2 Timothy 1:1-3
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,

This morning, I read 2 Timothy all the way through, attempting to view it in the same way that Timothy did when he first was handed the letter by a courier sent from Paul. This was the last letter we have from Paul before he was executed by Nero. He used the little time he had left in the dungeon in Rome to write to his beloved Timothy. Timothy probably knew this might be the last time that he heard from Paul, so this letter would have meant a great deal to him.

The first verse strikes us as a rather formal salutation. But Paul knew that this letter would be read by many more than just Timothy, so he announces who he is – an apostle of Christ Jesus. He then becomes very personal directly to Timothy, calling him his beloved son. The word could also be translated as “child”, expressing just how much Timothy meant to him.

Rather than recounting to Timothy his situation, which was extremely difficult, he encourages his “son” by bestowing grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus. Paul then thanks God, telling Timothy that he constantly remembers him in his prayers night and day. Paul disregards his situation and is thankful to God, constantly praying for others.

What an encouragement to Timothy, for he knew what Paul was going through! Yet Paul was praying for him and not his own circumstances. Is Paul telling us that we should be thankful in all situations, praying for others? If so, then I have fallen short. How often does my attitude reflect what is going on in my life rather the gratitude that I should feel for the grace and mercy that God has provided?

Heavenly Father, thank you for your words, expressed through the apostle Paul. Thank you that You are all I need in any situation. May my thoughts always express the thankfulness for the mercy and grace that You have given through your Son. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

The Psalms are a wonderful source of prayers, especially prayers of praise. It appears that God wants us to praise Him, but why is that? We know that God is perfect and complete with no need for our adoration. Yet He desires our praise. If it isn’t for Him, then what do prayers of praise do? Does God need our flattery?

We will often praise God, and rightly so, when prayers are answered or if we are blessed by God in some way or another. But when times are tough or don’t seem to be going our way, our desire for praise can wane. But God doesn’t tell us to praise Him only when times are good. Psalm 150 seems to say that we should praise Him at all times.

C.S. Lewis came to the conclusion that praising God should come from the constant knowledge that, no matter our circumstances, He is beautiful, faithful, full of truth, mercy and grace. He is worthy of our complete adoration. As we enjoy Him and His perfections, the natural response is praise. In fact, as Lewis puts it, “praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.” Our praise then allows us to enjoy Him forever. It is when we enjoy God, that He is glorified.

The actual practice of praise prayer, though is often different. A couple of years ago, I led a prayer meeting at our church. The typical purpose of the prayer meeting was to gather, share prayer requests and pray for each other’s needs. This time I asked the group to spend the entire hour only praising God. Afterward, one person approached me and said that he enjoyed the time of prayer, but admitted that it was hard to spend the entire time on praise. It is easy for our focus to drift away from adoration of our Creator and slip into thinking about our own needs.

Heavenly Father, you are worthy of all adoration. As I praise You, bring to my mind through your Holy Spirit, all Your wonderful attributes. As the praises increase, may thoughts of my needs decrease. Amen.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

When it comes to fulfilling the ministry plan that God has for our lives, there seems to be two schools of thought surrounding how to determine that. There are many examples in the Bible that point to people that were called by God. Some were clearly not, on their own, capable of doing what God had planned for them. There are others in the Bible that had unique skills and capabilities and God used them for His glory. I’m sure you can come up with examples of both of these situations.

So how do we determine that for our lives? Do we evaluate our spiritual gifts and then use the gifts we have been given in ministry? Or should we be willing to step out and do things that we have clearly no skill or capability? Which way is the plan that God has for us?

I’ve pondered this for some time. The Bible, though, has the answer. It isn’t about skills or lack of skills. It isn’t about how God wired us in the womb or gifts He didn’t give us. The consistent theme in all the people in the Bible is the calling that God has for their lives. It isn’t about us, but about Him. The critical thing we must do is to be totally dependent on Him, and no matter what He asks us to do, we follow.

The reason this is important is to make sure that we don’t get pulled into a ministry because it is easy for us, or because someone else tells us that because we have certain gifts we need to work in a certain ministry. Or we shouldn’t be influenced by others to not work in a ministry because we haven’t been gifted in a particular area.

Many churches use spiritual gifts analysis to “assist” people in determining how they can get plugged into the ministry programs. While this is useful information, it shouldn’t be what determines where we serve. God has the plan for us. It is our responsibility to listen to God through scripture and to pray about what He wants us to do. Only then can we fulfill His plan for our lives. And we shouldn’t be swayed by anyone other than The Creator to establish where we serve. Prayer is the answer. Only then can you find your true calling.

Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me into ministry of your kingdom for your glory. Keep me totally dependent on You as I step out in faith to follow Jesus. Help me to focus on You and Your will alone. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Proverbs 16:9
The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

In Isaiah 55, God declares His holiness. We know that God is so far beyond us and that His timing is perfect. He answers prayer in a way that works all things for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.

But our perspective is so limited compared to God, that it is easy for us to become frustrated when God’s timing is different than ours. Take the example of Lazarus in the Bible. If Lazarus knew that Jesus’s plan was to receive great glory by raising him from the dead, Lazarus would have probably readily accepted his illness and death. Even his sisters, Martha and Mary would have understood. We don’t know Lazarus’s reaction to that situation, but we do know that his sister Martha blamed Jesus for not coming earlier. She basically said that Jesus was late, that if He had only come when she sent for Him, Lazarus would be alive. She didn’t trust God’s perfect timing. And many times we don’t either.

