A prayer for you today

Ephesians 3:16-19 – I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge –that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

A prayer for you today…

1. That you may be strong with the ability and the capability that comes from the power of God by His Spirit, to face whatever happens today. There is nothing too difficult for God, and by logic of association, there is nothing too difficult for you, because you have God’s power. Through God’s Spirit, your heart, your faith will be the dwelling place for Christ.

2. That you may be grounded and founded in the love of God, with fellow believers, to see how God lives, moves, and breathes within you. To find and understand the intensity of the love of Christ – how it’s limitless, unrestrained, generous, boundless, full, and without measure.

3. That you may experience the truth of the love of Christ, that cannot be explained or reasoned. When enough is enough in the natural, the love of Christ keeps going. To reach out to others and let them experience the fullness of Christ in you.

Everyone, look at how Christian I am…

Matthew 6 – …Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

There are three things mentioned by Jesus with this disclaimer at the end – giving to those in need, prayer, and fasting. Three spiritual acts that we should all be involved in on a continual basis. Three things we should most assuredly do, and most assuredly keep our mouths shut and our hearts in check about it.

We live in a modern church culture that part of our giving to the needy (it should not be all) is our giving to the church. This is the time of year that we also receive a giving report that we can use for tax deductions. So, there it is, our reports on the table in the foyer, or coming through the mail, letting everyone know that we are good people, we gave to the church. Although our total amount of giving is hidden from others, we can pretend that we gave a whole bunch and that we are studious and generous givers to the cause of the kingdom through the local church. Some give more, some give less. But I gave, and my sheet of paper is my proof.

We live in a modern church culture that we pray for others in need. It’s biblical. It’s right. Let’s call for the elders of the church to pray for those that have a request. We pray out loud. We make sure people around us can hear the words we say. We place our hands on people as we pray, letting them feel our spiritual grip on their shoulders – we are serious. And we all finish the prayer out with a rowdy,”Amen!” 15 minutes later, much like the effect of Chinese food, we can’t remember who or what we prayed for. But it makes no difference, people heard our cries to heaven.

We live in a modern church culture that we fast or sacrifice and we let others know our travail through our update timeline. We’re fasting Facebook, so we send out a Facebook post to let our Facebook friends know that we are fasting Facebook and here’s our number for texting if you need. Or we send out a status update requesting a good Daniel Fast plan, because we are going to do a Daniel Fast. It’ll be hard, but our friends can help us through it.

Nothing against these things we do in church – we need giving reports, we need prayers that are bold and loud for people to hear, we need to get information on fasts and sacrifices – but we need to make sure the reason we do these things are for God and not for others to take notice.

Sometimes we just need to examine what and why we do Christian things – is it for Christ or for people to see how Christian we are? Is it for the glory of God or just for glory.

Jesus continued teaching in Matthew 6 about these 3 things – giving, prayer, fasting – they are necessary to the health of the believer. But in order for us to have success, we need to make sure our heart and motives are toward God and not man.

It’s not just a catalyst, but the center

Philippians 4:6-7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Years ago I made a real effort to memorize some verses. I did it for myself, that I would know the power and relevance of the bible. I did it for others, that I could be able to share truth and not conjecture or just what I thought. Yesterday, I needed it for me.

I had outpatient surgery yesterday. I have to be honest and say it was little nerve racking. I haven’t needed a lot of medical attention over the years, but as you get older, I guess it comes up more and more. It wasn’t anything too major.

I had to be put to sleep for the procedure. I didn’t know what to expect and nervous. This scripture kept going through my mind. So thankful for the power of God’s very own word’s in needed moments.

It’s not just a catalyst to help through difficult times, but the center of a life formed by God.

Jesus and The Rolling Stones

Matthew 4:4 – Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. ’

The contrast between physical and spiritual, wants and needs, temporary and eternal.

When the girls were younger, they would ask for everything they saw while out shopping, no matter if it was grocery shopping or at the hardware store. I would hear this, “Daddy, I want this… Can I have one of these? Ooohhh, look at that, I want one…”

They are a little older now, and they still ask for stuff like that. Heck, I still ask for stuff like that.

But back then, and even now a little, I’ll start singing a line from a Rolling Stones song, “You can’t always get what you want.” Sometimes it makes for a good distraction. But there’s truth in that lyric.

Jesus, into his 40 day fast, was first tempted with hunger. The devil tempts him to turn stone into bread to eat, as He is the Son of God. Jesus responds with the supernatural wisdom that brings perspective.

Life is not about satiating impulses. It’s not about feeding our natural desires, but about submitting those desires and impulses to God. Jesus’ statement declared that his satisfaction came from God – His promises, His Word, His provision. A couple of chapters later, Jesus taught that God knows what we need. Look at how He takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, does God not love you more than these? No need to worry about things like that.

You can’t always get what you want = Man does not live by bread alone.
But you get what you need = But by every Word that comes from God.

Lord, I know my needs and desires take too much of a lead sometimes. Help me to turn that focus to You. My provision, Your promises. My sustenance, Your words.

How to be tree strong

Psalms 1:1,2 – Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Natural logic with supernatural results: Who or what we allow to influence our lives will also be our success or undoing. This logic, or law, works with money, food, work, relationships and almost everything else – sowing and reaping, what you give you get, what you let in comes out.

The promise of Psalms 1 is about stability, strength, fulfillment and the reaping influence found through a daily intake of God’s Word.

There’s a show on tv now about a detective with a photographic memory. She has the ability to remember everything she sees, even down to the smallest detail, to find clues and evidence that may lead to a solution to the crime. For example, she can revisit a living room crime scene she’s only looked at once, whenever she wants in her mind – sort of a like a movie shot from any angle and viewpoint.

Most of our brains don’t work that way. We hardly can look at something once and gather all the information we will ever need. We need to continually and repeatedly go over information for it to stick in our long term memory. That’s why it’s never good to cram the night before a test. You may pass the test with short term memory, but a couple of hours later it will be gone.

We need to be careful and mindful of the influences we have constantly and repeatedly in front of us. Why do we allow negativity and wrong to be such a huge portion of our daily intake? Why do we fill our minds we things that tear us down instead of lifting us up?

The promise of Psalms 1, is in verse 3 – He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

The promise of stability, strength, and fulfillment when God and His Word is the daily focus.

Lord, show me the things I have in may life that are not good. Show me what I allow to be a major influence, but it’s tearing me down. I want to be like a tree planted by water – strongly, stable – no matter the season. I want more of you.