“They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts…” Romans 2:15 NIV
Today is Romans 2.
The Jews of Paul’s time thought that they had it together. They believed they had the inside connection to God because they obeyed a long list of rules and regulations — outward obedience. But even with all their efforts they still would end up breaking the smallest of laws (such as “thou shalt not lie”… ). Keeping a long list of rules in our own effort is exhausting and it is fruitless. Jesus came to give us the better way. Through Him we can be born again!
When we are born again, we are given a new spiritual heart. We desire to do the things that are pleasing to God. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah describes it this way:
““This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33 NIV
God has given us everything we need to live close to Him. His desire is for us not to be living our lives “checking off the boxes” of our spiritual life — i.e. “working” for His approval. He loves us!
He desires us to have internal obedience — I desire to obey God because I know He loves me and His way is always best! His Law (His Word) is in my heart and my mind so I don’t sin against God. He will help me to obey because His Holy Spirit is living inside of me working to make me more like Jesus in each and every way — transforming my heart and mind.
May the way we live “show that the requirements of God’s law are written on {our} hearts.”
“…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16 NIV
Today is James 5.
“I guess all I can do now is pray…” I don’t know how many times I have heard that statement. Sadly, I don’t know how many times I have made that statement…
“All I can do now?!?!” How sad it is that we undervalue prayer!
James 5:13-18 speaks of how important prayer is. If we are in trouble, we need to pray. If we are happy, our prayer should be praise. If we are sick, have the elders of the church pray and anoint us with oil for healing. If we sin, pray for each other so we may be healed.
I would venture to say that prayer IS the most important thing we can do. Prayer is connection to our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit will help us pray. Jesus paid the price for us to be able to come boldly before God in prayer. Yet we relegate prayer to quoting the Lord’s Prayer, praying a short blessing over our meals, and possibly a quick, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” prayer at night.
Of all the great works we an do, prayer is the greatest. It is in prayer that we come to God: We acknowledge our total dependence on Him; We surrender our will and our ways; We listen for Him to speak; We are given the power to obey.
As we pray God’s Word over our situations and circumstances, we will know God and will experience Him. We will be assured that He is working all things out for our good!
Prayer isn’t a small part of the work God has called us to. Prayer is the work. May our hearts be attentive to prayer continuously throughout our days!
Jesus’s biological family thought He was “out of his mind.” They came to seize Him. They did not understand who Jesus really was.
When Jesus was told about their coming, they said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” Jesus then defined our true heavenly family. He said, “…whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Verse 35)
If we want to dwell in a relationship of “family” with God, we need to do the will of God. What is the will of God?
Jesus defined the will of God:
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”” John 6:40 ESV
The will of God is that we believe on Jesus and receive His eternal life.
Jesus also defines eternal life:
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 ESV
Knowing God = Eternal Life= Connection to God in a Relatioship of Oneness
When we know God intimately, in a connected relationship, we will be in His will. The ones who know God in this relationship are His family.
Nothing else matters in life. God wants us to experience Him as our Father. In this passage, the ones who were seated around Jesus, listening to Him speak were the ones who wanted to know God and to experience Him in relationship. They were the ones who were doing the will of God. They were Jesus’s true spiritual family.
When we enter into a relationship with God, we enter His family too! We can know God in a relationship of family!
“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:13-14 NIV
I love this scene of worship recorded in the Word. For one moment when I read it I get a small picture of the reality of what is going on right now in heaven.
This morning I have been reminded of how I have been invited to join that chorus.
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24 NIV
Jesus opened the door for me join in, but how many time have I sat down with my Bible to “do” my quite time and only read the Word.
I know I have limitations. I live in a fallen world, but I must never forget that I have the invitation to come. I, at any time, can join the heavenly worship that goes on day and night.
There is a quote that says we are to “Come to God with God in mind.” The time I spend with God each morning really isn’t about me. It is about Him. I must come desiring to experience Him!
