Friday, April 12th

“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.  Punish them with the rod and save them from death.”  Proverbs 23:13-14

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it…Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.”  Proverbs 22:6, 15

Lord God, I want more than anything else to see my children and my spouse in heaven with me.  Today, I am praying specifically for my children.  You’ve given them to me as a gift.  You’ve entrusted them to me on this earth and at this time for one big purpose, so that from me they can learn to know their Savior.  In addition to this, you have given me to them so that I might teach them the ropes of life and the path to life as you have laid it out for me.  It’s hard, though, Father.  It’s frustrating.  It’s aggravating.  It’s even confusing.  I don’t always know what to do.  Help me, Father, to pray more for my children.  There is nothing more important that I can do for my children than to ask you to be involved in their life.  Help me, Father, to get involved in their lives and to be invested in every part of their lives.  When I’m tired from a long day of work or worn out by the stress of parenting, give me strength to continue to be invested in their upbringing.  Help me, Lord, to train them to know you.  I want to hug them into heaven.  So, help me to raise them up to know you.  Amen.

The goal is discipline is always to instruct.  The goal is always to draw them closer to their God.  The goal is always to teach them the ways of the Lord. 

Thursday, April 11th

“Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.”  Proverbs 28:27

Dear Heavenly Father, You have put many generous people in my life who model for me how to be selfless.  Thank you for showing me how to give through them.  Here you encourage my heart so prone to be stingy.  Give my heart eyes to see the needs of others and a strong desire to fill them.  Help me find joy in sharing and letting go.  Because I believe your promise to return to me many more blessings when I share, I’m excited to see how this works with you.  Let the good times roll.  Amen.

Do you want to feel blessed and be blessed?  Then, be a blessing to others.

Wednesday, April 10th

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are profuse.”  Proverbs 27:6

“Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend that cometh of hearty counsel.” Proverbs 27:9

“Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; and go not to thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.”  Proverbs 27:10

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”  Proverbs 27:17

Dear Heavenly Father, You have given me many blessings in life, but the greatest blessings are my friends.  Starting with your Son, Jesus, who laid down his life for me and then certain family members who choose to love me like a friend instead of tolerating me as a “sibling” and finally so many Christian friends who do life with me.  They listen to me carefully.  They love me faithfully by forgiving me of my repeated mistakes.  They risk my disdain by rebuking me.  They step in to lift the other end of the log when I can’t carry my burdens alone.  They grace the most dreary day with their little rays of sunshine.  If it were not for the friends you have granted me, I would be sunk.  Thanks for filling my life with them.  Amen.

When you are prone to count your blessings, start with your friends. 

Tuesday, April 9th

“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”         Proverbs 22:1

Lord Jesus, You have given me a name that is above every name.  You have called me child.  You have declared me “not guilty.”  You have given me a perfectly clear resume before God.  For your sake, my Father speaks words of pleasure about me, yes, me!  He says, “You are my child.  I love you.  I am pleased with you.”  I know that I don’t deserve this.  I don’t deserve this reputation before you.  There are more than a few reasons that he shouldn’t say that about me, but because of your grace that is precisely what he says.  Thank you for your blood, Jesus.  Thank you for your righteousness, Savior.  Help me to live up to this new name today.  Help me, in all things, to make you look good because of the life that I live.  Keep me from dirtying my name and yours too by the life that live.  Help me to keep your name holy throughout this day.  Amen.

So, work hard to have and to keep a good reputation in this world.  If not only reflects well on you but also gives glory to your Father in heaven.  And, at the same time, rest your heart in the knowledge that you have a status and a reputation from your God that is truly better than silver and gold.

Monday, April 8th

“Do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”  Proverbs 21:3

“The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.”  Proverbs 21:12

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.”  Proverbs 21:21

God grant us such faith and love for you that our hearts and lives overflow with love and mercy and justice for the last, the least and the lost.  You have loved us with an unquenchable love.  You have shown us such great mercy in that you have not treated us as our sins deserved, nor repaid us for what we have done against you.  You have separated our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.  You have shown such goodness to us.  Grant us such faith and joy in you and your mercy for us that our lives overflow with the same love toward others.  Amen.

True pursuit takes place in the heart; our lives overflow from a heart of faith.

