seek first

Opening Prayer: “Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Philippians 4:6-7, The Message)

Read: Matthew 6:25-34

Reflect: It is so easy to allow the worries of this life to consume us.  We get so busy trying to manage and control our little kingdom that we lose sight of his.  We lose sight of what is important, what is eternal. 

Then along comes Jesus, who tells us not to worry about that which we cannot control.  He tells us not to labor or spin or store away in barns.  He tells us not to seek comfort and ease and earthly security, but instead, to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.  Because if we do that, everything else will take care of itself.  “Only one thing is necessary,” wrote Charles de Foucauld, “that is to do at every moment what is most pleasing to Jesus.”  That’s what really matters.

So I guess the real question is: What am I seeking these days?  How and where has worrying about my life kept me from living it?  And what would it look like to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness?

Journal: What’s consuming your life and thoughts these days?  What would it look like to give it all to Jesus, to seek him first?

Pray: Give Jesus your worries and concerns in prayer today.  Let them go.  Now give your heart and mind (and prayers) to his kingdom and his righteousness.  Seek him, not yourself.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can’t seek your kingdom and your righteousness unless you give me the ability to.  Give me the strength and the courage and the grace to be about you today and not about me.

grave clothes

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you brought me from death to life.  Free me now from the things that bind and hinder me from the life and the love you desire me to know and experience.

Read: John 11:43-44

Reflect:

“Lazarus come out!”

The dead man came out,

His hands and head

Wrapped with strips of linen,

And a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them,

“Take off the grave clothes

And let him go.”

It reads like a poem.  Because we know, all too well, exactly what he means.  He’s talking to us too.  The things that bind us and keep us from the life he desires for us must be removed and left behind.  Yes, he has raised us from death to life and brought us out of the tomb, which is glorious indeed, but still there is work to be done in order for us to live fully and freely.  Walking with God in newness of life means leaving the grave clothes behind.

Journal: What still binds you?  What grave clothes do you need to leave behind in order to live fully and freely in the newness of life Christ is offering you?

Pray: Ask God to show you how you still need to be unbound, so that you can live fully and freely in him.  Listen to what he says.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, free me from anything and everything that binds me and keeps me from the life and the love you want me to experience.

thorns

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to understand that weak is strong in your kingdom.  My weaknesses are meant to help reveal your strength.  Forgive me when I try to hide them rather than embrace them.  They are actually invitations to a deeper life with you.

Read: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Reflect:

the deeper the need

the bigger the grace

the deeper the weakness

the greater his power

the deeper the desperation

the more vibrant his life in you

the deeper the thorns cut

the sweeter the revelations become

 

i guess the thorns

ain’t so bad after all

Journal: How is Jesus inviting you to discover his grace in your weaknesses?  Be specific.  What is your thorn these days?  How is God using it to make you more dependent on him?

Pray: Ask God to help you embrace your weaknesses so that you might reveal his power.  They are opportunities, not obstacles.

Closing Prayer: Forgive me, Lord Jesus, when I try to hide my weaknesses so that people will think better of me.  Because my weaknesses were meant to help display your power.  When I refuse to be vulnerable and embrace my weaknesses, I make life about me rather than about you.

last

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I get it backwards so often; please forgive me.  Forgive me when I make this life about me, rather than about you.  Forgive me when I seek praise, acclaim, and admiration more than I seek you.  Forgive me when I try to climb up, rather than following you on your downward way.  Help me, O Lord, to always have in mind the things of God, rather than the things of men.  Have mercy on me. 

Read: Matthew 20:1-16

Reflect: When we start to think we are more deserving of the attention, affection, recognition, or renumeration that others are getting, we need to pay careful attention.  Because we are falling into the trap of comparison, which never turns out well in terms of the kingdom.

On the one hand, we see people we don’t think we’re as good as, which makes us incredibly insecure.  And on the other hand, we see people that we think we’re better than (sadly) but who are getting more recognition, affection, or renumeration than we are, which makes us frustrated, envious, and jealous.  It’s a no-win game.

So, Jesus comes along and tells a story to show us what kingdom living is really all about.  And the point of the story is this: In the kingdom of God the first are last and the last are first.  Walking with God is not about jockeying and posturing, but about going to the back of the line.  It’s about lifting others above ourselves.  It’s about celebrating others, not competing or comparing.  At the back of the line is where we will find Jesus.

Journal: Where do you find yourself in this story?  What does God want to say to you about that?

