Holy for the Lord.

Luke 6:1-16, Numbers 5-6

Numbers 6:8 – All the days of his separation, he is holy to the LORD.

O God, Father in heaven, you have set me apart for yourself from my mother’s womb.  You chose me and called me to faith.  You loved me and now have called me to serve you today and throughout my life.  You don’t ask me to take the extreme action of Numbers, but you do tell me that my whole life is not for me but for you.  You encourage me through Paul that all I do – whether it is eating or drinking, whatever I do – it’s all for you and your glory. You have set me apart for this that every moment of this day and every day might be for you and about you.  Keep me from seeking my own honor and glory, but yours alone.  Make it obvious that I belong to you.  Amen.

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At your Word.

Luke 5, Numbers 4

Luke 5:5 – And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Lord Jesus, I feel Peter’s frustration.  I work and I work and for what fruit?  For what fish? For what result?  Sometimes it all seems to be a spitting into the wind.  Lord Jesus, sometimes I just don’t want to do something because it doesn’t seem to be worth the effort or the work because it isn’t working.  But Lord Jesus, because you have said so and because you have commanded me, I will do it. You once spoke and the world came into being.  You once spoke and dead, dry bones came back to life.  Your word still carries with it great power.  It is the power of God for salvation.  Beyond all that, at your mighty fingertips all the power of God dwells.  There not one thing that you cannot do.  You can do it all.  Therefore, Lord Jesus, at your command, I will do it. You cannot fail.  Build up my heart and strengthen me to do the work you have called me to do, even when it seems fruitless.  Strengthen me with the sure hope that you will fail.  And when I work, help me to trust you that you will always do what you will, when you will, and how you will.  And that’s always good.  Amen.

Temptation Answered.

Luke 4, Numbers 2-3

Luke 4:4 – And Jesus answered him, “It is written…”

Lord Jesus, your temptation is so clear and right in front of you to see. It’s easy for me to see your temptation and even the temptations that face other people.  But it is much harder for me to see the temptations that assault me.  Instead of the quick, “It is written,” it takes me time to recognize temptation for what it is.  Lord Jesus, I pray first of all help me to see temptation quickly and clearly for what it is.  Keep me from giving it the time of the day and for letting it occupy my heart and my thoughts for longer than a moment.  Help me to recognize it immediately and then to quickly dismiss it, yes, even to reject it with the clear words of Scripture.  Let this be my response.  Instead, of thinking it through from every angle, sometimes even rationalizing it – as Eve did in the garden – make my first response, “It is written.”  Fill me with your Spirit and your Word to resist and reject every temptation.  I also pray, Lord Jesus.  Be with my family and my friends today in their temptations. Make me a faithful friend to them in their temptation to help them identify temptation, to give them clear words from you in the right way and at the right time.  Temptation grabs us more easily when we are alone.  Use me to keep them from fighting temptation alone.  Use them to keep me from temptation alone.  Lord Jesus help me fight temptation and find a way out from under it and deliver us from the assults of the Evil One.  Amen. 

Why, indeed!?!

Proverbs 6:20-35, Psalm 41-44

Psalm 43:5 – Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Lord God, my soul pants for you as a deer pants for streams of living water.  I am weary and worn.  Doubts race through my mind.  Discoruagement troubles my heart.  It feels at times as if you have become my enemy and have come against me.  But in these moments of reflection I know that this isn’t true.  I know that you, my God and my Father, have all power and might. You created the heavens and the earth and you have power in my life too.  I believe, O heavenly Father, that you know all thigns. In you are hidden all the depths and secrets of wisdom.  In your wisdom and your love, O God, fill my heart and my life with joy and praise.  Bring me out of this dry season in my life.  I will praise you again with shouts of joy.   I will be restored and refreshed once again, O God, because you are my hope and my salvation.  You will not disappoint.  You will not let me down, I know this full well.  Amen.

