November 17, 2022

Psalm 139:5-6

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

In the early days of a relationship, before your gaze loses the rose-tinting and warts emerge, it is just amazing to think this person would be with you. It feels like you’re walking on clouds; how could they like me? The first time you hold hands or kiss there is a rush of affirmation like a drug. Can you feel the Psalmist’s wonder that God lays His hand upon us?

In this case, you haven’t wooed God by showing your best side. Out of the overflow of a love we can’t understand, He chooses to love you. He has chosen to place His hand upon you and hem you in before and behind. Let that mystifying love change every thought and action you take today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, Your love is too wonderful for me. I turn it back to you in praise.

November 16, 2022

Psalm 18:6

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

When I was a child, we would have career missionaries speak at some of our church services. They would present pictures of far away places where they spoke to people about Jesus. It was such a special moment because their passion would soon whisk them away, and we would hear nothing until they reemerged years later. Now I can message our missionary partners and get replies in seconds even if it would take me weeks to physically visit. We take for granted how easy it is to communicate.

Do you take for granted how easy it is to communicate with God? You have always, at any time and in any state of holiness or sin, been able to speak to the God of the Universe. The distance that separates us isn’t physical, He’s everywhere, but it is great. How could dust like us dare to speak to the Holy One? Yet, in our distress we can call and He will hear. Mercy like that should not be forgotten, but valued as precious. Pray to your God today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for hearing me, even me, when I call.

November 15, 2022

Psalm 20:9

9 O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.

It would be a lot easier to trust God to help us if we knew how He was going to do it. I can trust you to fill my belly more easily when I see a full pot or a loaded grill. My wife can trust our bills will be paid on time when she sees the budget we’ve laid out. It’s always easier to trust a process when you can see the means.

So much of my anxiety comes from my lack of trust in God. I can fight that fear by looking at how He is going to help me. He has put a King in this world. Our King will protect and provide for His people. He has a throne that will never be shaken and a rod that can dash apart our enemies. He also has the scars of the price He paid to make His enemies His friends. Look to Jesus and Trust. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, lift my eyes to my King so my heart will trust in You.

November 14, 2022

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

Most of us don’t see it, but there’s a direct connection between our pride and our anxiety. If you are experiencing anxiety in this current cultural moment (and who isn’t?) take a minute to see how quickly that anxiety subsides when you cast your cares on God. The Holy Spirit, through Peter, tells us we can give God our anxieties. But let me ask, when you do, does your anxiety go down?

I think for most people, most of the time, it doesn’t. These verses help us see why. If I’m proud, my problems are big and my God is small. If I’m humble, my problems are small and my God gets bigger and bigger. In truth, God is bigger than any problem, bigger than we could ever imagine. Why let pride get in the way? Humble yourself and get happy again.

Prayer prompt: Lord, humble me so I can be happy.

November 11, 2022

Psalm 63:1

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

What creates desire? There is a natural set of desires at birth like desires for food, drink, air, and affection. Those desires increase as we age. We have preferences in our foods, have felt thirst on hot day, and develop love relationships that deepen and expand. But how do we account for a desire for God like the verse above? Not only does he have a desire for God, but his desire is like the man dying in the desert crying out for water. 

I don’t feel that way toward God, but I want to. He is more satisfying than food, more sustaining than water, and shows me a love much richer than even the love of my spouse. The answer is to drink deeply of that love. Tasting ice cream made me want ice cream so much more. We need to feast on His love and feel our desires wake up. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to feast on Your goodness as I think of Your salvation and Your love.

November 10, 2022

Psalm 43:3

3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

From the beginning of the beginning, we had an assault on truth. When the serpent came to tempt the woman, he began with “Did God actually say…”. Even so many generations later, we still live in a world where truth is not merely contested but twisted, hidden, and bewilderingly difficult to find. Can you blame Satan? Why move onto another strategy when it worked so well the first time?

Pray for God to dispel the darkness by sending out His light and truth. As oppressive as darkness can be, a little light will send it reeling. In fact, the darker the night, the further a little light will go. God’s light will drive away dark and lead you to His house. In Jesus, that house will not only be bright, but open and ready for you to enter in.

Prayer prompt: Lord, send Your light and Your truth to bring me to Your Holy Hill!

November 9, 2022

1 Timothy 1:1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 

All the protection and the provision offered by Christ the King is freely given. He desires that all men come to a knowledge of the truth and if we confess and believe, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We don’t live in that victory, fearless and joyful, because of our small faith. We don’t believe Him, and since we don’t trust Him, we don’t bask in the security and satisfaction of His Reign. How do we fix this?

Obedience doesn’t earn His protection, He gives protection freely. But obedience does reinforce our belief that all this is true. If He really is a King He can command us like He commanded Paul. If He really is the King of  Kings, you’d be a fool to disobey Him. Every time you choose His way and submit to His will, you underline again that Jesus sits on His throne. How can you take a new step of obedience today?