Each morning I am like Zacchaeus who climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus. When I sit down in my chair and open His Word, I want to see a glimpse of Him. But Jesus is always so much more than I could ever ask, think, or imagine. He wants me to come down from my sycamore tree because He wants to “stay at my house” (Luke 19:5). My response can only be like Zacchaeus’s was — receive Jesus joyfully!
When I sit down in the early morning to spend time with Jesus, may I always be reminded who I am welcoming into my life. May I join in with the heavenly chorus worshipping Him. It is there that I get a glimpse of Jesus and the invitation to sit down with Him. So I may live as one with Him, listening to His Word.
Worship ushers me in to time with Him in His Word. Time that is not like any other. I miss it all if I come just to read a short devotion and mark off my religious box. He has come to stay at my house to be with me! How could I not do like Zacchaeus and “receive Him joyfully?” How could I not, if only for a few moments, join the heavenly chorus in my worship of Him?
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”John 1:14 NIV
When I was engaged to my husband Rich, he lived in a small apartment in St. Charles, Missouri. It held his bed and his clothes. It was a place he landed on occasion after work or school. It really was not his home. Cleaning it, decorating it, and making meals there was not a thing of concern to him. He was too busy with working full time and going to school full time. However, all this changed when we got married and I moved in. I did my best to give the apartment and his new life a woman’s touch. It went from a dirty bachelor pad to a cleaned-up home. It went from plain white walls to decorations and pictures. Rich went from his nightly dinner of McDonald’s cheeseburgers to home cooked meals. He went from sitting alone each night to companionship. I had come and turned a place he used only to sleep in, to a place where he abided with affection and found refuge and rest. With he and I together in that little apartment, we experienced home.
This month at WOW our verses are about a special relationship of oneness with God – home. Our spiritual hearts experience their true home as we live attached, connected, united, indivisible, and inseparable with God. It is God in man and man in God. As we have faith in Him, loving and obeying His Word, desiring to delight to do His will, we will experience this relationship with God. We will be led home to the heart of God expressed in His Word, knowing Him and all His goodness.
This week’s WOW verse speaks of this expression of God’s heart. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory…” Jesus is the Word made flesh. He came to dwell with us. Not only did He dwell with us, but He died on the cross so that the heart of God could once again dwell in the hearts of men like it was in the beginning before sin entered our world. This is the relationship of oneness with God that He desires for us to experience with Him.
In a small way, this relationship of oneness is similar to the relationship Rich and I experienced when we were married, and I moved into his apartment. When I came to dwell with Rich, our lives changed for the better as we have experienced home together. Jesus, the Word of God, came to establish a relationship of home with us, a place of intimate relationship. He has come to dwell within us through His Word. When we receive the Word into our lives, understanding what He desires to do within us, and believing every Word He is speaking, we will obey Him. We will truly experience Him and His love. We will know Him as our true spiritual home.
Perhaps as you read this, you realize that your heart has been empty and void of its true spiritual home? The Word, Jesus, is longing to come and reside inside of you. The Word wants to clean up the mess that sin has left behind in your spiritual heart. He wants to make Himself at home in your heart filling you with His love. He wants to change your heart into His image so that you can experience Him fully. May we receive the Word, understanding and believing Him. May we obey what He says! May our hearts experience this beautiful relationship of oneness, home, – attached, connected, united, indivisible, and inseparable – with Jesus, the Word!
Today is Mark 14:1-31 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
The thing that stands out to me the most in this passage of scripture is the intimacy in relationship that Jesus had with His disciples. Jesus spent time with them eating meals.
Some of the most intimate times I have with my kids are our family dinners. When the food has been eaten, we remain at the table talking, laughing, and enjoying each others company. They are beautiful times.
I can imagine dinner with Jesus being the same. However the accounts of this passage have a more serious note. Jesus tells His best friends, those closest to Him, what is to come. He wants them to understand what happens when it does. What a beautiful Savior we have!
