Thursday, August 8th

“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.  ‘If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea…’See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I saw to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.’”  Matthew 18:5-6, 10

Dear Jesus, Every single person is your special creation.  You number the hairs on each head.  You know the thoughts in every mind and the words that escape every tongue.  You love each and every one, not wanting anyone to perish but wanting everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth.  I know I don’t love everyone like you do, but I want to.  Please help me to stop devaluing certain people because they annoy me or let me down.  Make me sensitive to avoid tempting anyone to sin.  It’s way too easy to tempt people to gossip by sharing a juicy fact or to tempt someone to covet by boasting or to tempt someone to lust by dressing scantily.  Oh, Lord, “I am my brother’s keeper.”  I willingly take responsibility to love people honestly even though I cannot love them perfectly.  Thank you for giving everyone angels to protect them even while we fellow humans neglect even while we fellow humans neglect their spiritual and physical safety.  Amen.

God wants people to take care of people the way that angels do. 

Wednesday, August 7th

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’  And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself of this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”  Matthew 18:1-4

Dear Jesus, There’s a secret sin in the heart of everyone that really is no secret at all.  It’s the sin of desiring to be important, even more important than others.  We naturally love ourselves so much that we want to be the best looking, the smartest, the most liked, the most likely to succeed, the richest and the most charming.  Your disciples voiced it in a question that exposes this innate desire in all of us.  We want to be the greatest.  How tenderly and forcefully you answered them.  “Be like children who know they are small and live in the reality of the limitations.  Be like children who let themselves be rebuked by loving parents.  Be like children who trust God to take care of them no matter what the circumstances.  Be like children who are comfortable in their smallness.”  Oh Jesus, free from ambition to be great and make me content to love and be loved.  Amen.

Greatness is mostly a mirage in our minds when we are cut off from God by our self-centered pride. 

Tuesday, August 6th

“And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.’  And they were deeply grieved.”  Matthew 17:22-23

Dear Jesus, I would have been grieved too if you looked me in the eye and told me you were going to be betrayed by a friend and that it would mean your death.  Now that we have time to watch this unfold and contemplate the meaning of your life, we can see the committed love with which you navigated the disciples.  Your goal is not that we avoid suffering but that we understand the meaning of life, yours and ours.  How easily we lose track and get lost in denial.  Thank you for patiently saving the hard thing.  But many more thanks that you broke into this veil of tears and used your death to bring us life.  I have hope in the resurrection because you willingly paid for my sins and left them behind in the grave on the third day.  Give me the supernatural power to live in this hope today.  Amen.

If you know that you will ultimately cheat death, every other problem looks smaller. 

Monday, August 5th

“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not drive it out?’ And He said to them, ‘Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”  Matthew 17:19-20

Dear Jesus, It cannot be that you were holding out for more faith before you would let your disciples cast out that demon.  It must have been that they didn’t really trust you had the power or interest to help them.  I too have been embarrassed by just how willing you are to help if we will but trust you.  I love your hyperbole.  If I just trust you enough to ask you, then if it is in your will for me, you will do it.  Give me that faith to ask you expectantly for help in every situation.  Come and deliver my loved ones and me from our troubles.  Help us with our difficulties that seem like there is no solution for them.  Be our God and savior and fix our lives by your grace and mercy.  Give us the faith to cast all of our cares on you.  Amen.

If trusting Jesus only a little gets him to act, imagine what trusting him a lot would do! 

Saturday, August 3rd

“While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’”  Matthew 17:5

Dear Heavenly Father, Peter had just tried to rebuke Jesus for talking about his suffering and here he wants to build a shrine for him up on the mountain.  All you wanted from Peter was that he would listen to your Son.  You had sent him to save us but Peter was in danger of messing that all up.  I wonder in my heart of hearts how much I have messed up by not really listening to your word.  I suspect it’s ten times what I think it is.  It’s comforting for me to know that while Peter is a disruption to your plan, you still fulfilled it and loved Peter all the way to the end.  You love me too.  Your plans will overcome my clumsy interference as well.  I trust you are bigger than me and my ideas.  Help me to listen to your words today and to avoid trying to figure everything out.  You don’t need my help running your world or your church.  I will do whatever you have asked me to do but I don’t want to take over.  I just want to be a productive member of your team.  Give me the wisdom to stay in my land and listen!  Amen.

Man proposes.  God disposes and then he completes his work of rescuing man from himself.   

