Tag: Baptism

Evidence

Jeff1 Comment

Today is Tuesday, the ninth day of June, 2026, in the Season of the Church.

May the peace of Christ surround you, today, and drive away all of your anxieties and fears.

It is day 160 of 2026, with 205 days left in the year.

Day 24,925 of my life

21,632 days since I was baptized into Christ

Twelve days until Father’s Day

Today is World Pet Memorial Day. I’m willing to bet most of us could name some. Midnight, Screamer, Tessie, Duke, Honey, Amber, Juliet . . .

Daily writing prompt
What’s a fear you’ve overcome — and how did you do it?
View all responses

This is a tough one. First off, I might say that I, myself, have never overcome a fear. I didn’t do it. Christ did it for me. Yeah, I know. It’s always about Jesus, innit? Too bad. Get over it. Because Christ is everything! He is all and in all, and I will not apologize for that perspective in my life.

But I digress. Yes, I have been delivered from fear, over the past fifteen months. What kind of fear? Fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of suffering. But even in the face of that deliverance, our enemy frequently (and by “frequently” I mean “non-stop”) tries to re-instill many fears into me. Much of the time, that comes in the form of overthinking. I’m struggling with that, even this morning. But fortunately for me, one of the Psalms that I was led to pray, this morning, was Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
(Psalms 46:1-3 ESV)

When I acknowledge what is happening, the fear is defeated. Have I overcome it? From my perspective, no. Others might say, yes, I did overcome it? Potato, potahto, perhaps. I have lived most of my life from the mindset that I am nothing without Christ. I’m not the one that overcomes anything. Without Him, I can do nothing. I simply be still and know that He is God.

It’s a normal Tuesday, here. C is at the office. I will be working my four-hour shift in the computer center at the library, this evening, from 4:15-8:15. For lunch today (and dinner for C), we will be having Meal Simple by H‑E‑B Chicken & Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese, along with the ubiquitous Caesar Salad and garlic Texas Toast.

My first coffee this morning is Jamaican Me Crazy, by Angelino’s. “A smooth medley of caramel, vanilla, and chocolate flavors inspire the bold taste featured in our Jamaican Me Crazy coffee.” The second coffee is Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, also by Angelino’s, a “new” flavor for me. “There’s never been a better match than raspberries and chocolate. Each cup of our Chocolate Raspberry coffee features rich and creamy swirls of milk chocolate with juicy ripe raspberry flavors that burst forth with each sip.” There’s definitely a nice aroma, and the smell of raspberry is not overpowering . . . just a hint. And a very nice flavor!

JESUS TIME

In Holy Baptism, O triune God, You entered into my heart and made it Your temple and dwelling-place. Keep me always mindful of this high distinction. Whenever Satan seeks to seduce me to sin, to neglect Your Word and will, to dishonesty, selfishness, and envy, help me to resist him in Your strength, to beat back his attacks and obtain the victory. Father in heaven, let me never forget that I am Your child and that Satan’s only purpose is to separate me from You. O Savior, Jesus Christ, keep Your bitter suffering ever before me, so that I hate and abhor every sin, no matter how small it may seem. O Holy Spirit, who has regenerated me, keep me in this newness of life, and let not Satan lure me back into the way that leads to eternal damnation. Triune God, keep me constant in Your means of grace – the Word and Sacraments – that in the power of Your might I may be able to withstand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand. Hear me for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Prayer 8, Tuesday Morning)

Gracious heavenly Father, I thank You for keeping me safe through the quiet hours of this past night. As a new day dawns, help me to see, through the eyes of faith, that the challenges that might be in front of me today are not greater than the power behind me. Help me to see that everyone I engage with today was created in Your image and thus worthy of respect. If someone has a need, help me to meet that need where I am able. Enable me to trust the promise that You have the power to work all things for my good. In the name of Jesus, Your dear Son, I pray. Amen.
(Portals of Prayer, Prayer for Tuesday Morning)

Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by your providence; and that your Church may joyfully serve you in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(For All the Saints, Tuesday of the Week of Pentecost 2, Opening Prayer)

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
(Matthew 7:13-14 ESV)
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
(John 15:16 ESV)

Today I am grateful:

  1. For the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life; convicting me of sin, stirring up more affection for Christ, and transforming me, daily
  2. That God chose me to be a part of His Kingdom/family, and I do not need to strive or work to maintain that status; it is firm and permanent
  3. That Christ has led me to the “narrow gate”
  4. That God is my refuge and my strength; therefore, I will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains fall into the sea (Psalm 46)
  5. For the hope that people will see in me the light, joy, depth, and love of Christ
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?

You Version Bible Plan – From Lost to Loved: A 30-Day Study of Romans 8

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
(Romans 8:9 ESV)

“The Holy Spirit is the only authenticating mark of salvation.” The author of this devotional writes this after an introduction about “authenticating” our identity when we try to access certain apps or websites. We’ve all experienced that, especially those annoying, “click on every picture that contains a bus” things! Some sites even require what they call “two-factor authentication,” usually requiring some kind of activity on the phone. Every time I log into my email on my work computer, I have to tap on a number generated on my phone.

