Run, Christian, Run.

Proverbs 22:17-29, Proverbs 23:1-16, Psalm 119:1-40

Psalm 119:32 – I will run in the way of your commands, for you have set me heart free!

Lord God, I would love to run with my feet the paths of mountains and valleys, plains and plateaus, but there is so much holding me back. My fitness.  My health.  My physiology.  Even my own desire; I just don’t want to.  That’s the way I feel about you commands.  I want to run in the path of your commands, but there is so much holding me back.  I am held back by guilt and shame for the way I have behaved in the past and how I have failed to measure up to the glory of your commands.  I am held back by the pressure of the expectations; it’s hard to perform under pressure.  I am even held back by my own sinful weakness!  I am so frail, so sinful, so weak.  But Lord, Jesus, your mercies are new this morning.  You have set my heart free from the pressure of expectation by meeting all of God’s expectations for me.  There is nothing I have to do to meet God’s expectations.  They have all already been met.  You have set my heart free from the fear of punishment by suffering my punishment in my place.  There is no more punishment for me.  More!  You have even given me your Holy Spirit to work in me to will and to act according to your good pleasure.  Yes, Lord, I will run because you have set my heart free!  Amen. 

For You.

Titus 1, Jeremiah 5-6

Titus 1:1 – Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

Lord God, give me wisdom and focus to know and to do what is good for the souls under my care, whom you have called me to serve.  Make me a parent, a spouse, a servant who holds on to the word and gives them healthy doctrine that benefits their souls.  Make me a parent, a spouse, a servant who gives your truth for the increase of their knowledge so that they might serve you now and forever. Help me to align my life with these things that my whole life might be for the people in my life and for the salvation.  Everything else is extra.  This is why I exist.  I exist for the sake of the people in my life that they might be saved and know the truth.  Help me to keep this as the main thing in my day today.  Amen.

A Good Soldier

2 Timothy 3-4, Jeremiah 1-4

2 Timothy 4:5 – As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Lord God, the imagery of Paul’s letter to Timothy is striking.  He speaks to Timothy and to me as if we were soldiers in a war.  And that helps me picture my life for you the way it really is. I am in a spiritual war. I am in a spiritual war fighting to hold on to you and to keep the faith.  I am in a spiritual war fighting for the souls of people in my life.  It will not be peaceful. It will not be easy. It will be hard work.  It will mean suffering.  Lord God, only by your Spirit and only with your help will I be able to do what Paul calls me to do – to keep a clear mind, to endure suffering like a good soldier, to do the work of an evangelist day in and day out, and to do the ministry you’ve given me to do.  I hear his words and I need your help.  Strengthen me by your Spirit to do the work you’ve called me to do. Grant me power from above to do this work, to do it faithfully, firmly, lovingly, carefully, persistently, wisely and strongly. You have called me to it.  Strengthen me for it.  Amen.

Fan the Flame

2 Timothy 1-2, Song of Solomon 5-8

2 Timothy 1:6-7 – For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on have hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and of love and self-control.

O Holy Spirit, you poured yourself out powerfully on me when I was baptized with water and the word.  There you claimed me as you very own. There you washed my sins away and clothed me with the very righteousness of Christ.  Then you removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of a flesh, a heart that beats for you, O God, a heart that is on fire to serve.  But as time goes on, O Spirit of God, the flame begins to flicker and smolder.  And this isn’t your fault, it’s mine.  I haven’t fanned the flame of faith or the flame of the gifts you given me.  I haven’t fueled the fire of my faith and your gifts with your Word and with your gifts.  O Holy Spirit, come to me today with your gifts of grace and fill me as I meditate on your Word.  Set my heart on fire again and give me the love for you and love for people that once was overflowing from my soul when I first believed in you.  O Holy Spirit, fill me and set me on fire to live with power, with love and with self-control.  Fan my faith into a forest fire that overtakes my whole being that I might live on fire for you.  Amen.

Getting Ahead

1 Timothy 6:3-21, Song of Solomon 1-4

1 Timothy 6:6-7 – Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment for we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

Lord, it’s easy to chase things besides you. It’s easy to find meaning, value and worth outside of you and your grace.  Give me a contented heart because of the meaning, value, and worth that you pour into me.  Of and in myself I have not value or meaning. But you value you me because of your love. You value me so much that you gave your Son for me and for the world.  You assign such value to me and you also give meaning and purpose to my life.  More than that, you satisfy me with spiritual riches now and, in the life to come, even more!  Grant me contentment with what you give, Lord.  Grant me contentment in who you declare me to be and what you’ve given me to enjoy.  Amen.