Friday, August 2nd

“And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.  And Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’  They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, ‘He said that because we did not bring any bread.’  But Jesus, aware of this, said, ‘You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?  Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?  Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?  But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’  Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”  Matthew 16:5-12

Dear Jesus, How easily I let my earthly limitations capture my heart.  I worry about having enough money, about having the right opportunities, about getting the most success from my daily endeavors, when all the while you are concerned about the spiritual enlightenment of my soul and the safety of my heart in the pure gospel.  So, here I see you warning the disciples about the worldly teaching among religious leaders called Sadducees and Pharisees while the disciples are preoccupied with the food that they don’t have for the next few days.  You have my attention Jesus, I will be on guard against the Sadducees mind that denies the miraculous and supernatural and in liberality makes all things permissible as long as you can rationalize it away.  I will also watch out for the Pharisaic mind that focuses on outward behavior and dead formalism.  Instead, I will listen to you and your penetrating words that lead me to repent of selfishness and cling to grace and forgiveness for peace of mind each and every day.  I will concentrate on trusting in you for daily bread instead of my plans and successes.  I will focus on loving my neighbor instead of building my own nest.  I will rest at night knowing you will take care of the world while I sleep.  Amen.

Only the teaching where God is all in all, can suffice a human craving for truth. 

Thursday, August 1st

“He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’  ‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said.  ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’  Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith!  Your request is granted.’  And her daughter was healed at the moment.”  Matthew 15:26-28

Dear Lord, Oh, how you tested that woman and how she saw beyond your words to your heart!  How you must have swelled with joy when she trusted that you had come for all people and especially her too.  She was so divested of herself that she was not easily offended by your test.  She trusted your grace and mercy over what you said.  Help me to tenaciously trust your grace and mercy over what you allow to happen in my life.  Make me have great faith in you.  I’m thinking of several topics in my life that stress me out.  Right now, I’m making each one a request like hers.  Lord, come and fix things, bless us and change everything for the better.  I care not whether you call me a little dog or a royal child.  You came for them all, so bless me in your mercy!  Amen.

Trust God no matter how you feel.  Your Creator promises not to abandon you. 

Wednesday, July 31st

“Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee.  Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.  The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing.  And they praised the God of Israel.  Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”  His disciples answered, ‘Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?’  ‘How many loaves do you have?’  Jesus asked.  “Seven,’ they replied, ‘and a few small fish.’  He told the crowd to sit down on the ground.”  Matthew 15:29-34

Dear Jesus, You had already fed over 5,000 miraculously just a few weeks earlier.  Just that day you were healing people of anything and everything.  It’s amazing that the disciples stayed in the earthly paradigm void of your redeeming presence.  How much I am like them!  I live in blessings you have bestowed for me and even so, I will doubt and stress over other things.  I see that you have compassion enough to take care of all of us.  Help me to stop living by subjective experience and give me the faith to live simply by your word of promise to take care of my needs in your timing.  Help me let go of my doubts so I don’t waste precious energy on worry.  I need that strength to serve you and people anyway.  I will do the best with my seven loaves while expecting you to make them spread much further than I can ever imagine.  Amen.

You have God even when you have little.  That’s enough to live as free as the richest man on earth. 

Tuesday, July 30th

“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead!  That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’  Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to him: ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’  Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.  On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’  The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison.  His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.  John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it.  Then they went and told Jesus.”  Matthew 14:1-12

Dear Jesus, What treachery!  Your cousin was killed for telling the truth to a man for his own eternal good.  He was killed because that man was a coward.  He was killed because that immoral woman was a hater.  He was killed because he had to decrease while you increased.  It makes my head swim.  Both he and you are my example to speak the truth in love even if it angers people.  They have to know their sin and their need for you.  Help me find courage to stand up for your morals and your exclusive grace even though I live in a country where it’s a social sin to call anything but being mean, wrong.  Help me keep my head clear and heart willing to help lead lost souls toward you with peaceful but honest confrontation when it is appropriate.  Help us all Lord Jesus!  Amen. 

It’s not a bad thing to call a bad thing, bad. 

Monday, July 29th

“My soul, praise the LORD!  Lord, my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor.”  Psalm 104:1

Lord God, When I think about who you are I often think about how that relates to me.  I ask myself the question:  “How does his glory affect me?”  I ask, “How does his wisdom impact me?”  But it is a wholly other thing for me to walk into your presence and ponder your majesty as a thing unto itself as if I were walking into a massive cathedral and enjoying all the sights, all the sounds, all the majesty of that place.  Lord God, you are very great.  You wrap the clouds around yourself as a cloak.  The sun runs through the heavens like a runner running its race, declaring your greatness from sunup to sundown.  O God, your power and majesty truly is great.  Lead me to take it all in with awe and wonder that I might be amazed and in awe of who you are.  Amen.