But we don’t have “two-factor authentication” in salvation. Paul lays it out, here, dismantling all “false credentials,” when he says, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Period.

“You cannot behave your way into the Kingdom. You’re not authenticated by feelings or Sunday habits. The question is this: does the Holy Spirit dwell in you? He is not a reward for the religious. He’s the gift to those who believe. His presence authenticates your adoption.”

Now for the big question. How do you know? If the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is the only way to know that you are “saved,” then how do you know?

“First, He convicts of sin. This doesn’t create shame but leads you into repentance with a soft and teachable heart (2 Corinthians 7:10). Second, He stirs affection for Christ. You will grow hungry to know, trust, and obey Jesus in greater measure . . . Third, He empowers real change. You won’t be instantly perfect, but you will evidence a pattern of repentance, obedience, and growth (2 Corinthians 3:18).”

I can speak, personally, to the truth of each of those points, and can witness to the truth that the Holy Spirit does, in fact, dwell within me. I am constantly convicted of sin. He has stirred so much affection for Christ in me (especially over the course of the last 15 months) that, sometimes, I can hardly stand it. And He has definitely empowered real change.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
(2 Corinthians 9:15 ESV)

O God, stay with me; let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your thoughts, no deed ever be done or entertained by me that is not your deed. Amen.
(For All the Saints, Tuesday of the Week of Pentecost 2, Closing Prayer, Malcolm Muggeridge)

Father, thank You for choosing me. Thank You that my identity is secure in You and not dependent on human recognition. Help me walk confidently in the purpose You have given me. Remind me that my life is meaningful because You have called me, not because of what others see. Teach me to bear lasting fruit in every season of my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
(Grant Fishbook, A Miracle Every Day)

My Jesus, I praise You for delivering me from fears, from doubt, and from lust, over the course of the past fifteen months. I thank You that You have become everything to me, through all of this miraculous transformation. I praise You for the people You have brought into my life who have walked through this with me, and continue to do so. But my enemy continues to pound me with temptations to irrational fears, that are not based in reality. Help me to not fall prey to these fears, these temptations. Your Word says there is always an escape, a way out, and that way out, I believe, is trust in You. So help me to trust. O, Lord, I do believe! Help my unbelief!

Thank You for the Holy Spirit, Lord, and the evidence in my life that He is truly there, truly dwelling within me, for I have surely been convicted of sin, daily, and I have a constantly growing affection for You, dear Christ, in my heart. And there has been miraculous change and growth, as well. So thank You for the reassurance that I am, indeed, Your child, Your brother! And I also point back to my baptism, on March 19, 1967, at which time I became a part of Your Church, Your Body, for ever and ever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, just as I was baptized, amen!

Grace and peace, my brothers and sisters! Embrace the Spirit within you!

CHRIST IS EVERYTHING!!!

The Friendship and the Fear

JeffLeave a comment

Today is Wednesday, the third day of June, 2026, in the Season of the Church. It is the Wednesday After the Holy Trinity.

May the peace of Christ dwell within you today!

May He dwell within us all.

It is day 154 of 2026, with 211 days remaining in the year.

Day 24,919 of my life

21,626 days since I was baptized into Christ. One might wonder why I post this number every day. The primary reason is so that one of the first things I think about, after getting up, is that I am a baptized child of God. 💜

31 days until July 4th, Independence Day, which falls on a Saturday, this year. And, I would be scheduled to work that day, so I get an extra Saturday off!

Today is National Repeat Day. Is there something you really like to do? DO IT TWICE!!!

Today is National Repeat Day. Is there something you really like to do? DO IT TWICE!!!

Today is also Love Conquers All Day. You know I’ll get behind that. Apparently, the Roman poet Virgil (you know, the guy Dante followed into hell) coined the phrase in 38 BC. And while Scripture never says those exact words (another “Jesus didn’t say that” sermon?) what it does say is this:

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
(1 Corinthians 13:7-8 ESV)

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
(Romans 8:37 ESV)

Daily writing prompt
Do you believe in minimalism?
View all responses

“Believe in” is such a quirky phrase. Asking if I “believe in” minimalism is like asking if I believe in veganism. I believe that minimalism is a thing. Do I practice it? No. Am I a proponent of it? Not really. Maria Kondo, the queen of minimalism, famously said that we should have maybe no more than 30 books in our house. Pft. Later, she back-pedaled from that statement and said that she was misunderstood. Whatever.

I will say this, though. There is nothing wrong with de-cluttering. I, myself have way too much clutter in my life. And maybe someday I will try to do something about that. But honestly, I have more important things to do.