Prayer prompt: Lord, convict me of my casual and sometimes flagrant disobedience so that I can obey and believe.

November 8, 2022

Psalm 51:12

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Do you feel frustrated with how much you fail God? One hymn says, “Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” We are prone to leave God, we can feel that urge to desert Him creeping in all the time. We need to have something to hold us close. What can pull us to Him even when a big part of us wants to slink away?

In this verse we have two incredible restraints: Joy and God Himself. Salvation dumps Joy on your head. His presence dunks you in Joy. Doing things His way is slathered in Joy. Come to Him for the Joy set before you! You can also ask Him to uphold you with a willing spirit. God give me a spirit that wants to cling to You all my days! What Father wouldn’t want to answer that prayer?

Prayer prompt: Lord, uphold me with a willing spirit. Please, give me joy to continue to motivate my obedience.

November 7, 2022

Psalm 51:7

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Some people need to have their sin against God shown to them. There are some modern day Pharisees who look at their life and feel pretty proud. But some people have some stuff in their past that haunt every other thought. Many people in our world fall into drug use to simply numb the conscience that won’t stop remembering. Like Lady Macbeth, they just can’t get the spots out.

God can make you whiter than snow. The washing, the cleansing, and the penance hasn’t worked for you because you can’t get it out. There is one who can. It will take the blood of Jesus to do it, but He loves you so much, He has given exactly that. If He washes you, you will be whiter than snow. Won’t you come to Him today?

Prayer prompt: Lord, I need You to make me clean. Heal me and I will rejoice in You!

November 4, 2022

Psalm 86:11

11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Who is in charge of you? Who gets to decide what you do with your life? If the answer is you, take a minute to ask how that’s working out. Most people make their own life decisions, and as a result are drowning in anxiety and pride. If you think that’s an overstatement, take a break for a week or two from all the things that distract you from anxiety and fear. Eat only your caloric need, turn off the tv, and unplug from social media. See what rises to the surface. 

When you’re done with that experiment, plead with God to lead your life. The Psalmist did. He asked that God would teach him the path. Then, very perceptively, he asked for God to bring his whole heart together around that one desire, for God to be in charge. Let’s pray the same way.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I want to live Your way, not mine. Please, unite my heart behind that one desire.

November 3, 2022

Psalm 65:3

3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.

The Psalms teach us to look up to the throne room of God and shout praise to the Lord. There are two big reasons praising God may be hard for you. One is ignorance. It is impossible to praise a God you don’t know. Praise really has to come from the heart. I can’t call a song beautiful if I’ve never heard it, or call a burger juicy if I haven’t had a bite. 

Ignorance keeps millions around the globe from their praises, but it is the second reason that keeps a Christian silent. Sin keeps your tongue tied and your heart cold. How can you stand before that God knowing your own rebellion stinks so badly? Iniquities prevail against our praises. Or they would, but God is so great, He has turned even our sin into reason for praise. He has atoned for your sins. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, forgive me for my sins and fill me up with the praises due to a God who forgives.

November 2, 2022

Revelation 5:13

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

There is such a thing as a perfect swing. I’ve never had it, but I’ve gotten close. When every joint, muscle, angle, and piece of equipment align and the ball just sings. It’s a transcendent moment. You spend the rest of the round or game just wishing they could all be like that.

There will be a time when everything that has breath will line up in one perfect motion of praise. Right now, everything is working against each other and against the Father. When redemption happens, you begin to work for the Kingdom, well … sometimes. But there will be a day when every leader, beggar, whale, hummingbird, tree, mountain, guppie, and angel will line up in a perfect gong strike of praise that will never end. Look forward to that moment and let its perfect satisfaction shine on your face even now.

Prayer prompt: Lord, let me glory in the future moment of all things put right, trusting that You’ve got this.

November 1, 2022

Psalm 150:1

1 Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! 

Look up. See the expanse of sky with the breathtaking clouds or terrifying storm fronts. Look beyond the sky to space with incomprehensible distances and stars that can bake us with their rays even from millions of miles away. God isn’t in either of these vast landscapes, and it’s because neither are big enough for Him.

The Psalmist is praising God and calling for everyone else to too. He sees something of God’s magnitude, not because He understands how big God is, but because He sees how big God must be to sit above the mighty heavens. To have such a sanctuary He must be truly awesome. He must be worthy of praise from everything that has breath on this tiny marble of a world. Praise the Lord!

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to think of You every time I look up and have those thoughts explode with praise!

October 31, 2022

Psalm 150:1-2

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary;
 praise him in his mighty heavens!
 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!

There is a heartbeat in the Psalms, and in all of Scripture. There is a rhythm that goes beyond the meter of the poetry or the beauty of the words. All the stories and proverbs, prophecy and teaching have a single driving theme: Praise the Lord. The question is, do you Praise the Lord?

