Take Refuge

  "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man."

 Psalm 118:8

Lord, You are a powerful provider and defender.  I’d rather come to You for safety than trust anybody else to cover my tail.  You protect, shelter, and provide for all Your people. 

You've given me people in my life to help, but since they're people (not God) they're not always reliable.   Sometimes my husband isn't with me when I need him.  Sometimes my friend doesn't know that I'm hurt. Sometimes my insurance company can't cover the damage.  Sometimes a teacher misguides me.  Sometimes I deceive myself.  When I depend on people to provide real refuge, I'm bound to be disappointed.

But you! You're totally reliable. You're omni-everything!   You're omnipresent so you're everywhere all the time; wherever I am, you're with me.  You're omniscient so you know it all; nothing escapes you.  You're omnipotent so you've got the power to shelter me.   AND you're good so I can be sure that you will provide refuge when I seek it.  

You know even better than I do the things that threaten me.  I trust You to help more than I trust friends, relatives, insurance men, teachers, or even myself!  Hold me in the palm of your hand, Lord!

Ask God to Fill

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

Colossians 1:9

Heavenly Father, You are the source of all wisdom.  Complete what’s missing in my heart and mind.  Fill me with spiritual insight and understanding.  I do a decent job of grasping the physical, and even the intellectual world.  However my limited vision fails utterly to penetrate spiritual depths.   So I depend on You to give me your perfect outlook and knowledge of how to act upon that view.  

Sometimes, falling back on you seems like a last-ditch plan that I only choose when all else fails and I'm desperate.  But, for goodness' sake!  Whom else would I rather depend on in any area of life than you?  There is no place more safe and secure. I'm asking for you to fill me up with spiritual wisdom and understanding because they are the prerequisites to knowing your will and I'm content to rely on you.  

Overcome

"He who overcomes..."

Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21

Lord Jesus, seven times you repeat this phrase along with a promise.    In your Word, repetition usually means, 'Hey!  Pay attention!".  OK, Lord, I get it.  I'm all ears.  The dictionary says 'overcome' means to succeed in dealing with a problem.   As Beth Moore says,' if we go through nothing, we have nothing to overcome.'  By definition, if I'm going to be an overcomer, I've got to have a problem to deal with.  So I'll quit wishing  and praying for  ease and safety so much.  As Dory, in Disney's Nemo points out, 'If nothing ever happens to him, then nothing will ever happen to him.' No growth, no victory, no change.  Yikes!   


Crummy things happen, sometimes.  Lord, help me to boldly face difficulties rather than shy away from them.   Help me allow my kids this same opportunity.  You are with us.  You make good come from trouble.  You promise it.  I've seen it.  


Gracious Father, the other piece of this is that you love your people.  You don't want me or anyone else to be mastered by anything - not addictions, not pride, not greed, not fear, not anger, not bitterness.  Your will is clearly that we are - in this life here and now - conquerors.  Even Yoda teaches, 'Do or do not.  There is no try.'    God's children are overcomers.  


Thank you that your victory over death, your power, your presence and your strength equip us to overcome.

Revelation 2:7

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in theParadise of God.’

Revelation 2:11

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Revelation 2:17

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

Revelation 2:26

He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;

Revelation 3:5

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

Revelation 3:21
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.


By the way, Lord, even though I can't figure out what every one of these Revelation promises means, I do know they sound pretty cool!

Pray

 "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

Luke 5:16

Lord Jesus,  even You, the Son of God, needed regular times of conversation alone with Your Heavenly Father.  So I'm not surprised that the same is true for me.  I’m  glad that God put prayer in place as such a simple and delightful avenue to approach Him.  Jesus, I long for communication with my Heavenly Father.  I crave His still small Voice.  I'm honored that my Father yearns for those who seek Him.   I’m committed to daily time alone with God.  Give me the self-control and wisdom to protect our time from distractions. Use these minutes, Lord, to remind me of who you are and bring my heart back to plumb.

Forgive

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Matthew 18:35

Lord Jesus, people do damage to me.  Usually it's the people I love.  Each time I'm wronged, I have a choice:  forgive, retaliate, or get revenge. My job, according to your Word, is to forgive the debt; absorb it.  It is a kind of suffering, to refuse to make them pay for what they did.* Lord,  extending your grace feels back-breaking at times... until I remember your sacrifice for me.