Today is a normal Wednesday, at least in the “new normal” phase. C is at the office, and I am off work. S and I do not have choir practice tonight. I need to make a trip to CVS to pick up my Mounjaro, so I will do that when I make the Sonic run, provided I manage to do that before 1:30 PM, because that is when the pharmacy department closes for lunch. I may put a fan together. And I will get some reading done. I’m currently reading Bridgerton: The Duke and I, by Julia Quinn. I am mildly alarmed at mow much I am enjoying this book! It is quite fun, and even better than the series was. Later today, I need to do my May reading recap (I don’t think I did one for April) on my other blog, The Constant Reader.

My first cup of coffee, this morning, is CAFE Olé by H‑E‑B Taste of DFW Medium Roast Coffee. This is, so far, my favorite of the Favorite Five, but not by much. “Offering the delicious flavor of caramel, chocolate and pecans, CAFE Olé by H-E-B Taste of DFW coffee is a medium roast variety.” My second cup is Costa Rica Volcanica, by Angelino’s. “Silky cacao, tropical fruit, & vibrant citrus notes.” Dinner tonight will be simple. Meal Simple, in fact. I did not intend for that to happen when I started the previous sentence. We’re having Meal Simple by H-E-B Chicken Noodle Soup, with grilled cheese sandwiches. My family loves this meal, and this is one of their favorite soups. Tomorrow, I will cook something from scratch.

JESUS TIME

Our Father who art in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. Dear Lord, God and Father, grant us Your blessing in our temporal and physical life. Graciously grant us blessed peace. Protect us against war and disorder. Grant to our president success against our enemies. Grant him wisdom and understanding to administer his duties and office in peace and happiness. Grant to all elected and appointed leaders good counsel and the will and ability to preserve this land and this people in tranquility and justice. Especially aid and guide the governor of this state, under whose protection You have sheltered us, so being protected against all harm, the administration may be blessed and we can live free from evil and disloyal people. Grant to all the people to serve our leaders loyally and obediently. Grant to all of us diligence in our vocation and charity in our dealings with one another. Grant us favorable weather and good harvest. I commend to You my house and home, spouse and children. Help me to manage my household well and support and educate my children as a Christian should. Defend us from the destroyer and his wicked angels, who work against us, looking for every opportunity to harm us and cause mischief in this life. Amen.
(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Prayer 52, Wednesday Morning)

Heavenly Father, I have again entered the morning of midweek. Help me be appreciative of every morning You give me, no matter what day of the week. Help me see each day as an opportunity to serve and glorify You. To that end, send Your Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide me during my various routines and during the fulfillment of my vocations, that all may be done out of love and concern for others. Help my words and actions so that through them Christ may be glorified and magnified, that those near me may realize that by Your grace I am His sibling. In His name. Amen.
(Portals of Prayer, Prayer for Wednesday Morning)

Almighty and everlasting God, since you have given us, your servants, grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith, and to worship the true Unity in the power of your divine majesty, keep us also steadfast in this true faith and worship, and defend us ever from all our adversaries; for you, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(For All the Saints, Wednesday After the Holy Trinity, Opening Prayer)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
(Jude 1:20-21 ESV)

Today I am grateful:

  1. For the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life
  2. That I don’t have to schedule an appointment with God; He is always with me, always available
  3. That my lips shout for joy, and my soul also, which You have redeemed (Psalm 71:23)
  4. For friendship; both that of humans in my life, and that of the Lord (Psalm 25:14)
  5. That those friendships “sharpen” me (Proverbs 27:17)
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?

Psalm of the Day – Psalm 71:19-24

Your righteousness, O God,
    reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
    O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
    will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
    and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
    when I sing praises to you;
    my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
    who sought to do me hurt.
(Psalms 71:19-24 ESV)

Untamed Prayers, Who Is Like You?, by Chad Bird

The psalmist, in verse 19, asks that question, “O God, who is like you?” The question, of course, is rhetorical. Our God is peerless. There is none like Him. The confession that follows that question is quite stirring. “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again” (20-21).

“How perfect is that? The psalmist, who began this autobiographical psalm by praising the god upon whom he learned from birth, now looks forward to the horizon of the resurrection, when his body – and our bodies – formed by God in the womb will be reformed and glorified to mirror the body of Jesus.

“. . . Who is like you? No one. You are peerless in power, in grace, and in promise, Lord Jesus. Our lips should shout for joy as we sing praises to you; our souls, also, ‘which you have redeemed’ (71:23). From womb to tomb to the glorious day of resurrection, you are our God.”

Yes! You are my God, and I belong fully to You!

