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. 

Called and Gifted.

Ephesians 4:1-16, Exodus 34-36

Exodus 35:30-31 – “See, the LORD has called by name…and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship.”

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the head and I am a member of your body.  You have called be by name; I am yours.  You have poured out your Spirit on me generously for faith, for service, for just the right role and place in your body.  I am not missing any skill that I need to do the work you have given me to do.  I am able, by your Spirit, to do what you want me to do in your own body.  I am not lacking any good thing.  Help me, Lord, to do that work to which you have called me. Help me to do it generously, freely, boldly, gladly.  Keep pouring out your Spirit on me that I am do this good work to which you have called me and for which you have gifted me.  Amen.

Sample the LORD.

Proverbs 5, Psalm 34-36

Psalm 34:8 – Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

O Lord, I just want people to give you a try, just a taste so that they will see how good you are!  When I cry out to you, you hear me.  You give me what I need, so that I lack no good thing.  In fact, more and more you take away my taste and desire for anything but you.  You alone are my heart’s desire.  To you alone does my spirit yield.  You alone do I want.  You, LORD, have your eyes trained on me.  Your ears, LORD, are tuned to my voice and my cry.  You hear me in a crowded and busy place as a parent hears the voice of their child above all noises.  You are close to me when my heart is crushed and my spirit is broken.  O God, my Father, I have tasted that you are good.  You alone are my heart’s desire.   I just want other people to sample, to taste, and to experience your goodness as I have.  Use me today to help people know how God you really are.  Amen.

God's Masterpiece

Ephesians 2-3, Exodus 32-33

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

O God, you are good and gracious.  Together, this duo of attributes blows me away.  I’m still singing your praises.  Everything you do in my heart and life is good. Everything you do in this world is good.  Not one thing is bad. Not one thing that you do or allow is evil, even if it seems like it.  You even make the most horrendous act serve your eternal and good purpose.  You are good, more than I can fathom or grasp.  And you are gracious.  Everything that you do in my heart and life is an undeserved gift of grace.  I do not deserve that you would be good to me and do good for me, but you are and you do!  You did the ultimate good when you sent Jesus to die and then raised him for me.  You multiplied goodness to me when you raised ME from the deadness of sin that I might serve you in newness of life. You consider me, yes, you declare me to be your masterpiece.  This is a gift of your grace too.  And now, as your divine masterpiece, you give me a purpose, now to serve you.  In fact, you have a put good and godly things in front of me that I might work in in them and do them.  O God, my dear Father in heaven, I am blown away again by your goodness and grace.  Amen.

My identity from God: I am his child, holy and dearly loved.

My purpose from my Father: I am a mask of God to the world, a masterpiece, to do works which he prepared in advance for me to do.

My destiny set by my Father: I am destined for an eternity with God, my Father, with Jesus, my brother, and with the Holy Spirit, my Counselor and Comforter.

My power:  God has poured out his Holy Spirit on me to work in me; Jesus himself lives in me. God himself also works in me to will and do according to what pleases him. 

Good, good Father

Ephesians 1, Exodus 29-31

Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…

Lord God, through the apostle Paul you lead me in a song of praise this morning.  It’s time to worship you because of all your graces to me. You are so good, better than I deserve, more than I can imagine.  You are truly doing more than I can fathom or imagine because of your great power and love.  You have given me EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ.  I can list a lot of them, but I’m sure I don’t know them all.  But you’ve given me them all, not one is missing, not one is yet to be given.  This EVERY good gift is just the beginning of my song.  You’ve been waiting to pour out this gift on me from all eternity. How this can be I can’t fathom, but you say it is so!  You chose me before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in your sight.  You predestined me according to your goodness and grace.  You picked me out and said, “I want to pour out every spiritual blessing on this one” and you were pointing at me!  And then, as if it were a surprise party, you walked into my life by your Spirit and saved me by your Son.  You sealed me with your Holy Spirit and now eternity with you is not just a wish or a dream, it is a guaranteed reality, 100% certain.  O God, I stand in awe of your goodness.

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His Fruit

Galatians 5-6, Exodus 27-28

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is…

O Holy Spirit, I come to you this morning ith joy and thanks!  Today is a gift of your grace.  You have given me life is more ways than one.  I am alive and breathing.  On top of that, I believe.  This is only because of your life-giving work in me times two.  Truthfully, you give me life countless times.  Thank you for granting me life and faith today.  I pray, O Holy Spirit, keep coming to me.  Continue to work in me.  Forgive me for the attitudes that are opposed to you. Forgive me for kicking against you and your guiding.  My sin nature is constantly opposed to you.  Kill the old me and bring the new me to life.  Work in my heart and life that I may bear fruit for you, the fruit of your working, the fruit that pleases you.  I start this day, O Holy Spirit, alive by your grace.  Help me finish this day with strength and confidence.  Help me finish strong as I start today because of your powerful working.  Amen.

Free!

Galatians 4:8-31, Exodus 25-26

Galatians 5:1 – For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Lord Jesus, you have set me free!  There is no more condemnation for me.  Where there is sin in my life, you lead me to confess it and it is done and gone.  You teach me to repent and then I move on. There is no more condemnation or guilt any longer.  There is no slavery in you. The law has lost its condemning power and is your good guide for my life.  Tradition may serve a good purpose, and I am not bound by them.  Duties are to be done, and they do not affect my standing before you. People’s opinions matter because I love people, and I seek your pleasure most of all and higher than theirs.  Your pleasure and will is my highest good.  Lord Jesus, you have set me free from condemnation, from laws and traditions, from duties and opinions.  You have set me free to serve you and others in my life with joy and confidence.  I am not slave.  I am son. Continue to set my heart free by this message of freedom and release.  Amen.

Lean on these.

Galatians 3-4:7, Exodus 23-24

Galatians 3:11 – Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “the one who through faith is righteous will live.”

O Lord God, your apostle calls out the Galatians for their foolish and bewitched thinking.  They had returned to the cursed way of living that they were living in before.  But it wasn’t that they were living disgustingly evil lives; it was they were leaning on their acts of obedience to save them.  Paul called it, “foolish” and I know that it is.  I see the same foolishness in my own heart. My mind knows the difference, but my heart doesn’t always listen.  I am convicted.  My acts of goodness fall far short of the good that you require of me.  I am not wholly good nor am I 100% perfect.  My works don’t even get close, nor are the good that I do 100% good.  There may be a part of them that is good, but they are tainted.  And not just that. Even where I manage to do some good, I find that there is right there, at the very same time, despicable thoughts, words, and actions.  I see how foolish it is to be trust in, to boast about, to lean on any of my own actions and activity.  But here, in this verse, you lay a new foundation for me.  My righteousness is not in what I own, not in what I do, not in how I perform or obey, nor even in how I think or feel.  My righteousness is in you and from you alone.  The life of your Son, Jesus – thought, word, and action – is given to me as a gift.  And I get to wear it as a robe, my robe, all the days of the reason.  It is the reason I live now – Christ has lived for me and now Christ lives in me.  It is the reason I will live forever. I am righteous through faith.  100% wholly, holy, and perfect, through and through.  For this reason, Lord, help me to trust your righteousness alone.  And help me live out my day today as your 100%, wholly, and fully righteous child today.  Amen.