Monday, June 29, 2015

The Curse of Sterility


After his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt toured Europe. His speech to people of France is legendary. What does it suggest to a nation that has voluntarily chosen and celebrated sterility as its preference for marriage and family?

"Finally, even more important than ability to work, even more important than ability to fight at need, is it to remember that chief of blessings for any nations is that it shall leave its seed to inherit the land. It was the crown of blessings in Biblical times and it is the crown of blessings now. The greatest of all curses is the curse of sterility, and the severest of all condemnations should be that visited upon willful sterility. The first essential in any civilization is that the man and women shall be father and mother of healthy children so that the [human] race shall increase and not decrease. If that is not so, if through no fault of the society there is failure to increase, it is a great misfortune. If the failure is due to the deliberate and willful fault, then it is not merely a misfortune, it is one of those crimes of ease and self-indulgence, of shrinking from pain and effort and risk, which in the long run Nature punishes more heavily than any other. If we of the great republics, if we, the free people who claim to have emancipated ourselves from the thralldom of wrong and error, bring down on our heads the curse that comes upon the willfully barren, then it will be an idle waste of breath to prattle of our achievements, to boast of all that we have done."

The curse of sterility is a self-imposed curse we have embraced, and called it good. Ours is a self-imposed curse against nature. Surely, we shall unnaturally manipulate the natural, and declare it good. Nevertheless, our sterility shall haunt us.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Am I Irrelevant?

Matthew 16:5-12, 21:17

Heavenly Father,

One of the greatest insults one can ever give another is to label another as irrelevant. Extraneous, immaterial, inappropriate, inconsequential, insignificant, pointless. Irrelevant. I don’t want to be irrelevant to You and Your Kingdom!

Such was the sin of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Their sins of legalism and liberalism rendered them irrelevant to Christ’s Kingdom. One of the greatest fears of my life is that I would become a power-mongering, political manipulator, jockeying for position.

The Pharisees legalism made them irrelevant to Christ’s Kingdom. The scribes and Pharisees pled the special interests of their carefully articulated legalism, shrouded in proof-texting, theological jargon, and hundreds of years of tradition. William Barclay paraphrased Jesus’ warning against the wisdom and ways of the Pharisees: "Take care lest you make your religion a series of 'thou shalt nots' in the way the Pharisees do. Take care that you do not identify religion with a series of outward actions, and forget that what matters is the state of a man's heart" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 145).

The Sadducees dismissed theological precision and replaced it with protecting their wealth, practical expediency and political power. They manipulated the state, the temple, the law, the people, and the Roman oppressors by any strategy necessary in order to preserve their wealth, position, and power. The Sadducees were irrelevant to Christ’s Kingdom because of their confidence in materialism, their commitment to a racist nationalism, and their confidence in political power.

The only occasion these rival factions set aside their bitter rivalry was to kill Jesus! Jesus said that both the Pharisees and the Sadducees were poison to the Hebrew nation. Control. Intimidation. Irrelevant.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that Jesus Christ came to these spiritual and political leaders, and they could not accept Him. Therein is our warning. If spiritual and political leaders fail to accept the plan and person of Jesus Christ, we will be abandoned by God as irrelevant.

Am I irrelevant to Christ’s Kingdom work on earth? Have the motives and distractions of the Pharisees and the Sadducees become my motives and distractions? Legalism? Materialism? Nationalism? Politics? Power? God forbid.

In the Name of my God and King,

Amen.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Father

Psalm 27, 68:5, 103,

My Loving Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being my Abba–my Papa.  I love You, Father God.

Thank You for my earthly father who loves You.  Dad’s holy, Godly example inspires me.  His greatness challenges me.  Moments of conversation, a prayer of blessing at the family table, an exhortation from his lips... each shapes me and molds me.

My earthly father shaped me in conception.  You formed me in my mother’s womb.  My dad distinguished me with his physical features.  You distinguished me with the image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–the Triune God.  My earthly father marked me in my physical genetics.  You marked me with a hunger for You.  My earthly father has dreams for the potential that is within my life.  You know Your plan for me.  My earthly father disciplined me to make me good.  You discipline me to make me holy.  My earthly father gave me direction.  You guide me with Your eye.  My dad counseled me with wisdom.  You are my Wonderful Counselor.

Thank You for the gift of my earthly father.  He is the godliest, holiest, finest man I know.  I want to be like him, because he wants to be like You.

