Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My Daily Devotional is Moving!
Friends, my daily devotional is moving. Pray the Psalms is going on an indefinite hiatus, and I’ll be putting up my daily prayers at The High Calling. This website is part of the larger ministry of Laity Lodge (and the HEB Foundation), where I am now serving as Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence.
I’ll be writing what is called the Daily Reflection. The format will be very much like the format for Pray the Psalms. You can find my Daily Reflections at the main page of The High Calling. Just look for the Daily Reflection link.
But there’s an added bonus for you in my joining up with The High Calling. If you wish, you can become a member of The High Calling (no cost, no spam, no hassle). Then you can opt to have my Daily Reflection sent to you as an e-mail.
So, please visit The High Calling and check out the Daily Reflection. While you’re there, I’d urge you to look at some of what The High Calling has to offer besides the Reflection. There is a lot of great material on this webiste.
Topics: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 31, 2007
Psalm 136 – God’s Steadfast Love
Excerpt
O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:26
Click here to read all of Psalm 136
Prayer
On this last day of the calendar year, it seems only right to give You thanks, dear Lord, for You have made Your steadfast love known to me in so many ways this year.
You have given me purpose for living,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have forgiven my sin and renewed me in Your love,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have surrounded me with loving family and friends,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have called me to a wonderful church,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have graced me with wise counselors,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have reached out to me when I have been discouraged,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have blessed me with good health and great adventures,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.You have drawn me closer to Yourself, helping me to walk with You each day,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.And so much more . . . ,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.
How I give You thanks, O God of Heaven,
For Your steadfast love endures forever.
Postscript
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-35, 37-39
Topics: Psalm 136-140 | 1 Comment »
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Psalm 80 – Restore Us!
Excerpt
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine,
that we may be saved.
Psalm 80:3
Click here to read all of Psalm 80
Prayer
As we near the end of a calendar year, we look back at the old and forward to the new. But the change from 2007 to 2008 doesn’t mean much, actually. Just because we’re in a new year doesn’t mean we’ll be new. Only You can restore us, Lord. Only you can make us new.
This is what we ask: Restore us, O God! Let Your face shine on us. Look upon us with favor. Make us, not just new, but into the people You have designed us to be.
In the year to come, may we be more devoted to You, more submitted to You, more empowered by You, more filled with Your joy. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
In what ways do you seek God’s restoring grace? Have you taken time to tell the Lord about your desires?
Topics: Psalm 076-080 | No Comments »
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Psalm 100 – Worship with Gladness
Excerpt
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
Psalm 100:2
Click here to read all of Psalm 100
Prayer
Lord, how can I worship You with gladness?
I rejoice as I remember Your grace. When I think of what You have done for me, when I think of how many times You have reached out to me with mercy, when I think of the fact that You desire relationship with me, then my heart begins to sing. The more I reflect on Your goodness, the more my worship becomes truly glad.
So as I worship You, may I remember all You have done for me. May my joy be genuine as I pour out my thanks and praise!
Postscript
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
Topics: Psalm 096-100 | No Comments »
Friday, December 28, 2007
Psalm 99 – The Lord is King
Excerpt
The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Psalm 99:1
Click here to read all of Psalm 99
Prayer
O Lord, You are King of kings, Lord of lords. Indeed, all the earth should tremble before You.
In this season of Christmas, we celebrate Your coming to earth in a way that caused little trembling. You came in weakness, in humility, in vulnerability. Not the sort of person before whom one is apt to quake.
Yet when we think of what we “see” at Christmas, when we consider the mystery of the Incarnation, when we reflect upon the fact that God has become human in a tiny baby, then we tremble, not so much with fear, as with awe and wonder. Though your “throne” is just a manger, nevertheless we bow before You, Lord Jesus, our King.
Postscript
“Humble King”
by Brenton Brown
You are the God of the broken
The friend of the weak
You wash the feet of the weary
Embrace the ones in need
I want to be like You Jesus
To have this heart in me
You are the God of the humble
You are the humble King
Verse 1
Oh kneel me down again
Here at Your feet
Show me how much You love
Humility
Oh Spirit be the star
That leads me to
The humble heart of love
I see in You.
Copyright © 1999 Vineyard Songs (UK/Eire) (Admin. by Vineyard Music UK)
Topics: Psalm 096-100 | No Comments »
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Psalm 2 – The Son of God
Excerpt
I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
Psalm 2:7
Click here to read all of Psalm 2
Prayer
Lord Jesus, like the Psalmist, You are the son of God in that You are the rightful King of Israel, the One through whom God executes His justice on earth. Thus You are worthy of honor and submission.
Yet You are Son of God in a way that far exceeds anything in Psalm 2. You are far more than the human King. You are the unique Son of God, indeed, the very Word of God made flesh. You share the same essential nature as God the Father even as You share in our nature as well.
How we praise You, Lord Jesus, Son of God! In this season of Christmas, we celebrate Your birth as a human being, and we remember that, though fully human, You are so much more. Hallelujah!
