Your words…

We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. Hebrews 2:1

My words…

Lord, You have given Your children what we need to stay anchored in this life. Your very words, intentions, hopes, instructions, and commands are freely available to us. Your word is alive because You are alive. All we need to do is pay attention. Consistently. And therein lies the rub.

Prayer for me

If I don’t make a habit of feeding on Your word like I feed myself food, I will drift. Your word doesn’t drift away from me. I drift away from it. I reason it out this way: I am not drifting away from You as my God, I just get carried along on a different current away from Your word. But it’s the same thing, isn’t it? You are Truth. Your word is Truth. The only way for me to stay anchored beside You is to keep Your word in front of me. All the time. I’m reaching out to You for Your help. All the time.

Forgive me

I pray Your forgiveness when I dare place any other word before Yours and when I don’t yield my stubborn will to Your teaching. At times, I grow weary, my eyes burn, my mind longs to put my thoughts to rest. One time leads to another, and another. The pages of my Bible aren’t turned for days. (Especially when my reading schedule assigns me to Leviticus, and all I can think about is skipping to Jericho.) Forgive me for taking advantage of Your patience and mercy.

Prayer for others

Lord, I pray for those who are drifting and have been doing so for too long. Put Your words in front of their eyes somehow! Draw them back toward the Truth so they may live the abundant life You will for us all.

More praise

Drifting is a sad, unsettling thought: being carried along without direction. I remember times when I felt I was drifting as a parent, as an employee, as a teacher. But the most unsettling were the times when I was drifting away from You and Your word. When I would finally admit that truth and turn back toward where You were, THERE You were, as if You had tagged along behind. Thank You, God.

Your words…

Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. Philippians 2: 5-8

My words…

Praise

Divine Jesus, whatever substance or energy that makes up who You are, that current of perfect power, not created but infinitely You, is what makes You God and God alone. The heavenly realm must swirl with the intensity of it! In my limited comprehension, I see You as a force of love, like a perpetual power plant, manufacturing all the love that exists in the heavens and on the earth. Every wisp of genuine love, expressed by angels or humans, is a product of who You are. Love does not remain apart from You. And this is why You acted the way You did, intentionally living as a human among humans, emptying Yourself to become not just a man, but a servant, and not just a servant, but one who willingly stretched out his arms on a cross. For me.

Prayer for me

The Apostle Paul writes that I should make my attitude like that of Yours: willingly emptying myself to assume the role of a servant. I’m not very good at that. I can serve, and I do. But only to the extent it doesn’t interfere too much with my daily routine. In other words, I only empty myself to a certain level, just before it gets uncomfortable, then I stop. I cling too tightly to the stuff I like the most in my life: my hobby time, my spending money, my streaming service. I need an emptying lesson. Will You help me?

Forgive me

Forgive me when I have filled myself up to the brim with ME: what I want; what I think; where I’ll be the next day, the next year. How could there be room for anything else? Anyone else? Forgive me when I take the easy way out and think only of myself and forget (or refuse) to kick myself out of the way and let Your Spirit go to work in my life.

Thank You and Praise

Thank You for Your humility. As God, You could have behaved however You wanted: shoving Your divinity down people’s throats, insisting on being worshiped everywhere You went, reminding sinners of their unworthiness. Instead, You leaked compassion from every pore, You spoke hope to the leper, and comfort to those in pain. You never stopped teaching. You never settled down. You moved along toward Your undeserved death sentence as Your Father willed. Such emptying. I praise You and lift You up as the perfect example of how humans should treat each other.

Your words…

You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains. You must make them of finely spun linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. The length of each curtain should be 42 feet, and the width of each curtain six feet; all the curtains are to have the same measurements. Five of the curtains should be joined together and the other five curtains joined together. Make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the last curtain in the first set, and do the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. Exodus 26:1-5

My words…

Praise

I have always been amazed by the level of detail You required in the construction of the tabernacle. The table, the lampstand, the altar, the ark of the covenant, all so meticulously designed down to the cubit. All very orderly of You. I have often wondered what the tabernacle would have looked like if You had said, “Just build it however you Israelites see fit.” I daresay it would have been chaos. And if it’s one thing You know how to order and prevent, it’s chaos. Before the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky burst open on Noah, You ensured he had the plans to build the ark to Your exact specifications, down to the cubit. When the Israelites departed Egypt as freed slaves, You commanded Moses to assemble the community and record their ancestry by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting one by one the names of those 20 years or older. So orderly of You. And The Law! Burnt offering, grain offering, priestly garments, clean and unclean animals, cleansing skin diseases, holy days, sexual offenses – nothing left to chance. As long as Your well-defined, straight path was followed, chaos remained locked away, and Your children thrived. Your detailed instructions and commandments and statutes were given during the times when no one else knew what to do. It was You, the wise, loving Father, providing for the needs of Your children. You did it then through stone tablets and prophets. You do it today through Your Spirit.

Prayer for me

You know me: I like order. My spools of thread are stored according to color, my spices alphabetically, and my books by genre. Weeds have a very short life span in my yard, and I receive a great deal of satisfaction using a power washer. (See, I am made in Your image!) But all of that doesn’t mean diddly-squat if chaos is having a field day in my soul. Who cares if my clothes are arranged by sleeve length if my spiritual disciplines are in disarray, or worse, non-existent? You never intended for me to spend more time organizing my “stuff” than I do spending time with You in Your word, in prayer, and in solitude. So, I pray that my spirit will learn more from Your precise Spirit living within me.

Forgive me

Forgive me, Lord, when a cluttered closet calls to me more loudly than a cluttered spirit.

Prayer for others

Lord, I pray for those who don’t know You as the God who chases away chaos and brings order into the most out-of-order lives. Only You have the power to shape an undefined, inchoate life. Move in their lives! Hover over them! Pursue them!

Thank You

Thank you for empowering me with Your Spirit to stand against the lure of chaos as You guide me along a straight path. I don’t fear the rat’s nest of life when You’re with me.

More praise

Jesus, I praise You as the deliverer of those whose lives are governed by chaos – where chaos rules. When You wore flesh, You rendered demons powerless and offered healing to the blind, deaf, and lame. You spoke order from chaos. I see you working still from the right hand of the Father. The turmoil caused by addiction, abuse, abandonment, and anxiety dissipates when lives are surrendered to You. You calmed the storm when Your disciples despaired. You can calm anything.

Your words…

When He entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony!” “I will come and heal him,” He told him. “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant will be cured. For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it. Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following Him, “I assure you: I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith!” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was cured that very moment. Matthew 8:5-11, 13

Jesus came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him. He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him said, “What is this wisdom given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t His sisters here with us? So they were offended by Him. Jesus was not able to do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people. And He was amazed at their unbelief. Mark 6:1-6 selected

My words…

Praise

Jesus, You, who spoke creation into being, who watched as the first atoms formed molecules, and molecules formed cells that comprise a whiskered walrus and a whiskered man. You who witnessed the birth and death of dinosaurs. You who completely understands the intricate workings of the universe, from a magnetar to a dung beetle. You cannot be easily amazed, which compels me to sit up and take notice when I read of two instances when You were. What amazes You? Tenacious faith and startling unbelief. You as God expected it; You as man were stopped in Your tracks. A Roman ruler, raised in the shadow of pagan temples, called You Lord and believed You could do what had yet to be seen: heal from afar. Your disciples were both dumbfounded and attentive. Had they seen you that amazed? You made sure they did. In your hometown, unbelief oozed down the walls of the houses and meandered down the streets like lava. Your work was impacted by their overwhelming lack of faith in You and Your message. As God, You expected it. As man, You sadly shook the dust from Your feet. I wonder: How often are You pleasantly amazed by Your followers?

Prayer for me

Lord, I pray I will grow to possess an amazing faith, a faith put to action when I ask You to work in my life, and I am positive You will act. No hemming and hawing but a bold surety like the Roman centurion.

Forgive me

Pardon my sin, Lord, when I don’t respond appropriately to You as the Son of God. The people of Nazareth watched You grow up, and they couldn’t see You as anything but Joseph and Mary’s boy. Forgive me when You are more amazed at my lack of faith than the strength of it.

More praise

I hope You are constantly amazed, Lord. Amazed by Your followers the world over. You paid too dear a price to not be surrounded by a cloud of our confident faith in You. I don’t like to think of You as disappointed, sorrowful, or disheartened. Just amazed.