Pray: Ask Jesus what the last shall be first needs to look like in your life.  Ask him to be specific.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to know the beauty and the joy of making myself last, less, and least.

rejoice

Opening Prayer: Every day is a gift from you, O Lord, help me to treat it as such.  Help me to receive it and to live it with joy and gratitude, regardless of its contents.

Read: Philippians 4:4-5

Reflect: Joy is a choice; it is deeper than happiness and can endure sorrow.  Each day, regardless of its contents, we can choose to live as if life were a gift or a burden.  But that gift must be recognized and received in order to be experienced, valued, and appreciated.  We can either savor each day or endure each day, depending on how we look at it.  We can either count our blessings, or we can recite our woes.  The choice is ours.

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!”  Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote these words.  He didn’t allow his circumstances to determine his mindset and attitude.  Instead, he chose joy.  He had an attitude of gratitude.  We can live with that determination as well.  Choose joy today.

Journal: What have you got to be grateful for?  Write it all down.  Reflect on it.  Savor it.  Thank God for it.  Allow it to help you to choose joy rather than anger, bitterness, or indifference.

Pray: Tell God what you are grateful for.  Hold them near to your heart and allow them to permeate your mind and soul.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to live a life of deep gratitude for who you are, who I am to you, and all you have blessed me with.  Help me choose joy today.

like a little child

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I get it backwards so often; please forgive me.  Forgive me when I make this life about me, rather than about you.  Forgive me when I seek praise, acclaim, and admiration more than I seek you.  Forgive me when I try to climb up, rather than following you on your downward way.  Help me, O Lord, to become like a little child.

Read: Mark 10:13-31

Reflect: Walking with Jesus is different than we may imagine.  It often leads down, rather than up.  Take the contrast in this passage, for instance.  These two encounters with Jesus come one after the other for a reason.  Mark is very intentional in this way throughout his entire gospel.

The disciples thought the kingdom of God was about power and position, influence and importance.  They wanted to be rulers, while Jesus was trying to teach them to be children.  They wanted to be high and mighty, while Jesus was trying to teach them to be least and lowly.  They wanted to be independent and self-sufficient, while Jesus was trying to teach them the necessity of dependence and desperation.

Enter the children.  They were small, lowly, and innocent.  They were needy, weak, and dependent.  They were unimportant and insignificant, the least of these from a societal perspective.  Yet they were first in the kingdom of God.  They were open and trusting and receptive.  They were the ones Jesus blessed.

The rich young ruler, on the other hand, was the direct opposite.  He was wealthy, successful, powerful, influential, and self-sufficient.  He had no need, just a gnawing feeling inside that there was something he still lacked.  And in response to his question, Jesus looked at him and loved him.  In fact, Jesus loved him enough to tell him the truth: he must give up everything and come follow Jesus.  In essence, Jesus told him he must become like a little child if he wanted to enter the kingdom of God.  But that was too much to ask of this powerful, important man.  So instead of being blessed, he walked away sad.

Journal: Where do you find yourself in this story?  Who can you relate to most?  What does becoming like a child look like for you?  Are you willing to do it?

Pray: Put yourself in this scene as you pray today.  Where do you find yourself?  What does Jesus have to say to you?  How does it make you feel?  What is your response?

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom and the courage and the grace and the strength to become like little children today, whatever that may mean.

submit

Opening Prayer: O God, teach me what it means to submit to you, because I’m not very good at that.  Help me to flee from evil and run to the truth.  Help me to draw near to you, knowing that if I do, you promise to draw near to me.

Read: James 4:7-10

Reflect: Walking with God requires a movement from autonomy to submission.  We aren’t the ones in charge, he is.  He calls the shots, he sets the agenda, he determines the course.  Therefore, our lives must reflect that. 

But what does it look like to submit to God?  The Greek word (hypotassō) used here by James gives us a great clue.  It means to station yourself under.  When we submit to God, he becomes the point.  Life is not about us anymore, it’s about him.  He leads and we follow.  He, and not us, becomes the center of the universe around which everything revolves.  Our lives are completely under his rule and his reign.

“So let God work his will in you,” says The Message translation of James 4:7-10.  “Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life.  Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”

Journal: Where and how do you need to submit to God?  What does that look like?

Pray: Place yourself under God in prayer.  Take a posture of submission, whatever that may look like.  Ask him to show you who he is and what he wants.  Listen carefully to his answer.

Closing Prayer: O God, forgive me when I try to rule and run my own life.  I am terrible at it.  Teach me what it means to submit to you and give me the grace and the strength and the courage to do it.