The Gift of the Spirit

Luke 3:21-28, Numbers 1

Luke 4:1 – And Jesus, full of the Spirit, returned from the Jordan…

Lord God, heavenly Father, I see the gift of the Holy Spirit that you poured out on your Son at his baptism. What an awesome day that was for him!  My baptism was no less miraculous.  On that day you gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit.  On that day you gave me a new birth into a living hope through your Spirit and now he lives in me; I am his temple.  He lives in me and is always present to teach me, to remind me, to correct, rebuke, comfort, to encourage and to forgive.  I pray, dear Father, take not your Holy Spirit from me because of my sin.  But instead, give him to me to sustain me, renew and restore me.  Pour him out on all your people to restore and renew them.  Pour him out on all peoples that they may know you and believe in you.  Amen.

A Voice

Luke 3:1-20, Leviticus 26-27

Luke 3:4 – The voice of one crying in the wilderness; prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

Lord Jesus, you send me into this world to be a light, to be salt, even to be a voice.  But when I read the account of John, I find that I am not even close to being the voice that John was, to my shame.  When many people stand in sin, I stand silent.  When powerful people run rampant against you, I keep it to myself.  But this is to my shame, because by my lack of warning, by my silent voice, I am letting them wander farther and farther from you.  Forgive me, Lord Jesus, for silencing my voice.  Forgive me, Lord Jesus, for letting my fear of men overwhelm my fear of you.  Forgive me, Lord Jesus, for letting comfort in this world be more important than their eternal comfort.  Forgive me and cleanse by your blood.  Pour out your Holy Spirit on me in full measure that I might be holy by his work.  Pour out your Spirit on me all the way that I might grow bold and confident, that I might not silence my voice, but speak out for you and for their salvation.  Work in me powerfully to be the voice that you call me to be in this world.  Amen.

Treasured.

Luke 2, Leviticus 24-25

Luke 2:19 – But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Lord God, your Word and the deeds spoken about therein are truly a treasure.  Your Word, O God, is life.  It is power.  It is truth. It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness to equip your servants for every good thing.  It is living.  It is compelling.  It is comforting.  It is hope-filling.  It gives guidance and instruction.  It fill my heart with awe and wonder.  It tells me the history of your actions in the world.  It is such a treasure.  Sadly, Lord God my mind flits to other things and my heart treasures other things more.  But, Lord God, your Word is truly one of your greatest gifts to mankind.  It is everything I need for life now and it reveals everything I need to believe for an eternity with you.  Teach me to treasure it more and more.  Keep bringing it into my mind all day long that I never leave it’s truths behind. It is my highest treasure. Amen.

Untied Tongue

Luke 1:57-80, Leviticus 21-23

Luke 1:64 – And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

Lord God, continue to let your Word and the hope of your promise fill me hope and confidence. Make it boil up in me so that I can’t help and I won’t help but speak about the things that I’ve heard.  It’s easy for me to lose hope and be discouraged.  It’s easy for me to lose the joy and confidence that your promises give.  And when I do, I am more prone to keep it to myself.  Fill me with joy, hope, and even excitement so that like a child with good news for their parents, I eagerly go out with an untied tongue ready to tell anybody who will give an ear about the things you have said and done.  Make it like a fire in my bones.  Make it boil up in my hearts.  Make it like a geyser from soul.  Amen.

Distinct

Luke 1:26-56, Leviticus 19-20

Leviticus 20:26 – You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Lord God of grace and mercy, purely out of grace and mercy have you called me to be yours.  It wasn’t because I was better or smarter or stronger.  It was only because of your grace.  You have called me out of this world to be set apart, distinct, and to stand out like a light bulb in a dark room in this world.  Help me to live a life set apart for you and distinct in this world.  While I live in this world, make it obvious to me what it means to be in this world and not of it.  Help me to know the difference.  Where you have spoken clearly about what this means, help me to get in line.  Where the line is unclear or hasn’t even been drawn, help me to ask, “How can I honor God and be distinct in this world?”  You have called me to this, Lord God.  Help me to live this out.  Amen.