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He still wants to have that intimate fellowship with us. We are invited to His table where we can spend time with Him. He has sent that invitation to us! (Revelations 3:20) Our role is to come to Him and open the door of our hearts.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18 NIV
My mother-in-law, Evelyn, was a woman of prayer. Her example has left a huge mark on my life. She would tell me frequently of the hours she had spent talking to God. Her entire day was spent with her being conscience of His presence with her. She would talk to Him while she worked around her house, drove her car, or walked around her yard. She loved to talk to Him about the beautiful flowers she enjoyed. She asked Him to bless her meals as she cooked them, asking Him to help them to turn out good. She told Him about the things that made her happy. She poured out her sorrows to Him. I knew that her life revolved around her time spent with God. Several times during the week she called me. Her bright cheery voice came through my phone, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Janet, I’ve been talking to Jesus this morning. I’ve been praying for you…” At the time, I wasn’t as appreciative of her sunshiny optimism. But now I can see how blessed I was. She modeled to me the very thing that I needed the most, an intimate relationship with God that was cultivated in her lifestyle of prayer.
This month our verses at WOW have been about prayer. Prayer is communing with God and communicating with Him. It is our lifeline and connection to Him through faith. It is a conscious awareness of God’s presence at all times. Prayer is knowing that EVERYTHING in our lives is something we communicate with God about. Our verse this week encourages us to pray “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” God loves to hear us praise Him for who He is. He loves to hear us thank Him for what He has done. He loves to hear us ask Him for guidance along our way. He desires us to tell Him the very things that cause our hearts to ache. He wants us to come to Him with everything!
The beauty of this lifestyle of prayer is that our God not only desires for us to pray, but He also helps us to pray. The Holy Spirit prompts us, enables us, and empowers us in prayer. As we “pray in the Spirit”, our prayers are moved and guided by Him. Evelyn prayed this way. Many times, she would tell me how she felt like the Holy Spirit had prompted her to pray for a loved one. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was sure that He had directed her to pray. Later she would hear testimony of how God stepped into the circumstance that person had experienced. This confirmed to her that the Holy Spirit had led her to pray.
These memories of my praying mother-in-law have stirred in me a desire. It is a desire to live my life experiencing God moment by moment in prayer. Perhaps as you read this, the desire is growing in you? God has given us this desire. He tells us to pray because He knows that a lifestyle of prayer is what is the very best for us. It ensures that our connection with God is close and intimate. This is what we were created for. He wants us to know Him through prayer and to make Him known by displaying our relationship of oneness to God with everyone we encounter.
This week’s song is “Draw Me Nearer” by Meredith Andrews. As we listen to the words, may the Holy Spirit awaken a desire within us to experience a close and intimate relationship with Him through prayer.
It seems that the world becomes alive when Spring arrives. A few of days ago I watched the sunrise from my upper deck. As I was praying and awaiting the display of colors to come, the sound of birds singing and doves cooing filled the air. It was so beautiful. I took out my phone to record a small portion of the song. The words of this verse came to my heart:
”My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”“ Song of Songs 2:10, 12-13 NIV
Life holds many seasons of winter, when all is cold, the days are short and the birds do not sing. If we are not careful we will forget to listen for the voice of our “Beloved”, Jesus. However, He is calling. His desire is for us to arise and “come.” When we come to Jesus we can leave the death and darkness of winter behind. He is life, light, and love. He wants us to come with Him to experience Him fully!
Creation is singing a chorus of praise to Him. As we embrace the relationship Jesus is calling us to, we will find that we were created to sing that song of praise as well.
”You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.“ Isaiah 55:12 NIV
Our lives in Christ are a “season of singing!” The closer we are to Him the greater the song of worship becomes in our hearts. We cannot help but proclaim: Jesus is so good! Jesus is so wonderful! His power is beyond comparison! His love towards us is more than I could ever imagine!
His praises cannot be contained by the birds of spring or a heart made alive by His transforming touch!