Saturday, July 27th

“When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.  Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.  ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?’ they asked.  ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?  Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  Aren’t all his sisters with us?  Where then did this man get all these things?’  And they took offense at him.  But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.’  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Matthew 13:53-58

Dear Jesus, I have been that prophet who was not accepted in his hometown.  It’s no fun.  How it must have hurt your heart to be the Savior of all of your dearest loved ones and yet they found conventional ways to reject you.  I’m moved by your patience with them.  You knew that you’d send others that some of them would listen to.  You humbled yourself to wait on the Father’s plan to play out.  I’m learning from you to pray and trust that you will send others to reach the ones I love with your word if they do not listen to me because I’m their hometown boy.  Give me the grace to rejoice when they tell me what someone told them that helped them, even though I had told them the very same things for years.  I want to be humble enough to see your hand and not my own.  In the same way, crush my foolish pride that doesn’t want to receive the word from my family just because I know them well.  Make my heart an open book ready to receive your words.  Give me the ability to listen with my heart and not just my head.  Whenever you have made me pliable, I have experienced great insights that I needed for my life.  I look forward to more, even from my closest relatives.  Amen.

Truth is truth whether it comes from an ass or an angel.

Friday, July 26th

“My soul, praise the LORD, and all that is in me, praise his holy name.  My soul, praise the LORD and do not forget all his benefits.”  Psalm 103:1-2

Lord God, As a Christian, you’ve given me the task of leading other people to praise you.  You teach me to encourage others when they are down and discouraged.  You tell me to proclaim the good news to those who are hopeless and downcast.  But I fail to preach it to myself.  Physician, heal yourself-you say to me.  Mechanic, fix your own car, you want me to think.  The hope that you want me to give to others is first and foremost for me.  The encouragement that you want me to pass on to hold others up you give to me first to hold me up.  O God, you are so good.  Your benefits for me are far beyond what I can begin to imagine.  You forgive all my sins-all of them.  There is not one spot of sin left on my garments of righteousness.  And these garments are also a gift from you.  You heal my soul with this forgiveness.  You have an eternity of joys waiting for me at your right hand.  And beyond the eternal and spiritual gifts you give, you are also at work in my life in some amazing ways.  The way you care for my family.  The way you are at work among the people of our church.  The way you are using me to serve other people.  This is nothing but your hand at work.  Yes, it is good for me to praise you.  There are so many ways.  Help me to find my joy I you even while I share it with others.  Amen.

Thursday, July 25th

“He said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’”  Matthew 13:52

Dear Jesus, With your Old and New Testaments, we all have “something old and something new” of which you speak.  Both are necessary and both lead to our salvation.  I have come to love them both with the same level of affection.  I see myself in the people featured there.  I hear your voice in the words in red.  I find friends in the prophets and apostles.  They all speak your word into my heart.  I’m saved and I’m not alone.  I have your over 50 writers to share life with me.  Help me live in your word with them and to never lose my way as I take your book as my guide before leaving earth.  Amen.

The word of Moses to John and everything in between make great friends on our pilgrim journey. 

Wednesday July 24th

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.  When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.  Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.  This is how it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Matthew 13:47-50

Dear Jesus, Your parable about how the church gathers people from the world but that your angels will gather true Christians out of the church in the end, strikes fear in my inner being.  What if I am only a sham?  What if I say I believe but I really don’t?  What if they throw me away in the end and I miss out on eternal life?  Your words drive me to examine my own heart and life.  Is there anything of which I need to repent?  Do I really believe in you, your grace and your call to follow you in life?  I feel like the man in Mark 9.  “Lord, I do believe!  Help me with my unbelief!”  I am totally dependent on your mercy and grace.  I trust that your life was perfect enough to cover mine.  Your parable has cleansed me but your words of grace defend me.  I am yours and you are mine.  I look forward to being gathered to heaven and not cast away in the end.  In that peace I will swim the waters you have appointed for me.  Amen.

God sees the secret places of your heart.  When you see Jesus as he really is, you are seeing the secret places of God’s heart. 

Tuesday, July 23rd

“He made us, and we are his-his people, the sheep of his pasture.”  Psalm 100:3

Lord God, You made me and all that exists.  You gave me my body and souls, my eyes and ears and all my members, my mind, and all my abilities.  You gave me my wife and children and put all kinds of people in my life as gifts to me.  You gave me all that I own.  And not just that.  You redeemed me too, a lost and condemned creature.  You purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil.  You did this, Lord Jesus, with your holy and precious blood, with your innocent suffering and death.  You did this so that I would be your own and live under you in your kingdom and serve you now and for all eternity.  Oh God, how gracious you are!  Help me to live freely under you in your kingdom today.  Amen.