Postscript
The Nicene Creed
(A. D. 325; revised at Constantinople in A. D. 381)
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty;
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all worlds;
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father;
By whom all things were made;
Who, for us men and for our salvation,
Came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man;
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered and was buried;
And the third day he rose again,
According to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
And he shall come again, with glory,
To judge the quick and the dead;
Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son;
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;
Who spake by the prophets.
And in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
And I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Topics: Psalm 001-005 | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Psalm 122 – Peace for Jerusalem
Excerpt
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
Click here to read all of Psalm 122
Prayer
Dear Lord, in this season of Christmas when we celebrate the coming of “peace on earth,” we remember that this peace hasn’t fully come. Our world is still torn asunder by war. Oppressors still reign across much of the globe. Injustice triumphs all too often. And so we look to You, Prince of Peace, to make things right in this world. Even as we celebrate Your first coming, we look forward to Your second coming.
Ironically, sadly, and tellingly, we are still impelled to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This holy city continues to be a center of conflict and hostility. And so we pray for peace especially in Jerusalem, and Israel, and Palestine, and Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East. O Lord, let Your peace reign in our broken world.
Postscript
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-5
Topics: Psalm 121-125 | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Psalm 104 – Wrapped in Light
Excerpt
Bless the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
Psalm 104:1-2
Click here to read all of Psalm 104
Prayer
Wrapped in light? Indeed, You are, dear Lord. Yet on this Christmas Day we remember another wrapping: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” You were wrapped up, dear Jesus, just like any other baby born into Your culture. Just like any other baby, except, of course, for the unsettling humility of Your bed.
How I honor You, my Lord, for Your willingness to put one human clothing, indeed, human nature! You took off Your radiant glory and put on a different glory, a humble glory, a gracious glory.
All praise be to You, Lord Jesus, in Your amazing and surprising glory!
Postscript
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. . . . No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
John 1:14, 18
Topics: Psalm 101-105 | No Comments »
Monday, December 24, 2007
Psalm 96 – Worship the Lord
Excerpt
Worship the LORD in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Psalm 96:8
Click here to read all of Psalm 96
Prayer
Where is Your holy splendor, Lord Jesus? There You lie, wrapped up in cloth, just like every other newborn. Yet Your bed is a feed trough, about as far from splendor as its gets. Or so it seems.
Yet in Your humility You reveal even more of the astounding glory of God, a God who hasn’t remained far above and beyond human suffering, but who has entered into our reality, experiencing our weakness, our frailty, our temptation, and everything else we face, except what it’s like to sin. Your splendor, Lord Jesus, is indeed a holy splendor, a splendor set-apart. It’s not the glory we human expect, but the glory of God Incarnate.
Seeing You in the manger, what can we do but worship You?
But would the earth tremble before You, a helpless baby, a baby who even lacks a suitable bed? Hardly. The earth would ignore You, or perhaps scorn Your low estate.
The earth has yet to realize who You are and what You have come to do. The One who holds all power in heaven and on earth has become powerless for our sake. The One who created the earth itself has come to restore His creation. The earth should tremble in reverent fear, beholding the mystery of the Incarnation, the beginning of the new creation, the presence of God in its midst.
Help us, Lord Jesus, as we worship You, to glimpse Your unexpected glory, to feel Your power clothed in weakness. Help us to tremble before You this day, in holy fear, in passionate adoration, and in joyful praise. All praise be to You, Jesus, Son of God, Word of God made flesh!
Amen!
Postscript
May you have blessed, peaceful, and glorious Christmas Eve!
Topics: Psalm 096-100 | 2 Comments »
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Psalm 89 – How Long?
Excerpt
How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
Psalm 89:46
Click here to read all of Psalm 89
Prayer
Dear Lord, on this last Sunday of Advent we join the psalmist in asking “How long?”
How long before You will wipe away every tear from the millions of children in this world who have lost their parents because of AIDS?
How long before You will provide food for the hungry?
How long before You bring down the oppressor and raise up the victims of injustice?
How long before You heal broken bodies and mend shattered hearts?
How long before the innocents won’t be killed in drive-by shootings?
How long before hatred is consumed by Your love?
How long before You reveal Your glory to those who defame You?
How long before the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ?
How long before Your peace encompasses this world?
O Lord, as we consider the suffering and sorrow of this world, our hearts yearn for You to make things right. We look forward with aching hearts for Your coming in the fullness of Your kingdom.
As we wait, dear Lord, help us
to wipe away the tears of orphaned children,
to feed the hungry,
to seek Your justice and minister to the oppressed,
to be instruments of Your healing,
to stand against senseless violence,
to offer love instead of hate,
to reflect Your glory in this world,
to seek for Your kingdom and righteousness,
to be peacemakers in every aspect of our lives.
By Your grace, may we live as Your Advent people in this world, not just in this season of the year, but every day. To You be all the glory! Amen!
Postscript
How can you live as a person of hope today?
Topics: Psalm 086-090 | No Comments »