have mercy

Opening Prayer: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord: O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2, NIV)

Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8

Journal: What is mercy to you?  How are crying out to God for mercy these days? 

Reflection: What is mercy, exactly?  It is a word we often use, but what does it really mean?  And what are we actually asking for when we ask someone to have mercy on us?  The blind man in Mark 10:47 begged Jesus for mercy.  And the tax collector of Luke 18:13 stood at a distance with his eyes downcast and beat his breast as he asked God to have mercy on him.  But what is mercy?

     The dictionary would tell us that mercy is compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power.  It is compassion, pity, or benevolence.  The cry for mercy is a cry for unmerited favor.  But those just seem like words on a page that fail to capture the true emotion and posture of someone begging for mercy.  For this request does not come lightly, it comes out of the depths.  It is what happens when we are desperate, powerless, or at the end of our rope.  We ask for mercy when it becomes evident that there is no other alternative, no other way out, or through.  For if there was another alternative, if there was some other way, surely we would try it.  

     The person begging for mercy is the one who has come to the end of himself, and is totally dependent on someone greater to enter in and act benevolently on his behalf.  Therefore, the cry for mercy is one that comes from a posture of total humility, dependence, and surrender.  You don’t beg for mercy if you have hope that somehow you might be able figure it out or muscle your way through on your own.  It involves a realization of both the gravity of our own situation, as well as our utter powerlessness to do anything about it.

     The beautiful thing is that when we do eventually cry out in desperation for God’s mercy, he responds, “Finally!  This is music to my ears.  I have been waiting and waiting for you to come to the end of yourself and turn to me.  Now we’re getting somewhere.  Now the real work can begin.”

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

do you want to get well?

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, all too often, if I’m really honest, I have to admit that I really do not want to get well.  Forgive me for that.  Give me the desire for all of the life and the love you created me for.  Help me to never be content to settle for less.  Amen.

Scripture: John 5:1-15

Journal: Do you want to get well?  What does that mean to you?  How is Jesus asking you that today?

Reflection: “Do you want to get well?”  What a question!  Easy to answer, perhaps; on the surface of things anyway.  But when we dig down to the real questions and issues and beliefs and doubts and patterns of our lives, it is not so easy after all.  That is probably why Jesus asks (notice I didn’t say asked) it.  What is your answer?

     If we really want to get well, then why do we keep living as if we don’t?  Why do we keep feeding the false narratives and dysfunctional patterns that we say we so desperately want to get rid of?  For the narratives and patterns that we feed are the ones that are going to grow.

     So maybe the question is not quite so simple after all, but incredibly profound.  Do you want to get well?  Do you?  Really?  If so, then Jesus gives you the power and ability to do so.  If you are willing to “Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk.”  What do you say?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Forgive me, Lord Jesus, when I would rather live in my brokenness and dysfunction than in your fullness and wholeness.  It baffles me that I would even consider that, but I do.  Help me to choose life today.  Help me to choose you.  Amen.

all or nothing

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you look at me and love me.  But that doesn’t stop you from demanding all from me.  Help me to have the courage and the strength to leave all else behind and follow you.  Amen.

Scripture: Mark 10:17-23

Journal: What do you treasure these days more than you treasure Jesus?  What would it look like to leave that behind and follow him?  Will you?

Reflection: Lord Jesus, forgive me when I desire attention and admiration more than I desire you.  Forgive me when I seek approval and affirmation before I seek you.  Forgive me when I treasure the things of this world more than I treasure you.  Be my all, Lord Jesus, this day and every day.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help me to hear your call upon my life this day, Lord Jesus, and respond with a resounding, “Yes!”

delight in the word

Opening Prayer: Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.  (Psalm 119:105)

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-3

Journal: How has the word of God come alive in you lately?  What fruit is it producing?  Are you delight in it?  Are you mediating on it?  

Reflection: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night.  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.” (Psalm 1:2-3)

     The scriptures are not merely an ancient book of wisdom, or a self-help guide, or a proof-text for a certain brand of theology; they are the very words of God himself.  They are not a text book, but a love letter.  Therefore, they must be read in a different way than what we are used to.   

     They are one of the most tangible places we encounter the Living God.  They are living and active, they are powerful and authoritative, they are God-breathed and God-saturated.  They are the most audible and reliable voice of God that we’ve got.  They guide, they correct, they encourage, and (by the power of the Spirit) they transform.  

     The words of the scriptures are deeply relevant and personal, they speak to each life specifically and to each community corporately.  They tell us what God is like and show us how to live like him.  They are like a javelin aimed at the target of the human heart, always hitting their mark with their life-giving power.

     When we delight in the words of the scriptures, and meditate on them day and night, they produce the fruit of life and love and freedom within us.  They plant us in solid soil and keep us from being blown around by the winds of mood and whim and circumstance.  They make us more into the people God intended us to be.  They make us more able to love the way God intended for us to love.  

     Thus, when we ignore or dismiss or belittle the words of the scriptures—when we make them less than they were intended to be—we do so at our own expense.  If we untether ourselves from their power and their authority, and become the authority ourselves, we drift aimlessly into our own version of the truth, which is not really truth at all. 