Perspective

Proverbs 6:9-19, Psalm 39-40

Psalm 39:4, 7 – O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! … And now, O LORD, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

Lord God, heavenly Father, give me perspective.  Help me to see myself, my life, my abilities, and my legacy clearly and to put it in its proper perspective.  I am so limited.  My time on earth is like a flower that fades away when the sun beats down on it.  My life is gone and who will remember me?  My impact is hardly a footnote on history’s page.  And anything that does last is only because of you and your work, not mine.  I do nothing, while your Word does everything.  Even my abilities to leave a thumbprint behind hardly exists.  Help me to see this clearly and instead of putting hope and waiting on myself, teach me to wait on you with hopeful and joyful expectation.  In each and every area where I am limited, you, Lord God, are not.  From everlasting to everlasting you are God.  Before the earth was born or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting you are God!  You have left for us your thumbprint in every corner of this world.  You have made an impact on this world because you made it. And still, you leave your mark on this world as you work in it through your Word and through people.  You even long to make an eternal impact on me and others that we would live with you forever.  Most of all, Lord God, you are no limited in any way.  You can do whatever you will, whenever you will it, however you will it.  The earth is yours and the fullness of it; and you live in heaven so that you, Lord God, can do whatever pleases you.  O Lord, help me see my place and my role and my time in this world clearly that I might live for you with the time and abilities that you’ve given me.  Teach me to hope in you alone.  Amen. 

Far Away

Luke 1:1-25, Leviticus 16-18

Leviticus 16:22 – The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

O Lord, Jesus, you are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  You have taken all my sins on yourself.  You have taken them outside the camp and have paid the penalty for all of them there.  For me.  And not just for me but for the whole world.  And yet, dear Jesus, I still struggle to know the peace that comes from this forgiveness of sins.  I still remember the things that I’ve done, the things that I’ve said.  Guilt still lingers from past sins.  Shame still covers my heart because of what I’ve done.  Help me to see that my sins have been thoroughly and completely transferred to you.  You have borne all my sins and all my guilt.  And you have separated my sins from me as far as the east is from the west.  God is not seeking to get even with me because of what I’ve done. There is no more divine comeuppance.  All of that was poured out on you, dear Jesus.  With you there is forgiveness.  And where there is forgiveness, there is peace. Grant it to me today, dear Jesus. You have already removed my sin and guilt from my conscience, I pray, by your Holy Spirit wash it from my mind that the guilty feelings no longer remain.  I am forgiven.  I am clean. There are no more sins on my record.  Thank you for taking my sins away from me.  Amen.

Humble Yourself

1 Peter 5, Leviticus 14-15

1 Peter 5:6-7 – Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Lord God, this is a tough one.  It’s a tough one to bow to your will and to bow under your hand even though I know it’s so good for me to be under your mighty hand.  It’s a tough one because I often think that I know better than you do, even though I wouldn’t ever dare say that out loud. It’s a tough one because I often don’t like that way that things go under your steering and direction.  It’s a tough one because it means I have to let go and let you, O God, and then I’m not in control.  But God, I know that this is the best place to be.  Help me to humble myself under your mighty hand.   Your mighty hand, O Father, has haled the whole world in your hands, shaping, forming, placing, and rearranging everything since the dawn of creation. Your mighty hand knew me before I was born and your hands, Father, knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Your mighty hands hold all human history in your grasp and you even direct and use all events for your good purposes, even for me.  You guide and direct the life and affairs of the church for the sake of the kingdom.  What’s good for the kingdom is good for the church. And you, O God, decide what’s good for the church. It’s good for me to be under your mighty hand for there you handle and so remove all the anxieties that cross my human heart.  Amen.

