Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you for your love, your grace, and your mercy. We praise you for your faithfulness, and for the hope only you can give. Father, we lift up our country today. We are hurting in the face of still more tragedy which has become far, far too common. I pray that no matter how often we see it, may we never get used to it. May it break our hearts, not harden them. May it cause us to trust you more, not less. May it continue to bring us to our knees in prayer, rather than throw up our hands in defeat. We pray for all who have been affected, that you would be near them and comfort them as only you can, our Mighty Father.
Father, help us remember that we who are your children are the light of the world. You have made us to be a city set on a hill, not to be hidden. May we hold high our light – your Spirit of love within us – for all the world to see. May we put away our sins and our distractions and walk worthy of the calling with which we were called. Take away our mentality that growing in you can wait until tomorrow; praying can wait until tomorrow; reading your Word can wait until tomorrow, obeying you can wait until tomorrow…
Wake us up, Lord!
May we who are the body of Christ start within the church, and love each other. May we, by your power, put away our pettiness, our judgments, our biases, our cliques, our jealousies, our pride, and just love each other. May we repent where we need to repent, and love each other, forgive each other, extend grace and mercy to each other. People are hurting, in the church and out. May we open ourselves up to be vessels of love to those who are hurting and make it our mission to never be the cause of someone else’s pain.
May we take seriously the commandments we’ve been given – to love you and to love each other. Remind us daily, our gracious Father, that it is we in the church who have your love and we are to extend it to one another, and to those you place in our path. May we shine so brightly with your love that the world sees it, is drawn to you because of it, and we see a revival, in the church first, and throughout our country and beyond. May we see people coming to you in droves, by faith, receiving you as their Lord and Savior. May you bring healing to our land.
May we glorify and magnify you, Lord, walking in love and boldness, showing the world that the way to hope and peace and love is a path that walks straight to the foot of the cross, and that anyone and everyone, no matter what they’ve done, is invited to come, acknowledge their sin, be forgiven by the sacrifice given for us by Christ, and receive the love they’ve always needed. Father, renew our passion for you, for one another, and for the lost. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you, and we thank you for all you’ve blessed us with. Forgive us for the times we take those blessings for granted, and we ask that you would remind us often to be grateful to you for pouring out onto us more blessing, more freedom, more love and grace than we can imagine. I pray our gratitude will lead us to be a fountain of that love, grace, and mercy that you’ve so generously given to us.
Lord, we lift up our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for their faith, those who are in prison, who are being tortured, who are separated from their families. Father, in Jesus’ name I pray you would fill them with your Holy Spirit and your might so that all you desire to accomplish in and through them will be done. May you do miraculous things, things that only you can do.
Lord, please fill them with your peace that passes all understanding; fill them with your strength to go on from one hour to the next; fill them with your love and forgiveness so that their hearts don’t become hardened or bitter; fill them with your joy so they are a light to those around them; fill them with boldness to continue proclaiming the gospel and the name of Christ; fill them with hope as they remember their great reward is with you.
May they feel your presence with them, and may you, in the mighty name of Jesus, bind the hand of the enemy. May our brothers and sisters continue to trust you, put their faith in you, and may they see, even if only a little bit, the fruit of their labor. And may we always remember them in our prayers, and honor them with our lives, boldly and freely proclaiming the gospel and the name of Jesus Christ. It’s in His precious and matchless name I pray, amen.
I thought I’d write an update about what God did for each of my parents in the years since I wrote my testimony. I’ll start with my dad.
***
My dad wasn’t sick a day in his life. Well, not in the physical sense. I don’t remember him ever having a cold or a stomach bug. Nothing. But there was something hidden deep inside him, something even he would later be hard-pressed to articulate, that made him turn to alcohol. I do know that he had a quiet, expressive soul, and that combination is a hard one to deal with.
Most days of my childhood I could smell the alcohol on him, except for the days he didn’t come home. Still, he was kind and willing to listen when I needed someone to talk to.
I left home a month or two after high school graduation. The next time I saw my dad a couple of months later he had aged more than I thought he should have. After that I didn’t see much of my parents for a number of years until after their divorce, and I was able to talk to my dad again.