Prayer

Closing Prayer: I will walk in freedom, O Lord, for I have sought your precepts.  I delight in your commands because I love them. (Psalm 119:45, 47)

for freedom

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that it is for freedom that you have set us free.  Help us to know what that means and what it is supposed to look like today.  Amen.

Scripture: Galatians 5:1-26

Journal: What does freedom in Christ mean to you?  How does it manifest itself in our lives?  Are you living in the full freedom that Jesus desires for you?  How can you enter into that freedom more and more each day?

Reflection: Contrary to popular opinion, freedom is not just about doing whatever you want to do.  True freedom is about being who God made us to be.  It is about loving the way God made us to love.  It is about serving the way God made us to serve.  In fact, it is not really about us at all.  Freedom unbinds us from our slavery to self.  It allows us to not be consumed and compelled by how people and things affect us, but, instead, allows us to be consumed and compelled by the God who made us.  It is the ability to live by the Spirit, instead of living by the flesh.  It is the ability to be our truest selves, rather than continually being controlled and ruled by the false self.  When we are truly free, we are the very best version of ourselves, and we enable others to be the very best version of themselves.    It is truly a taste of the Kingdom.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help us, O Lord, to live in the full freedom that you created us for, every minute of every day,  Amen.

weakness

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, remind me today that your grace is sufficient for me.  Help me to be brave enough to operate out of my weaknesses, that your power might have room to move and to work.  Amen.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Journal: What do you do with your weaknesses?  How do you deal with them?  What does Jesus ask you to do with them?  Will you do that today?

Reflection:

Jesus: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Me: “Oh Yay!  Oh no!”

Jesus:  “Haha.  Why oh no?”

Me:  “Because I hate my weaknesses.  I try to hide them from everybody.”

Jesus: “I know you do.”

Me: “Then why is your power made perfect in my weakness?  Why not in my strength?  That would make a whole lot more sense, wouldn't it?

Jesus:  “Maybe to you it would.  But I know you all too well.  I know that your strengths often get in the way of what I am actually trying to do.  I have to get you to the end of your strength, so you can learn to trust in mine.  When you are weak, your self is out of the way and there is space for me to move and to act.”

Me: “So when I operate only out of my strengths it can actually hinder your strength and your power from being on full display?”

Jesus: (with a smile) “Yep.  When you finally learn that this life is about me and not about you, then we’re getting somewhere.”

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, as much as I would like for everyone to believe that I am big and strong and gifted and adequate, I am not.  It is your strength that really gets the work of the Kingdom done, not mine.  Help me to remember that.  Amen.

the fourth watch

Opening Prayer: For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2, ESV)

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

Journal: Where in your life are you desperately waiting for God to show up?  What is it doing within you?  How will you trust him in the meantime?

Reflection: “During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.” (Matthew 14:25)  Why the fourth watch?  Why did Jesus wait so long to go out to them?  After all, they had been out on the lake, buffeted by the wind and the waves for as many as twelve hours.  Why not go out to them sooner?  Why wait until they had been bruised and battered and beaten?

     Do you ever ask that question?  Do you ever wonder why God seems to let the storms of life go on for so long before he eventually shows up in the midst of them?  Is he testing our belief?  Is he trying to see if we really believe that he is able to calm the storm?  Or is he trying to see if we really believe that he is willing to?  I know that I have little trouble believing that he can, but much more difficulty believing that he will. 

     Regardless of the reason, I have found that Jesus is a fourth-watch-kind-of-a-God.  He tends to wait a while before he comes out to us.  And even when he does, sometimes our circumstances are so chaotic that we still cannot recognize him.

     The fourth watch is the point where we just cannot do it anymore.  It is the place in time when we can row no more.  The fourth watch is the time when we finally cry, “Uncle!”  When we say, “I just cannot do this anymore.  I’ve got nothing left.”  It is the time when we have finally been brought to the point of total desperation and absolute dependence.  It is the time when we have finally come to the end of ourselves.  And unfortunately, for most of us, that is a long, long journey.  For there is something God is trying to do deep within us and bringing us to the end of ourselves is the only way to make it happen.  Otherwise we would just keep on rowing and rowing and rowing.

     It’s like God finally says: “I want you to trust me.  Not me and your own gifts and efforts, not me and your circumstances, not even me and your friends and family; but me alone.  And you will never trust me alone until all of the other things have been stripped away.  Until you have come to the end of yourself and there is nothing else, and no one else, left to cling to but me.  That’s when I’ve finally got you where I want you.  That’s when true growth and transformation can take place.  That’s when you finally reach the point where you can become all that I dreamt you to be.”

     So if it takes until the fourth watch to get me there, then I suppose it’s worth it, huh?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to know that when you wait until the fourth watch to come out to me, you are not just being difficult.  You are trying to accomplish something very good in me.  Help me to never let the storms of this life, or the timing of your coming, make me doubt the goodness of your heart.