Saturday, April 6th

“Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.”  Proverbs 26:2

Dear Jesus, You endured so much criticism throughout your life.  I know it had to hurt but it didn’t seem like it slowed you down.  It’s easy for me to get hung up on the negative things I hear being said about me.  I can dwell on them way too long.  Your word in this little proverb is very comforting to me.  If a curse of my name is undeserved, you will prevent it from ultimately ruining me.  Oh, I know it will affect me, but it doesn’t have to ruin me.  I love to watch birds and sometimes I wait a long time for them to light on a branch so I can zero in on them with my binoculars.  The metaphor of a fluttering sparrow not landing is not lost on me.  I get it.  Unwarranted criticism will never settle and land on me.  It will flutter away soon after it is said.  That gives me freedom from worry about how the gossip can affect me.  Help me be bold in the face of criticism especially when I am sure I am doing my best to do the right things for the right reasons.

Spray yourself with grace and pesky gnats from your critics will stay away from you. 

Friday, April 5th

“The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.”  Proverbs 20:5

Lord God, As I sit here today I realize that my thoughts, feelings, words and actions do not align with your word or with reality.  Sometimes I think and feel things that are simply not legitimate.  Other times I think and feel things that are downright wicked and sinful.  Forgive me, I pray, I want to do better.  I do not always know where those things come from in my life; my heart is a deep sea and it is corrupt and sinful.  I pray, help me to take stock of my thoughts and feelings that rise up from my heart.  Help me to fully grasp why these things rise up in me.  Grant me wisdom to see what is going on in my heart and help me, then, to align my heart with your Word and with what you say is good and pleasing.  Strengthen me by your Spirit to put down and put away all sinful thoughts and wicked feelings.  Strengthen me by your Spirit to live a life that is fully aligned with your Word from the depths of my heart to the steps that I take.  Help me, I pray.  Amen.

We want to align our hearts and our thinking and then also our actions with God’s good wisdom and his good guidance.

Thursday, April 4th

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”  Proverbs 25:21-22

Dear Lord, My natural inclination is to get even or to reject people that rub me the wrong way.  I am challenged by your word here to love them boldly.  I understand that if I was an ancient person it would be like giving my evil neighbor a full jar of coals for his fire if he came by and asked for them to warm his house and cook his food.  It would be a testimony to your unconditional love living in my heart.  I do want people to meet you.  Help them to meet you in me.  I trust you will bless me as I love others hugely in your name.  Amen.

Strive to say with Jesus, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”

Wednesday, April 3rd

“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”   Matthew 28:19-20

Dear Jesus, Thank you for not waiting for their doubting hearts to completely catch up before you gave the great commission.  The way you motivated them to go serve the planet with their words which were filled with your word amazes me.  It has reached me on the other side of the globe some 2000 years later.  I’ve become your disciple through their lifetimes so I could be redeemed from my sins and aimless meandering.  Now, help me run my leg of the relay race with vigor and wisdom so I redeem the time instead of wasting it on myself.  Give me the courage to fight for balance so I enjoy your blessings but do not make an idol out of them.  Open doors for your word to enter from my efforts too.  Thank you for the privilege to live and work for you in the world you have made.  Amen.

Live for Christ and his mission for people and you’ll never be bored. 

Tuesday, April 2nd

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them.  ‘Greetings,’ he said.  They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’”    Matthew 28:8-10

Dear Jesus, The women had fear mixed with joy.  Those two emotions seem so mutually exclusive.  But I understand how they could both coexist in the hearts of your followers.  I love how you told them to not be afraid.  I hear you saying that to me.  I don’t need to be afraid when you show your control over my life and allow huge things to happen.  I don’t need to be afraid after very near misses.  I don’t have to be afraid when I can see trouble on the horizon.  I don’t have to be afraid ever because you are risen from the dead and you rule over all things.  Help me to hear your words whenever fear creeps into my heart so I learn not to be afraid even though I’m going through uncertain circumstances.  Amen.

Jesus holds tomorrow so don’t worry about what tomorrow holds. 

Monday, April 1st

“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him.”  Now I have told you.’”  Matthew 28:1-7

Dear Jesus, Those women weren’t supposed to be there at the tomb.  You had told them that you wouldn’t be there to be found.  But even though they loved you deeply, they still couldn’t embrace the unthinkable, that you would rise from the dead.  At any moment in the story you and your angels could have given up on them.  They were slow to believe your words although not one syllable from your lips ever failed to come true.  I understand them because I doubt your word too when I don’t get to use my reason or my senses.  I find great comfort in the fact that the angel said, “Come and See the place where he lay.”  It tells me you are patient with my doubting heart too.  I cling to your resurrection and the grace that makes you coach me into believing the facts.  I get what they got, both the experience of seeing you alive after your death and the grace to process it as my greatest treasure too.  Thanks for loving me so patiently.  Amen.

