Acts 3:19 (NASB)
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

Exodus 23:12 (NASB)
“Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.

The spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude are often neglected in today’s world. I wonder if most Christians think “busyness is next to godliness”. God does want our attention on working for the kingdom, but He created us to need times of refreshing. The Sabbath, the seventh day of the week was set aside as a day of worship and rest, “in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”.

This day of reflection gives us the opportunity to rest in Him. It prepares us for the battle ahead. Without it, we are not prepared for His work.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the day of rest, a day of worship and reflection focused only on You. I pray that I would use that day wisely. I pray that your Holy Spirit would calm my heart, bring me to a point of silence and solitude that allows me to be refreshed by Your presence. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Psalm 123 (NASB)
To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud.

We pray for God’s grace. It is abundant; it flows freely to us because of His love for us. But do we pay it forward?

I know it is so easy for me to forget that I should give grace for the grace that has been given to me. The grace that has been showered on me should generate grace for others, but sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s not just the people that I really know, but those that I see in the media. People that I only know by their public persona. God’s common grace falls on all creation. And His special grace flows without end on His kingdom. How can I not give grace to all too?

Heavenly Father, Your grace astounds me. But I forget. My pride, my contempt gets in my way. I pray for a grace from you that would overflow to others in a way that would be a living example of Your Gospel. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

1 Peter 1:3-5 (NASB)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Romans 8:24-25 (NASB)
For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Gospel hope is an amazing gift from God. It is the assurance of something that we have not yet seen, but know it to be true. Gospel hope transforms us from a person without anything to one that knows with certainty that we have been given everything from the Living God. Gospel hope springs from our faith in Jesus; faith that is itself a gift from God. This faith gift is a reflection of the great love that God has for us.

That is why Paul said in 1Corinthians 13:13 (NASB)
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Father, praises to You for Your inexpressible Love. I pray that You would increase my faith each day. I thank You for the gift of Gospel hope. May You be glorified by the hope I have in Jesus. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Matthew 18:20 (NASB)
For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

“Everybody knows that really intimate conversation is only possible between two or three. As soon as there are six or seven, collective language begins to dominate. That is why it is a complete misinterpretation to apply to the Church the words “of Matthew 18:20”. Christ did not say two hundred, or fifty, or ten. He said two or three.”
Simone Weil, “Waiting for God”

As I read the words of Simone Weil this morning, she brought forth the importance of intimate worship in His name. Matthew 18:20 are the words of Jesus, who understood that before we can gather in larger groups, such as Bible studies, or even together with many others in church, we should begin with intimate conversations with Him.

Do we often get the “cart before the horse”, as my mother used to say? Many people think of the larger gathering of the church as the foundation of worship. But Jesus said we need to gather in His name with one or two others and He will be there with us. Only then can we be prepared to gather with many others to worship on Sunday. Otherwise, we will be tempted to be lost in the larger group, just daydreaming, or even worse expecting to be entertained, and not fully engaged in worship.

There are many types of prayer that God gave to us, but I suspect that this type is probably the most neglected.

Heavenly Father, help me to engage in the worship that Jesus described in Matthew 18:20. I pray that it would be the foundation of my worship on Sunday. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Psalm 111 (NASB)
Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.
Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonders to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
He has made known to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.
He has sent redemption to His people;
He has ordained His covenant forever;
Holy and awesome is His name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Praise God. You are my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Ephesians 4:15-16 (NASB)
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Our grandson, who just graduated from seminary last summer, posted the following quote in Facebook today from Michael Lawrence.

“Sometimes it is hard to assure ourselves. Our sins are always in front of us, clouding our view. Our perspective is so often dominated by the pressing sin and the failure of the moment. That’s when we need someone else to look at us, and to point out the longer-term growth, the present trust, and the fruit of the Spirit that we cannot see in ourselves.”
-Michael Lawrence,’Conversion’

Lawrence was pointing out the importance of being part of a church family where the members are authentic with each other, helping each other to grow in Christ by lovingly identifying stumbling blocks.

There are Christians that won’t listen to other Christians that can see things in them that they themselves cannot. They have convinced themselves that they can do it on their own. Certainly there are those in your life that are just critical because you don’t fit their preconceived notion of how you should be or act. But true accountability partners can be a significant guide in cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Those that believe they are more mature in Christ than others will often get trapped by their own shortcomings.

