A Prayer about the Grace in Which We Stand

by | Jun 12, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Grace in Which We Stand

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2.

Lord Jesus Christ,

What peace and hope and joy we have

when we trust in you for our salvation.

In you, we have “obtained access,”

that is, gained entrance into secure relationship with God.

It’s like the Queen of England has an open door policy

inviting us into her state room.

But it’s even better than that.

Not only are we given an audience with the Queen,

she welcomes us with delight,

like familiar family she really loves.

We don’t wobble in your grace

as though we’re about to fall out of it;

we stand in it.

We are held secure in your grace,

which will not let us go.

We stand tall and strong like mighty oaks,

Unmoved by difficult circumstances.

Not only that, in this grace we rejoice, even boast.

We are so confident in your grace

that we want to shout it out like thrilled fans at a football game.

Our sure hope for today and for the coming years

is that the glory of God will be known throughout all the earth.

Our joy comes in knowing

that we get to play a bit part in the story of your glory.

In your justifying name. Amen.

Read Romans 4:13-5:2.

A Prayer about Not Wavering in Worry

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about Not Wavering in Worry

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Psalm 125:1

Lord,

We want to be like Mount Zion, like Mount Rainier, like Mount Everest, 

our faith and hope so firmly planted 

in your grace, goodness, and generosity 

that we never even tremble when uncertainty comes.

The reality is that we worry about little and large things, 

what-if’s we can’t control: 

what if the plane is delayed and I miss my flight, 

what if my child doesn’t love Jesus, 

what if it’s cancer? 

Help us, by your Spirit, 

to fix our hopes on Jesus, 

who is always in the business of redeeming and restoring. 

Remind us — it is true: 

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, 

so you surround your people….” (Psalm 125:2)

Like a hen with its brood safely hidden under its wings, 

we are safely ensconced in your perfect love. 

Remind us — it is true: “from this time forth and forevermore….” 

You are not just holding and helping us 

today or in this one moment, 

you are holding and helping us 

every day in every moment.

Thank you for this unshakable hope.

In the name of our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. 

Amen.

Read Psalm 125. 

A Prayer about the Best Heart Transplant

by | Jun 4, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Best Heart Transplant

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26.

Lord God,

I’ve always been fascinated with the strange prophecies of Ezekiel. 

I love the part where you tell him to breathe into the dry bones, 

and “there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, 

and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

”Then you tell Ezekiel to breathe some more, 

and all of these skeletons are covered with flesh  (Ezekiel 37:7-10). 

It is vivid picture of the new life you give us in Jesus Christ. 

We were walking skeletons in our sin (Ephesians 2:1), 

but you raised us to new life. 

Not only that, you gave us a heart transplant, 

so that we would be your people, and you would be our God.

Fill our imaginations, Lord. 

Help us to see our new hearts 

learning to pump out the lifeblood of love. 

Send us as your grace-plump, enfleshed people, 

into a hurting world that desperately needs new hearts.

In Jesus’ life-giving name. Amen.

Read Ezekiel 36:22-38; 37:1-14.

What Jesus’ Body Means for Us: Relearning How to Enjoy and Glorify God with Our Bodies

by | Mar 16, 2022 | body, Gospel living

What Jesus’ Body Means for Us: Relearning How to Enjoy and Glorify God with Our Bodies

Did Jesus wear diapers? Did Jesus learn to say “Abba”? Did Jesus need to take naps? To all three, if we have a biblical theology of Jesus and the body, we must answer “yes.” Often, we focus on Jesus’ spiritual nature, but we need to reclaim an understanding of Jesus’ body as well. When we pay attention to how Jesus lived in his human body, we better understand how to live in our bodies to enjoy and glorify the Lord.

Our Savior Learned and Grew

The Bible teaches that Jesus learned and grew. Yes, Jesus was sinless, no doubt, but in his humanity, he had to learn; he had to grow. Luke 2:52 tells us, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (NIV). Jesus didn’t emerge from Mary’s womb potty-trained. Jesus grew from a small baby into an average-sized Hebrew male before he began his earthly ministry. Jesus had to learn how to speak Aramaic and Hebrew, how to read Isaiah, and how to write his alphabet.

Just as God designed Jesus to learn and grow, he designed us to learn and grow as well. We can learn new things, like how to play the piano or how to study Scripture. We grow physically, and even when our bodies are fully grown, we can and should continue to increase in “wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man,” by living in our bodies wisely, eating and drinking and exercising and touching and playing to the glory of God.

Continue reading and discover how you can live in the body God has given you. 

 

To Fast or Not to Fast: How to Prepare for Easter

by | Mar 16, 2022 | Gospel living

To Fast or Not to Fast: How to Prepare for Easter

It’s the first of March, and here on the Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is being celebrated from Pensacola to Mobile (home of America’s first Mardi Gras) to New Orleans. What do lavish beads tossed from a float and little king babies hidden inside a cream cheese frosted pastry have to do with Easter, anyway? Here’s my little history lesson (as discovered from forty-five minutes of internet searching).

Mardi Gras originated in the early centuries AD, when pagan Romans celebrated a fertility god with debauchery and drunkenness. Early Christians decided to transform the raucous celebration and make it a day for feasting to mark the end of “ordinary time” after Christmas and the beginning of Lent, the season of fasting and repentance before the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The French first coined the term “Mardi Gras” (Fat Tuesday) as they ate up all of the eggs and milk they would be fasting from during Lent.

What is Lent, and should we observe it?

Lent, short for Lenten, comes to us from the Old English word for “Spring”: lenten, which meant “lengthen.” As the daylight lengthens, life springs into view, buds blooming and bright stalks shoving their way through the earth.

Read the rest of the article and discover good reasons and not-so-good reasons to fast. Click here.

A Prayer about the Temptation to Doubt God’s Love

by | Feb 22, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Temptation to Doubt God’s Love

Lord Jesus,

Thank you for enduring temptation for us.

You had been led to the wilderness by the Spirit. 

This forty days of fasting was planned. 

But that didn’t mean it was easy. 

You had just heard the voice of your Father saying, 

“You are my beloved Son; 

with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). 

Now the evil one, the accuser, Satan, 

knowing you are starving, 

tries to make you doubt God’s love for you, 

for after all, if you’re really the Son of God, 

why would you be out in the wilderness starving? 

Then he tempts you to use your divine power

to turn stones into bread. 

You resisted. You remembered. 

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ 

The rest of the quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3 says, 

“but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” 

Thank you, Lord, for persevering, 

for enduring temptation for us. 

Help us to remember your Word, your assurance: 

because we are united to you, 

we can also resist the devil, 

that he may flee from us (James 4:7).

Read Luke 4:1-4.