Monday, July 22nd

“The mighty King loves justice.  You have established fairness; you have administered justice and righteousness in Jacob.”  Psalm 99:4

Lord God, You are mighty and you are just.  You rule the nations with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  You watch over all things and all people; you never slumber or sleep.  Why is it, then, that there seems to be so much injustice?  Why do you seem to hide yourself at some of the most unjust times?  Why do you even seem to be an enemy?  Sometimes, O God, I want to shake my fist at you because I don’t get how you can be silent at such a time as this.  Forgive me for thinking such things about you.  You love justice.  Whether you get it now or you get it later, justice will happen.  You rule all things fairly and without favoritism.  Keep on ruling the way you always have.  I may not always understand why you do what you do.  Sometimes I may not like it.  But God, your ways are always good and justice.  Teach me to trust you especially when I don’t understand.  Amen.

Saturday, July 20th

“He is coming to judge the earth.  He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.”  Psalm 98:9

Lord God, I’ve only been to court a few times and only for some minor things.  But even so that was a nerve-wracking day.  I had done something wrong and there was going to be punishment.  There was no escaping it.  Your courtroom holds even greater fear.  There, in your presence everything will be laid bare because nothing is hidden from you.  To consider standing in front of you, sinner that I am, is terrifying to consider.  But I’m not afraid, Lord God.  Your Son has paid the debt I owed and for my sin was destroyed.  Within the Book of Life, I know that my name has now been written.  I will not doubt for I am free; Satan cannot threaten me.  There is no condemnation.  When the books are opened and all things are laid bare, there will be no sin written behind my name.  Your Son has claimed my sin as his own.  There are no sins on my record anymore.  And greater than that-behind my name all his works will be written.  I get credit for the perfect way that your Son, Jesus, lived his life.  Oh God, I am not afraid of that day when I will stand before you.  I will stand before you as a bride, holy and dressed in the righteousness.  I will stand in joy.  I will stand in confidence.  Help me to always look forward to that day in faith and not in fear.  Amen.

Friday, July 19th

“Declare his glory among the nations, his wonderful works among all peoples.” Psalm 96:3

Lord God, You are a great God, supreme among any power and authority both on this earth and in the spiritual arena.  There is none like you.  There is none who works like you.  And yet, as I listen to things that come out of my mouth and reflect on what I declare, it often isn’t about your greatness.  I say what I see as I look at the ruin we wreaked on creation.  I say what I see as I look at the sinful divisions among culture groups, and even in my own family.  I say what I see even as I look at myself.  I very clearly see all that is wrong with me, with others, and with the world.  And those are the things I declare.  But Lord God, you are a great God.  You are doing far more in this world than I give you credit for.  You are doing far more in this world that I can even begin to imagine.  Your glory is everywhere to see, hidden in plain sight if only I will meditate on your works.  Today, help me to ponder your goodness, your greatness and your glory.  Then, let the meditation of my heart flow out of my mouth so that I truly declare your glory wherever I go.  Amen.

Thursday, July 18th

“He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”  Matthew 13:31-32

Dear Jesus, Your kingdom started so small and now for 2000 years it has circled the globe many times over!  It’s amazing that your church is built on a message about your solitary life, death, and resurrection that happened so long ago.  It always starts small in one heart at a time but it grows into groups and clans of people.  I have watched your church grow all around me and throughout my region.  I’m amazed at how many people your church has blessed too.  You nailed it for us when you used this parable.  It encourages me when I think that the church is so small.  I’m encouraged to trust that you will make small things grow large as your word spreads.  I will optimistically do my part to plan your word as seeds in the hearts of people too.  Amen.

The word grows people like seeds grow plants.  Don’t hide its power under your doubts about whether it works or not. 

Wednesday, July 17th

“All who served carved images, those who boast in idols, will be put to shame.  All the gods must worship him.”  Psalm 97:7

O God in Heaven, You are the King above all kings and the only true God, above all gods.  You are the God of glory, might, power and dominion.  All things in heaven and on earth bow before your throne.  At least we should; yes, Lord God, this includes me.  I find myself trusting in other people and other things to protect and provide for me.  I find myself looking to other people and other things to give me meaning and purposes in life.  I find myself seeking joy and happiness in other places besides you.  But these people and these things will only let me down.  These people and things are nothing but idols and they can’t help but let me down because they aren’t you!  Forgive me, Father!  Forgive me for seeking good elsewhere.  Forgive me for finding joy in other people.  Forgive me for seeking safety in the arms of another.  Forgive me and help me to make you my one and only.  Teach me to fear, to love and trust you above all things.  There is none like you.  All other gods will disappoint me, but you never will.  Amen.