What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and grieves to bear
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer
Oh what peace we often forfeit of what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer
Have we trials and temptations is there trouble anywhere
If we have don’t be discouraged take it to the Lord in prayer
Hymn – What a friend we have in Jesus

Revelation 21:4 (NASB) 
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Isaiah 53:3a (NASB) 
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

Last Friday, we lost a wonderful friend and member of our family – our dog Riley.  He came to us as a rescue when he was 10 months old and was 12 years old when he died.  It was sudden and unexpected.  Many tears have been shed and I know many more will follow.  A sadness has fallen on me that I didn’t expect.

Since sleep doesn’t come easy, my wife and I spent the wee hours of the night last night talking about him.  I recalled the verse in Isaiah above.  Jesus knew sorrow and he knew grief.  The pain we feel is just a shadow of the grief that Jesus endured for us.

There is so much pain and sorrow in this world, even with all the joys that we have in our lives.  But we have a Savior that will one day take away all of those tears.  Death will no longer exist and there will no longer be any pain.

What a friend we have in Jesus!

Heavenly Father, I bring our sorrow to you in prayer.  I praise You for creating the pets that we can enjoy.  I thank you for the joy we have had.  I even thank you for the grief that we are going through because it gives us a taste of what Jesus went through for us.  Holy Spirit, I ask for comfort.  I pray this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Romans 3:23-24 (NASB) 
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Christianity is unique in all of the world’s religions, in that our salvation is not dependent on anything we do, but salvation is only possible by the sacrifice of Jesus and the grace that God has ordained for us.

I was meditating on the verse above.  Only Christianity has the doctrine of justification.  When we repent and accept Christ as Lord and Savior, we are declared right with God, even though our sin nature is still present.  Salvation with all other religions depend on what we do, never knowing if what we do is enough.    Salvation as a Christian depends only on what Christ has already done for us, giving us confidence in our relationship with God.

What an amazing gift from Jesus!  Rather than using the gift as an excuse to sin more knowing we are saved, the gift draws us into worship and repentance.  

Heavenly Father, praises to you for the gift of the gospel, the justification that you have provided to us through the sacrifice of Jesus.  Your plan is perfect and always better than anything that we can imagine.  This gift makes me want to worship you more each day.  I pray that your Holy Spirit will help me do that.  I pray this in the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Always praying fort the glory of God,

Luke 6:27-28 (NASB) 
27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Job 31:29-30(NASB) 
29 “Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy,
Or exulted when evil befell him?
30 “No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for his life in a curse.

Jesus calls us to do things that seem to be really tough.  Love your enemy, bless those that curse you, pray for those that mistreat you.  Yet, He is not asking us to do anything that He hasn’t already done for us.  We were once His enemy, we behaved badly, we mistreated God.  Yet He loved us first; gave us mercy and grace through the life and work of Jesus.  

Job reflected on how to behave with his enemies as he defended himself against his accusers.  And yet, Job was just a man; imperfect and in desperate need of God’s mercy and grace too.

The world is so divisive these days.  It is easy to find that if you don’t agree with another, then you become the enemy.  Can you imagine what would happen if all Christians followed Jesus’ command in Luke, while at the same time holding firmly to our beliefs?

Heavenly Father, You have commanded us to follow You, hold firm to Your ways, and love those that hate, curse and mistreat us.  Forgive me when I fall short.  Help me to keep in mind how you treated me when I was your enemy and treat others that same way.  I pray in the name of Jesus, who loved me first.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

1 Samuel 12:23 (NASB) 
23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

We all know that prayer shouldn’t just be used for petitioning God for the things that we need or want.  But to refrain from prayer, except during those times, takes away the glory that God is due.  And Samuel said that ceasing to pray is in fact a sin against God.  

As I read that verse this morning, I thought about how Paul declared in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing.  Prayer is our way of giving glory to God.  And when we are distracted by the things of this life and cease to pray, it robs God of the glory He deserves.

I know I am guilty of not praying as I should.  We all are.  And it is easy to forgive ourselves knowing that it is something that everyone does.  But we are without excuse.  

Prayer not only gives glory to God, but it has amazing benefits for us as well.  It draws us closer to the Creator.  It reveals just how much we need that relationship and when we express our love for Him, it brings us joy.  

Father, forgive me for failing to pray as I should.  Give me a heart that longs to worship You in prayer throughout each day, no matter what I am doing.  May it bring You glory, as You fill me with inexpressible joy.  Praying this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

May I always pray for the glory of God,

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Solid Rock, lyrics by Edward Mote (1797-1874)

Psalm 71:14-15 (NASB) 
14 But as for me, I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And of Your salvation all day long; For I do not know the sum of them.

During the night a week or so ago, I woke thinking about “my hope”.  It wasn’t that I was feeling hopeless.  Instead, maybe my hope was misplaced until I was reminded by God.  This world has a way of saying to us that we need to depend on ourselves and what we do as the basis for our hope.  But as I thought about my hope, the first line of the old hymn “Solid Rock” began to repeat though my thoughts.  I laid there for some time with that first line echoing in my head.  As God got me back on track, I drifted back off to sleep.  What a comfort the Holy Spirit is even when we don’t even know we need it.

We can also be truly comforted, knowing that we can’t comprehend the infinite breadth of the hope that has been given to us as a gift.

Heavenly Father, my hope is truly built on You.  Jesus made that sacrifice, so that I could know the beauty of Your love and salvation.  I pray for the least and the lost that You would touch them, even today, so that they would repent and call on Your name.  I praise You all day long.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Ephesians 1: 15-17 (NASB)
15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Philippians 1:9 (NASB) 
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

Colossians 1:9-12 (NASB) 
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

Paul was consistent with the petitions in his prayers for the churches.  I often forget just how desperately poor, how much physical danger, and how persecuted these people were.  Paul doesn’t mention these things in his prayers.  Rather than focusing on the things that they needed, he focused on praying for them to get more of and to know God in a more personal way.

It is humbling to realize that my prayers of help from God is not what Paul prayed for the early church.  There is nothing wrong with praying for our situations, our needs, and our desires.  But  those things pale in comparison with knowing God.

Anything great comes with great effort.  So, we shouldn’t think that prayer is easy either.  If we struggle with prayer, as I do, we are not alone.  It is an encouragement knowing that, giving me the desire to persevere.  

Heavenly Father, I pray that You would fill me with the knowledge of Your will.  I pray for wisdom, so that Your Holy Spirit can reveal more of You in me.  I pray the same for others.  May we know You better each and every day.  Praying all in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Job 19:25-27 (NASB) 
25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
26 “Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
27 Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart faints within me!”

It is joy to know the Lord.  But there are those, even after a lifetime of seeing God’s creation and even hearing the gospel, who still resist accepting the free gift of salvation.

I have a friend that moved out of our neighborhood a few months ago to be with family in another state.  He will turn 95 this September and his health has been failing for the last couple of years.  I got to know him because we were in a golf group that played on Fridays and Saturdays.  He was everyone’s hero because he was able to play golf up until he was in his early 90’s and often shot his age or below.  I was thinking about him this morning as I was getting ready for church.  

He is the oldest person that I know that hasn’t made up his mind about the claims of the gospel.  His is still unsure.  I wonder how many people today are in that same situation.  I know he attended church faithfully with his wife until she died a number of years ago.  He is a good person, liked by all and admired by many.  But he still doesn’t believe.

I guess we can’t just assume that an older person has already decided one way or another.  They can still be seekers.  While there is still breath in his lungs and a heartbeat there is still time – so I pray for him.

Heavenly Father, I pray today for a friend who has been seeking You for many years.  My heart breaks for him.  I pray that Your Holy Spirit would enter his heart.  I pray that he would confess, accept Your gift of salvation, and call You his Lord and Savior.  I pray that his remaining time in this life would be joyful anticipation of living with You for eternity.  Amen.

Luke 6:32 (NASB)
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NASB)
13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

John 13:34 (NASB)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Of all the things that Jesus commanded, the hardest for me is the command to love.  We love our families, our friends, those that we are close to, but I struggle with loving others.  Do you?  It really is a challenge to love those that don’t love you.  Why is that?  Jesus loved us when we weren’t worthy of any love.  Jesus loved us when we didn’t love Him.  Jesus loved us when we weren’t a part of God’s family.  

We are called to love our enemies.  I need Jesus to change me to do that.  Only He can do what seems to be impossible to me.  All I need to do is trust in even the things that are difficult for me.  Trust, yield, believe.  It should be simple if we don’t get in the way.

Jesus, I pray that You would change my unloving heart for others.  Draw me away from my normal tendencies and show me how to love even my enemies.  I don’t know how to do that.  But You have said that I need to, so I am willing and I need Your Holy Spirit to show me how.  Give me a willing heart and one that will do anything for You.  I love You, Jesus.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Have you ever uttered those words when you have felt unable to pray?  The barber of Martin Luther asked Luther for that help.  Luther’s response was to use the example prayer that Jesus provided to His disciples in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6.  It is commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer.  

In his letter to the barber, Luther separated the prayer into seven petitions.

1. Hallowed be thy name.
2. Your Kingdom come.
3. Your will be done on earth, as it is heaven.
4. Give us today our daily bread.
5. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
6. Lead us not into temptation.
7. And deliver us from the evil one.

The first petition is one of praise.  Petition two and three are kingdom prayers, asking God’s plan to be fulfilled.  The fourth is a supplication, asking for our daily needs.  The fifth is a prayer of confession and a call to forgive others.  Petition six asks God to maintain peace in our lives always pointing to Him.  Petition 7 acknowledges that there is evil in the world and that we need God’s protection.

Although Jesus doesn’t specifically say that these are in order of priority, it is interesting that the first three petitions are prayers of praise and kingdom prayers.  These petitions come before asking for our needs.

Luther asked his barber not to recite the petitions, but to use them as a starting point to pray.  Each petition can be expanded to wherever the Spirit leads you in your time of prayer.

Many books have been written over the centuries on prayer.  Why not use the template that our Lord Jesus gave us?  I think God would be pleased that we used His example.

Heavenly Father, You are perfect and Your words are perfect too.  Thank You for giving us an example to communicate with You.  I pray that I would use it in a way that is pleasing to You.  I pray this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God.

Psalm 62:5-8 (NASB) 
5 My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.

“I need You more than the next heartbeat”
From the album “Presence” by Klaus, song “I Need You More”

I was listening to the song above early this morning and when this verse came up, it made me pause and think about it.  As the years have gone by, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me just how much I need God.  I wonder though how often I am desperate for the Savior, but don’t fully honor Him as my Lord.  For If He isn’t both to me, then it is hopeless.  If He isn’t more important than my next heartbeat, if all I need Him for is to be saved from my current situation, then I don’t have a clear understanding of the importance of falling down before an almighty, sovereign God.

I have realized that God’s Lordship is even more important than His work of salvation.  Even if Jesus hadn’t taken on our sin in our place, we would still owe God all the honor and glory He deserves.  He is King of all, Lord of all, creator, and sovereign.  When I look to Him only as Savior, then I am not honoring Him as I should.  He really is more important than my next heartbeat.

Heavenly Father, all honor and glory to You.  Forgive me when I selfishly desire to be saved from my circumstances and don’t put You first as my Lord.  I need You as my Lord.  I praise You that You are also my Savior, but even if that were not so, You still deserve to be my Lord.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,