“Closer to the end, I always trusted
Life continues, though at times
The outlaw bands surrounded me
On horseback in the open plains,
Fired repeated shots
And no rock, no cave, no cliff nor cover near.
Since childhood, I have survived
Their godforsaken consultations,
A young man born to rule
Himself, and others. Now white hair
Wisps, my grip slack on the walking stick,
And people when they look at all
See baggy suit, large knuckles folded
One upon the other, don’t quite catch
The name, the choice that made me
What I am.
                   I lift my head up
From the table doze. Late afternoon
In winter sunlight floods our benches
Anchored to the traffic islands.
My companions ply their canes,
Beat time while sitting, but I sing
Because I’m able: God
                  Of Israel, still twang
           The evening string, my soul
Caught sweetly in the longer shadows:
Darkness swallows up confusion
Baking gravel smooth around the ruin.”
(Laurance Wieder, Words to God’s Music, Psalm 71, OLD)

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
    and he makes known to them his covenant.
(Psalms 25:14 ESV)

It is interesting that the KJV, which Chambers quotes in the “classic” version of MUFHH, says it this way:

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him;
    and he will shew them his covenant.
(Psalms 25:14 KJV)

Chambers speaks of an intimacy with God that is so close that we are privy to His “secrets.”  “Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys, or are we telling God our secrets so continually that we leave no room for Him to talk to us?”

Later in the reading, Chambers quotes verse 12.

Who is the man who fears the LORD?
    Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
(Psalms 25:12 ESV)

As we get closer to God, we find that we don’t need to ask Him, so often, what His will is. We are guided by our “ordinary choices,” and, if we begin to choose something that He does not want, His Spirit will check us.

As I continued reading my other devotionals, this morning, I was led to read the following passages.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV)

Iron sharpens iron,
    and one man sharpens another.
(Proverbs 27:17 ESV)

When I read the Ecclesiastes passage, my thoughts were immediately drawn to my wife, who is also my best friend. And this passage is frequently quoted at weddings, or in regard to marriages, and I believe that is fitting. Together, she and I have, along with Christ, that “third strand” in the “threefold cord,” built a life. It is a beautiful life. It is not perfect, but it is beautiful. And I am grateful for her, grateful for us.

I have other friendships that have and are sharpening me. Hopefully, I have sharpened them, as well.

But going back to MUFHH, I know that Jesus is my Friend, just as I know that He is my Brother. All those years that I thought I was an only child, Christ was my Brother! He, too, has sharpened me, and He does show me His “secrets,” although they really aren’t secrets, because anyone can know them if they just take the time and effort to draw near and experience His intimacy.

Thank You, my Jesus, for Your Friendship. Thank You for being my Brother. Or, perhaps, I should say thank You for making me Your brother! I also thank You that You have given me the proper fear of God in my heart and life. Not “fear” as in “I’m afraid of You,” but the fear of awe and the utmost respect. On the other hand, I think it is right and proper that we should, at times, be afraid. Not because we think You are going to do something bad to us, but more just because of Your awe-inspiring power and might.

Anyway, thank You, Lord. And truly, there is no one like You. Not even close. And while I have experienced many troubles and trials in my life, I know that You will “revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.”

I thank You, Lord, for my wife and the life that You have given us and built with us. I pray for her healing, Lord. May Your healing hands be upon her, even as I am typing these words. I love her, Lord, as I have told her, more than anyone but You. She is the most important person in my life. I trust in You to hold her and keep her, Lord, and to open up her heart, pouring Yourself into her, and let her be swept up in Your grace.

I pray for ongoing transformation and maturity in Your Spirit, Lord, and that You would continue to mold me by Your beautiful Word until the day that I stand in Your presence. I pray for that day to be hastened, Lord. But in the meantime, show me the path that I should walk, and let me know that fullness of joy that exists in Your presence, for all of my days.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and peace, my brothers, sisters, and friends.

CHRIST IS EVERYTHING!!!

Just As I Am

Jeff

Today is Tuesday, the twenty-sixth day of May, 2026, in the Season of the Church. It is Tuesday after Pentecost.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
(2 Peter 1:2 NRSV)

It is day 146 of 2026, with 219 days remaining in the year.

Day 24,911 of my life

21,618 days since I was baptized into Christ

39 days until July 4

It is World Dracula Day, today. Whoa! I guess I knew that was a thing, but I had totally forgotten. I’m a fan of the Dracula story.

But more importantly, today is World Redhead Day. True story . . . as I typed “Redhead,” my fingers inadvertently typed “Readhead.” Perhaps that should be a thing, too. And just to prove, once again, that I truly am a redhead . . .

Daily writing prompt
How do you handle fear and self-doubt?
View all responses

Hah! The short answer is, Jesus! You don’t want to hear the long answer, but I will say this: I am a classic, chronic “over-thinker.” So self-doubt is a huge thing for me. And fear plays right into that. I’m always second-guessing emails and texts that I send, sometimes immediately after I send them.

But here’s the thing. During the transformation that I won’t stop writing about, Christ delivered me from the worst of these fears and self-doubts. They still creep in, from time to time, because our enemy is relentless. And because I’m still human and mortal, still wearing this “mortal coil.” Or, as Paul calls it, a “jar of clay.” When they do creep in, I immediately turn to Christ, the One who delivered me, for strength and wisdom. So now, an episode of over-thinking, fear, or self-doubt that would have potentially lasted days only endures for, at the most, an hour or so.

