2 Peter 3:8-13

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

2 Peter 3:8-13

Dear God, I’ve always tried to not spend too much time thinking about the second coming, the afterlife, the rapture, the tribulation, and then the new kingdom. It seems like a distraction to me. It feels like something that takes my mind off of the present and being engaged in what you’ve called me to do today.

My wife and I just finished watching The Good Place. We normally wouldn’t have watched it, but a friend I trust recommended it. We saw the final episode last night and I was left a little…I don’t know how to describe it. It was just wrong. First and foremost, it was missing you. That was a problem. Second, it treated time like it will be experienced like we experience it now, and I don’t think that’s how it will be. You are timeless and I think that somehow we will become timeless as well. In fact, making us experience time forever seems like a form of hell. Third, and I guess finally for my purposes here tonight, it was all about earning your access to “the good place.” There was no sacrificial love. No mercy.

So how do I see my eternity after death? I see it as 1.) focused on you as God. Worshiping you. Praising you. Knowing you. 2.) I don’t think I will experience passage of time. I think time will be meaningless and there will just be existence in your realm. 3.) I know I will never get there on my own, but you’ve shown me too many times in this life how much you love me regardless of how good I am. I know your mercy is all that will get me there.

Father, help me to just plug away moment to moment. I know that I need to be ready, as Peter says here, but I’ll never be ready in the moment if I’m actually looking for the moment. I’ll only be ready if I am simply serving and following you in the present moment. Help me to stay focused on the present.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Luke 1 – Prophecy

Dear God, this is the time of the Christmas season when we start to look at the prophecies that lead up to Jesus’s birth and life and marvel at how you enabled people to foresee what would happen. Isaiah. David. Zechariah (John the Baptist’s father). So many others. Sure, sometimes I read these passages that are supposed to be prophecies and I wonder if we aren’t stretching just a little, but that’s not the point of what I’m talking about here. What is the point? It’s that even those who lived to see them fulfilled didn’t realize what was happening until after it was all over.

Take Zechariah, for example, in Luke 1. He gets his angel visit and then is muted until eight days after John the Baptist is born. For those 10-ish months, he had a lot of time to think. He presumably communicated via writing to Elizabeth because she knew to name their son John (Luke 1:61), but he sat silent. During that 10 months, he saw Mary come and visit them. She had her own extraordinary story about an angel visit and being pregnant. Elizabeth’s baby in the womb leapt when he heard the sound of Mary’s voice. Some really great stuff was happening. So what did he do? He misinterpreted it. Here are some examples of what he got wrong in his own prophecy (at least as he understood it in the moment): (Verse 71) “Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.” (Verses 74 and 75) “We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live.” Sure, out of 12 verses he only missed on three, but, still, I know he would have been shocked if someone had told him exactly what was going to happen over the next 34 years. I’m sure he didn’t live to see it since he was “very old” (verse 7) when he got his angel visit, but it would have devastated him that day to know how his son’s life would end.

I think that’s why it is important to not try to figure out the bigger meaning of what is happening or what might happen right now. I have a friend who is an Aggie football fan. Okay, I have two friends who are Aggie football fans, and each of them sent me a long text this week detailing what has to happen for Texas A&M to make the college football playoff. I replied back that they just need to win and not worry about the rest because it will work itself out. They are ranked 5th. There are four teams in front of them and two of them play each other one more time. But Texas A&M still has three games left. There is no chance they get into the playoff without winning those games, so just win. Take each moment at a time–each play at a time–and win your games. The odds are that the rest will take care of itself.

The same is true for me. There are too many moving parts in life for me to figure out. I have my hopes for my children, but I have no idea which actions I take today will lead them down your path for them. The same is true for my work, my marriage, my community, my church, and my world. I don’t can’t sit and make the list of all of the steps that need to happen to achieve what I want to achieve. I just need to play the next play as best as I can. Today, that means starting this Saturday with this prayer time before I get about helping my wife decorate for Christmas, watch some college football, and meet with a friend about appraising some furniture.

