Saturday, May 25th

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”  Matthew 7:1-5

Dear Jesus, You never pulled your punches.  You embarrassed the woman at the well with her failed marriages.  You berated the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and you confronted the man who slapped you in Caliphas’’ court.  But you never pricked people’s consciences to satisfy your own desire or to justify yourself.  Your bold critique was always motivated by love that made you use the law to drive people toward grace.  Watching your life helps me understand your words here I the sermon of the mount.  The only context in which you want me to point out sin, is a redeeming one.  Help me to be honest with sinners about their need for grace while being honest with them about the grace that meets their need.  Amen.

God wants his children to confine their law preaching to a redemption context.  If you don’t know what that means watch Jesus deal with people in the four Gospels. 

Friday, May 24th

“And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:28-34

Dear Jesus, It is enlightening that you tell me I was made to be concerned but not about worldly things.  I was made to be concerned about the gospel that gives us all righteousness and eternal life.  I was made to be concerned about living my faith through love for you and people.  I was made to have a spiritual thrust running through every moment of my day.  I was made to be concerned about being fully human.  Everything else that concerns me, such as, vocation and hobbies, are second compared to this first concern.  Help me always keep my life in this spiritual balance.  Give me someone that I can lead back to your race today.  Amen.

We were made to be concerned, but about God and his love, not about self and self-love. 

Thursday, May 23rd

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  Matthew 6:25-27

Dear Jesus, The birds around us live such carefree lives.  They wake up in the morning and playfully search for food.  They don’t worry about anything.  They just live.  What a great example you use for me.  My body was not designed to worry.  So, when I do, I overwork it and push it to the breaking point.  No wonder I feel the negative effects!  My life is already mapped out for me by you.  I cannot make it last any longer by worrying.  So, teach me to number my days, so I might enjoy them in faith and peace without worrying about anything.  Help me live as if this could be my last day on earth but with the peace of knowing that if it is, it will give way to my first day in heaven.  Amen.

Life is a gift meant to be spent in joyful spiritual productivity.  You cannot save it for another time. 

Wednesday, May 22nd

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  Matthew 6:14-15

Dear Jesus, I know that you have fully and freely forgiven of all my sins.  But at first glance at this verse following the Lord’s Prayer, it looks like you are making my forgiveness conditional on how well I forgive others.  I have meditated on these words for years.  I understand it like getting a gift from someone but never talking it out of the box.  You don’t give forgiveness for nothing.  You intend for it to totally change the way I look at life and people.  If I accept forgiveness from you but refuse it to anyone else, it denies the power of your love to change me.  I don’t want to do that.  Help me Jesus to forgive everyone just as freely as you did from the cross.  When I struggle with forgiveness, help me work through my anger until it’s all washed away at the foot of your cross.  Amen.

Grace changes us into forgiving people or it rolls off our back and way from our lives.

Tuesday, May 21st

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”  Matthew 6:13

Dear Jesus, I truly want to please you when no one but you is watching.  But I am fearful of the devil.  He and his beastly friends have been taking down people for thousands of years.  They are well practiced and have their swords constantly sharpened.  I’m no match for them.  So, I beg you to protect me from them.  Give me a keen awareness of their traps and remind me of the passages from your powerful word that will hide my heart from their lies.  Help me navigate through their land mines on the way that leads to eternity.  I’m thankful that you lived a perfect life for us, but that only motivates me more to live up to your standard.  I want to glorify your grace by being good out of gratitude.  Amen.

We are no match for the devil.  So, take Jesus into the ring when you box with him. 

Monday, May 20th

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  Matthew 6:12

Dear Jesus, I can see how important forgiveness is to you by the place you give it in your parables, your sermons and your prayer.  It’s the reason you came to live with us.  It’s the reason you submitted to the cross.  It’s the reason God the father loves you so much.  For me to say that I freely accept your grace and forgiveness and then to withhold forgiveness from anyone else is a denial of your mission and effect on my life.  I am embarrassed by how hard it is for me to forgive some people.  I’m on my knees before you begging for you to fill me with yourself and your redeeming forgiveness.  Without you I cannot forgive anyone.  But with you in my, heart I can forgive everyone, even the worst, just like your child, Stephen, did in the book of Acts.  So, Jesus, do the miraculous in me and make me a grace-filled person.  I don’t want just a little grace.  I want it overflowing out of my life to all people.  Amen.

The world is filled with thousands of people trying to be good.  Precious few are striving to forgive those who are bad. 

Saturday, May 18th

“Give us this day our daily bread.”  Matthew 6:11

Dear Jesus,   You modeled for us all how to live this prayer.  You did not fret the past or worry about the future.  You knew that your father would take care of you.  Instead, you asked for daily bread with a hopeful heart.  Then you threw yourself into loving people and spreading the everlasting hope of eternal life.  Thank you for telling me to pray for daily bread and nothing more.  It “right sizes” earthly things for me.  It prevents me from the ill-gotten pursuit of worldly wealth and makes me dependent on you for all things.  It makes me peaceful when I make business deals, even when I lose out in them too.  I can rest knowing you and the father are guiding my life even though I am trying this or that, even though I go through flood and drought.  Give me the peace that comes from depending on you for daily blessing.  Help me to manage the blessings you give me without living for them in my heart.  Make me generous and mission-minded in how I spend my excess blessings too.  Amen. 