Because Jesus.

Today is a normal Tuesday. I will be working my four-hour shift at the library, this evening, from 4:15-8:15. C is at the office. I will be cooking a meal for our lunch, here, and setting aside a portion of it for C to have for dinner when she gets home. It will be one of our H-E-B Meal Simple family meals, along with some Caesar Salad and garlic Texas Toast.

My first cup of coffee this morning is Cinnamon Twist, by Angelino’s. “Cinnamon infused flavored coffee.” I realized, after I popped the pod into the coffee maker, that I had inadvertently gotten them out of order. Today should have been Taste of San Antonio. Oh, well. Tomorrow for that one. The second cup is Costa Rica Volcanica, also by Angelino’s. “Silky cacao, tropical fruit, & vibrant citrus notes.” I just ordered a new variety box, yesterday, so there will be some new flavors to replace the ones that are no longer available.

JESUS TIME

O Lord Jesus Christ, only Savior of the world, to You I lift up my heart, will, and intellect, and I thank You again and again that, through Your boundless grace, You have protected me through the night against the cunning and power of the enemy and that I have awakened once again restored and fit. O Lord Jesus Christ, You who are my possession and inheritance, my salvation is in Your hands. I do not know of any other helper, whether in heaven or on earth, save You alone. Therefore, I implore You on account of Your unspeakable martyrdom, suffering, and most humiliatingly bitter death, that You would be gracious and merciful to me, both today and for the rest of my life. You, dearest Jesus Christ, have suffered out of great love for me, a poor sinner. Forgive all my transgressions against You. Protect me and keep me safe from sin and from every evil, until You graciously call me away to eternal joy and salvation; hear me on account of Your most holy name. Amen.
(Lutheran Book of Worship, Prayer 36, Tuesday Morning)

Gracious heavenly Father, I thank You for keeping me safe through the quiet hours of this past night. As a new day dawns, help me to see, through the eyes of faith, that the challenges that might be in front of me today are not greater than the power behind me. Help me to see that everyone I engage with today was created in Your image and thus worthy of respect. If someone has a need, help me to meet that need where I am able. Enable me to trust the promise that You have the power to work all things for my good. In the name of Jesus, Your dear Son, I pray. Amen.
(Portals of Prayer, Prayer for Tuesday Morning)

Remember, O Lord, what you have wrought in us and not what we deserve; and, as you have called us to your service, make us worthy of our calling; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(For All the Saints, Tuesday After Pentecost)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:5-11 ESV)

Today I am grateful:

  1. That we, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, have the mind of Christ; may we, like Him, be willing to empty ourselves for His sake
  2. That we can come to God just as we are, messiness and all
  3. For our “great high priest,” Jesus Christ, who has made us able to draw near to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4)
  4. That God alone is enough; Christ is everything!
  5. For grace in relationships; “One of us didn’t have to be wrong for the other to be right.” (Erin Janoso, Walking in Grace 2026)
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?

I ran across a couple good things I want to share, today. First, a brief devotional reading from Henri Nouwen.

“I have found that Saint Teresa’s call to focus on the goodness of God when I need to discern helps me fight the demons of despair, self-rejection, and fear, and has overcome the powers of darkness with the power of God many times. I have often prayed the prayer of Saint Teresa, “Solo Dios basta, God alone is enough,” when I have needed to discern whether what I was hearing and experiencing was of God or not. Praying these words slowly and out loud can help me enter into God’s presence, where there is peace and certainty that God is always with me and loves me.

“Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
Those who cling to God
will lack nothing
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
God alone is enough”

I’m a really huge fan of Saint Teresa’s prayer and have been for a long time.

And Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”
(Joshua 10:25 ESV)

Then, I read another Henri Nouwen devotional (from the Spanish).

“Prayer and action can never be viewed as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action becomes a weak pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into dubious manipulation. If prayer leads us to a deeper union with the merciful Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer, we encounter Christ, and in Him, all human suffering. In service, we encounter people, and in them, the suffering Christ […]. Action with and toward those who suffer is the concrete expression of a compassionate life and the definitive rule of being a Christian. Such actions do not merely stand alongside moments of prayer and worship; rather, they are, in themselves, those very moments. Why? Because Jesus Christ—who did not cling to his divinity, but became one like us—can be found wherever there are people who are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned. Precisely when we live in constant dialogue with Christ and allow the Spirit to guide our lives, we recognize Christ in the poor, the oppressed, and the enslaved; we hear His cry and hasten to Him wherever He reveals Himself.”

This devotion quoted an excerpt from Isaiah 1, verses 15 and 17, but I decided to include the whole three verses.