Father, help me to just take life “one play at a time.” And sometimes the right play might be to lose a battle. I might need to take an intentional safety in order to get where I want to go. I might have to let the other team score to get the ball back one more time. So I put the outcomes of each activity in your hand, trusting that you will not let anything happen that is outside of your will. I will just show up for the next play. Holy Spirit, please be with me, guide me, and empower me to do what I need to do.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Colossians 3:16-17

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:16-17

Dear God, what kind of representative of you am I? I think that maybe I’m not giving others a hypocritical life to observe, and that’s good. But going back to my prayer the other journal about the cycling program I use and how much better I am about being an ambassador for that than I am for you and my faith in you. But it all starts with the example I am living because I can say all of the things I want to say, but if my actions don’t back it up then I am, to quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, a clanging gong.

I’m listening to a Christian music mix on Pandora while I type this, and I just saw an artist come up who lost his son due to tragic circumstances in the last two years. I don’t know the details, and I don’t need to know the details, but I get the feeling that it was a devastating cause of death. And now as I sit here the day after Thanksgiving, thinking about how my own Thanksgiving Day didn’t fit the American mold of what Thanksgiving should look like I find myself taking my eyes off of my own self-pity and thinking about how hard Thanksgiving must have been for him and his family. What went wrong? What went wrong? It’s a question that haunts a lot of us.

Father, I simply have a life to live today. I get to see my parents and love them. I get to spend the day with my wife. A front is supposed to be coming and it will be colder so I’ll respond to that accordingly. My point is, I just have this day in front of my, and it’s my job to worship you, thank you for all you’ve done, and simply ask that the Holy Spirit will grow in me to the point that others will see you and not me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Luke 21:12-19

“But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you! Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you. They will even kill some of you. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But not a hair of your head will perish! By standing firm, you will win your souls.

Luke 21:12-19

Dear God, several months ago, Andy Stanley preached a sermon I loved called, “Not in it to Win It.”

It helped put words to what I was feeling and what. You were showing me through these times of prayer. You are not dedicated to the success of the United States. You are not dedicated to my success. You are dedicated to the world. You will gladly lose a battle to win the war. You will choose the loss of being crucified for the victory of saving my soul. You will allow hundreds of years of Hebrews being enslaved in order to form the Israelite nation. Why would I assume that you wouldn’t sacrifice me for a greater purpose? I just pray that I am ready to accept my fate should that day come

As I sit here on Thanksgiving morning, there is so much for which I’m grateful. I can think of friends and family who died this year and wonder what life would be like today if they were here. I have a friend who lost her dad last night. And her husband and one of her sons cannot be with her because they are with her husband’s ailing father in another state. While you don’t promise us every victory in battle, you do promise us that the war is yours and you will be there to comfort us in the losses. I know a man who died from COVID-19 last week. I know our hospital had someone die from it on Tuesday. These families are experiencing loss. They lost their battles. Please comfort them as they continue on fighting for you. Help them to be stronger and closer to you as a result of these struggles. Don’t let this pain be wasted. Make it count.

Father, I really am grateful. There are some things in my life that confuse me, and I’m not sure if they are the way you want them or not. There are broken and dysfunctional relationships. I don’t like it, but maybe you are using this for your purposes. It feels like the battles are being lost–and maybe they are–but I trust you that if I keep simply pursuing you day by day you will eventually work all things out for my good (whether I live to see it or not). So thank you for every single circumstance in my life–the many good and the few bad.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Colossians 2:6-7

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7

Dear God, my head is just not in the game today. I had visions of fasting today to cover our organizations big fundraiser and ask that your spirit be with it, but I’m taking an antibiotic that must be taken with food so I can’t do that. I chose to wore glasses today instead of contacts, so that always tweaks my mood for the worse. I found out about a staffing issue that is brewing that will need to be addressed at some point. It just feels like a lot o things are swirling and I started my day out selfishly instead of stopping to pray to you. In fact, I’m typing this during my lunch hour because I feel so unbalanced. I cannot go another minute without connecting to you.