Shared Gifts

1 Peter 3-4, Leviticus 12-13

1 Peter 4:10 – As each as received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied gifts of grace.

Lord God, heavenly Father, you have given gifts to me.  You formed me in my mother’s womb, making me just the way you wanted me to be with all my skills, passions, and desires – except for the sinful ones, Lord God; you didn’t give me those.   You gave me gifts from your Spirit to serve other people. Today, as I live my life help me to consider how I might use what you have given me for the people that I may meet.  Help me use the physical blessings that you have given me to bless other people, to encourage them, and to help them in their need.  Help me to use the skills that you’ve given me to help people where I’m gifted and able.  Help me to use the Word that you’ve planted in me and that I continue to learn from every day to give hope about Jesus to those without hope, to teach the faith to those who need to grow in it, to teach the truth of the Scriptures to those who don’t know it.  Help me use what you have given me today, dear Father, the time, the treasures, the talents, the skills, the moments – to serve other people.  Make me a great manager of every moment and of every interaction that I would be a servant in those moments and in those interactions.  All for you, dear Father, I do it.  Amen.

War-time Mentality

1 Peter 2:4-25, Leviticus 9-11

1 Peter 2:11 – Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Lord Jesus, you have called me to be yours, a chosen, holy, and royal son of the Father. You have bought me and brought me out of this world and into a new kindom and a new relationship with the Father.  I am not who I used to be.  In fact, I find myself living as an alien in a hostile country.  Keep me from trying to fit in; I don’t.  Give me strength, wisdom and vigilance to wage war against all that wars against my soul.  Keep me from living with a peace-time mentality.  The devil always has his snipers aimed at me and wants to take me down.  Protect me. Help me.  Lead me not into temptation, but help me to overcome it.  Deliver me from evil and finally pull me out of the war-zone and into your heavenly kingdom where there is only peace.  Amen.

Great Expectation

1 Peter 1 – 2:3, Leviticus 7-8

1 Peter 1:13 – Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being soberminded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, as I look at the day ahead and even the week coming up there are many challenges and obstacles coming up.  I realize that this is nothing compared to the persecution that Peter’s readers faced, but the battle is the same.  It’s a spiritual war and a spiritual battle, one for my souls.  Lord, Jesus prepare my mind and my heart for this battle by your Spirit.  Equip me with your Word and protect with me your armor so that I may stand against evil today and resist the temptations and the assaults of the Evil One.  Most of all, lift the eyes of my heart up above the fray of the battle and the circumstances of this day so that I might have hope because of what is surely coming. You give me a hope that the world cannot give and that I will not find on this earth.  You have promised many things and you will not change your mind.  You want me and all people to be saved and you’re at work to make sure that this happens. You, dear Father in heaven, have power, knowledge and control over all circumstances. You are always at work in good ways, even if I can’t figure out what that good is.  Fill my heart with a rising and hopeful expectation because of that grace that’s coming for me when your Son, Jesus, returns in all his glory.  And so, help me to fight and hope, this day and every day.  Amen. 

Stop to Smell the Roses

Proverbs 6:1-8, Psalm 37-38

Psalm 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

O LORD, God, you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and mercy.  You forgive me abundantly and graciously, even forgiving all my wickedness, rebellion and sin.  But it’s so easy to forget about all of this.  It’s true – familiarity does breed contempt.  It isn’t, Lord God, that I that I dislike you; but I’ve been around you for so long that your goodness becomes all too common to me.  What used to catch my attention and capture my heart fades into the background as common like scenery along a patch of the highway.  I used to marvel at it; but now I hardly notice it.  O God, help me to delight in you.  When I come into your house tomorrow help me to marvel at the wonder at what’s happening. Keep worship from becoming common.  Keep me from losing my wonder at my time with you.  There in your house you come to me in your Word. You come to tell me, yes, me, that I am loved and forgiven for the things that I’ve done.  Your mercies are new each morning.  You come to me in your Word to speak to me, to speak words of affirmation and forgiveness, to speak words of correction and rebuke, to speak words of transformation and direction.  In worship I get to come and be with you.  Help me to take time today to enjoy your gifts to me.  Restore to my heart the joy of salvation, the salvation you give me every time we gather for worship.  Renew in me a steadfast and transformed heart to live before you with joy and wonder at all your gifts. Help me to enjoy and savor every gift you give and every moment we have together.  Amen. 

Loved

1 John 4-5, Leviticus 4-6

1 John 4:18 – There is no fear is love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Dear Father, I am your child, your beloved child, with whom you are well-pleased.  You love me. And yet, I find myself worried and afraid. I often find myself overwhelmed and stressed. It’s the pressure of duties and responsibilities that overwhelm me.  But deeper still, it is my inborn pressure to make you happy.  And the better I know your will the more this pressure grows.  I know better and more clearly how it is exactly that you want me to love other people.  And the pressure to perform only grows.  But your love for me drives out my fear.  Your love for me takes away the pressure.  You wrap your arms around me with your Word and remind that I was loved fully and completely even before I did a single thing.  You wrap your arms around me with the waters of baptism to remind me that I am clean and holy before I even took a spiritual step.  You wrap your arms around me at the Supper to assure that your love for me will not be ended by my failure to love. And in those moments fear dissipates and disappears.  Help me to stop in those moments and truly appreciate the love you have for me.  Help me to enjoy your embrace and your promise.  Your love casts out fear from my heart.  Amen.

Nothing you can do will make God love you more; nothing you do will make God love you less.

Fellowship

1 John 1-3, Leviticus 1-3

1 John 1:7 – If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Dear Father, in heaven, what a blessed thing it is to have fellowship with you, to be and to live with you in this closest father/child releationship.  O Jesus, my Savior, what an awesome thing it is to have fellowship with you, to be and to live with you as my Savior and my Brother.  O, Holy Spirit, you have joined yourself to me and now live in me as your temple and have so joined me to yourself together with the Father and the Son.  I ask you help me to walk in the light, in line with the truth of your Word.  Keep me from picking and choosing the parts of your Word that I want to follow and those parts that I don’t really want to touch.  Keep me from deceiving myself about my sin and so deceiving myself about my relationship with you.  Help me to see clearly my sin so that you can purify me of it.  Work in me to walk in the way of your will and so give me fellowship with all my fellow believers, a fellowship that exists invisibly through faith and that exists visibly as we walk in the light together. Deepen my fellowship with you and not just with you, but with my fellow believers as well.  Help us live in love.  Help us to live bathed in the blood of Jesus.  Amen.

Armor Up

Ephesians 6, Exodus 39-40

Ephesians 6:11 – Put on the whole armor of God, that you may take your stand against the schemes of the Devil.

Lord, help me. Lord of hosts, deliver me.  God almighty to my aid today and help me in this war.  Put your armo on me.  Keep me alert, awake and vigilant like a soldier on watch.  Keep me ready for against the devil and his schemes.  He is the master at trickery and deception.  He knows how to make good things idolatrous.  He knows how to lead me to rationalize just about anything in my heart.  He knows better than to trick me into leaving it all behind in an instant, but he works to lead me, one small step at a time, away from you Lord God. Lord Jesus, you are my Savior who has come to destroy the works of the Devil.  Lord God, you are my Father who promises to lead me not into temptation and to deliver me from the Evil One.  Help me now.  Help me today.  Amen.

Living and Loving

Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5, Exodus 37-38

Ephesians 5:1-2 – Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice.

Lord God, dear Father in heaven, you have loved me dearly and desperately.  You have loved me selflessly and sacrificially.  I mean, what did you get out of this deal in loving the whole human race?  You have gotten nothing but sin and selfishness from me and everyone else.  But you have loved me anyway.  Dear Jesus, and you?  You gave up your own life as a sacrifice that would please God since you knew that we never could or ever would.  Oh, God – Father, Son, and Spirit – your love for me blows me away. The beauty of being your child, O Father and the beauty of being your bride, O Christ, astounds me. Help me to live and love as you have lived and loved me.  Teach me what it means to love people selflessly and selfishly. Instruct my mind and heart so that I know how to love in every situation and to every soul.  Help me to then not just learn about your love, but then to imitate your love.  I know, dear Father, that I am not chasing your approval. I already have it; I am your beloved child.  Help me now live and love as you have lived and loved for me.  Amen.