When you spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
    learn to do good;
seek justice,
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow’s cause.
(Isaiah 1:15-17 ESV)

This reading about prayer, I found to be quite beautiful and true. And it tracks right along with Paul’s command to us in 1 Thessalonians, to “pray without ceasing” (5:17). Oswald Chambers, in today’s reading of My Utmost for His Highest, reminds us that prayer should be like breathing, “the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts . . . Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life.”

But what, in my mind, pulls all this together, is the fact that Christ receives us “just as we are.”

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
(Matthew 6:7-8 ESV)

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:8-9 ESV)

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 4:13-16 ESV)

We don’t have to “clean ourselves up before we come” to God. We don’t have to pretend that the difficult circumstances we are going through are easy. He already knows what we are going through, and welcomes us in our honesty and transparency. I mean, He can see right through us, anyway, so why try to hide anything?

When God asked Adam where he was, in Genesis 3, it was a rhetorical question.

“God is familiar with your struggle. He already knows – even more than you do – how much you need Him today. He wants to show you He’s close, and that He cares for you. No matter how messy the need feels, God will minister to you in the midst of it.” (Jen Weaver, You Version, Uncommon Gratitude: Cultivating a Heart of Thanks)

We can’t hide until we have a “cleaner” or better version of ourselves to show to God. We cannot be more “acceptable” to Him than we already are, in Christ. And everything we need to be cleaner or better is found in Him, anyway. “All healing and transformation, all the grace and mercy you need come from God. We can’t find them without Him.”

Back to the beginning of my transformation, again. I did nothing, other than receive the gift. I suppose I could have rejected it, hardened my heart, as Pharoah did, in Exodus. I say, “suppose,” because I really don’t know if I had that option or not! And I will never know, because I remained open to it all. I opened my heart and life for Christ to do the work that He wanted to do, that He began on that day in February. But He began it without asking me, first!

The Hebrews passage is especially beautiful. While verse 13 can easily be taken as a warning, a caution, if we read it in the context of the next paragraph (and those paragraphs, I remind you, are manmade divisions, just like the chapters and verses), we see that we are encouraged to “draw near,” in our condition of being “naked and exposed.” We read that Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses, and that, in our current condition, we can find mercy and grace to help in time of need!

We are welcomed into His presence, just as we are. And that’s something to be “uncommonly grateful” for.

O thou who camest from above,
    The pure, celestial fire to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
    On the mean altar of my heart;
There let it for thy glory burn
    With inextinguishable blaze,
And trembling to its Source return,
    In humble prayer, and fervent praise.

Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire
    To work, and speak, and think for thee,
Still let me guard the holy fire,
    And still stir up thy gift in me,
Ready for all thy perfect will
    My acts of faith and love repeat,
‘Till death thy endless mercies seal,
    And make my sacrifice complete.

Amen.
(For All the Saints, Tuesday After Pentecost, Closing Prayer, Charles Wesley)

O, my Christ, You have truly stirred up my heart with desire “to work, and speak, and think for Thee!” As a favorite prayer of mine says, “I want to give you everything I am. Let me give it all to you: everything I have, everything I think, everything I do, everything I feel.” Thank You, Jesus, for taking me “just as I am.” If I had to “clean myself up” before coming to You, I would be lost, for I have no ability to do so. All of my cleansing comes from You, for You have washed me in Your blood, Lord. My robes are washed white in the eternal cleansing power of Your blood.

I pray that You continue (and I know that You will, for Your Word promises that You will complete what You have started) this transformation, molding me by Your beautiful, beautiful Word, until I stand in Your presence and finally get to see Your beautiful face!

Thank You, my Jesus! I love You!

In Your holy and precious and beautiful name, I pray, amen!

Grace and peace, my brothers and sisters! Come as you are!

CHRIST IS EVERYTHING!!!

United with Christ

Jeff1 Comment

Today is Friday, the twenty-second day of May, 2026, in the seventh week of the season of Easter.

May the peace of Christ surround you, today, and drive away all of your anxieties and fears.

It is day 142 of 2026, with 223 days remaining in the year.

Day 24,907 of my life

21,614 days since I was baptized into Christ

Only two more days until Pentecost Sunday, after which we will be in Ordinary Time until the beginning of Advent.

Ooh! Today is Buy A Musical Instrument Day. As much as I would love to do that, I already have all the musical instruments that I need.

It’s also National Title Track Day. So give a listen to your favorite title tracks. For all you youngsters out there, we used to listen to “albums,” which had anywhere from eight to twelve (sometimes more, if they were “double albums”) on “record players.” And the albums had titles. There wasn’t always a title track, but there usually was. And sometimes the title track was the best track on the album. If you click on the link, you will see relics of days gone by, which were called “vinyl records.”

Maybe I’ll just play solitaire today, since it’s National Solitaire Day.

Daily writing prompt
What’s a word or phrase that annoys you?
View all responses

I’ll give you two phrases. Both of them are phrases that people commonly say, believing that they are from the Bible. Neither one of them is. First, one that has been wildly popular for a number of years, now, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” That, my friends, is a lie from the pits of Sheol. If God never gave us more than we can handle, we would never need God, would we? Not in the Bible. Anywhere. Second, “God helps those that help themselves.” Pfft. Not in there. If we had to “help ourselves” before God would help us, we would all be without any hope. We were “dead in trespasses and sins” before Christ saved us. A dead person can’t help themself. A dead person can’t do anything. In the words of Paul, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)! GIFT!! I think my favorite definition of “grace” is that it is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

It’s a normal Friday, today. C is working from home, and I will be working at the library computer center from 9:15-6:15 today. I haven’t decided what tonight’s dinner will be. It will either be an H-E-B Meal Simple family meal with salad and Texas Toast, or Chicken Tortilla Soup (also H-E-B Meal Simple) with grilled cheese sandwiches.

My first cup of joe, this morning, is CAFE Olé by H‑E‑B Taste of San Antonio, one of the Favorite Five. “For a trio of cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla flavors, try CAFE Olé by H-E-B Taste of San Antonio coffee.” My second cup is Hazelnut Spread, by Angelino’s, a limited edition. “Chocolaty fudge and roasted hazelnut flavored coffee.” That one is still in stock and available.

JESUS TIME

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, my Savior, I approach You in this morning hour, beseeching You to let Your grace and mercy go with me through the day. Let Your presence give me the blessed assurance of Your divine protection amid dangers, guidance amid uncertainty, and strength against temptations. Bless the labors of my hands. Bless our home with Your continued presence. Bless our nation, and let righteousness and peace prevail. Bless Your Church, and keep her in Your Word and truth. Bless our schools, and grant that boys and girls may grow in grace and knowledge of You and Your will. Remember not the sins of my youth nor my many trespasses. Bring me safely home tonight, and keep me steadfast in faith; through Jesus Christ, my Redeemer. Amen.
(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Prayer 28, Friday Morning)

Heavenly Father, the week has been long and arduous as I tended to the many needs in front of me every day. It is so tempting to let self-pity direct my day. Give me grace for this day, I pray. Help me to faithfully perform the tasks and duties before me. Keep me attuned to the needs of others instead of turned inward to my own wants. Help me be aware of how You are at work in the lives of all people I encounter today, and enable me to respond with grace and kindness in all situations so that I reflect Your love and point people to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Portals of Prayer, Prayer for Friday Morning)

Father, in glorifying Christ and sending us your Spirit, you open the way to eternal life. May our sharing in this gift increase our love and make our faith grow stronger. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(For All the Saints, Friday of the Week of Easter 7, Opening Prayer)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV) 
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  
(Galatians 5:13 ESV) 

Today I am grateful:

  1. That the Holy Spirit, the Second Person of the Trinity, is always interceding for me in prayer 
  2. That because the Lord is my Strong Tower, my Fortress, my Deliverer, my Strength, and my Salvation, I have nothing to fear; not even death 
  3. For the freedom I have in Christ; not as an opportunity to satisfy the flesh, but a means to serve others in and through the love of Christ 
  4. For the ability to be thankful in all circumstances, to rejoice always, and to pray without ceasing  
  5. For the privilege of worshiping Christ with my musical talents, both instrumentally and vocally 
  6. That my soul is united with Christ and, in that, takes on all that is His, just as He has taken on all of my sinfulness 
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?

Once again, I am faced with having to decide what to write, this morning. I have read a number of good things, both in Scripture and in my devotional books.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  
(Romans 8:26-27 ESV) 

I started out reading this passage, which has been a favorite of mine for a long time, because I don’t always know how/what to pray for people. I get a number of prayer requests, but don’t always know how to pray for them. I also have loved ones that I am constantly praying for, and don’t always know how to express those prayers. And, as I’m sure many others do, I sometimes fall into the trap of believing that if I say the right words or combination of words, it will get better results.

My brothers and sisters, first of all, that is an attempt at manipulating God. We cannot manipulate God. And it is a very dangerous idea to even try. Second of all, I do not for one nanosecond believe that God is that petty, to hold us to a particular “style” of prayer or a set “formula” of prayer that will cause Him to answer our prayers the way we want Him to.

But here, we have the promise that the Spirit is there for us. The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, helps us in our weakness. God, Himself, intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray, “with groanings too deep for words.” Oh, and also? This is NOT “praying in tongues.” That right there is some serious hermeneutical gymnastics.

Some days my prayers sound like fragments of desperation. “Half-sentences. Long pauses. A sigh you didn’t mean to release.” In those moments, the Spirit is interceding. God, Himself, is interceding for me!  

“He does not crush you with condemnation. He does not coerce you into obedience. He does not disappear when you falter. He stays. 
 