But not everyone is blessed with a good earthly father.  Fatherlessness has scourged the lives of many, leaving open wounds that cause them to question identity, worth, and value.  Neglect and abuse have dominated the landscape of fatherhood.  A crisis of masculinity has jeopardized marriage, family, and our very ability to perceive You–our Heavenly Father.

Comfort the fatherless.  Illegitimacy, desertion, and family brokenness have left children without the protection and care of an earthly father. “Father” has become a dirty word represented by a blank expression, emptiness, absence, and loss.  Emotions of anger and apathy have supplanted genuine respect and honor toward fathers.  Comfort the fatherless.

Challenge men to be Godly fathers.  Raise up a generation of men who will be more than “baby daddys.”  Anger defines too many men.  Honest, honorable emotional connection of fatherly love seem foreign to their role.  Establish men who model fatherhood after You.

Construct faith in You by raising up a generation of men who are esteemed because they are good fathers. May children bless their dads for their fidelity, integrity, honor, and love of family. Empower fathers to be role models who point their children to You, our Heavenly Father.

Thank You Father,
Amen.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Living and Praying in the Spirit

Wesley Duewel writes:  The Spirit so sanctifies you to the will of God, so yearns within you for the will of God, so illumines for you the will of God, and so believes through you for the will of God that He sanctifies your intercession until the intercession of God the Son, God the Spirit, and your heart-cry are as one.  In this holy and irresistible unity of intercession, heaven and earth can be moved as necessary." (Duewel in Mighty Prevailing Prayer, p. 116).

"How can Christians be tearless in a broken world and think that they are representing Jesus?" (Duewel, p. 120).

Dennis Kinlaw writes:  "When the minister becomes the pivot around which his ministry revolves, the results are deadly.  The Lord will not be fully present in any ministry where the minister gets the glory.  The Holy Spirit comes to exalt Christ, not to exalt you and me.  Anything that draws attention to our cleverness, our brightness, or our competence is ultimately sterilizing.  This is why we must eve remember that we are called to work with Him."  (in Preaching in the Spirit, p. 45).

Friday, June 12, 2015

Playing it Safe

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Dear God,

Taking a risk is a hard thing for me to do.  I like to play it safe.  I have a deeply human need to be able to predict the outcome of a venture taken.  I must be able to insure a high probability of success before exposing myself to risk.  I don't want to fail, lose face to others, ruin my reputation, or worse. 

When You present me with an impossible challenge, something inside me shrinks.  I want to play it safe.  The challenge seems insurmountable.  Too big.  Too impossible.  But You lead me into the face of it.  

Give me the courage to risk everything for You.  Playing it safe keeps life down to a size I think I can manage.  Playing it safe allows me to pursue my dreams, ambitions, and desired relationships. Playing it safe assumes that I know best for my life.  

Then You ask me the deep and probing question, "So, once you have lived your life, calculating and controlling it as you think best, then what?  Once you gain the entire world, its pleasures, its relationships, its wealth, power, and prestige, then what?  Once you pursue a lifelong path away from me, what makes you think that you can find the way back at your convenience?"

William Barclay writes:  "In every decision of life we are doing something to ourselves; we are making ourselves a certain kind of person; we are building up steadily and inevitably a certain kind of self and character; we are making ourselves able to do certain things and quite unable to do others.  It is perfectly possible for a man to gain all the things he set his heart upon, and then to awaken one morning to find that he has missed the most important things of all" (Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 169).

Saint Augustine said it powerfully:  "We were made for Thee and we cannot rest until we rest in Thee."  The only true safety is a life of obedience to You, lived in the center of Your perfect will.

Someone once told me that the safest place in the world is in the center of the will of God.  I choose the safety of Your cross.  I choose the safety of losing my life in You.  I choose to play it safe.

In the Name of my Keeper and Protector who keeps me safe,
Amen.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Following Jesus

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Lord Jesus,

Today, I reaffirm my commitment to follow You.  I reaffirm that commitment, not because of any diminished resolve or any lack of obedience to continue following You.  I reaffirm my commitment simply out of love and worship.  I will follow You.

You tell me that following You means denying myself, taking up my cross and following You. Radical stuff.  Grant me courage.

Barclay says that "To deny oneself means in every moment of life to say no to self, and to say Yes to God.  To deny oneself means once, finally and for all to dethrone self and to enthrone God.  To deny oneself means to obliterate self as the dominant principle of life, and to make God the ruling principle, more, the ruling passion, of life.  The life of constant self-denial is the life of constant assent to God."  (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 167).

I assent.

Taking up my cross is a call to sacrifice.  Barclay says that the one who embraces the cross "may well have to sacrifice certain things he could well afford to possess in order to give more away... The really important thing is not the great moments of sacrifice, but a life lived in the constant hourly awareness of the demands of God and the needs of others."  (pp. 167-168).

I obey.

Now help me to follow in obedience.  Dear Jesus, I choose afresh to follow You today.  Lead me. Nudge me.  Guide me.  Help me to have a fresh awareness to listen to Your whispers.  I love You.  I need You.  I follow.

Where You lead me I will follow.
Amen.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Are You Irrelevant?

Matthew 16:5-12 NKJV Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?[c] 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 21:17 NKJV "And he left them..."

My Lord and my God,

The power-mongering, politically manipulative jockeying for position defined the factions of Your day.  The scribes and Pharisees plead the special interests of their carefully articulated legalism, shrouded in proof-texting, theological jargon, and hundreds of years of tradition.  You warned: "Take care lest you make your religion a series of 'thou shalt nots' in the way the Pharisees do.  Take care that you do not identify religion with a series of outward actions, and forget that what matters is the state of a man's heart" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 145).

The Sadducees dismissed theological precision and replaced it with protecting their wealth, practical expediency and political power.  They manipulated the state, the temple, the law, the people, and the Roman oppressors by any strategy necessary in order to preserve their wealth, position, and power. In the Sadducees, You warn us that nationalistic political power is poison to Your Kingdom.

Both groups used their own definition of control and intimidation to maximize their dominion.  You saw these controlling factions and rightly judged them as choking the very life out of their people, true religion, and the fulfillment of Your design for the Hebrew people.  The evil influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees spread through the population like a virus.

The tragedy of it all is that You came to these spiritual and political leaders, and they could not accept You.  Therein is our warning.  If spiritual and political leaders fail to accept the plan and person of Jesus Christ, they will be abandoned by God as irrelevant.  "And he left them..."

You have called me to a place of spiritual leadership. You have laid upon me a mantle of responsibility. You have placed me here.  I did not seek it. I carry in my heart a deep and prevailing concern that You see me as authentic and acceptable.  I loathe pretense, exploitative power, and self-promotion.  I see the dangerous temptation of becoming what I hate in the pursuit of practicality, expediency, and success... even in Your work.  "And he left them..."

I accept Your warning against seeking outward respectability through legalism.  I accept Your condemnation of materialism.  I accept Your injunction against substituting political reformation for spiritual transformation. I recognize that a changed heart through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our only hope.  I purpose to be among the ones the Spirit of Christ indwells, rather than be among those He leaves.

In the Name of my God and Savior,
Amen.





Friday, June 5, 2015

Nothing's Perfect... Or is it?


Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Psalm 37:1-8 NKJV Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.

Heavenly Father,
 I live in a disappointing world.  A tragically fallen world.  I find myself striving to make things perfect.  I analyze.  I plan.  I work.  I assess.  I try so hard.  I fall so short.

Auto manufacturers try to make better cars, but some folks end up with lemons.  Software engineers try to make better computer operating systems, but they still have glitches and crash.  Recalls, patches, updates, repairs. Clothes wear out.  Fuel is consumed.  Cars rust.  Toys break. Landfills are crammed full. Nothing's perfect.

I remember when I was a boy and I dreamed up modifications I would make to my first car.  Dad commented, "And when you have done all of that, do you know what you have?"

"No."

"An old car.  You have put a lot of money into an old car that you will never be able to get out of it...  Son, everything is on the road to the junk heap."

Nothing's perfect.

But something within me strives for perfection.  Something within me strives for durability.  I dream. I hope. I long to invest myself and my resources in something that will endure--something that will last. 

At work we plan, enact, and assess in a never-ending quest for perfection.  We train at workshops and conferences.  Auditors, consultants, evaluators, and quality control officers assess our every move to insure that we are in compliance. 

Oh God, You have given me a craving for perfection, but I never find it!  I am on an endless treadmill of striving without attaining.  I don't have perfect relationships.  I don't have a perfect job. I don't have a perfect house, car, children, or colleagues.  I cannot squeeze my fist of control tightly enough around my little world to make it perfect.  All the while, a voice within me demands that I just try harder, do better, control the variables, and strive for perfection.

Nothing's perfect.

Then I hear Your words speak to me that You have created every human being with a longing for perfection.  This longing, however twisted and distorted by my sinful, fallen psychology, was birthed by You.  The corresponding reality is that my heart's longing for perfection can only be satisfied in right relationship with You!  You are the One who has written eternity on my heart! 

I flee to You!  Embrace me in Your perfect love.  I surrender all of my rights, my control, my needs, demands, relationships, hopes and dreams to You.  Embrace me.  Cleanse me from self-centered striving in a quest to be good enough for You.  Teach me to rest in faith in Your embrace.  Teach me to strive not for perfection of performance, but to know You.  Help me to rest in the reality that I have given You my surrendered, sanctified best.

You have written eternity on my heart.  Your image of Yourself, Creator God, however marred by our fallen depravity still peeks out from the shadows of our sinful lives, an ever-present reminder that You made us.  You want to know me!  You draw me to Yourself through desires You planted in my heart in Creation.  Draw me into Your perfect love.  Perfect me in You.

In the Name of my Creator God who made me, knows me, and still loves me,
Amen.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Increase my Faith!

Matthew 15:21-28

Dear God,

I grant You my permission to do that which Your Authority allows.  You have shifted the tectonic plates of my life.  The cataclysmic quakes reverberate yet today.  Thank You.

Thank You for teaching me faith in the midst of uncertainty.  You have taught me much about praying in faith, yet I have so much to learn.  I feel as if I have only completed Kindergarten in God's School of Faith!  Advance my studies.  Strengthen my resolve.  Steady my emotions.  Steel my will.

Wesley Duewel (Mighty Prevailing Prayer,1990) identifies 7 steps to greater faith.
  1. Recognize your own helplessness and need.
  2. Feed your soul on the Word of God.
  3. Spend adequate time in prayer.
  4. Read accounts of how God has answered prayer.
  5. Obey God in everything.
  6. Begin to trust God for specific answers.
  7. Begin praising God.
Oh, Lord, increase my faith!  I testify to obedience in each of these areas; however, I must repeat them over and over again if  I am to become the man of faith that You are calling me to be.  Teach me to pray with a confident and believing faith.

Duewel describes a prayer of faith as prayer that is:
  1. Totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit.
  2. Totally committed to seeing God's answer realized.
  3. Willing to believe and prevail for God's answer  in a situation that is utterly impossible.
  4. Believes regardless of feelings or emotions.
  5. Convinced that it is in accord with God's highest will.
  6. So sure of God's will that it will not accept denial of the answer.
  7. Eager to obey God in any way He leads so as to help hasten the answer.
  8. May include prayer warfare in resisting and routing Satan.
  9. Willing to pray through every detail of the answer or victory.
"So many people, as it has been said, pray really because they do not with to miss a chance.  They do not really believe in prayer; they have only the feeling that something might just possibly happen, and they do not wish to miss a chance" (William Barclay in The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 136). You are not my last resort, but sometimes I fail to come to You as quickly as I should.  I default to worry for a brief season, then arrested by Your Holy Spirit, I come.

You know the desperate cries of the needy, clamoring for Your help.  You heard the cry of the Canaanite woman pleading for her daughter's healing.  She brought You a "gallant and audacious love, a faith which grew until it worshipped at the feet of the divine, an indomitable hope, a cheerfulness which would not be dismayed.  That is the faith which cannot help finding an answer to its prayers" (William Barclay in The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 137). You heard the cry of the lepers, the blind, the lame, the epilectic, the sick, the dying, the bereaved.  You listened.  You responded.

Now, hear me.  Hear my prayer.  Receive my feeble faith.  Answer.  Then embolden me to ask for more.

In the Name of the Faithful One, I believe You.
Amen.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Quality Control


II Timothy 2:20-21 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

II Timothy 4:1-5  I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom:2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.


Dear God,

Thank You for Your passion for quality control in the ministers You call to preach Your Gospel.  Paul had a passion for quality in Timothy.  You have a passion for quality in me, and in every other servant You call to proclaim Your Gospel and serve Your flock as an under shepherd.

So, I pray Your Word into my life.  I pray that Paul's challenge to Timothy might be brought to fruitful service in me.  I shun mediocrity in exchange for Your rugged call to sanctification.  Your splendor and Your holiness are worthy of Your recreation of Your very best in me.  I surrender the conventionality of being average that I may be a vessel of honor to You. I hunger to be Your precious vessel to pour out Your life-giving message to the thirsty, and to serve the platter of the meat of Your Gospel to the hungry. 

Vessels of honor must be refined, hammered, shaped, and polished if they are to be excellent.  Grant me grace to endure Your cross, die to self, be filled with Your Spirit, and bear Your cross in the life of holiness.  Help me to choose patience when affliction purges secret and unseen places within my character.  Sanctify my vessel as a vessel of honor to You.  Help me to be as passionate to be Your vessel of honor as You are to make me one.

Embolden me with courage to preach Your Word with Holy Spirit anointing, passion, winsomeness, and fidelity to Your revelation of Yourself in Holy Scripture.  Strengthen me to endure criticism, persecution, and suffering with bravery, poise, and distinction in Your sight.  Keep a tight rein on my thoughts, my words, and my attitudes.  Work the qualitative beauty of Your holiness in me for Your glory.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who work Your virtue in me,
Amen.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Heart Condition

Matthew 15:10-20

10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

William Barclay: "If religion (meaning Christian faith) consists in external regulations and observances it is two things. It is far too easy... Further... it is quite misleading. Many a man has a faultless life in externals, but has the bitterest and the most evil thoughts within his heart, and the teaching of Jesus is that not all the outward observances in the world can atone for a heart where pride and bitterness and lust hold sway. It is Jesus' teaching that the part of a man that matters is his heart. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matthew 5:8)...

"What matters to God is not so much how we act, but why we act; not so much what we actually do, but what we wish in our heart of hearts to do. 'Man,' as Aquinas had it, 'sees the deed, but God sees the intention.'

"It is Jesus' teaching--and it is the teaching which condemns every one of us--that no man can call himself a good man because he observes external rules and regulations; he can only call himself a good man when his heart is pure. And that very fact is the end of pride, and the reason why every one of us can only say, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.'" (Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, pp. 131-132).

Oh my Lord,

Having prayed the sinner's prayer in faith, I know Your genuine forgiveness.  You have granted me spiritual adoption into the Your family and regeneration to a new life in Jesus Christ.  You have opened the door to intimate relationship with Yourself, Triune God.  Your new life calls me to deeper holiness and wholeness--a transformed heart, Spirit fullness, unified motives, relational integrity, surrendered ambitions, and crucified rights.  Only in the active and ongoing experience of the Spirit-filled life may I be sourced with Your power to meet Your requirements for pure motives from my heart.

Oh make me clean, Oh make me clean, 
My eyes thy holiness have seen! 
Oh send the burning, cleansing flame; 
And make me clean, in Jesus name!
(Author Unknown)

Your inner holiness in me will offend those who insist that external rules and regulations define holiness.  Fill me with Your irrefutable perfect love.  

I love You.  I need You.  I trust Your cleansing and infilling grace to make me clean and unite my heart in Your holiness.  

Amen.

Monday, June 1, 2015

What is worship?

Isaiah 41:13 NKJV For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

Psalm 18:28 NLT For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.  29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. 30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven (All the Lord’s promises prove true); He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Lord Jesus,

William Barclay writes:  "To the Scribes and Pharisees worship was ritual, ceremony law; to Jesus worship was the clean heart and the loving life. Here is the clash.  And that clash still exists.  What is worship?"  (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 129).

Teach me to worship Father, You, and Holy Spirit as I ought.  Take me past ancient or contemporary forms and grant me access into Your heart.  Teach me the worship of a clean and yielded heart and will.  I want to know You.  I want You to know me.  I want You to form and inform my identity in You.  Grant me a place of belonging in the heart of God, where peace prevails amidst the adversity of life. 

Too often, I have imagined my time with You as something I do before I work.  I have thought of the Quiet Place as a place I leave in order to do the tasks of the day.  Teach me to operate in the daily affairs of life, not by emerging from my Quiet Place in You, rather by resourcing from that Quiet Place, and operating from the position of strength and fullness that I find in You continually.  Be my dwelling place throughout the busy hours of life, work, interaction with others, and service.  Help me to take our Quiet Place with me all day long.

William Temple (1881-1944), Archbishop of Canterbury, commented on worship: "To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God."

Prompt my conscience with a gentle check of Your Spirit that points me in the right direction in conversation and decisions.  Protect me from being tossed about by a variety of contradictory opinions and directives.  Keep me centered in You. 

Fill my mind with truth.  Fear, anxiety, and conflict would draw my attention away from truth.  In a world of relativism, be my Eternal Truth!  Tune my senses to Your beauty, Your creation, Your teleology of grace.  Teach me to Love You and others as I ought.  Teach me to love Your Eternal Purpose and Will, even when my obedience intersects trial, travail, and hardship.

I worship You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  May my worship come from a clean heart, surrendered will, and obedient service and render me acceptable in Your sight. 

In Your Holy and Worthy Name,
Amen.