When difficult situations befall us we go to God for help. When our plans don’t work out the way we have carefully crafted them and our prayers aren’t answered in the timeframe or in the result we expect, do we react like Martha? Are we content to accept God’s timing and His plan? Do our prayers reflect a desire for His will to be done “in all things”, or just the ones that don’t inconvenience us? Are we willing to accept that God’s wisdom is the best in all situations?

I’ve been like Martha many times. I don’t like how I have reacted to His perfect plan and timing. There isn’t anything wrong with asking God for whatever we want, as long as we understand that it may not be what we need or may not be something that is even good for us. God, as our Heavenly Father will always do what is best for us.

Father, when I bring my supplications to You, I praise You for for answering my prayers so that it works all things for good in Your eyes, not mine. Thank You for always working things out for my best interest and for Your glory. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

James 5:16a
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

Why does God want us to confess our sins to one another? I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like to do that. It exposes things about me that I’d rather others not know. Or if I’m really honest about what I do when I’m confessing my sins to others, I’ll come up with something that doesn’t sound so bad, so that others won’t think ill of me. But then I’m not honest with God about my sin.

The sin in our lives can be compared to an onion. As we become aware of sin and confess it, that outer layer of sin gets peeled off, exposing the rawness of the layer below. And like an onion, it can bring tears.

Praying for healing for another person for the sin in their lives is powerful. Jesus died for those sins, so it would be God’s will for us to confess and turn away from them. I think that is the main reason we are asked to confess our sins to others. It is the prayer offered to heal us from those sins that is what God wants. When we confess our sin in true repentance to another, asking for the prayer of healing, we are in God’s will.  And when we pray for someone else’s sin, it helps us to acknowledge that we are no different than anyone else. We all have a lot of layers that need peeled and exposed.

Unfortunately, confessing our sin to one another is rare today. And so the prayers that can heal us are rare too. Many of us walk around with layers and layers of sin that haven’t been exposed to us, never shedding a tear for the sacrifice that Christ made specifically for us.

Father, take away the reluctance to ask others to pray for the sin in my life. Bring on the tears that turn to joy as the burden is lifted. Allow true healing to take place in my life and the lives of others. Amen.

Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

James 5:16a
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

1John 1:8-10
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

One of my biggest sins is that I don’t spend the time I should in confession. It’s not that I don’t know deep down that I have sin in my life. It’s that it is so easy to fall into the trap of living my life as if I am a good person. It’s easy, if I’m not careful, to ignore the sin in my life. This can be especially true if someone behaves badly towards me. I quickly start comparing how much “better” I am than the other person; then self-righteousness and pride takes over.

So, as I thought about confessing my lack of confession, several things came to mind about how I might keep the proper focus on confession.

• As I read the Bible each day, be sensitive to passages that make me uncomfortable. Have I convinced myself that certain behaviors and attitudes in my life are acceptable when they are clearly not in your Word?
• As I read the Bible, where characters are exposed of their sin, ask myself if that is a sin in my life.
• Take a topic and see what the Bible has to say about it. Then compare it to my world view and see if I need to confess that I am not in alignment with God.
• Stop grading sin as either a big sin or a small sin. To God, all sin is equal in His eyes.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for letting my pride disregard the sin in my life. Give me the courage to allow the Holy Spirit to expose my sin. Against You and You alone have I sinned. May it break my heart knowing that I have broken your heart. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Paul tell us in:

Colossians 4:2(NASB)
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

And in:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18(NASB)
Rejoice always;
pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Why do you think Paul tells us that we should devote ourselves to prayer and to pray without ceasing? Prayer brings us closer to God. It conforms us into the likeness of Jesus. It reinforces the knowledge that the Lord is God. Here is an example in Chronicles that demonstrates that prayer confirms to us that the Lord is God.

2 Chronicles 33:10-13(NASB)
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.
Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.
When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

Heavenly Father, pour your Spirit into me. Allow my sinful self to die and let only Jesus live in my heart. Help me to live my life so that you are the most important. Keep me in your word daily and in communion with you at all times. I pray that your will to be done in my life and the lives of others. And I pray this in the most wonderful name of all, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul was blessed with revelations from Jesus that were so great that he would be tempted to be prideful, to think highly of himself because of what he knew. Paul was already a deeply religious man, a Jew who as a Pharisee, had committed to memory most, if not all of the Old Testament scriptures. This knowledge led many Pharisees to look down on those that were not as educated as them. Paul was no exception.

So God, because of His great love for Paul, allowed a devil to torment Paul physically. There has been much speculation about just what that “thorn in the flesh” might be. What we do know is that the Greek word (skolops) used for thorn in this passage is the only time it is used in the Bible. The literal translation for this Greek word is actually a sharp, pointed stake. Paul’s torment was more like being impaled by stake. It was probably a pain similar to being crucified.

Paul asked for the torment to be removed, but God knew that without it, Paul’s pride would take over. There wouldn’t be any room for Jesus to dwell within him. So Paul had to rely on God’s grace and that alone. And he was able to accept that and be content with God’s plan for him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the thorn in my flesh. Without it, I would not have room for Jesus. Keep pride out of my life and help me to rely only on Your grace. Keep me weak, so that I can be strong for Jesus. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,