I love the imagery of this passage from Paul: “Let your roots grow down into him.” Over a year ago, I started using a new exercise program for cycling. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve told a lot of people about it. I’ve even convinced at least one person to get it too. Last night, I told my wife that I had mentioned it to someone else that day and then I said, “It’s too bad I don’t share Jesus like I share about Zwift.” I said it as a joke, but it stuck with me. Why am I not as excited to share about my faith with people as I am my cycling program? Is it that I don’t appreciate what you’ve done for me as much as I appreciate the cycling program? How much do I really take you for granted.

Father, I am humbled before you right now. I’m so sorry. I’m just sorry. I’m sorry for the sin I commit. I’m sorry for not worshipping you as you deserve. I’m sorry for not appreciating the very basic grace and freedom from my sin that you’ve given to me. I’m so sorry. Help me to grow my roots through the bedrock they seem to have hit and “grow down into [you].”

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Psalm 100

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 100

Dear God, I was thinking about Thanksgiving this morning, and I’ve always had this thought about Lincoln, but I hadn’t necessarily had it about the first Pilgrims and their Thanksgiving. Of course, Lincoln’s proclamation of the first national day of thanksgiving was done in the middle of the Civil War, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying. But the first thanksgiving by Pilgrims was in the midst of pretty difficult times as well. Many of them ha died. Everyone had lost someone. Life was hard and uncomfortable, and yet they took time to celebrate you and your love. They decided to look beyond what their selfish hearts desired and embrace the path you had for them to walk.

As I type these words now, we are in the midst of a pandemic, political and social unrest, and economic challenges. Do we have the courage to still raise our voices to you and say thank you? We have unrest in our families–I have unrest in my family. Do I have the depth of faith to look at you and express my gratitude for all that you have done and are doing regardless of how it impacts my life personally? Can I see beyond the struggles and count the significant blessings you’ve given to me? How much do I take my wife, children, and parents for granted? How much do I take you for granted?

Father, I come this morning to enter your gates with thanksgiving in my heart and your courts with praise. As I pray about the place where I work and for your provision and protection, my overarching prayer is that you will give us exactly what we need–as individuals and as an organization. Help us to feel your love and then share that love. Help us to help those who need us. Help us to somehow communicate who you are through our work. Please show us the way, but before we get going I want to tell you that I really am grateful for everything you’ve done this year. You are an awesome, awesome God, and I trust you completely.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Colossians 3:1-17

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:1-17

Dear God, as I read this passage this morning, I couldn’t figure out where to break it off and make it into a more bite-sized chunk. It starts with all of the stuff I am supposed to give up. And it’s a good list:

• Sexual immorality
• Impurity
• Lust
• Evil desires
• Greed (and the idolatry that comes with it)
• Anger
• Rage
• Malicious behavior
• Slander
• Dirty language
• Lying

I am always fascinated that Paul almost always leads off lists like this with sexual immorality. I supposed nothing is new under that sun. In this case, sexual issues get at least two out of the first three (unless you consider impurity to be sexual as well, in which case you get all three). But I find it interesting…no, interesting isn’t the right word. Not interesting. I guess it’s just a fundamental truth that these are the things to which we are drawn apart from you. The instinct is to satisfy self. I want to satisfy my desires and needs. If I have a sexual desire, it should be satisfied immediately. If I see something I want then I should have it. If someone offends me or violates my self-perceived rights then I should express anger and rage over that. If someone is getting ahead of me or achieving more than me, then I can take them down through malicious behavior and slander. If I want people of like spirit to like me, then bawdy language is something I can use to ingratiate myself to them. And then there’s lying–the simplest form of protecting myself from people knowing the truth about me.

But here’s what Paul gives us as our new standard after we’ve given up our lives and embraced you:

• Tenderhearted mercy
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Allowing for others’ faults
• Forgiveness
• Love

And what happens when we die to our own rights? The peace that comes from Christ rules in our hearts–in my heart. Paul explicitly calls these things the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5, but he finds a way to spread them throughout the letters he writes to the early church. Beyond getting to go to heaven and getting my fire insurance, a relationship with you brings about some amazing things while on earth, the most important of which, in my mind anyway, is peace.

