1 Chronicles 4:9-10

⁹ There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. ¹⁰ He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Dear God, I think it can be said of me that I have an earnest heart, but not a bold one. I do wonder sometimes if I wasn’t designed by you to be more of a #2 and not a #1 on the org chart. For example, I would never pray this prayer. I’ve never prayed it before, and I have no intention of praying it now. I don’t know how I would separate it out from making an idol out of me and the things I want. To expect you to bless me, expand my territory (power, influence, possessions, etc.). To think that I would be presumptuous enough to ask you to keep me from all trouble and pain. Who am I to ask such a thing?!? You have granted me so much more than I deserve. How could I possibly ask for more.

So that’s the noble side of my personality. But there is a cautious, maybe even lazy side as well. I don’t push. I don’t boldly pursue new opportunities–neither for myself nor for the organization for which I work. I look for natural opportunities. I let things develop organically. But I don’t rush to plant new fields. I don’t sod a new area and then let it take root. I’m more the type that lets the existing grass grow into the blank space naturally. Yes, taking care of the existing grass takes work and effort, but it’s just a completely different philosophy than I carry naturally.

Father, as I go through this day and the days to come, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. And in the spirit of this passage, give me the courage to change the things I can. And above all, give me the wisdom to know the difference. And when it is time to grow, please bring your blessing to it and raise up people who will work with me to fill the holes I have in my own being. You didn’t make me to be 100% capable. If you did then I wouldn’t need your or anyone else. But I am flawed. I have shortcomings. I need you. I need others. Thank you for being with me so faithfully. And I do have specific requests. You know what they are.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

1 Chronicles 29:11

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord , and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.
1 Chronicles 29:11

Dear God, sometimes I just need to stop and worship you. I forget to worship sometimes, and I’m sorry for that. I get into my thoughts, my pursuit of you, my problems, or just my desire to become the man you have for me to be that I lose track of how amazing you are and how humbling it is to really be in your presence.

I was listening to a podcast this week about aliens and what it would mean for humanity if they were real. For some, you aren’t big enough to account for aliens. They were actually debating whether Jesus’s death here on earth would be enough to cover an alien’s sin and reconcile them to you (I think that’s when I turned it off). They were discussing us being made in your image and how Adam was the highest form of your creation so if there is a species greater than us what does that mean about you?

Frankly, I see all of those topics as rubbish. As far as I’m concerned, you created it all. You are big enough to understand the car reaches of the universe. You know exactly how it is all out together. You know the worlds you created and the other life you created. You know what it takes to reconcile whatever needs to be reconciled to you. So stepping back from that amazing, macro level and drilling down to my little life, you are aware of everything about me as well. The expanses into my psyche. The desires and even sins of my flesh. You know about my situations and my prayer requests. You care about me. You love me. You work all things together for my good.

Father, I stand, sit, prostrate myself in awe of you. You are God. I am not. Lead me today. I have a friend who is dying. I’m going to go and visit him in a bit. Please guide his family and give me your words for him. Give his wife wisdom and strength. For my friends recovering from injuries and in the hospital. Please be the God of their healing. Make this pain count in their lives. Do it all for your glory, oh, Lord.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

1 Chronicles 16:8

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.
1 Chronicles 16:8

Dear God, this was the beginning of David’s song as they moved the Ark to Jerusalem. What a time that must have been.

As I sat down to write this prayer to you this morning, I received a Happy Thanksgiving text from and old friend. About four or five years ago he went through a similar struggle to what I went through about six or seven years ago. I replied to his text that we both have a lot to be grateful for because you have really heard our prayers. You might not have answered them the way we hoped you would, but you helped us to endure and then you have let your plan unfold.