When I became a Christian, I wanted more than anything for my family members to be saved and our family restored. I thought about it, I hoped for it, I prayed about it.
Sometime while I was away, my dad quit drinking. He’d had an experience that frightened him and made him stop. So without the alcohol, and without my mother, we were able to reconnect.
Both of us being chatterboxes, we’d talk on the phone for long stretches at a time. We’d theorize and philosophize about everything under the sun. And every now and then I’d try to work into the conversation my very favorite topic – Jesus.
My dad would be struggling with something and I’d tell him about the One who knows how to untangle life’s messes. He’d be hard-pressed to understand something else and I’d tell him about the One who gives peace.
I ‘d talk to him about salvation, I wrote him long notes explaining the way to salvation, and his answer was always the same: “I’m trying.”
I’d tell him “Dad, you don’t have to try, just believe in Jesus.” Still, salvation hung in the air, ungrasped, year after year. And during those prayers I lifted up for my dad, the Lord would sometimes speak in that still, small voice, letting me know that it wouldn’t be until just before his death that he would finally receive Him.
A few years later I got a call from my aunt letting me know my dad was sick. The worst kind of sick. He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone for fear they’d look at him or treat him differently. I called my dad and we had a hard conversation. He continued to work until it was impossible.
It was May, and I got another call from my aunt letting me know Dad was in the hospital. I rushed there, day after day, and sat next to him, holding his hand. His mind was already starting to go. He didn’t know where he was or even what year it was. I kept praying and had others praying, too.
One morning someone called, I can’t remember who, to say he’d had some kind of seizure, or something. Our assistant pastor and his wife, our dear friends, graciously met me at the hospital.
There were no more seizures, and the funny thing was, he now knew what year it was. Pastor T went in to talk with him and when he came back out sometime later, he said he’d asked my dad if he wanted to pray to receive Jesus, and my dad said yes. Grasped.
Almost immediately after that, he was a candidate for hospice. One never knows if a hospice bed is going to become available, and if so, how long it will take. But one opened up almost immediately, and the one God chose was perfect.
It was in a home with a beautiful garden. If there was anything my dad loved, it was gardening. He loved the soil (don’t call it dirt!), he loved earthworms, he loved planting. We used to say that once he was able to retire from civil service he should work at a nursery. He would have loved it.
My family, my sister and her family, and my aunt, uncle and cousin sat outside among the gardens eating together for Memorial Day while the hospice workers looked after Dad. We wished so much he could have enjoyed the beauty with us.
The next morning I got a call at 6 am from one of the hospice workers saying he probably didn’t have much longer. I quickly dressed and drove the several miles to get there.
I walked into the room and my cousin was standing by his bed, telling me he had just passed. His beautiful blue, tear-filled eyes were still open. I had just missed him. Still, I held his hand again, and said, “I love you, Daddy.”
My Heavenly Father had, in a miraculous way, kept His promise. Whatever that seizure was, God allowed a moment in time for my dad to be aware, and our friends to be there at just the right time, so he could believe in Jesus and receive Him, and I could have that assurance. That was just five days before he stood before the Lord, washed clean of his sins, and was welcomed with open arms. The peace and joy that had always alluded him in this life was now his forever.
I think about the day I’ll see him again when nothing, and no one, will ever separate us again, and I thank my Heavenly Father for this most precious of gifts.
I ask myself this question every time I come across these words of Jesus –
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13
So, how does salt lose its saltiness?
What was Jesus telling us?
We mostly use salt now to make great burgers and to bring out all the good flavors in our food, but in Jesus’ day, salt was very important and used for many things. Besides being used to flavor food, it was also used to preserve food, to heal, and as currency, or trade. (The word salary comes from the Latin word salarium, the root word of which issal.) And it’s essential to our health.
Mountainside by the Sea of Galilee
When Jesus sat on the mountainside teaching by the Sea of Galilee, not far from the salt-filled Dead Sea, the people who were listening had a much fuller, richer understanding of the metaphor “you are the salt of the earth.” And my guess is they would have also understood how salt could lose its saltiness and what a horrifying thought that was.
Salt is made up of a number of chemical compounds, but what it is mostly, what makes it salty, what makes it useful, is sodium chloride, which is very stable and will keep its usefulness for years.
But…
If salt is exposed to water, or diluted, the sodium chloride can be dissolved and removed, and the salt will lose its essence, or saltiness. It still looks like salt, but it’s no longer useful.
We, too, can look the same on the outside, but if we let our faith become weak, we’ll lose our usefulness in the kingdom of God.
So how can we, being the salt of the earth, lose our saltiness?
How can we lose our usefulness?
There are a million ways, but it all comes down to letting our faith become diluted.
Watered down. Weak. Tasteless. Flat.
“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” Jude 1:20
Jude writes an impassioned letter to his fellow believers warning them that wolves have always, and will always slip in among the sheep, and will corrupt them and their faith if they’re not careful. The ungodly “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 1:4)
In this age of television, computers, and smartphones, we no longer need to wait for the godlessness of the world to physically come in among us. The world comes at us constantly, and the more we allow it, the more we become steeped in it, the more we’ll begin to look like it, think like it, and believe like it.
Not only are there people who pervert the gospel itself, sometimes even calling themselves Christians, all around us there is a pervasive attitude of anger, hatred, judgment, unforgiveness, self-righteousness, salaciousness, among others. The apostle Paul warned about this explicitly in his second letter to Timothy.
God’s Word warns us over and over to be careful of allowing any false beliefs, no matter how subtle or how good or even inspirational they may sound, to water down the true gospel, and our faith.
Every day we have to be vigilant and spiritually discerning of what is true and what is not, and
“not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom. 12:2)
And by doing that we are able to build ourselves up as Jude exhorts us, and
“…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9)
The same word Jude used for holy faith is used for the Holy Spirit, in whom we are to pray at all times. He enables us to worship God over the world and ourselves, to seek God’s will above our own, to repent of our sins and be cleansed and made holy, set apart for the work of God.
Unless we’re walking in Him we will revert right back to walking in our flesh, to living for the world and for ourselves, and in that state we cannot be useful in spiritual things.
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-8)
If we ever wonder what God’s will for us is, it must include this: “…to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27b
And whatever we do, we cannot allow anyone, especially those who have set themselves up as pastors or other type of spiritual leader, no matter how popular they are, to water down the truth in the Word of God and our faith.
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what they itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Sometimes popularity comes at the expense of the truth that most don’t want to hear. Watering down the truth, appealing to our flesh, is exactly what the enemy will use to weaken our faith and our witness.
So, let’s determine to look and be more like Christ and less like the world, to live our lives worthy of the calling we have in Christ who paid for us with a hefty price.
The last couple of weeks or so here in the U.S., people have shoveled, scraped, and trudged their way through enough ice and snow to last the rest of the year.
But as we take a magnifying glass and look at a single snowflake, we’ll see that they really are fascinating little miracles, and so is Christ’s life in us.
Just like precious pearls begin as something ordinary–a grain of sand, snowflakes also begin as something just as unpretentious–a dust particle, a piece of volcanic ash, or sea salt.
As it falls through the atmosphere, each particle forms into a clear ice crystal, its individual shape and size determined by the various conditions each particle encounters as it falls to the ground, like the altitude, temperature, and humidity.
The one thing all snowflakes have in common is they each have six sides or branches.
Each of us is also born with an ingrained imperfection, that is, our sin nature. As we grow, the conditions we encounter, like the family we grew up in, the experiences we have in life, and our own personalities determine the one-of-a-kind person we become.
But our sin nature continues to act as an irritant, wreaking havoc in our souls.
“’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18
God compares our sins to scarlet and crimson.
This word for scarlet – shaniy – refers to a maggot-like insect called a “coccus illcis” which feeds on the leaves of evergreen oak trees. The dried bodies of these insects are used to make a deep red, or crimson, dye.
Our sin acts like those parasitic creatures, eating away at our joy, our souls, and our lives.
(Another factoid I found while looking up the definition of shaniy: the urban dictionary says it’s “a psychopath with demon eyes, this little creature lacks the skill of being nice, she is a very demanding person who is hard to control sometimes, she has the capability to stab someone if she wanted to; her favourite word is **** off.” Does that sound like our sin nature or what?!)
The Lord tells us that though we have been stained with the blemish of sin, He will make them white as snow.
So what makes those former pieces of dust, ash, and sea salt, and our sin, white?
As the snow crystals, or snowflakes, fall to the ground and begin to gather together, the light shining into the snow gets scattered around inside and is reflected around all those unique six-sided snow prisms and the light that comes back out appears white, and the imperfections are no longer seen.
The Bible refers to the number six as the number of mankind, of incompleteness. Just as the one commonality among snowflakes is that they have six sides, we all have in common our imperfect humanity. Without Christ, we are incomplete and impure.
But as we receive Jesus Christ by faith, He becomes a part of us (the number 7 symbolizes completeness), and we become a part of His family, joining together like a snowdrift high on a hill. His light shines into us and is filtered back out through the prism of our character, purifying our hearts and making us white as snow.
It’s amazing to me that God made snowflakes as a microscopic allegory showing us our need for Him. It’s as if He calls to us in the whisper of a tiny, almost secret world and says, “I know all about your weaknesses, your frailties, your sins, but the power of my love can overcome all that!”
We have all come through different and unique backgrounds, circumstances, sufferings, and joys, and the shape our heart and mind have become through our own uniquely-designed life allows Christ to shine through us in the extraordinary ways He’s chosen just for us and the lives around us.
So the next time you have to shovel snow or scrape it off your car, remember God’s love for you through Christ, and how His crimson blood turned our souls white and pure as snow. And remember, too, that the more we come together as one body and one heart with God’s family, the more His light shines in and through us. And doesn’t the world need that right now?
A million thoughts could have gone through young Mary’s mind as she was suddenly and astonishingly visited by an angel and told that she would be overcome by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of the Most High. She wasn’t yet married (though pledged to be), and she was a virgin, yet was asked to believe this miraculous conception would take place inside her own body.
What would Joseph think? Would he leave her? What would her family think? Would they disown her? What would society think? Would they cast her out, or worse, stone her to death? But she put aside her fears, humbled herself to God’s will, and immediately answered “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Because she did, she gave birth to the Savior of the World.
When Joseph discovered she was pregnant, his mind was rattled, and he planned to divorce her. (In those days, being pledged to be married was as serious a commitment as marriage.) Could he trust that the angel that came to him was telling him the truth, that Mary had not been unfaithful, but had amazingly become pregnant through the Holy Spirit? But he put aside his fears, humbled himself to God’s will, and married her, and watched the Son of God brought into this world.
The shepherds, living out in the field with their sheep, were visited by a host of angels and were told that an almost unbelievable thing had happened – the Savior of the world had been born, and was lying in a manger of all things. Leaving their sheep and their fears aside, they humbled themselves to God’s will, and not only went to see this newborn King, but spread the amazing news that the Messiah was in their midst.
The Magi left their home, followed a star, and humbled themselves to worship the King of the Jews.
And Jesus, though being God, the very one by and through whom all things were made, humbled Himself to His Father’s will, left His Heavenly throne, His identity as God, the worship of angels, and was born a helpless, vulnerable baby.
Even the Father revealed His character of humility by sending His own Son to be born, to suffer, and die for a sinful people.
The power of the Christmas story lies in putting aside fears, rights, and pride, and putting on humility. It is a picture of the beauty of fully trusting God and His will, no matter what, and submitting to it.
God’s character is one of humility, and that’s why it’s so powerful. We see that in the person of Jesus through His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection to life again.
We don’t see a lot of humility in our world. Instead, it’s about pride, and rights, and self. And in living in the flesh, it lives outside God’s character, and loses the very power and blessing it’s striving for.
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.
Submit yourselves then to God.
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and He will lift you up.”
James 4:6b, 7, 10
We see that play out in Luke 1:30 when the angel appeared to Mary and said,
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
And further in the story told by Luke, when Mary visited her relative, Elizabeth (who was also miraculously carrying a child in her old age), and worshipped God:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.”
It’s not easy to humble ourselves to God’s will, especially when a million scenarios can run through our minds and fears stand ready to act as a wall, threatening to stand between us and God along with His favor, His will, and His blessings.
But the more time we spend with our Savior, the one who knows what it’s like to humble Himself and face those scenarios, coming out the other side victorious, the more we will love Him and be filled with His character of humility, ready to trust and obey Him in a moment’s notice, and stand with Him in victory on the other side.
This Christmas, in more ways than one, my Heavenly Father is reminding me of the beauty and power of humility, that good things come with it, and though I don’t understand the hows or whys of any given circumstance, if I will, in the strength and courage of the Holy Spirit, put aside my fears, then God’s goodness and untold blessings will fill my life.
May you find favor with God, and may you have a very blessed Christmas,
“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord,
because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” Ezra 3:11
Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you because you’ve laid the foundation of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ, and you’ve made us the temple of your Holy Spirit. Lord, I simply ask you today to help us keep our hearts and spirits focused on you. With all the distractions we have coming at us from so many directions, help us keep The Main Thing, the main thing.
Help us remember that this life is about Who you’ve called us to believe in, to trust, to follow, to proclaim. Help us use the limited time and the gifts you’ve given us to be about our Father’s business, and build only on the foundation of Jesus Christ, serving Him only, building by your Spirit and not our flesh.
For “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.” 1 Cor. 3: 12-15
Lead us, Lord, so that what we build will survive, and we will receive your reward. In Jesus’ eternal name we pray, amen.
“Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all His benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:1-5
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. I come to you today and lift up to you so many us who are suffering with severe and prolonged physical illness. Lord, it’s so easy to lose focus of you when we or a loved one is suffering and there seems to be no end. The day to day pull to focus on the pain, the illness, the medications, whatever it may be, can be overwhelming and exhausting.
Lord, we need your strength. We need your presence to overwhelm us and turn our eyes back to you, to gaze on your beauty, your grace and mercy, your compassion which never ends. Help us remember that our suffering is in your hands, and through it we can identify with Christ’s suffering, with His death and resurrection, for we have died to sin and you’ve made us alive in Him to the spiritual things which are infinitely of more worth.
We ask for your peace that surpasses all human understanding, for your wisdom to lead us every day, and for your joy fill us to overflowing, that we would be a walking testimony of your love and goodness, of the fact that this is not our home, that we wait as we put our hope in a future home, a future life where all things will be made new. So whether you heal us in this life, and I pray if that’s your will for any of us that you would, or if you heal us in the next life, may you be glorified in ways we can only imagine.
Please use us Lord to proclaim your name, to have compassion on others, and to show the world your grace that many would be saved, and those away from you would return.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
May your will be done on earth, Lord, as it is in heaven. May you bring a revival to our own hearts, to the body of Christ, and throughout the world. Maranatha! In the eternal name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.
“But no one who belonged to Christ’s churches in Judea
had ever seen me (Paul the apostle) in person.
They had only heard that the one who had been cruel
to them was now preaching the message that he had
once tried to destroy. And because of me,
they praised God.”
Galatians 1:22-24
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you for revealing yourself to us, for putting your Spirit in us and for giving us new hearts. You’ve replaced our hearts of stone and given us hearts of flesh, all for the sake of your holy name. Lord, forgive me for the times I’ve let my heart get stony again. Please continually remind us to live in a way that reveals the new hearts of love you’ve given us so we might encourage, build up, and comfort our brothers and sisters, that they might praise your name, and so the world can see our hearts reflecting your love that they might turn, repent, believe in you, and praise your name. Help us live lives worthy of your calling, to remember our purpose and stay focused on you so that through us you might bring peace to a broken and hurting world, and praise to your name. In your name and for your glory, Lord Jesus, amen.
