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Yes
Your words…
As God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes and No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us did not become “Yes and No”; on the contrary, a final “Yes” has come in Him. For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in Him. Therefore, the “Amen” is also spoken through Him by us for God’s glory. 2 Corinthians 1:18-20
My words…
Praise
From long ago, You proclaimed through Your prophets that a Savior of the world would descend and offer a way to true freedom. Your Son said, “Yes.” Would He live in poverty, preach using parables, work miracles, as was foretold? Yes, yes, and yes. Would He die in silence and suffering? Yes. Jesus, the perfect Son who never said no to His Father. Your Son walked the dusty roads of Palestine, proclaiming a message forged before that dust was created. He embodied the message, so when He taught us to turn the other cheek, love our neighbor, and humble ourselves, He had already done it. He said yes, not a wishy-washy yes but one rooted in bedrock. He could not be moved. It was the only way the plan would work, for who would ever pick up a cross and follow a god who had tossed his aside?
Prayer for me
And what should be my response to all that Jesus taught? My response should be, “Amen!” And what is an amen? It’s an action. It’s a promise. It’s a confession. It’s repentance. And most importantly, it’s not wishy-washy. Lord, I need help here.
Forgive me
Forgive me when my response to Your life, Your sacrifice, Your love pales to the point of nothingness in comparison. I know I could never offer an amen worthy of Your yes. Forgive me when I don’t even try.
Thank You
Thank You, Jesus, for saying yes to the Father and rescuing every soul on earth. One little word filled with indescribable power.
More praise
God, each of Your promises is a yes in Christ. Your promises are the path on which I walk, and Jesus is the gate. And to that, I humbly and adoringly reply, “Amen.”
U-Turn
Your words…
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king and reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight. During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success. But when he became strong, he grew arrogant and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar. Azariah the priest said, “Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive honor from the Lord.” But when Uzziah became enraged with the priest, a skin disease broke out on his forehead, and he was diseased until the time of his death. He was buried with his fathers in the burial ground of the king’s cemetery, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” Selections from 2 Chronicles 26
My words…
Praise
If words had pores, these would be oozing with pride. You must have been so pleased with Uzziah at the beginning of his reign and so disappointed by the end – a scenario You’ve seen played out too many times, another U-turn. The bend began when he became strong. Then came the arrogance fed by pride. Pride is a powerful feeder. But the bend was complete when Uzziah settled in his mind that he could go anywhere and do anything that pleased him. He marched into the Holy Place and lit incense, something only a specially appointed man could do. Uzziah was not that specially appointed man, and when he was reminded, he didn’t like it – not one bit. And that’s when You acted. I find it interesting that You did not afflict Uzziah when he unlawfully lit the incense but when he got mad when Azariah reprimanded him for doing it. Pride reared its ugly head. The U-turn was complete. A heartbreaking moment in heaven. The U-turns continue, and so does the heartache.
Prayer for others
Lord, I believe You battle. Your archangels battle. You battle at the top of the bend to keep Your children from turning away and tumbling headlong to their destruction. I pray You will open the spiritual eyes of those who are teetering, who are about to make a decision to give in to their pride and turn their backs on You. Allow them to see the battle, and to see the love of the One who battles for them.
More praise
I don’t like to think of You grieving for Your lost children. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to be delighted by Your children. The U-turn path is heavily traveled by those who once delighted You. They loved You, and You blessed them. But pride slithered onto the scene. I lost a child before I had the chance to know him. My grief was great. If I lost a child I have loved for years, how much greater would be my grief? Is it the same for You?
Together
Your words…
In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. John 14:2-3
My words…
Praise
One of the magnificent character traits of being the perfect Son of God, is that You always have the perfect response to any situation. Your comebacks to Satan’s temptations forced him to slink back to wherever it is he hangs out. When the teachers of the Jewish law verbally attacked You, a few well-chosen, perfect rebukes silenced them. You knew the multitudes would struggle to understand Your radical, new Way, so You offered a few well-spoken parables. Your eleven faithful followers clung to You during the evening before Your death. Their hearts were beyond troubled. And yet again, You spoke the perfect message of comfort – a message that would sing in their ears until the day they died: “I am going away, but I’m coming back. And then, we will be together.” The power of that message emboldened them to speak about You to others, even in the face of danger and death. Why? Because those words form THE most comforting message that has or will be spoken by anyone. Period. You are the source of the power behind the message. I could utter that message and it means very little. But when You speak that promise, it grows wings and soars, and sweeps, and swirls like an angel draping a canopy of sparkling light over a dark world.
The delightful truth that my omnipresent God actually has an abode is only part of the power of this message of comfort. Not only do You abide somewhere, this dwelling place is…well, it’s big. You live there, so You know. If that wasn’t pleasing enough, You include the amazing fact that You are the One preparing a place in this abode for Your eleven…and for me! And if there’s one fact about You that I know absolutely, it’s that You know how to create stunning beauty. Then comes the best part: We will be together in this stunningly beautiful place. My limited imagination cannot picture it (even though I give it a try quite often). It’s enough that I know it is a surety. When I am troubled (and even when I’m not), I lift my spiritual eyes and bask in the glow of the canopy of sparkling light.
Troubled
Your words…
Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. John 14:1
My words…
Praise
Jesus, when You spoke these words, You were surrounded by deeply troubled people. Your apostles were, in modern terms, freaked out. After living with, learning from, and loving You for three years, the eleven were being forced to face a truth they dreaded: You were leaving them. Alone. They had grown accustomed to Your presence. I picture them crowding around You when You spoke along the way, so they wouldn’t miss out on one word. They watched with giddy anticipation when You stretched out Your hand to heal. They stood wide-eyed when You confronted the holier-than-thou teachers of the law and came away the holiest. Their greatest wish was to spend the rest of their lives hanging out with You. But it wasn’t to be, thus the heart-wilting trouble. Your answer? Just trust Me. Trust My Father. I don’t think that’s what they wanted to hear. They wanted You to abandon Your plan and stick around, so they could trust the Jesus they could touch. You called them to something higher. You’re always doing that!
Prayer for me
Help me to trust You with my troubles. You have already seen past the problem, and You know the outcome. There’s great comfort for me in that…sometimes. Other times, I allow my trouble to grow like a tendril around my heart and squeeze the trust right out of it. I need to trust You more deeply. Only You can help me with that. Help me.
Forgive me
Forgive me when I allow my troubles to not only affect my heart and spirit, but also my temperament, my mood, my speech, my actions: the evidence of my lack of trust.
Prayer for others
Lord, my troubles are like soft rain showers compared to the destructive hurricanes others must weather. Money worries. Bad news from the doctor. A beloved child in torment. And much worse. They are worn down with troubles, weakened in spirit. I cannot take their troubles from them; I’m not the answer. You are. I pray they will turn to You and trust You with their load, so their spirits can soar again.
Thank You
Thank You for not leaving me alone with my troubles. What a wretched life that would be.
More praise
I love the word must in this passage. My heart must not be troubled. Must not be. It reminds me of a caring mother’s instruction to her child: “You mustn’t do that. It’s not good for you.” My heart must be holding on to other things instead, like contentment, joy, and, yes, trust in You, for it’s these that loosen the tendrils that bind my heart.
Joy!
Your words…
Yahweh your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17
My words…
Praise to the God who shouts for joy!
To my shame, I have never thought of You as a joyful God. Your Spirit-inspired writers use a wide range of descriptors to capture Your character, from loving to wrathful, but not a whole lot about You as being filled with joy. I have read that “Jesus wept,” but I never read, “Jesus laughed.” Artists depict You as somber, serious, or in pain. I know that You must regard parts of Your creation and mourn. But viewing You only as a melancholy God hinders my appreciation of who You really are. Your creation makes you happy. You see the outlandish antics of the bird of paradise attempting to attract a mate and crack up! Me, too! (You see it live. I watch a documentary.) You giggle with the two-year-old who’s being licked in the face by her puppy. (You created puppies for that very thing.) The young man You protected from despair? He is thanking You, and You whoop it up. When I overcome a temptation, You shout for joy! (Perhaps a fist pump?) The heavens echo with Your cheers, and the angels join in the laughter. Gloom doesn’t gather around You. Sadness does not hover. You see the wonder of Your creation and the fullness of everything that inhabits it. How could You be anything else but saturated with joy?
I pray I will never again view You as a God whose brow remains furrowed and whose mouth is always turned down. You are the God who throws back His head and bursts into laughter. And because You indwell me, Your joy is contagious. You are the source of my joy. I hope, with my whole heart, that I have been a small source of Yours.
Weapon
Your words…
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:12-14
The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:12
My words…
Praise
Sin. I don’t like to think of myself as committing a sin. I coat it with sugar and call it a weakness. There, now I feel better. Me? I would never participate in a deed of darkness! Okay – back to reality. I am a sinner. I sin. I do things, say things, and think things that I would never do, say, or think if Jesus were sitting next to me, drinking tea. You call a sin a sin. You do not sugar coat it because there is nothing sweet about it. I may live in a society that winces at the sound of the word, but You see the danger in that and warn me. Lying? I did it to make someone else feel better. (Satan smiles.) Gossiping? It’s harmless. (Satan grins.) Selfishly not sharing Your love with others? Someone’s already “knocked on that door.” (Satan jumps for joy.) Deeds of darkness, indeed. But here’s the praiseworthy part: I am alive from the dead because of You. Sin does not reign in my life because of You. I live under GRACE!
Prayer for me
I am called to be a weapon. I need lessons. Teach me to set aside my comfortable, introverted personality, strap on the armor of light, and use all of the parts of myself as an effective weapon for righteousness. I pray You will gird my spirit to stand for what is right in Your sight.
Forgive me
Forgive me my vapid outlook on sin. Shall I go on sinning so grace may abound? Certainly not! When I sin, You grieve. I am sorry for causing you so much grief.
Prayer for others
I pray for those who do not believe in sin. (Everything is permissible as long as you don’t get caught.) To them, sin is a silly word – old fashioned and uttered only by fanatics. They offer themselves as weapons of unrighteousness and revel. They need Your light to pierce their darkness. Send a light! Even if it’s me!
Thank You
Thank You for Your unrelenting forgiveness of my sins, especially the one when I give in to the temptation to keep my armor of light in the closet.
More praise
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be. I could never repay that debt. Thankfully, You don’t ask me to.
Relationship
Your words…
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
My words…
For years, perhaps decades, I have heard and read about the importance of having a personal relationship with You. To be honest, I’m not sure I can do that. It’s that word, relationship, that snags me. In my spirit, that word dissolves. It doesn’t hold up. And here’s why: I have had many relationships over the years ranging from acquaintance to heart-bound love, each between two imperfect people who could “relate” to each other as equals. Whether I acknowledged the relationship with a friendly nod or impassioned embrace, we stood on the same plain. Not so with You. You don’t think or act like I do. You are higher than I in every possible way. Because of Your earthly sojourn and suffering, You can relate to me. But I can’t relate to You. And therein lies my joy. My spirit sings with ecstasy that You exist beyond my comprehension. My heart swells with gratitude that You, my Maker, look upon me with eyes made of love. You and I: Are we not more than a flower depending on rain or a child sustained by milk? There isn’t an English word precious enough to describe “us together.” I pray there is a heavenly word for it spoken by angels. I long to hear it one day spoken by You.
Remain
Your words…
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithful to Him. Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 20
My words…
Praise
What do You ask of me, Lord? The same thing You asked of the Israelites of old: Walk with You. Love You. Obey You. Worship You. In other words, remain faithful. You don’t ask this out of an egotistical need to be idolized. You ask it because it is for my own good. Mine. All that You ask of me is for my benefit. Whatever wisdom I have gathered is from You as I have walked in Your ways. Whatever unconditional love I have shown was first shown to me by You. Whatever humility I have learned is from falling prostrate before Your throne in worship. When my will submits to Yours, I win! And that’s exactly how you planned it all along.
Forgive me
I have been on this faith walk with You for decades. For the most part, I have remained faithful, certainly not to my credit, but because of Your pursuit of me. But I have my days, don’t I? I look into the sky and say, “I think I’ve been duped. This is all too good to be true.” Then a hummingbird flits by and hovers over my butterfly bush, and I see Your power in the blur of its wings. In my spirit I know that it is all too good to be true. But it’s true nonetheless. Forgive my immature, faltering faith. After all of these decades, I am without excuse.
Prayer for others
I know so many former believers. At one time, their faith was alive and vibrant, but over time, it faded, like drapes hung too long in a sunny window. I have forgotten the names of some of them. They rarely cross my path anymore. We don’t hang out in the same places. But just because their faith is faded doesn’t mean it isn’t there at all. They may not have remained faithful to You, but You remain faithful to them. I may have forgotten their names, but You haven’t. I pray there will come a day when they look at a hummingbird’s wings and remember You.
Thank You
Thank You for Your faithfulness to me. Your love for me does not waver. You do not grow restless and impatient with me. You are the One True Constant.
More praise
Take my inadequate praise of You from my saturated heart and make it perfect on its journey to Your heavens, so that by the time it reaches You, it will be beautiful and worthy. As an expression of my love to You, I offer these two words: I remain.
Cheerful
Your words…
Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should do as he has decided in his heart – not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
My words…
Praise
Lord, I sometimes wonder why You created humans – why You didn’t stop after plants, fish, and animals. You knew we would cause You all sorts of grief, yet You gave us life, not because You had to, but because You wanted to. You are a cheerful giver of life, happy to call what You create good. And You didn’t stop after creation. Father, You didn’t have to give Your Son to die. Jesus, You didn’t have to leave the glory of heaven and live among Your creation. Spirit, You don’t have to indwell the hearts of believers. But You are the un-reluctant Giver. You actually want to give to me, to love me, to be with me. Me! Can any concept be more unfathomable yet true?
Prayer for me
As I tread the unseen, spiritual path with You as my Guide, I am acutely aware of my reluctance to give. I am miserly with my free time; I grasp it tightly and give very little away. It is easier for me to throw some money at a need than spend time serving. Why? Because it’s the way I want it. Me, a cheerful giver? Hardly. So I open my heart to You and ask for a measure of Your generosity and cheerful willingness to give. Kindle my desire to sow generously.
Forgive me
Forgive me when I serve others because I feel obligated. It’s like apologizing when I’m really not sorry at all. My heart’s not in it. Forgive me when my acts of giving are like drops from a leaky faucet instead of a fire hose – like Yours.
Prayer for others
Lord, I pray for all of Your servants who give willingly, cheerfully, daily. They get dirty and sweaty. They get tired and hurt. They are ridiculed and exploited. Yet they happily get up the next day and do it all over again. They are more like You than anyone. Strengthen them and send them encouragement in a way only You can.
Thank You
Thank You for Your example of selfless, sincere, joyful giving. And thank You that I am the recipient of it.
More praise
Lord, You are filled with gladness when giving. Open-handed, not closed-fisted. Your grace overflows to me, and I am in need of nothing. I offer my meager praise with much love and, yes, cheerfulness!