Enjoy Life

1 Timothy 5:1 – 6:2, Ecclesiastes 8-12

Ecclesiastes 9:9 – Enjoy life with your wife whom you love, all the days of your empty life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

Lord God, help me to enjoy the spouse that you given me, the family whom you have given me.  Help me to enjoy the toil and the sweat from the toil, the work to which you set my hands.  Teach me to enjoy the lot that you give me.  It may not be the lot I long for, but it is the lot that you’ve given me.  And that’s good.  Help me to enjoy today and not look to the future for coming joy.  Today is but a passing shadow and is truly a gift from your hand.  This is the day that you’ve made.  Yes, Lord, this is the day that you’ve given me.  Help me to enjoy it and to ride the wave of this day and this life as the gracious gift that it is.  You have, you do, and you will give me a blessed life.  It’s going to be a good day because everything you give me is good.  Help me to enjoy it.  Amen.

Today. This day. This one.

Proverbs 21:23-31, Proverbs 22:1-16, Psalm 117-118

Psalm 118:24 – This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Lord God, this is your day!  You made it.  The sun is coming up over the horizon and a new day is dawning.  Your grace dawns too.  Your mercies are new for me each morning.  You never change.  You never give up on me.  You made this day for me.  You made me for this day.  You have shaped me by your Word and through your Spirit. I am your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good things today, things that you made for me to do a long time ago.  You have given me time today, 24 hours to be exact.  You have given me exactly enough time to do those good things you prepared ahead of time for me so that I should do them.  This is your day.  You made it for me.  You made me for it.  Keep me from being discouraged when things don’t go the happen the way I planned.  Keep me from being frustrated when I hit roadblocks to my hopes and dreams.  This is your day.  Even sin cannot derail your plans for me.  This is your day. You made it for me.  And you made me for it.  Help me to live in it, to rejoice and be glad.  Amen.

Enjoyment of Life is a Gift

1 Timothy 3-4, Ecclesiastes 4-7

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 – Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.  Everyone to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his lot – this is a gift of God.

Lord, the most frustrating and exasperating moments in my life come when I do not accept the lot that you have cast into my life.  It leaves me discontented, angry and frustrated with you for not giving me what I think is a good portion and lot.  And this leaves me with a bitter and unhappy life.  But Lord God, when you change my heart so that I simply say, “Whatever you, God, send, this is good.  Whatever work I do today, this is good.  Whatever I am and whatever I have, this is good and is a gift from God,” this is a good thing.  And it sets my heart at rest and gives me joy to live the life that you’ve given me.  Lord, keep me, I pray, from being frustrated at the course of my life and about the things that I can get done and the things that I can’t get done.  Grant me joy to ride the wave of the life that you’ve given me and to enjoy it even if it isn’t exactly the life I would have laid out.  Give me joy to say, “Surfs up,” because this life is from you.  Lord, I pray, grant joy to my heart so that I can enjoy each moment of this day and each day of my life as the gift from you that it is.  Amen.

The Beauty of Life's Seasons

1 Timothy 1-2, Ecclesiastes 1-3

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time.  Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Lord God, help me to see things from your perspective so that I can see your perfection.  But that’s so hard from me to grasp.  It’s so hard for me to enjoy.  It is hard for me to see the beauty of the life you are unfolding.  It is impossible for me to find out all that you have done for me from beginning to the end.  But this is a problem with my perspective.  I can’t climb up to you where you are to see things from your point of view.  I can’t get into your head to fully grasp the heights and depths of your plans for me.  Lord God, help me to trust you and to see things from your perspective.  I know that I won’t fully grasp this.  It is too wonderful for me to know.  And yet, if you will just help me to ride the wave of the life that you give, if you will just teach me to trust your plans and your working in my life, then I will see and rejoice in the perfect path that you have laid out for me.  Help me to ride the wave of life and enjoy the beauty of each season in my life, the life that you have given to me.  Amen.

When we see things from God’s perspective, then we can see God’s perfection.

Too Wonderful

2 Thessalonians 2-3, Job 39-42

Job 42:3 – Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I do not know.

Lord God, your ways are not my ways, your thoughts are not my thoughts.  They are higher from me than the heavens are above the earth.  But I wish they were closer!  I see things happening in my life that I don’t get.  I experience things in my life that I don’t know.  I find myself grumbling against the circumstances and so even against you for what you’re giving in my life.  I’m talking like a donkey.  I don’t know what I’m talking about.  Forgive me.  Your ways and your plans and your works are always good.  They have always been; your track record proves it.  They always will be.  Teach me to be content and joyful no matter what the day brings. Give me joy and content to say with Job as his story began in this book – The Lord gave and the Lord took away; may the name of the Lord be praised.  Teach me to praise you, even in the storm.  Amen.

Always Praying

2 Thessalonians 1, Job 38

2 Thessalonians 1:11 – To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worth of his calling and may fulfill ever resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.

Lord God, my prayer list is long and it keeps on growing as I meet people and know their needs.  Lord, this is my prayer for them today.  Wash their sins away and make them confident of your grace, mercy and love.  Help them to grow in faith and in godly living.  Help them to make your Word – the hearing of it, the meditating on it, the applying of it – a non-negotiable part of not just their weekly lives but their daily and hourly lives.  Without your work in them they won’t make it.  Lord, thank you also for all those who mention my name and pray for me at your throne.  Thank you for those who beg you that God would save me, give me strength, give me wisdom, and know your love.  I don’t know all those who pray for me, but I am thankful for their prayers.  Most of all, Lord, I pray that you would keep on working in my life just as you do in theirs that we all would remain faithful to the end of our days and live with you in heaven for all eternity.  Amen.

More and More

1 Thessalonians 4-5, Job 34-37

1 Thessalonians 4:1 – Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

Lord God, these words from Paul are a call to me to keep on growing, to keep on working on my following of Jesus, to keep on listening, to keep on studying, to keep on wrestling, to keep on meditating, to keep on – and more and more all the time. It’s easy to get tired and stagnant in my life as a follower of Jesus.  It’s easy to get content and complacent in my life as a cross-bearer.  It’s easy to be plateau and be okay with that. Forgive me for my sinful complacency and work in me a healthy discontent with where I am in my walk of faith. Keep me from being okay with what seem to be little, bothersome sins.  Keep me from being okay with “good enough” or “the ole college try.”  Work in me a healthy discontent and spur me on by your Word and by your Spirit to learn how to walk and please God more and more.  And then, don’t just teach me what to do, but spur me on by your Gospel to do it, to actually live it out, more and more.  Amen.

Find Rest

Proverbs 21:1-22, Psalm 114-116

Psalm 116:7-8 – Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. For you, Lord, rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

O Lord God, how good you are!  Yet, how frantic and frazzled I am. Too many days I run around like Chicken Little, acting as if the sky has been falling.  Too many days I act as if my world is coming to an end.  Too often I make mountains out of moll hills. Bring my heart, O God, back to its resting place.  You have been good to me, more than I know.  But I do know much of it. You have given your Son for me and even to me to rescue me from the one who holds the power of death, to dry my tears.  You have poured out your Spirit on me and placed in him to keep my feet from stumbling and to strengthen my weary heart.  You have given me family and friends to walk with me and to support me in my faith.  I am not alone either in my life or in my faith.  More than that.  I know that in your hands, O God, are all things.  The earth is yours, O Lord, the world and all who live in it. You founded it upon the seas.  This is all yours.  And I am too.  Bring my heart back to its resting place that frantic and frenzied might be replaced with hopeful faith, that my “Chicken Little” heart might rest its weary head on your chest.  My rest, O God, is in you.  Amen.

God at Work

1 Thessalonians 2-3, Job 32-33

2 Thessalonians 2:13 – We thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Lord God, it is really easy for me to get discouraged as a Christian because I tell people and I tell them again.  And so often it seems that it’s not working.  So often I pay attention to all the places where faith isn’t happening and growth isn’t happening.  Lord God, these words lead me to pause and give thanks for all the ways and for all the places where your Word is working, all the places where I can see your hand at work.  I am thankful for the word that I share with people – and they listen!  They gladly hear your Word from my lips and they listen eagerly and gladly.  I am thankful Lord for the transformation that you are working in their hearts and lives. You are keeping your people in the faith and, by your Spirit, you are transforming them more and more by the word that comes from my lips.  Lord, I am thankful for every chance that you give me to pour your Word into people, whether they listen or not. I am so thankful for the opportunities to explain, teach, correct, and encourage whether to many or to just a few.  Lord, I am most thankful for the resurrection power of your Word, for the transforming nature of your Word, and for the call of the Gospel that goes out from me and from every Christian. You truly are at work through your Word.  Thank you.  Amen.

Life Changing

1 Thessalonians 1, Job 29-31

1 Thessalonians 1:5 – Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Lord God, I am so thankful for the way that your gospel is working in my life, in the life of my family members, and in the life of people all around the world.  I love to hear the reports from our missionaries all around the world and the people who are believing in you is astounding.  I am so thankful. I am so thankful for the faith that you’ve worked in my family.  I am so thankful to hear their Spirit-worked expressions and confessions of faith.  It gives me joy to hear their faith. I am so thankful for the opportunities, Lord, that you give me every day to share my faith.  Use my witness and your gospel to come powerfully to the hearts and lives of the people to whom I witness.  Thank you, Lord, most of all for coming to me through the gospel. It’s never been fancy or flashy.  But your gospel came with power and the Holy Spirit and changed my heart and so also my life.  Lord God, I pray keep coming to me through the gospel to transform me into your likeness every single day.  Amen.

Hidden Identity

Colossians 3-4, Job 25-28

Colossians 3:3 – For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Father in heaven, I live like a stranger here on earth. This is not where I belong.  But sometimes I forget that; I forget who I am.  I forget that as I live my life.  I get so caught up in living life here and making a home here.  It feels and seems often so permanent to me.  I forget that it is but a campground and soon I’ll be going home. I forget that when I live my life.  I let words come out of my mouth that don’t belong on the lips of one of your children. I behave in ways that are not fitting not fitting for an heir of heaven.  I wonder, “If people know me, do know that I belong to you? That I follow you?”  Or do they see me as just another inhabitant and citizen of this planet.  Lord God, by your grace who I am – who I really am – is hidden.  I have been bought by you and I belong to you and your kingdom. One day, I will be coming home to live with you.  I am forgiven and clean.  As I live for you today help me make this hidden truth known as I speak, live, act and do.  I am truly yours. Heaven is truly my home.  Help me to live as an heir of heaven.  Amen.

Hold it together, Lord.

Colossians 1:1-15, Colossians 2, Job 22-24

Colossians 1:17 – and he is before all things and in him all things hold together.

Lord God, sometimes I feel like I have to be the one to keep it together, like I’ve got to be the glue holding my family together, like I’ve got to be the connecting piece keeping the church together.  I often feel the pressure to keep things moving and to keep things rolling.  I often feel the burden of handling things.  Lord Jesus, this isn’t mine to handle or my burden to carry.  You’ve been things longer; actually, you’ve been doing this for all eternity.  You’ve been doing this longer than I’ve even been alive.  In fact, you existed before there was a “here”.  And through all these years, you’ve handled everything and you’ve always had it under control.  Your Word declares that you are the one who holds it all together.  Lord Jesus, you can handle whatever I or anything else in all creation throws at you.  You will hold it all together; that’s who you are and that’s what you do.  You will care for my family, my church, my community.  You have been and you will. Help me to trust you more.  Grant peace and rest to my soul because you have this handled. Amen.

My Heart Yearns, Even Faints

Colossians 1:1-14, Job 19-21

Job 19:25-27 – For I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see with my own eyes, I and not another.  My heart faints within me.

Lord God, my heart doesn’t yearn within me today for my own sake, at least not today and not right now.  I’m enjoying the days that you’re giving me. I’m enjoying my family, my work and the gifts that you’ve me.  I am very content and thankful. Thank you for your gifts.  Today, Lord God, yearns for so many who are suffering like Job was in their lives.  My heart yearns even faints for them, that they would know you, that they would know your gifts, that they would know your grace.  Lord, I pray, help them to know your grace and forgiveness.  Help them to know that their suffering is not divine punishment or karma.  Help them to know and believe in you despite their pain and suffering.  Grant relief from their suffering, even escape.  There are so many in my heart and mind as I pray this prayer.  I pray that you would grant them the peace, the joy, the confidence, even the yearning of Job.  Amen.

Footsteps.

Proverbs 20, Psalm 110-113

Proverbs 20:24 – A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?

Lord God, I don’t always understand what you are doing.  In fact, I rarely do. Sometimes I even grumble against the places and the circumstances to which your hand has led me.  I don’t understand them.  I don’t always like them and even kick against them.  Forgive me, Lord.  Forgive my donkey-like behavior, for my stubbornness and my pride, for thinking that I know the place for my feet to step.  Lord, your Word and my own experience has shown me that the footsteps in which you lead me are always and only best.  You do only good for me. You work only good for me and for your kingdom. Lord God, help me to trust your leading.  You place my feet on solid ground.  There they will not slip.  There I will not stumble.  Help me to go along with your gentle leading. No matter where it leads. Your leading and your plan is always best.  Amen.

Garbage. It’s all garbage.

Philippians 3-4, Job 16-18

Philippians 3:8 – Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.  For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

Lord God, it is tempting for me to find value and meaning in so many things besides you.  I like to keep score. I like to keep score of all the things that I’ve done seemingly well.  I like to keep track of all the things that other people seem to do quite poorly.  And then I compare the score.  It’s easy for me to keep track like this and feel like I’m doing pretty well.  It’s easy for me to take credit for and find my joy in value in the things that I do.  It’s easy for me to be built up by the pats on the back, by the congratulations, even by the thanks for a job well done.  But Lord Jesus, your apostle, is teaching me to guide my heart and my mind to count even the best of the things that I do as garbage and rubbish.  Even the best things that I do, he wants me to think of them as rubbish because that’s what they are when you set them right next to your righteousness.  My deeds are so measly and worthless next to your works, O Christ.  Your works are pure in every way. Your works are saving in every way.  And my works are thoroughly corrupted by my sinful motives.  And my works, even if they might manage to be pure could never save me.  Lord Jesus, give me your Spirit so that I think about my works less and your works more.  Help me to keep no track of my activity and to notice well all of your activity.  Help me to throw all my works in the trash that I might see and hold tightly onto you, O Christ.  Amen.