God’s love waits for our hearts to catch up to his great blessings.

Saturday, March 30th

Living Lord and risen Savior, accept my alleluias and increase my joy that comes from knowing that you have risen from the dead.  Comfort me with the assurance that my sins are forgiven and eternal life in heaven is sure.  Let the joy of the Easter message lead me to go and tell the good news of your resurrection to the people who don’t know the true meaning of Easter.  Let the light of my faith in you shine brightly as I face each day in the future and the day of my death on earth.  I ask this in your name, who rose for me.  Amen.

(taken from There’s A Prayer For That…)

Saturday, March 30th

“As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.  Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.  He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”  Matthew 27:57-61

Dear Jesus, In Isaiah 53 you had him prophecy that although you would be killed with the wicked, you would be buried with the rich in your death.  No one could have guessed how it would all come true.  Joseph of Arimathea made it happen.  He was a member of the council that condemned you but he was not in compliance with them.  By handling your body he became unclean and could not celebrate the rest of the Passover festivities.  He was outed by his faith-filled actions.  His life would never be the same but somehow I think it was just fine with him.  He believed in you and had peace of mind and singularity of heart.  He was a Christian sharing in the hope of eternal life.  He didn’t really know you wouldn’t need his grave very long.  I wonder how he ever looked at his family grave the same.  His bones are buried there somewhere from where yours arose.  Thank you for leading him to fulfill Scripture and for giving Matthew the wisdom to tell us about it.  In this Holy Week, give me the brave and loving faith of Joseph so I will unashamedly show my devotion to you in any circumstance.  Amen.

Faith is like electricity.  It cannot help but generate power in a person’s life.  

Friday, March 29th

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”  Matthew 26:39

Dear Heavenly Father, I was taught to fold my hands when I pray.  With these folded hands I’m humbly and confidently telling you, “It’s all up to you.  You answer as you think best.”  I don’t know about Jesus’ hands the night he prayed in Gethsemane.  I do, however, know how extreme anguish drove him face down into the dirt.  Before him stood a cup filled to the brim with the poison of the whole world’s sins.  Its every drop would be bitter right down to the dregs.  This horrendous cup was his to drink if he would save mankind’s souls.  And he would have to empty it alone.  No wonder he fell with his face to the ground in prayer that night.  Jesus’ deeply felt sin’s weight but did not refuse to bear it.  He prayed earnestly with tears but did not turn away from your will.  “It’s up to you,” he was humbly telling you.  He also was confidently telling you, “You answer as you think best.”  He trusted a Father who loved him.  How could Jesus do it?  The answer has to be divine love.  Out of love for you he came to this ball of mud where I live.  Out of love for me, a sinner, he stained Calvary’s dirt with his precious blood.  Because of your saving work, I can fold my hands in humble, confident prayer to you.  Even more so, I can live with you forever in your eternal home.  Amen.

Lord, teach me to pray. 

Thursday, March 28th

“So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him.  Say to the owner of the house he enters, “The Teacher asks:  Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”  He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready.  Make preparations for us there.’  The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them.  So they prepared the Passover.”  Mark 14:13-16

Dear Lord Jesus, I’ve always wondered why you created such an austere way for the disciples to find a place for your last supper with your disciples.  But recently I read from a few commentators that said you most likely were keeping the place a secret so Judas couldn’t mess things up.  In addition, you wanted one last time to call him back to yourself in repentance.  So you kept him off kilter by not allowing him to know the place until you and your disciples walked in the door.  That explanation makes sense to me.  You were controlling everything for the greatest benefit of everyone involved.  How careful you were to make even the destiny of the betrayer your benevolent focus!  Your grace and love for each of us is overwhelming.  My heart is with you in the upper room that night.  I feel privileged to be able to read about what happened there and to connect it to every other time I take your Lord’s Supper.  Thank you for this sacred act that promises me time with you and my fellow believers in holy moments celebrating the grace we share that saves us forever.  Help me to always give your supper the respect you want it to have.  Amen.

The Lord’s Supper is supper with your Lord who is both the host and the meal. 