“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” 1 Peter 4:7 NIV
When I was little, I was a daddy’s girl. There was nothing that I loved more than spending time with my dad. I have fond memories of sitting out in his garage watching him work on our family’s car while I would sit there and talk away to him telling him all about my 6-year-old life. I LOVED being with my dad. However, time went on and life changes happened. I still loved him, but I became busy with my friends, my activities, and my life. After high school, I moved to a different town. My time with my dad became less and less as well as our conversations. Truth be told I forgot what a joy it was to be with him. The past year things have been different in our relationship. Dad is now 86 and I am 53, our relationship has matured and deepened. Lately, we have engaged in the most wonderful conversations. I’ve asked him questions about his younger years and discovered things about him that I never knew. We’ve talked about memories, both good and bad. We’ve made plans for the future as well. Once again, this daddy’s girl has found what she needed, time with her dad in a close relationship.
This month the verses at WOW are about prayer. Prayer is our connection to God through faith. Prayer is our invitation from God into a deep love relationship of oneness closely attached, connected, inseparable, and indivisible with Him. Prayer develops our relationship with God demonstrating our trust and utter dependence upon Him. You and I are our heavenly Father’s “Daddy’s girl”. God longs for us to spend time with Him, lots of it. Prayer is us spending time with Him engaging in conversation not just occasionally, but throughout our entire day, month, year, and life.
Our WOW verse for this week speaks of the need to “be alert and of sober mind so that you can pray.” Our world around us holds so many distractions that pull us away from relating to God in a life of prayer. Our enemy would like nothing better for us than to focus on all these distractions so that we would not live in a close and intimate relationship with God. His desire is for us to be disconnected from our heavenly Father. He wants to render us useless and to keep us from living fully in that relationship for which we were created. This is why we must be spiritually alert and watchful as we live our daily lives. It is easy to drift away from a close and vibrant relationship with God, as I drifted from the close relationship I had with my earthly dad as a little girl. It is easy to lose focus of why God has invited us to be closely connected with Him in prayer. Especially if we come to God with our thoughts, our wants, our desires, and our ways in mind. If our lives are filled with the self-centeredness of an uncircumcised heart, we will not experience the close relationship of oneness that God desires us to have through prayer. This is why we must “be alert and of sober mind so that ‘we’ may pray.”
As you are reading these words, do you feel the pushing and pulling of the world’s influences trying to keep you from that intimate time of relationship with your heavenly Father as His “Daddy’s girl”? God’s desire is for us to focus attentively on Him and Him alone moment by moment throughout our day. He wants us to experience Him more fully in a living relationship of prayer. May we fix our hearts and our minds on Him so that we can truly be “alert and of sober mind.” May we guard our hearts from anything that would try to influence us and draw us away from God’s life-giving connection to Him, our relationship of oneness with Him through prayer.
This week’s song speaks of a deep and intimate relationship with God that is developed in a lifestyle of prayer. It is “Heart of the Father” by Ryan Ellis. May we know His closeness and love as we experience more and more of Him!
Early morning before the sun is officially up is a beautiful time. As I sit on my east facing deck this morning, I am struck by how God thought of EVERYTHING to point to the greatness of His love.
The crickets are still in chorus right before the dawn. The neighbor’s roosters have joined in. An owl is singing his nightly song in the distance as well. God made all these sounds as a comfort and a joy. I can miss them if I don’t take the time to simply sit and enjoy.
What a lesson! I’ve got what seems to be a million plus one things to do today, but God wants me to sit and listen to His chorus of love He has written for me.
That’s how it is with our God. So often we run around disconnected and thinking about “our” lives. When He deeply desires for us to share His life that satisfies our deepest longings.
He made me for this, to sit with Him, to listen, to tell Him about all the things on my heart. He made me to experience Him.
Not only does His creation call out for me to think upon Him, He has given me His Word. May I cherish every word and sentence of His love letter to me!
He loves! God loves us deeply and we can miss it all together if we refuse to stop being all about ourselves and turn our eyes to Him. He has so much to give that He offers to us! The question is will we come to Him, offer our hearts to Him, and receive?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the World (you and me) that He gave…”
Your Love 