Father, please continuously point out to me where I have allowed lust, greed/idolatry, anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language, and lying to still reside in my heart. Please forgive me for these things. I am sorry, and I truly want to be better. But I don’t want to simply be better so I can experience peace, or even heaven, but so that I might be of use to you in this world. I want others to be drawn to you through my life. Help me to
“[die] to this life” and fully live in the “real life hidden with Christ in God.”

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Luke 19:41-48

But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Luke 19:41-44

Dear God, I think I need to go through and see how many times Jesus “wept.” In fact, I just stopped typing this to go check. According to the NIV, NASB, and the NLT translators, the only two times it is recorded that he “wept” is this instance and when Lazarus died. I think that gets overlooked here. He knows what’s coming. He knows what’s in his future. He knows the state of Jerusalem’s heart. All of this drives him to “weep.”

I pray that his prophecy for Jerusalem is not a prophecy for us as well, but it may very well be. I am disturbed by our country and it’s situation. The division is growing like a cancer. I’ve been trying to ignore it lately by staying away from social media, and while I think that’s been the right thing to do for my own soul, that certainly doesn’t mean that the divisive spirit has stopped. In fact, if I take my unifying voice out of the conversation–a voice that tries to speak of trust in you, peace, and love–am I becoming part of the problem.

Father, I don’t really care about this stuff as much as I should because I haven’t even come close to tearing up about it, much less weeping. I’ve been meaning to do prayer walks around our local hospitals and schools this week due to the COVID-19 outbreaks, but I’ve been too tired or too selfish. But I am concerned about all of this. I’m concerned about the spirit of division in our country, which is being fueled by media of all types (social, traditional, etc.) and on all sides. I’m concerned about sicknesses and deaths. I’m concerned about my friends who are sick, some of whom are in serious shape. Please help them. Please make this pain count. In fact, please make everything I’m praying about here that is happening to count. Help it to count for your glory and for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Psalm 119:105-106

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.

Psalm 119:105-106

Dear God, modern Christians have modified the meaning of “word” to mean “scripture,” but that’s obviously not what the psalmist referred to here. Apparently, he (assuming it was a “he” back then) was referring to your law laid out under Moses. Your word is your regulations.

Then there is the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion.

Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

John 17:17-19

This idea of your word here, once again, is probably not intended to mean the disciples sitting around and reading the scrolls of scripture, but your regulations. Yes, Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice to fill the gap between what we are able to do and your pure expectations, but that surely doesn’t mean we can ignore your regulations.

Father, help me to know how to follow your expectations of me today. I am sorry for when I fail. I’m sorry for when I covet, lust, hate, etc. I’m sorry for when I spend more time in my own interests and pursuing the cares of the world than pursuing you. Thank you for your forgiveness, but I hope that maybe I can live in a way today that will need a little less forgiveness than I needed yesterday. May it all be for your glory and not mine.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Colossians 1:9

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 1:9

Dear God, our couples group from church met last night and the topic in the book we are reading was praying for our spouse. As my wife and I prepared for the meeting by reading the chapter together, you convicted me that I don’t pray for her as much as I should/could. She has always been better at intercessory prayer that I am, so I am sure she does a better job praying for and over me than I do her. This passage is a reinforcement of that idea. I must not stop praying for her.

Following that point, as we talked yesterday she shared that she feels out of her element dealing with her father’s estate. She wants to do a good job and give as much to his heirs as possible, but she is not sure what to do about certain things. So I’m going to pray for her what Paul prayed for the Colossians.

Father, I pray for my wife that you will give her complete knowledge of your will. Help her to know what to do as a representative of her father’s estate. Help her to know how to interact with her relatives. I know she is longing to be with some extended family she has not seen in a long time, but the pandemic makes it hard to know if that is the right thing to do because it would involve air travel during a time when infections are blowing up. So please be with her. Give her complete knowledge of your will. Holy Spirit, give her your wisdom and understanding. Speak to her in a still, small voice as well as through obvious directions. And please comfort her. Use me, but use others as well. First and foremost, Holy Spirit, please comfort her. Help her to feel your presence. Help her to rest in you. Give her you love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self control. Fill her with you so that every decision, regardless of how hard or stressful, might be made through peace, wisdom, discernment and understanding. And use her to impact the world around her. Fill her with your joy.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen