefully, against the Word of God and to hold fast that which is good, genuine, and true. so you can recognize what is good]. Abstain from every form of evil [withdraw and keep away from it].”

In order to be so devoted and disciplined do so we need to be like the Berean believers who searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things they were being taught in their churches and assemblies were true to Scripture, or if there was a big, subtle, distortion of biblical truth or watering down of God’s Word of grace.

God has set clear biblical standards for the normal Christian life, as outlined in the Church epistles and which are founded on the teachings of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself being the foundation stone. The single and unique standard of truth by which we are to test all things is the Word of God.

What does it mean to prove all things?

He told them, “Prove all things…” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The word “prove” is the Greek word ‘dokimadzo’, which means to approve after testing. In other words, don’t simply believe everything you hear. Test it before you accept it.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/1th/5/21/t_conc_1116021

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1381/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/

What does it mean to test everything?

Paul tells us to test everything.

This means to examine closely in order to determine its authenticity.

Just because an actor or athlete gives thanks to God after a “performance” doesn’t mean that we should risk our life, then do everything else they do.

Proverbs 30:1-9 Amplified Bible

The Words of Agur

30 The words of ^[a]Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle:

The man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal:

²
Surely ^[b]I am more brutish and stupid than any man,
And I do not have the understanding of a man [for I do not know what I do not know].
³
I have not learned [skillful and godly] wisdom,
Nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One [who is the source of wisdom].
⁴
Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name?
Certainly you know!

⁵
Every word of God is tested and refined [like silver];
He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him.
⁶
Do not add to His words,
Or He will reprove you, and you will be found a liar.

⁷
Two things I have asked of You;
Do not deny them to me before I die:
⁸
Keep deception and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
⁹
So that I will not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or that I will not be poor and steal,
And so profane the name of my God.

Let us read, pray, mark, study, learn, and inwardly digest God’s Word, and study the truth to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Let us remember that the Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than a short, swift razor-sharpened two-edged sword, which is able to pierce between our resistances of the soul and Holy spirit, can slice between joint and marrow.

Proverbs 30:7-9 Amplified Bible

DO NOT QUENCH THE HOLY SPIRIT …

nor [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit.

The power of God’s Word against our hearts and souls exposes the innermost thoughts of our hearts, can hardcore judge our very motives and secret desires.

Acts 10:9-23 Amplified Bible

⁹The next day, as they were on their way and were approaching the city, Peter went up on ^[a]the roof of the house about the sixth hour (noon) to pray, ¹⁰but he became hungry and wanted something to eat. While ^[b]the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance; ¹¹and he saw the sky opened up, and an ^[c]object like a great sheet descending, lowered by its four corners to the earth, ¹²and it contained all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. ¹³A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” ¹⁴But Peter said, “Not at all, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common (unholy) and [ceremonially] unclean.” ¹⁵And the voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).” ¹⁶This happened three times, and then immediately the object was taken up into heaven.

¹⁷Now Peter was still perplexed and completely at a loss as to what his vision could mean when the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon’s house, arrived at the gate. ¹⁸And they called out to ask whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. ¹⁹While Peter was thoughtfully considering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Now listen, three men are looking for you. ²⁰Get up, go downstairs and go with them without hesitating or doubting, because I have sent them Myself.” ²¹Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. For what reason have you come?” ²²They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man well spoken of by all the Jewish people, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear what you have to say.” ²³So Peter ^[d]invited them in and gave them lodging [for the night].

May we please make it a daily practice, keep an open mind, a disciplined priority to test all things this world presents to us as ‘correct’ ideologies, theologies, to hold fast to that which is God, the Father, God the Son God the Holy Spirit says is good, may we do so in godly love, in humble submission to the Holy Spirit?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, instill in me a desire to know You more and to study Your Word diligently and prayerfully so that I may be approved unto God. Help me to examine all things carefully and to hold fast to all that is good, genuine, and true, as outlined in Your Word of grace. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.

Psalm 119:1-16 Amplified Bible

Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God.

^[a]Aleph.

119 How blessed and favored by God are those whose way is blameless [those with personal integrity, the upright, the guileless],
Who walk in the law [and who are guided by the precepts and revealed will] of the Lord.
²
Blessed and favored by God are those who keep His testimonies,
And who [consistently] seek Him and long for Him with all their heart.
³
They do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways.
⁴
You have ordained Your precepts,
That we should follow them with [careful] diligence.
⁵
Oh, that my ways may be established
To observe and keep Your statutes [obediently accepting and honoring them]!
⁶
Then I will not be ashamed
When I look [with respect] to all Your commandments [as my guide].
⁷
I will give thanks to You with an upright heart,
When I learn [through discipline] Your righteous judgments [for my transgressions].
⁸
I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not utterly abandon me [when I fail].

Beth.

⁹
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to Your precepts].
¹⁰
With all my heart I have sought You, [inquiring of You and longing for You];
Do not let me wander from Your commandments [neither through ignorance nor by willful disobedience].
¹¹
Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
¹²
Blessed and reverently praised are You, O Lord;
Teach me Your statutes.
¹³
With my lips I have told of
All the ordinances of Your mouth.
¹⁴
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
¹⁵
I will meditate on Your precepts
And [thoughtfully] regard Your ways [the path of life established by Your precepts].
¹⁶
I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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No Offense to those who will surely take Offense but we are all meant to be wise and to shine. Proverbs 19:11

Proverbs 19:11 Complete Jewish Bible

¹¹People with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Possessing the Wisdom to Overlook an Offense

In a world with the internet, deeply hurtful social media tactics and more, how do we move past offenses where others knowingly or unknowingly wound us?

It can be even more disappointing and discouraging when a fellow Christian offends us, because we believe we should have higher expectations for them.

Like Romans 12:10 encourages, we hope believers will give preference to one another.

Romans 12:9-13 Easy-to-Read Version

⁹Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good. ¹⁰Love each other in a way that makes you feel close like brothers and sisters. And give each other more honor than you give yourself. ¹¹As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving him! ¹²Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. ¹³Share with God’s people who need help. Look for people who need help and welcome them into your homes.

Likewise, we hope Christians grasp the concept of “taming their wild tongues” and the true importance of the words we speak, remembering how one day we will all have to give an account for every empty word spoken (Matthew 12:36).

Matthew 12:33-36 Easy-to-Read Version

What You Do Shows What You Are

³³“If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. ³⁴You snakes! You are so evil. How can you say anything good? What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts. ³⁵Those who are good have good things saved in their hearts. That’s why they say good things. But those who are evil have hearts full of evil, and that’s why they say things that are evil. ³⁶I tell you that everyone will have to answer for all the careless things they have said. This will happen on the day of judgment.

Still, even in the midst of all of these hurtful experiences, God gives us the opportunity to learn how to work through offenses. And if we’re willing to submit to Him, He will refine and fine-tune our hearts during the process.

Looking Honestly at Ourselves

Psalm 101:1-5 Easy-to-Read Version

A song of David.

101 I will sing about love and justice.
    Lord, I will sing to you.
²I will be careful to live a pure life.
    I will live in my house with complete honesty.
    When will you come to me?
³I will not even look at anything shameful.^[a]
    I hate all wrongdoing.
    I want no part of it!
⁴I will not be involved in anything dishonest.
    I will have nothing to do with evil.
⁵I will stop anyone who secretly
    says bad things about a neighbor.
I will not allow people to be proud
    and think they are better than others.

Taking on the hardcore challenge of overlooking offenses is good work for us to do. As we work to truly forgive others, we’ll uncover and discover weaknesses in ourselves, ones we likely did not know were even resting, residing, within us.

Offenses have a way of shining a spotlight within us, exposing secret areas in our hearts and souls that could use revealing and sacrificing. If we truly want God to transform and renew us (Romans 12:1-2), then we want to be willing to examine our own behaviors and attitudes, like 2 Corinthians 13:5 urges us to do.

2 Corinthians 13:5-9 Easy-to-Read Version

⁵Look closely at yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are living in the faith. Don’t you realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Of course, if you fail the test, he is not in you. ⁶But I hope you will see that we have not failed the test. ⁷We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Our concern here is not for people to see that we have passed the test in our work with you. Our main concern is that you do what is right, even if it looks as if we have failed the test. ⁸We cannot do anything that is against the truth but only what promotes the truth. ⁹We are happy to be weak if you are strong. And this is what we pray—that your lives will be made completely right again.

So overall if we are each courageously willing, this purging process can help us experience a godly type of gratefulness for the cleansing work it does within us (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 Easy-to-Read Version

¹⁴We ask you, brothers and sisters, to warn those who will not work. Encourage those who are afraid. Help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong. But always try to do what is good for each other and for all people.

¹⁶Always be full of joy. ¹⁷Never stop praying. ¹⁸Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹Don’t stop the work of the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Don’t treat prophecy like something that is not important. ²¹But test everything. Keep what is good, ²²and stay away from everything that is evil.

In the sitcom “King of Queens” Lyin’ Hearted episode, Carrie’s (Leah Remini) father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller), is in hospital for heart surgery.

While looking through his important papers , Carrie discovers dad withheld significant opportunities from her that would have made her life far better.

Deeply hurt, offended, and disappointed by these discoveries, Carrie’s first reaction is to lash out and hurt him back.

But in a split moment, where it looks likes she’s losing him to cardiac arrest, her heart dramatically changes from grudges to forgive him. Within minutes Carrie realizes how her father’s offenses do not outweigh her love for him.

Like her character experienced, when it comes to responding to an offense, it’s far more beneficial and wise to look at the whole picture to see just what really matters to us, especially when it comes to responding to the failures of others.

Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, His Righteousness

Matthew 6:25-34 Easy-to-Read Version

Put God’s Kingdom First

²⁵“So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. ²⁶Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? ²⁷You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the wildflowers in the field. See how they grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. ³⁰If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It’s just grass—one day it’s alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you. Your faith is so small!

³¹“Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. ³³What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. ³⁴So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.

In overlooking offenses, seeking to be wiser than most, we can surely seek God first and foremost for His wisdom, asking Him to lead us in our responses and actions, and to reveal how they may affect our relationships in the long run.

Instead of laser focusing on others’ lack of love and wisdom towards us, we can first turn ourselves off, change the energy to love towards them, choosing to offer them forgiveness, patience even when it seems like they don’t deserve it.

Like Colossians 3:13 reminds us, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Colossians 3:8-17 Easy-to-Read Version

⁸But now put these things out of your life: anger, losing your temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and saying shameful things. ⁹Don’t lie to each other. You have taken off those old clothes—the person you once were and the bad things you did then. ¹⁰Now you are wearing a new life, a life that is new every day. You are growing in your understanding of the one who made you. You are becoming more and more like him. ¹¹In this new life it doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, circumcised or not. It doesn’t matter if you speak a different language or even if you are a Scythian.^[a] It doesn’t matter if you are a slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he is in all of you.

Your New Life With Each Other

¹²God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. ¹³Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity. ¹⁵Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body.^[b] And always be thankful.

¹⁶Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

God’s Word explains that when we overlook offenses, it reflects well on us.

Proverbs 19:11 Easy-to-Read Version

¹¹Experience makes you more patient, and you are most patient when you ignore insults.

Proverbs 19:11 The Message

¹¹Smart people know how to hold their tongue;
their grandeur is to forgive and forget.

Godly handling of offense also helps us to wisely experience it less and less, not because others aren’t offending us, but because we aren’t receiving it into lives.

What “triggers” a feeling within you that “you have just been offended?”

Who has offended you?

What has offended you?

Knowing exactly who you are, What is your first response most likely to be?

Should you to engage in, practice an age old effort of “grabbing your tongue?”

Did not quite remember to grab and stifle your fiery tongue soon enough …?

Remembering to always be including yourself, Who do you need to forgive?

What part and parts of the Word of God need to be vigorously consulted now?

Take time today to pray forgiveness over any offenses you are holding onto.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Matthew 6:7-13 The Message

^7-13“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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“In the Morning when I rise, In the morning, Lord, YOU hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” Psalm 5

Psalm 5 New King James Version

A Prayer for Guidance

To the Chief Musician. With ^[a]flutes. A Psalm of David.

5 Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my ^[b]meditation.
²Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
³My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

⁴For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil ^[c]dwell with You.
⁵The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
⁶You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward ^[d]Your holy temple.
⁸Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.

⁹For there is no ^[e]faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
¹⁰Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.

¹¹But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You ^[f]defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
¹²For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

At one place in his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis suggests that each morning starts the same way for everyone. When we wake up, rise up, all the thoughts about what we hope to accomplish that day flood our mind. Lewis writes that our plans for the day resemble wild animals that rush toward us.

I don’t know, nor can I speak, if this describes how a day typically begins for you. But Lewis goes on to describe something that everyone should experience each morning. He encourages us to pay attention to another reality: the deeper, more intimate life we have in our Savior Jesus Christ. Instead of all our fretting over the concerns of the new day, we should allow God’s peace to flow into us.

That sounds like a wonderful description of morning prayer.

It’s what David, in Psalm 5 describes as being a two-way conversation between us and God our Father. We wake up, We rise up, We speak up, and we listen up.

We pray it up, and we wait. We act, and we receive. We begin our day with God.

We are informed by God Morning prayers sets the tone for the day that follows.

If the morning begins with worry first, that will only increase as the day moves along. But if we start out by “Good Morning God!” enjoying time with God and receiving strength from God, we will more likely remain in his peace as the day continues. God teaches there’s no better way to begin the day than with prayer.

“God, as I pass through my day …” Transformative Things That Will Enhance Your Prayer Life Today

Psalm 34:17-19 New King James Version

¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as ^[a]have a contrite spirit.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

As I opened my morning devotional first thing this morning, the Scripture for the day is from Psalm 34 of which I have pulled out the verses that spoke to me.

It wasn’t long before I was reminded of the many issues before me, struggling with responses to the chaos in the world with grace-filled thoughts, prayers.

I felt the Lord whispering unto me that I should be deepening my prayer life.

I was surprised since I thought I had a consistent prayer time every morning before I sit down, gather my thoughts, engage the Lord, and write my blog.

What could the Lord possibly mean by this?

Soon, God started revealing exactly how my prayer life was going to be enlarged and enhanced, which would hopefully, prayerfully, also fill me with more grace and appropriate responses to situations. Let me share with you ways the Lord led me to try enhancing my prayer life that will perhaps resonate with you also.

Actively Anticipate and Expect that the Lord will be Moving in Your Prayer Life.

Philippians 1:3-7 New King James Version

Thankfulness and Prayer

³I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ⁴always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, ⁵for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; ⁷just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.

Sometimes, we allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by everything happening in our personal lives and in the world.

Things that might cause anxiety, worry, doubt, fear, maybe even hopelessness in our soul.

It’s easy to forget that those are the very times we need to take everything to the Lord in prayer.

I mean everything!

I’ll readily confess that’s not always my normal response, but it should be. So many occurrences in our daily lives are actually calls from the Lord to pray about them instead of trying to figure out how to fix them ourselves. God is trying to move us all to a deeper dependence on him in all circumstances.

I’m not saying the Lord purposely puts situations in your path to pray over, but sometimes we stumble over them instead of lifting them up to God for answers.

We’ve all been around prayer warriors who break out into prayer continuously and spontaneously. Petitioning and praising. I have friends like that and when I’m around them, as a consequence, I soon realize just how little I actually pray.

Many of us relegate our prayers to morning devotionals and before meals, but then we might set God aside for the day while we busily deal with life instead of anticipating opportunities to call on God like the Scriptures remind us to do.

Romans 12:3-8 New King James Version

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

³For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. ⁴For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Do Not be Afraid and Follow Through When Prayer Assignments Are Discerned and are then Revealed

James 5:13-18 New King James Version

Meeting Specific Needs

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ^16 [a]Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, ^[b]fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

A prayer assignment occurs every time we sense someone, something, or even an issue which is in need of prayer. It could be illness, job loss, death, problem children, finances, work decisions even world events…really the list is endless.

Our tendency is to express an appropriate measure of concern or condolences and say, “I’ll pray for you,” whether it’s in person, by phone or on social media.

But could it be that our assignment is to pray in the moment?!

Ask the person if you could pray for them right at the time. If it’s on social media, text, or email, write out a short prayer response. When you hear bad news on the media, drop to your knees and pray, especially when you want to throw something or yell at the monitor screen. Take it to God in prayer instead.

Seek His Kingdom First, A true Watchman for God, Be on the Alert Look for the Opportunities to Pray More.

2 Samuel 18:24-27 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself. ²⁵The watchman called and told the king. And the king said, “If he is by himself there is good news in his mouth.” And he came nearer and nearer. ²⁶Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.” And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.” ²⁷The watchman said, “I ^[a]think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “This is a good man and comes with good news.”

It’s wonderful to stop, watch and pray for those revealed prayer opportunities, but our prayer life will become even more vibrant when we also consciously and consistently seek out opportunities to observe and declare when to pray. With the chaos, upheaval in our world today, it is not hard to find occasions to pray.

With practice and diligence, we can all become beacons of hope, courage, love, compassion and grace when we extend to others and to ourselves the gift of offering prayers to our Lord and Savior. How that blesses him, others, and us.

Ask yourself How much larger, More beautiful, could God’s Kingdom become?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Deliverer in Death.

A ^[a]Mikhtam of David.

16 Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
^2 [b]I said to the Lord, “You are ^[c]my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
³As for the ^[d]saints who are in the earth,
^[e]They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
⁴The ^[f]sorrows of those who have ^[g]bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my ^[h]mind instructs me in the night.
⁸I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰For You will not abandon my soul to ^[i]Sheol;
Nor will You ^[j]allow Your ^[k]Holy One to ^[l]undergo decay.
¹¹You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

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Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

Redeemed for Good Work: Masterpieces

Ephesians 2:1-10 Easy-to-Read Version

From Death to Life

Will God Ever Ask Us to Do Something We Can’t Do?

Consider This: Why Did God Create Man?

Genesis 2:15 Amplified Bible

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible

Consider this: A Biblical Lens on God’s Instruction

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

How Do We Know What God Wants from Us?

James 4:7-10 The Message

Isaiah 8:19-22 The Message

Consider: Why Do We Miss God’s Call?

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

Hebrews 11:5-6 The Message

1 Kings 19:7-12 The Message

Consider These Final Thoughts

1 Corinthians 15:58 Amplified Bible

Philippians 4:10-20 Amplified Bible

God’s Provisions

Psalm 119:105-112 The Message

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2 Corinthians 1:8-11 Amplified Bible

Truth: Jesus Always Lives to Intercede and Intervene

Matthew 5:43-48 Amplified Bible

Contemplating Powerful Truths Paul’s Prayers Reveal about Spirit-Led Living Today.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 The Message

1. They Make Intercessory Prayer a Lifestyle Choice

2. They Celebrate God and Celebrate Evidence of Grace

John 14:12-14 Amplified Bible

3. They Yearn for Everyone to Come to Know Jesus

2 Corinthians 9:13-15 Amplified Bible

Philippians 3:7-9 Amplified Bible

Philippians 1:15-17 Amplified Bible

Matthew 6:9-13 Amplified Bible

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1 Corinthians 1:10-25 The Message

The Cross: The Irony of God’s Wisdom

1 Timothy 2:4-7 The Message

When You Simply Aren’t Feeling the Compatibility

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Amplified Bible

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Amplified Bible

1 Corinthians 8:5-13 Amplified Bible

Matthew 6:9-13 Amplified Bible

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Micah 6:1-8 Amplified Bible

God’s Indictment of His People

What God Requires of Man

God’s Case Against His People

What God Is Looking For

Detectable Degrees: Justice, Kindness, and Humility?

Micah 6:6-8 The Message

Ephesians 4:1-3 The Message

To Be Mature

James 1:26-27 The Message

Psalm 65 The Message

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Luke 10:25-37 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Good Samaritan

Are We So Unconcerned We Simply Just Walk on By?

Luke 10:30-32 Amplified Bible

Parable of the Good Samaritan

An Ancient Conflict, A New Struggle With Need

Matthew 26:6-13 Amplified Bible

The Anointing in Bethany

Matthew 10:41-42 Amplified Bible

Psalm 23 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

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Colossians 1:21-23 Amplified Bible

Love Rejoices With the Truth

Reality is, Though, We Never Quite Seem to Move On

Psalm 108 The Message

Praise and Supplication to God for Victory.

A Song. A Psalm of David.

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Matthew 5:38-42 The Message

^[a]Aleph.

To the Chief Musician. With ^[a]flutes. A Psalm of David.

A ^[a]Mikhtam of David.