Do you have an accountability partner? Have you ever rejected the loving counsel of other Christians?

Heavenly Father, I pray for the wisdom to see my shortcomings when other Christians give me good counsel. I pray that the Holy Spirit would convict me to see these things, so that I can grow in Christ. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Solomon’s Benediction
1 Kings 8:56-58 (NASB)
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.

Psalm 119:34-36 (NASB)
Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law
And keep it with all my heart.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain.

“Do not be surprised to see simple people believe without reasoning about it; God makes them love Him and hate themselves; He inclines their heart to believe. We will never believe with an effective belief based on faith unless God inclines our heart. And we will believe as soon as He inclines it.”
Blaise Pascal “Pensees”

Even our belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior is a gift from God. It is after He inclines our heart to Him that we can have faith. Our conversion starts with the Holy Spirit quickening our soul. What a blessing that is to us as believers. When you pray for someone that is not yet in the kingdom, pray that God would incline their hearts to Him.

Heavenly Father, praises to You for inclining my heart to You. I pray for the least and the lost that You would bring each and every one into a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I pray for Your perfect timing as the Gospel is shared throughout the world. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.

Last night, I woke up around 4am and couldn’t seem to get comfortable to drift back off to sleep. A full night’s sleep is something that eludes me as I grow older. As I was wondering how long I would be awake, a song popped into my thoughts – the children’s hymn “Jesus Loves Me”. The first verse kept going over and over in my mind and before you know it, I had fallen back to sleep.

This morning as I awoke, I remembered what had happened. I then thanked God for helping me to remember how much He loves me. His Spirit comforts us during the dark hours of the night when rest is difficult.

After I got up, I looked up the entire song on the internet. The last verse is such comfort to all who are in Christ.

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Heavenly Father, thank You that You love me! I am weak, but You are strong. I can depend on You in all situations, even those times when I awake at night and have trouble getting back to sleep. Praises to You my King! Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

“If Jesus commanded you to go to a prayer meeting, would you go?” This was a question often posed by Armin Gesswein, founder of Revival Prayer Fellowship in the early 1950’s.

I think that most of us would say that if Jesus COMMANDED us to go to a prayer meeting, we would immediately ask, “Where will it be and what time does it begin?”
Interestingly enough the last command given by Jesus, was not what is commonly known as the great commission, which is found at the end of Matthew 28, but rather it was in the first chapter of Acts.

Acts 1:4 (NASB)
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

The Greek word Jesus used for command was a military term. Jesus was literally giving them an order that He was binding them to. Then a few verses later, we find what they were doing in the upper room.

Acts 1:12-14 (NASB)
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

“Pentecost didn’t come through a preaching service; Pentecost came to a prayer service. From Pentecost to Patmos, God never departs from the pattern.” – Armin Gesswein

The power of the gospel comes through prayer. Christ’s last command becomes our first responsibility. Are you ready to obey?

Always praying for the glory of God,

When we read about the prophets in the Old Testament, the apostles in the New Testament, as well as those that have been great Intercessors throughout history, as they grow in their faith they all exhibit what is known in the Greek as Penthos. There isn’t a good direct translation for the word, but it involves having a broken and contrite heart, godly sorrow, holy mourning. They all seem to have a deep and growing understanding of the distance between them and the purity of God. It is this Penthos that leads them to repentance, often with tears.

Quite a difference to the way many of us were brought up, believing that weeping was a sign of weakness. And yet, our Savior wept.

Hebrews 5:7 (NASB)
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

When we weep over our sin, it shows that we not only understand intellectually our sin, but the depth of it, when it “cuts to the heart”. This was the impact that the Holy Spirit had on the people through Peter in Acts 2.

Acts 2:37-38 (NASB)
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

All this weeping and tears seems rather glum and depressing and yet the scriptures say just the opposite. Contrition and repentance leads to great joy.

Psalm 126:5-6 (NASB)
5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Having been one who was brought up in the generation where tears were a sign of weakness, I am inclined to hold back the tears when my sin is before me and I begin to understand it deeply in my heart. I pray that God will help me to get over holding back and I can feel even a greater joy in Him.

Always praying for the glory of God,