When we pray that God would give us daily bread, we are confronting our idolatry of self and things and comforting our otherwise worried heart. 

Friday, May 17th

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Matthew 6:10b

Dear Jesus, Thank you for leading me to pray this petition.  It reminds me to let your father run his world his way.  It also reminds me that my highest calling has two parts: 1) Learn to trust your father’s providential will and 2) Learn to do the right thing in his eyes no matter what my heart says.  This prayer brings me into line with him, my gracious God and Savior.  Oh, Jesus, help me with this.  For me, a sinner, it’s so difficult to let go of my own will and desires.  It’s hard to accept the unchangeables about my life too.  Give me the faith to pray this from the heart, “Thy will be done!” Then, with a heart that accepts your father’s will, make me a productive and peaceful follower of you.  Amen.

God’s will is always best even when we think we should have a say otherwise. 

Thursday, May 16th

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  ‘This then, is how you should pray:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”’”  Amen.  Matthew 6:7-9

Dear Jesus and God, the Father, How you must hate it when we pray like distant acquaintances instead of dear children talking to their dear Father!  Thank you for patiently teaching us how to pray the prayers you like.  They do the highest good for our souls too.  Ever since I understood the gospel and what you did to save me from my eternal condemnation, I have felt reverence for your name.  But even so, I have lapsed often into treating you like a common little part of my life.  You are the greatest “part” of the entire universe and you deserve honor as such in my life as well.  Help me to reflect the honor I feel for you in the way I use your name and the way I defend your goodness out in the world today.  You are the great Creator, the sacrificial redeemer and the lover of all souls.  I want you to be thought of that way by everyone, especially me.  Amen.

When you hear your dad’s name what do you feel?  Well then, feel the same way about God!

Wednesday, May 15th

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Matthew 6:5-6

Dear Jesus, You had the perfect relationship with your father when you walked the earth.  How hard it must have been to watch religious leaders exploit prayer as a public show.  Thank you for reminding me to go into the secret place and pray to our father.  I have tested your promise many times and have been amazed at how he rewarded my faith with blessing when I talked to him alone about things.  I believe that you and the father are big enough to have a one-on-one relationship with every single human being, all 9 billion of us.  So, I will keep seeking you in private while believing you listen and respond.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be close to you and the father, even though I have often disappointed you.  Amen.

God wants us to test his promises to answer private prayers, so get after it. 

Tuesday, May 14th

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Matthew 6:1-4

Dear Jesus, Help me not to notice if people notice my kindness to them or others.  I don’t need the praise of people when I know I am in the center of your will for life.  I don’t have any ‘pay offs’ for my goodness when I am truly a volunteer out of appreciation for grace.  Help me forget every act of kindness the second after I’ve done it.  Make me thoughtful about loving people and thoughtless about myself.  Give me the freedom of unconditional love.  You lived for your father’s approval every second of your life.  He is my father now too.  I want to live for his approval alone.  Help me Lord Jesus, to truly live as you intended and have enabled humans to.  Amen.

Go and learn what this means, “Love is thoughtful and forgetful at the same time.” 

Monday, May 13th

“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’  But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”  Matthew 5:31-32

Dear Jesus, Help me to revere and respect marriage as much as you and your heavenly Father do.  Help me speak well of marriage, to protect my own marriage and every marriage around me.  To help others see how to enhance their marriage to your glory and for their good.  Help me to model marital, sacrificial love for my spouse whether he/she is reciprocating or not.  I know you love marriage itself because you make it and you use it to picture your relationship with us.  Help me make others love marriage too by the way I act and speak about it.  Amen.

Marriage is cool to God.  Don’t mess it up for him!

Saturday, May 11th

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.  Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”  Titus 2:3-5

Dear God, I have deep gratitude for all the godly women you put in my life from my two grandmothers to my daughters-in-law.  Of course, my mother and my wife have been the greatest blessing.  Each woman with their reverent way of serving their husbands and families has taught me by example what faith, obedience, love and service looks like.  I’ve learned reverence from them.  Reverence is living with moment to moment knowledge that you created me, gave me my place in life, that you bless me with family and opportunities to serve and that you watch my every move hoping to see me return worship and praise to you in how I serve others with a happy heart.  Thank you for giving me a mother and many other godly women who have taught me this reverence.  In their honor I will live as a willing servant today the way that they do.  Amen.

Godly women change the world and make it a better place for everyone. 

Friday, May 10th

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 5:43-48

Dear Jesus, As you sat on that hill telling us to love our enemies that we may be sons of our Father in heaven, you knew that in a few short months, as the perfect Son of God, you’d have to pray from the horrible cross, ‘Father, forgive them.  They do not know what they are doing.’  Like the sun and the rain your Father sends, he also sent you for all people.  Fill me with that same indiscriminate love for all people, even those who disappoint and mistreat me.  I want to reflect the identity you have given me as a redeemed child of God who has your blood running through my spiritual veins.  Amen.

God wants our enemies to see the family resemblance between him and us. 

Thursday, May 9th, Ascension Day

“After he said this, he was taken before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them, ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”  Acts 1:9-11

Lord Jesus, As I walk through my life, I often feel very much alone.  There may be people all around me, but I feel alone and on my own against so much that challenges me and threatens me.  I feel that I must take it on and fight the battle all by myself.  I am afraid and scared.  But your ascension comforts me.  Help me to find comfort in it today.  You have not left me.  You are not gone or absent from my life.  But you are over my life and present in it like never before.  There is nothing that is happening or will happen in my life that will take you by surprise or that will overpower you.  There is nothing that could happen that you are powerless against.  You are powerful over it all.  You are ruling over it all.  You are present in my life with you power, with your grace, with your wisdom and with you love.  Comfort me, dear Jesus with this truth. 

Jesus is not gone nor is he absent from your life.  You may not see his footsteps behind you or hear his voice in your ear.  But he is still present, more than ever in your life.  He is present with his power, with his grace, with his wisdom and with his love.  You are never alone. 

Wednesday, May 8th

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”     Matthew 5:27-30

Dear Jesus, How serious you are that I would learn to live a pure life not only by not cheating on my wife, but also by not cheating on you with my eyes!  You created each of us to live in a beautiful, safe marriage or in friendships void of selfish indulgence.  How you must ache every day to watch women objectivized and exploited!  I live in a generation that has forgotten how to blush.  Help me to protect my own heart and the hearts of people around me by giving me the strength to deal seriously with the temptation to lust.  I would rather do without certain freedoms than to use my freedom to sin with my eyes and heart.  Make the sanctity of every marriage my highest cause, so I support struggling couples and make every woman and man feel safe and served in my presence.  Amen.

God made all people to serve his beautiful purposes.  Don’t yank them down to serve your selfish desires. 

702.

Tuesday, May 7th

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court.  And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.  ‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.  Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.  Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.  Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.’”  Matthew 5:21-26

Dear Jesus, You preach the law in a more exacting way than anyone else I have ever read.  I would like to pride myself that I have never murdered anyone.  But you convict me that I have made them feel rejected for their mistakes and have been angry with them for costing me.  I am sorry.  I know I am forgiven too.  You make loving me, your greatest priority.  I know that.  I need you supernatural help to make loving people a priority too.  Simply put, I just want to write some people off.  But you don’t.  Help me to value every person my life touches.  Help my family and friends to feel you love me even when we disagree.  Help acquaintances to believe in grace by what they hear from me too.  Help my adversaries to experience unconditional love when they are mistreating me.  Oh, Jesus, make me be and do what I am not at all naturally inclined to.  Make me a “mini-me” of you.  Amen.

In regard to your relationship with people, Jesus wants you to be a ‘mini-me” of him.                                                                                                                                               

Monday, May 6th

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. “  Matthew 5:17-20

Dear Jesus, I cannot achieve the righteousness you are talking about here.  I could make the laws myself and I’d still break them.  I proved that when my children were still at home.  That’s why I am so glad you came to fulfill the law for me.  Now I love doing my best to keep your wishes because I love you for saving me.  Now I want to do well for love’s sake and nothing else.  I know this is the righteousness of faith that you are aiming for.  Thank your making me a new person who keeps any commandments as all out of faith and love.  Amen.

We work for God because he worked for us.  It’s a wonderful spiritual love affair. 

Saturday, May 4th

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  Matthew 5:9

Dear Jesus, You tell me that the happy life is one where I take the peace you have made with me and use it to make peace with others.  It’s happy because peace is happiness.  But it’s also happy because I know I’m pleasing your heavenly Father with the wisdom and strength you provide.  Help me to create peace by unconditionally apologizing for my sin toward others and by unconditionally forgiving those who have sinned against me.  It’s fun to watch your gospel work down where the rubber meets the road.  Help me so the hard thing and really get things squared away between myself and others.  Amen.

Pursue peace with people more than cooperation with your wants and needs and you’ll experience life in a whole new depth. 

Friday, May 3rd

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  Matthew 5:8

Dear Jesus, For your whole earthly life you saw what your Father was doing because you had the purest of heart.  I have come to realize that I most often don’t see your Father, because my heart is impure.  When I am purified by revealing truth and cleansing grace, then I see in every circumstance that he is working or my redemption and restoration.  Everything in my life is to either save me or make me a blessing, or both at the same time.  I can’t wait to actually see you and the Father in heaven when my blinding sin is gone, but until then, your word helps me see you at work in my life. Help me to be less bitter and more gracious to others since you have purified me for that very thing.  Amen.

Clean people are fun to be around and spread their purity to others.