You can give thanks with a cursory humility at meals or attend services with a nod to cultural norms. You can even be a very disciplined reader of scripture and teacher of people. But the question remains, do you praise the Lord? Does your heart sing with the Psalmist in an almost frantic praise in reaction to that beatific sight? If not, don’t live another minute without seeking His face. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, show me Your glory in Scripture, in Jesus, in my life so that I will praise You with Great Praise!

October 28, 2022

Ephesians 5:15-16

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

If you don’t work on your yard in Utah, you’ll lose it. It will be consumed by weeds which will themselves die out in the heat until all that’s left is wispy yellow stalks and sharp goatheads. But if you water and mow, fertilize and weed, you can have a green, lush, and living carpet for kids and pets alike to roll and romp across. If you don’t work at it, things get worse not better.

Your soul is such a landscape. Things won’t automatically get better. The days are working against you and time is slipping away. What will you do today to walk wisely and make the best use of the time? It is said a man often over-estimates what he can do in a year and underestimates what he can do in 10 years. Take time to invest in wise practices that will bear fruit now and forever.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to steward my time and resources wisely.

October 27, 2022

2 Corinthians 9:8

8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

So often, I feel like a balloon with all the air let out. Exhausted and frustrated, I look at ministry with a wince rather than a smile. In those moments, the prospect of doing more for the Kingdom is terrifying. It seems like the reward of good work is just more work. How can I really turn up the intensity and survive?

Grace, by nature, has to come from the outside. A gift must be given and must be received, not earned or bought. If I am only prepared to attempt what I already have the strength and wisdom to do, I’ll be a pretty useless servant. God is able to give me grace, and to pour it out in abundance. That grace, not my own strength, will make me sufficient for EVERY good work. What mountain has He given you to climb?

Prayer prompt: Lord, point me to the next task while filling me with confidence in Your grace.

October 26, 2022

2 Corinthians 9:7

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

As a preacher, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have this verse in the Scripture. Imagine it becomes your job to instruct people in the ways of the Bible and find the repeated commands to give and give wildly. You may begin to sweat to think of trying to pry open fingers grasping money with a deadly grip. Yet this verse doesn’t pry the fingers, but delights to offer them something much better than money.

One of the great wonders of Christianity, a crucially unique aspect that sets Christianity apart from a million other thoughts, is the way it works from the inside out. God doesn’t want your money, as though He was a little insoluble at the moment. God loves to see your heart changed so that you give cheerfully. Open up your hand to grasp something greater.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for filling my life with so many opportunities to find so much joy!

October 25, 2022

2 Corinthians 9:6

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

From the outside, the Christian life can seem like a celebration of the word No. There is an austerity in the Christian walk, a constant refusal of the things our culture enjoys. From the outside it seems like we just enjoy the deprivation, or the superiority of that moral high ground. But is that what we’re really up to? Instead of saying no for the sake of no, the Bible emphasizes sacrifice in order to build something grander, more pleasurable, and more lasting than any small temptation. 

Paul tells us to sow bountifully, to give and sacrifice heroically, in order to reap an even greater reward. He assures us that the ground is fertile, the rewards are assured. Simply get to work and watch as every effort is observed by the Father and nothing goes to waste. Choose today where you are going to grow and sow for the Kingdom! 

Prayer prompt: Lord, show me where I can take the first step in sowing bountifully.

October 24, 2022

Luke 17:15-16

15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

Thankfulness is deceiving. It seems like a small nicety like making your bed or chewing with your mouth closed, but it isn’t small or merely polite. Thankfulness is more like the word praise, or worship. Those words are volcanic, world making or re-making, like in the story above.

In Luke 17, 10 lepers cry out for Jesus and are healed. 9 run to get a clean bill of health from the priests so they can go back to their families, which is very understandable. But one stopped, turned, and gave thanks. Stopping to realize what God had done for him resulted in not only clean skin, but the reward of Jesus Himself. Look at the gifts then look up to the Giver. Practice thankfulness today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please forgive me for the thousand thousand things I haven’t thanked You for, and help me to look up from the gifts to enjoy the Giver.

October 21, 2022

Acts 5:29

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. …”

A very smart guy named Charles Taylor talks about something called a “social imaginary”. The concept is that the society around us deeply affects our thinking whether we realize it or not. It may seem like something you grow out of, and sure, as a teenager you tried a lot more consciously to be cool, but it’s a constant force that sways us all. The question isn’t if society affects your thinking, it’s where and how much it affects you. 

Yet, we must obey God rather than man.  Looking danger in the eye and completely disregarding what the spiritual and political leaders of the day mandated, the Apostles obeyed God rather than man. They were beaten for it, but daily, in both public and private venues, they took their knocks to make the Kingdom go forward. Where in your life is there sin that needs to be strangled or obedience that needs to be performed even though it will be incredibly unpopular?

Prayer prompt: Lord, bend my will to Yours as I swim against the current of human opinion.