Wednesday, March 27th

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission .  Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”  Hebrews 5:7-9

Dear Jesus, It’s Wednesday of Holy Week.  We don’t have anything recorded in the Gospel accounts about what you did on Wednesday of that last week just two days before you died for us.  We only know that on Thursday you came back into Jerusalem from Bethany.  I think you spent the day in prayer.  You had been contemplating the great sacrifice you were about to make for millennia.  You talked about it in detail as if it had already happened in Old Testament times.  (Isaiah 49, 50, 53, Psalm 2, 22, 69, 110, Zechariah 3).  You had been telling your disciples this was coming.  You even said this was your last trip to Jerusalem.  So, I think you spent the day wrestling with God in prayer.  Your verse in Hebrews describes how in your earthly life you had fervent prayers, cries and tears to your father who could save you from death.  You prayed not in defiant anger but in broken hearted obedience.  You perfected obedience by doing the unthinkable for the Father and for me.  You were fully engaged and fully aware of what it cost.  It took perfect faith that God the Father would accept the sacrifice for all humans and raise you from the dead.  Today as I spend Wednesday, help me to learn how to obey from the heart and how to suffer all the painful circumstances of my life with faith, hope and love.  Make me a man of God in all circumstances.  Amen.

Jesus was fully engaged his whole life right to the end so that we might have a reason to fully engage with him.

Tuesday, March 26th

“’Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.’  When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.  They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.”  Matthew 21:44-45

Dear Jesus, You pulled out all the stops on Tuesday of Holy Week.  You preached pointed words in an effort to give the Jewish leaders what many others were receiving.  You wanted them in heaven with you but they would not admit to themselves their need for grace.  You called yourself the stone that they (the builders) had rejected.  And you said if they would not let you break their pride into pieces then you would crush them in judgment.  It’s judgment now while we can be forgiven or it’s judgment on the last day when it will be too late.  You don’t care what we have wasted when it comes to salvation.  You just want us to be honest and admit our need for you.  I know my sins.  I am broken by your law.  I need your grace.  Forgive me and heal my heart from guilt and shame.  Give me a pure heart that does not pride itself in anything.  But also give me a pure heart that believes it is truly forgiven.  Finally, help me reflect this humble but liberated posture to those with whom I live and move today.  Amen.

Nothing compares to a soul cleansed of self-made pride or guilt. 

Monday, March 25th

“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteousness, that he might bring you to God.”  1 Peter 3:18

Lord Jesus, Such freedom and joy is mine.  You suffered for all my sins, all of them.  All of the sins of this week, all of the sins of my past, even for all the sins of my future.  You suffered for all of my sins just once.  And you did it all righteously and innocently.  You didn’t deserve a single lick that you got from your enemies.  You didn’t deserve a single stroke of the justice that your Father doled out to you.  And yet you suffered all of that for me.  You suffered all of that so that you might bring me to God.  You have opened the way for me into God’s presence so that I might see him, live with him, and come to him.  This next week, dearest Jesus, as I see you make your way into Jerusalem to suffer for all of our sins, help me to see what you’re doing.  You’re going into Jerusalem to take away my sins.  You’re going there to die for all of my sins.  You’re going there to bring me to God.  Lord Jesus, thank you for this your deepest passion.  It is my salvation.  It is my entry into God’s presence.  Amen.

Saturday, March 23rd

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”  Proverbs 25:21-22

Dear Lord, My natural inclination is to get even or to reject people that rub me the wrong way.  I am challenged by your word here to love them boldly.  I understand that if I was an ancient person it would be like giving my evil neighbor a full jar of coals for his fire if he came by and asked for them to warm his house and cook his food.  It would be a testimony to your unconditional love living in my heart.  I do want people to meet you.  Help them to meet you in me.  I trust you will bless me as I love others hugely in your name.  Amen.

Strive to say with Jesus, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”

Saturday, March 23rd

“They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Blessed is the king of Israel!”  John 12:13

Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of lords and King of kings, on Palm Sunday in the long ago the multitudes at Jerusalem hailed Thee with their glad “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna the highest!”  But a few days later the people shouted their angry “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”  O God, forbid that I should ever be so unfaithful to Thee, my Savior!

Abide in my heart, Lord Jesus, and rule as my Lord and King.  Enable me, I pray Thee, by thy Holy Spirit to remain steadfast in my loyalty to Thee.  Keep me also from presumptuous sins, lest I crucify Thee anew with unholy living.  Above all the temptations of the unbelieving world, let me hear Thy gracious promise, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” 

(Taken from My Prayer Book)