Don't ever let me forget that your patience toward sinful me is without parallel.  I have done damage.  You, Lord Jesus, have absorbed the debt.  Your forgiveness toward me humbles and empowers me to offer that same forgiveness, mercy, and love toward others. Let me be quick to let go of my 'right' to anger and hatred and instead forgive my family, friends, and neighbors from my heart.




*I lifted this phrasing from page 196 in Timothy Keller's 'The Reason for God'.  It gave me a new understanding of forgiveness.  Great book!

Hold Fast to Him

It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and

hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 13:4 

Father, I love the commands in this scripture:  follow, revere, keep, obey, hold fast. When I do them, I cannot help but be focused on You.  However, I confess that, often, You are not my priority.   I am.  My agenda, my comfort, my success, my fears, my stress.   I forget to follow, revere, keep, obey, and hold fast to You. Instead I  find myself frantically running in circles, trying to keep too many plates spinning at once.  


Then your Holy Spirit reminds me that you’ve given me twenty-four hours in the day, just like everyone else.  When I follow you, I  accomplish the tasks and maintain the relationships You put in my path during that time.  I grow harried only when I stop holding fast to you and begin drifting away.  Lord Jesus,  I don’t want to follow anyone but You.  Anyone and anything else is a step down.  Help me cling tightly to You as I walk through each day that You graciously supply.

Break Away From Your Sins

  “Break away from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor...”

Daniel  4:27

Lord, this seems like a no-brainer!  Of course I want to break away from my sins.  Jesus' death on the cross gives me forgiveness and frees me from  the chains of sin.  Yet, my actions often show that, despite His complete victory on the cross,  I still often choose to continue in crummy behavioral ruts.   So, in this scripture, you've revealed two 'secret weapons' to use against sin in my life: 1) Do righteousness; 2) show mercy to the  poor.

First: do righteousness.  I had to look up what Daniel was getting at, Lord.  Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says that righteousness –in Nebuchadnezzar’s case – was this:  rendering to all their due, making amends for wrong done, and not triumphing over right with might. He had been cruel to the poor, to God’s poor.  Daniel was recommending the replacement principle – I need to not only pause a moment, identify the crummy things I do, and cease to do them, but also replace the bad behaviors with new good ones.

Second: show mercy to the poor.  Whew!  Now, this will take some work, Lord.  But I know there are lots of poor folks right here in my town.  Give me the desire and the persistence to connect with the poor by meeting their needs:  I could teach English as a second language, tutor kids, help in a food pantry, help build a house, work in a pregnancy distress center.  There a lots of choices.  Help me regularly show mercy to the poor.  I know that working with the needy somehow changes my heart.

These words in Daniel are both a chewing out and a promise, Lord Jesus.  You set me free, now give me the sense and the  power of the Holy Spirit to heed Daniel's words  and break away from my sins in order to stay free.     

Approach God

"In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." 

Ephesians 3:12

Seems simple, doesn’t it?  Approach God.  But Lord, instead of approaching you, I think I often circumnavigate you.  It’s seems so much easier to be less direct.  You see, approaching you means I get nearer to you.  The nearer I get, the more your light illuminates my dark places.  So sailing around you seems more attractive sometimes.  I can talk about you; read books about you; go to church potlucks; ponder the blessings of spending time in prayer; blog about your Word.  And then I need never actually encounter you.  Seems safer, somehow, because then I don’t have to notice my sins and (God forbid) change.

Yet, you promise that in Christ, I can come with humble boldness before you, expecting good words rather than accusations. I am free to open my mind and heart to you, knowing you will accept me just as I am.  Obviously, Lord, I don't draw near to You because of my own merit.  I’m here before You today because of Christ’s humble and redeeming work on the cross and because of the gift of faith You’ve given me.  I am so grateful for the access to you that Jesus affords me.  You, the God of the entire universe!  Thank you.  I’ll approach you.  I am approaching you with freedom and confidence.










 

Speak What is Helpful

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Eph 4:29

Lord, what a gift encouraging words are!   With your help, today I want to be sensitive to the people I have contact with. Lord, help me to choose my words carefully so they are filled with grace.  Even a stern scolding, given at the right moment,  builds people up. Remind me to guard my lips so that nothing passes them that is careless, demeaning, of-color, or violent.   Give me the self-control to speak only what is helpful and to keep my mouth shut  if there's nothing beneficial to say.  It's so simple, really!