I’ll admit that I don’t always like your plan, but I have learned enough over the last few years to understand that I need to be grateful for what you are doing that I cannot see. I need to trust you and be faithful. Anyone reading these prayers knows I am a huge football fan, and a Baylor alum. Our coach talks a lot about the process. When he was new and they hadn’t played a game yet, he talked about the process. When the team went 1-11 in his first year, people mocked his process. Now that they are 10-1 this season, people are paying attention. But what is the process? Here is a link to an interview he gave this week about the upcoming game against Kansas. It’s the first time I’ve heard him specifically reference what the process is. The process part starts at the 3:00 mark:

So, according to Coach Rhule, the process is simply getting better every week. You take your eyes off of what you consider to be winning and you just grind to get better. Applied to life, I think that means ignoring what I perceive success to be. Whether it is how my life, my wife’s life, my children’s lives, or even politics and the world, I need to take my eyes off of my own wisdom and turn them to the daily grind of growing closer to you and then letting the chips fall where they may. One problem when I try to pursue my own outcomes is that sometimes my desired outcome is wrong and I am putting energy into something that feeds my own self instead of just worshipping you and living in the present.

Father, thank you. Thank you for what you’ve done for me and my family over the last several years. I’m still concerned for all of our futures, but I no longer fear it. I no longer expect you to do what I want you to do. And I’m no longer disappointed in you. I was for a while, but I’m not anymore. I guess I needed to see a figurative 10-1 season from you to trust the process of grinding to love and know you more and more. Thank you for growing my faith. I know there is still a long way for me to go.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Solomon — 1 Chronicles 22:2-19

So David gave orders to call together the foreigners living in Israel, and he assigned them the task of preparing finished stone for building the Temple of God. David provided large amounts of iron for the nails that would be needed for the doors in the gates and for the clamps, and he gave more bronze than could be weighed. He also provided innumerable cedar logs, for the men of Tyre and Sidon had brought vast amounts of cedar to David. David said, “My son Solomon is still young and inexperienced. And since the Temple to be built for the Lord must be a magnificent structure, famous and glorious throughout the world, I will begin making preparations for it now.” So David collected vast amounts of building materials before his death. Then David sent for his son Solomon and instructed him to build a Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel. “My son, I wanted to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God,” David told him. “But the Lord said to me, ‘You have killed many men in the battles you have fought. And since you have shed so much blood in my sight, you will not be the one to build a Temple to honor my name. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace. I will give him peace with his enemies in all the surrounding lands. His name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign. He is the one who will build a Temple to honor my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will secure the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ “Now, my son, may the Lord be with you and give you success as you follow his directions in building the Temple of the Lord your God. And may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, that you may obey the Law of the Lord your God as you rule over Israel. For you will be successful if you carefully obey the decrees and regulations that the Lord gave to Israel through Moses. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or lose heart! “I have worked hard to provide materials for building the Temple of the Lord —nearly 4,000 tons of gold, 40,000 tons of silver, and so much iron and bronze that it cannot be weighed. I have also gathered timber and stone for the walls, though you may need to add more. You have a large number of skilled stonemasons and carpenters and craftsmen of every kind. You have expert goldsmiths and silversmiths and workers of bronze and iron. Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you!” Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to assist Solomon in this project. “The Lord your God is with you,” he declared. “He has given you peace with the surrounding nations. He has handed them over to me, and they are now subject to the Lord and his people. Now seek the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that you can bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant and the holy vessels of God into the Temple built to honor the Lord ’s name.”
1 Chronicles 22:2-19

Dear God, I know I talked about this before when I covered the beginning of Solomon’s reign in 1 Kings, but it bears repeating that a lot of people worked very hard to hand a fully developed kingdom over to Solomon. He got a pretty turn-key situation.

I pretty much inherited the same kind of thing at my job, although on a much, much smaller scale. Heck, you could probably say the same thing for my life in general. I was born in this country which was built by the sacrifice (sometimes the ultimate sacrifice) of a lot of people. I was born into a family that gave me a chance at education and advancement in life. Yes, I walked into life, adulthood, and even this job with a lot of advantages. So what am I doing with them? Am I willing to do the hard work to live up to this responsibility. Am I ready to continue to worship you when my heart is “prone to wander” (as the line from “Come Thou Fount” says)?

Father, all I have is today…this moment. I can’t get too far out into the future or I will lose my focus on you. I can’t be tied down in the past or I won’t experience your victory. So help me to take advantage of this moment. Help me to start with worshipping you and spending time with you. Then help me to take the love you give me and give it to others around me. And finally, help me to respond to your calls to action and use the life you’ve given me so that you might enter the world as much as possible.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen