Saturday, May 4th

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  Matthew 5:9

Dear Jesus, You tell me that the happy life is one where I take the peace you have made with me and use it to make peace with others.  It’s happy because peace is happiness.  But it’s also happy because I know I’m pleasing your heavenly Father with the wisdom and strength you provide.  Help me to create peace by unconditionally apologizing for my sin toward others and by unconditionally forgiving those who have sinned against me.  It’s fun to watch your gospel work down where the rubber meets the road.  Help me so the hard thing and really get things squared away between myself and others.  Amen.

Pursue peace with people more than cooperation with your wants and needs and you’ll experience life in a whole new depth. 

Friday, May 3rd

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  Matthew 5:8

Dear Jesus, For your whole earthly life you saw what your Father was doing because you had the purest of heart.  I have come to realize that I most often don’t see your Father, because my heart is impure.  When I am purified by revealing truth and cleansing grace, then I see in every circumstance that he is working or my redemption and restoration.  Everything in my life is to either save me or make me a blessing, or both at the same time.  I can’t wait to actually see you and the Father in heaven when my blinding sin is gone, but until then, your word helps me see you at work in my life. Help me to be less bitter and more gracious to others since you have purified me for that very thing.  Amen.

Clean people are fun to be around and spread their purity to others. 

Thursday, May 2nd

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  Matthew 5:7

Dear Jesus, Your whole life was about mercy.  You came to be merciful to those who deserved justice’s wrath.  You came to life shame and guilt from our shoulders.  You came to die so we might live.  You came to show mercy to the worst and the best.  How painful it must be when you see us mere sinners act as judge, jury and jail for fellow failures.  You want us to show mercy like you.  Fill me with your mercy so I am compassionate to those who hurt me or those I love.  Make an instrument of your restoration instead of your critic.  Help me overcome evil with your goodness.  It will take a miracle from your grace.  And I believe in you and your miracles.  Amen.

Vengeance makes the hurt never end.  Mercy is the only path to peace’s door.

Wednesday, May 1st

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’”  Matthew 5:6

Dear Jesus, I easily know every day that I am hungry and thirsty.  It makes me look for food and water.  To date, I have always had enough.  After all, here I am with so much that I have to curtail myself.  Be that as it may, I do not always recognize my great need for the righteousness you promise to give.  I forget that the gnawing discontent in my soul springs from my sinful nature and the guilt it warrants every day.  Today, I’m acknowledging it.  I’m hungry to be made right with you, myself and others.  I need to be at peace about myself.  I cannot produce this peace on my own.  I have to receive it from you.  Many years ago, I learned about the peace that comes from grace that flows from your cross.  I’ve even taught it to others.  But even so, I often resort to denial, blame and repression to deal with the hunger I have for grace.  Today, I won’t do that.  I’m sitting here before you the way my cat waits for me to pour food in his bowl.  Please Jesus, fill me with the righteousness that comes from forgiveness and grace.  Thank you that you do!  Amen.

You cannot manufacture grace.  By its very nature it has to be given.

Tuesday, April 30th

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  Matthew 5:5

Dear Jesus, It’s so easy to think everything depends on me.  I repent of that large trust I have in myself.  I am an ant on your hill.  Help me to trust you in every endeavor and at every turn, so I learn to be gentle and unassuming instead of forceful and manipulative to get what I want to think is rightfully mine.  Help me to trust you will give me many blessings and more than I could ever imagine.  That way, I will quit thinking I need to make everything happen for me.  You gave your life so I could live forever.  Help me have faith that yields meekness in my heart and life.  Amen.

Monday, April 29th

“Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.  He said:  ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”  Matthew 5:1-3

Dear Jesus, The world tells me to have self-esteem, to build myself help, to make feeling good about myself a high priority.  But that’s not the whole story.  To be mentally and spiritually healthy I must have the freedom to be honest with myself about my sins and weaknesses.  I have to recognize how small, flawed, and finite I am.  I have to acknowledge my need for others and you.  I must first see my poverty before I can appreciate the wealth you bring to me.  Keep me humble Lord, so I recognize my needs and those who fill them.  Give me the humility that attracts friends and family and lays the foundation for long-lasting relationships.  Help me to remember that true happiness comes from an honest assessment of one’s life.  Amen.

Humility is the spiritual byproduct of being honest with oneself. 

Saturday, April 27th

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.  Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”  Matthew 4:23-25

Dear Jesus, Your miraculous acts of mercy, your adamant preaching of salvation and your tireless training of people, give me my marching orders for life.  I will dedicate myself to relieving suffering, leading people to Christ and helping people grow spiritually.  Then I will know that my life was invested for the greatest benefit of others.  Help all Christians everywhere to focus on these better things.  Your people are each only here for a brief time.  Help us to number our days and use them wisely for eternity.  Amen.

To help people physically and spiritually, what more meaningful life could there be? 

Friday, April 26th

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.  They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’  At once they left their nets and followed him.  Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.  They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets.  Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.’”  Matthew 4:18-22

Dear Jesus, I have always been amazed by this short story of how your first disciples dropped everything to follow you  It actually scared me because I wondered if you would ever walk by and ask me to leave my family for you.  I realize after reading John 2 and Luke 5 that these men had been around you before.  They had heard you preach and they saw you change water into wine.  In fact on this day, you gave them a miraculous catch of fish.  But even so, the fact that they left their everyday pattern for a life of discipleship instead of just fishing and gathering, is astounding.  I want to live for the greater cause of your kingdom too.  I am following you in a life of service too.  Help me to prioritize being your disciple in every conversation, every relationship, every venture, every conflict and every moment.  When I look back over my life, I want to see a landscape of people touched by you through my life.  Amen.

We aren’t just existing.  We are on a mission.  Remember that in the smallest moments today.

Thursday, April 25th

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.  For in him you have bee enriched in every way-with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.”  1 Corinthians 1:4-5

Dear Father in Heaven, You have been so, so good to me.  You have poured out riches upon me throughout my entire life.  At my baptism you washed my sins away and clothed me with Christ.  There you adopted me into your family.  Throughout my life, you have been at work to grow me in faith and to equip me for your service.  You have even given me specific callings in which I might serve and gifts with which I might serve you and others.  More than that, you have spoken to me about my future and you have told me that you will keep me until the end; you have told me that you are faithful and that you will not abandon me even to the grace.  Thank you for your abundant grace which you continue to pour out on me day after day.  Amen.

Take a moment this morning to do an inventory of the ways in which God has been gracious to you.  Go all the way back to your baptism.  Consider how he has shaped and molded you in different ways.  Ponder his promises about your future and what your faithful God will do for you.  Your God has enriched you in every way and has poured out rich grace on you in Christ. 

Wednesday, April 24th

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”            Proverbs 31:30

Lord God, So often during my life I am pursuing a certain look, a certain appearance.  I want to look good before people.  I want them to value, validate and affirm me as a person who is someone.  And so I will dress myself up, put myself together, and seek to woo them with my words and behavior.  But none of this matters if my heart is still darkened by sin.  So, Lord, make a new heart in me by your Spirit.  Convert my heart and clean all sin out of it.  Come, dear Jesus, and make your home in my heart and set up your throne there so that I might live a life that pleases you.  Come, Holy Spirit, and rule in the members of my body through your great power.  I want to live godly life in this world because you have loved me deeply.  Change me from the inside out, O Spirit, that I might live a life that honors you from my heart into my life.  Amen.

The inner matters more than the outer.  This is not just true for women, but for all of us.  There is nothing we can acquire, achieve, or accomplish that will make us more beautiful and give us a higher value than what we have in Christ.  This inner disposition of faith and the fear of the Lord overflows into a wise life that is full of faith. 

Tuesday, April 23rd

“Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding.  I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained the knowledge of the Holy One.  Who has gone up to heaven and come down?  Whose hands have gathered up the wind?  Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?  Who has established all the ends of the earth?  What is his name, and what is the name of his son?  Surely you know!  ‘Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.’”  Proverbs 30:2-6

Lord God, God help us.  Your ways are so high.  Your thoughts are so deep.  And I am so limited.  I can’t wrap my mind around the true and full wisdom of your Word.  It is too much for me to fathom.  It is not irrational, but it is beyond my reason; it is supra-rational.  Grant me your Spirit, O Father, to give me understanding where you have spoken.  And when you do not give complete understanding, give me faith to take you at your Word and to trust you in all things.  O Spirit, lead me to trust in the Lord with all of my heart and to lean not on my own understanding.  Amen.

And when we do that, we are no longer brutes, no longer fools for it is the Word of God that transforms us into wise sons and daughters who love and seek and follow their dear Father in heaven.

Monday, April 22nd

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”  Proverbs 29:25

Lord God, As I live out my day today I am tempted to make decisions and carry out actions that are not seeking you but seeking others.  I am a people pleaser to the highest degree.  If people are unhappy with me, then I am unhappy, stressed and anxious.  Sometimes it even keeps me up at night.  So, I do everything I can to make people happy.  Sometimes I even avoid difficult conversations that truly need to be held out of love for them.  I am often controlled by my desire to please people.  Forgive me for this.  While it is good for me to love people, my highest goal in life is not to have their approval or their pleasure, but to have yours!  And by your grace, I already have it.  I stand before you as a completely accepted and valued child of yours.  You have proclaimed our highest pleasure with me calling me “son/daughter,” even telling the world that I am your child with whom you are well-pleased.  Help me this day to be most concerned with doing what pleases you.  Help me to live this day as if I was living for you alone.  Amen.

Yes, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It leads me to trust him and find my safety there.

Saturday, April 20th

“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’”  Matthew 2:13

Dear Jesus, You were conceived under suspicion, born in a hovel hotel and then your family had to run for your lives.  How could I ever think that you don’t understand my trials.  You experienced everything we do and then some.  Give me your wisdom and peace so when I go through similar struggles I can keep my life in perspective and learn to adjust my attitude to fit the situation.  Help me to remember that every event, no matter how random and negative it might seem, is still part of your wonderful plan for me.  Give me the faith to trust the plans you are executing even though you won’t show them to me until they unfold.  A thousand thanks are in order for your willingness to enter this world ruined by sin so you could redeem sinners like me.  Amen.

Jesus lived the same vulnerable life that we must live.  He understands us when we chaff under it too.

Friday, April 19th

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”  Matthew 2:1-2

Dear Jesus, The dust had settled after the shepherds had surrounded your crude cradle.  Then your father brought foreign royalty to see you.  How proud your heavenly dad was to see you humbly grace the earth with your presence.  He wanted sincere seekers to find you.  He wanted his own people to be moved to jealousy in the hopes of saving them too.  He used even a miraculous star to attract us all to you.  I see him using lots of ways to attract people to you even today.  Help me to look for wise seekers too.  I am proud of you along with your Father.  I want people to know the significance of your life.  In you I find peace and hope.  I want to be a star guiding people to you.  Amen.

God the Father loves it when we are as proud of Jesus as he is. 

Thursday, April 18th

“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”  Proverbs 27:19

Lord God, Help me to look in the lake today and see what it shows me there.  Help me to study and evaluate and meditate on what I see in my life.  The words I say, the things I think, the actions I take-especially the impulsive ones-these all show me something about what is going on in my heart.  Give me wisdom to see what they show me.  Surround me with friends who can help me draw out the depths of my heart.  And then, Lord Jesus, renew my heart with your grace, your love and your mercy.  Make my heart new so that the things which come out of it are aligned with you, with your grace and your mercy.  Help me to rejoice in your renewing and forgiving grace which are new each morning.  Give me a new heart and a new spirit by your Holy Spirit.  Make me new.  Amen.

Wednesday, April 17th

“Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for them.”  Proverbs 26:12

Lord God, Sometimes I am tempted to read a chapter of the Bible, to listen to a sermon, or to dig into a Bible study and to think about certain people who really need to hear this.  I’m tempted to think about how this Word from God applies to them, but I do not apply these words to myself.  Forgive me, Lord.  This kind of thinking is the beginning of foolishness.  It is the beginning of pride.  It is the beginning of falling away from your Word and a hardening toward it.  Forgive me and help me.  Open up my heart and my ears so that I might receive your Word.  When you send out your Word and your Spirit, when it hits my ears, you intend that word to be first for me.  Help me to take that Word into my heart and to let it take root there.  You intend to bless, to help, to transform, even to save me through your Word.  So, Lord, take the cotton balls out of my ears and soften my hardening heart so that I might hear, believe, and bear abundant fruit for you in my whole life.  Help me, Spirit.  Save me, dear Jesus.  Amen.

Tuesday, April 16th

“A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  She brings him good, nor harm, all the days of her life.  Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.  Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”  Proverbs 31:10-12, 28-31

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for describing a godly woman who takes care of her husband and children with a humble heart.  Thank you for giving me a mother and a wife who honestly tried to be the virtuous women like you describe here.  Thank you for all the women who trust that true feminism is found in fulfilling a role that only they can, -to be the heart of their home and a benefactor for those came from their own womb.  Thank you for all the women who adopted children into their homes and gave them what some other woman wouldn’t or couldn’t.  Thank you for wives‘ long hours, uncomplaining consistency and patient demeanor with their fallible and aging husbands.  God, please fill this generation with plenty of virtuous women who will raise up the next generation of godly female mentors for the future of this planet.  Amen.

If you have breath in your lungs and a sense of compassion as a compass in your heart, then you have a woman somewhere to thank. 

Monday, April 15th

“Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.  Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.”  Proverbs 25:11-12

Lord God, I’m not perfect.  I know that.  I easily and freely admit that from the quiet of my own heart, from the secret of my mind.  But when I’m confronted with sin and someone comes with a rebuke I don’t receive it as easily.  I’m quick to make excuses, pass the blame, or even deny that I did it.  I don’t like to be confronted or rebuked.  Lord Jesus, I know that it is simply pride that keeps me from being honest about my sin.  Forgive me for my pride and humble my heart to hear the rebuke that others bring.  Soften my heart to listen with an open heart and open my ears to listen to what they have to say.  Lead me to repent of my sin and then give me rest in the forgiveness of sin.  I can confess and come clean about any sin because every sin is forgiven by you.  Wash me clean with your blood and help me to stand to live in this world as your child.  Amen.

We can listen to any rebuke with the confidence that we are and will be forgiven.  We can rise up, then, in the forgiveness of sins to a new life. 

Saturday, April 13th

“I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.  I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:30-34

Lord God, As I make my way through the week I work.  I push really hard.  I stay up late and I get up early; even at night my mind doesn’t stop.  Here I am on a Saturday and a list of chores and tasks and to-dos from both home and work are rushing through my mind.  You have called me to be productive with my life just as you called Adam and Eve to work the ground, to care for it and to cultivate it.  You have called for the same from me and in my life.  So, Lord, today give me strength and energy to work hard at the tasks in front of me.  Make me diligent about my tasks and productive in my life.  And, at the same time, dear Savior, help me to rest my body and my heart in your finished work.  I can rest my heart and even my body at night and on days of rest and relaxation because you rested from your work.  You watch over the city so I can sleep at night.  You will accomplish your will whether I am awake or asleep.  The success of my productivity doesn’t rest in my long hours.  Help me to rest because you are ruling.  Help me to rest because you will provide and care for us.  Help me to rest because your will is always accomplished in me and through me.  You are always successful.  Your will is always accomplished.  Help me to work and grant me deep rest because of who you are.  Amen.

So, we work hard and we rest deeply.  We work hard because that is what God has given us to do during our days on earth.  We rest deeply because God has finished his work and he is the one who truly provides and cares for us through our work. 

Saturday, April 13th

“I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.  I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:30-34

Lord God, As I make my way through the week I work.  I push really hard.  I stay up late and I get up early; even at night my mind doesn’t stop.  Here I am on a Saturday and a list of chores and tasks and to-dos from both home and work are rushing through my mind.  You have called me to be productive with my life just as you called Adam and Eve to work the ground, to care for it and to cultivate it.  You have called for the same from me and in my life.  So, Lord, today give me strength and energy to work hard at the tasks in front of me.  Make me diligent about my tasks and productive in my life.  And, at the same time, dear Savior, help me to rest my body and my heart in your finished work.  I can rest my heart and even my body at night and on days of rest and relaxation because you rested from your work.  You watch over the city so I can sleep at night.  You will accomplish your will whether I am awake or asleep.  The success of my productivity doesn’t rest in my long hours.  Help me to rest because you are ruling.  Help me to rest because you will provide and care for us.  Help me to rest because your will is always accomplished in me and through me.  You are always successful.  Your will is always accomplished.  Help me to work and grant me deep rest because of who you are.  Amen.

So, we work hard and we rest deeply.  We work hard because that is what God has given us to do during our days on earth.  We rest deeply because God has finished his work and he is the one who truly provides and cares for us through our work.