“Sometimes His work feels like quiet steadiness when you expected fire. Sometimes it feels like courage you didn’t manufacture. Sometimes it feels like conviction that stings and heals at the same time.” (Quotes by Jen Weaver, in You Version Bible Plan – From Promise to Presence: 50 Days of Living the Resurrected Life)

I am never praying alone! And it is in my weakness where the Spirit leans in close to me! 

Not only am I not praying alone, but I also don’t have to face this life alone, because God is always standing with me. That same Spirit that intercedes for me also dwells within me and protects me against fear. I have heard it said that the Bible contains some version of the words “fear not” at least enough times for once a day for a year. I have not verified if that statistic is accurate, but it is certainly in there more times than any other phrase.

Here are some Scripture passages that were featured in For All the Saints, today.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  
(Jeremiah 31:31-34 ESV) 

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  
 
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.  
 
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  
(Ephesians 5:18-32 ESV) 

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”  
(Matthew 9:14-17 ESV) 

Pay very close attention to the last verse in that Ephesians passage. And here is an excerpt by Martin Luther that astonished me, this morning. I will say that I have been fascinated by the concept of the Bride of Christ for a long time, now, and really need to have a conversation about this with my pastor. But these words from Luther bring a whole “new” (new for me, mind you, but written centuries ago!) dynamic to the concept.

“The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh (Eph. 5:31-32). And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage – indeed the most perfect of all marriages, since human marriages are but poor examples of this one true marriage – it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own. Let us compare these and we shall see the inestimable benefits. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation. The soul is full of sins, death, and damnation. Now let faith come between them and sins, death, and damnation will be Christ’s, while grace, life, and salvation will be the soul’s; for if Christ is a bridegroom, he must take upon himself the things which are his bride’s and bestow upon her the things that are his. If he gives her his body and very self, how shall he not give her all that is his? And if he takes the body of the bride, how shall he not take all that is hers?” 
(Martin Luther, The Freedom of A Christian, 1520) 

O Lord, when the darkness covers us, let Thy righteousness dawn upon our souls, that we, who now prayerfully render thanks unto Thee after the labors of another day are done, may also come before Thy face in the morning, to pay Thee the vows of thanksgiving; through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen. 
(For All the Saints, Friday of the Week of Easter 7, Closing Prayer, J.K. Wilhelm Loehe) 

God, You know the fears that live in my heart. Remind me today that I am not facing life alone. Give me courage to trust You and strength to move forward even when the path feels uncertain. In the name of Jesus, Amen. 
(Grant Fishbook, A Miracle Every Day) 

Dear Holy Spirit, I thank You that You are interceding for me when I pray. I thank You, as well, my Christ, because Scripture also tells me that You intercede for us, as well. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I thank You that I am never alone . . . not when I pray, not when I live, because You dwell within me, all the time. I have nothing to fear in my life because of Your presence with me. And in Your presence there is fullness of joy, so therefore, my joy should always be full.

I praise You for this discussion of Christ and His Bride. I long for the day when I can see Your face, my Lord. That doesn’t mean that I am quite ready to leave this life. It just means that I love You and want to see Your face. My pastor has encouraged me that I will see Your face when You decide it is time. In the meantime, I live to serve You and my fellow humans, and live to love You and them. You have given me a love that is amazing, Lord. Yet I still struggle with loving everyone. I pray for Your Spirit to fill me and complete me, to remove any obstacle from my person, my brain, my soul, my spirit . . . anything that prevents me from loving all people with the love that You have for us (my opinions come to mind . . . ).

Lord, I love You. I praise You. I worship You. All that I have is Yours. My life is Yours. You own me, body and soul. Everything I think and feel and do and say belongs to You. You have given me ultimate freedom, and in that freedom, I am free from anything that would enslave me, free to love and to serve. Make me a better image bearer of Yourself, my dear Christ. Make me a clear window through which people can see Your love for them. Please keep giving me transformation and maturity by Your Spirit and mold me by Your holy and precious and beautiful Word until I stand in Your presence.

There is still too much Jeff in here.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us.
(The prayer of St. Patrick)

Grace and peace, my brothers and sisters! Drink deep!

CHRIST IS EVERYTHING!!!

Coruscations

Jeff

Today is Saturday, the twenty-fourth day of February, in the first week of Lent.

May the peace of Christ dwell within you today!

Day 24,089

Thirty-six days until Easter.

I forgot to look at yesterday’s “holiday.” Today is National Tortilla Chip Day. For the more daring, it is also International Sword Swallower’s Day. I’m not more daring. I’ll stick with the chips.

I had a fine day at the library, yesterday. It was fairly busy, especially in the afternoon, and I was, once again, alone in the computer center, as the manager took the day off to oversee kitchen renovations at his house. As is the custom, I wasn’t aware of this until I arrived at work. But it was all okay.

Today is mostly a relaxing day, outside of attending our theater show, this afternoon. I’ll be cooking our traditional burgers for dinner, tonight.

The Texas Rangers won their first Spring Training game, yesterday, 5-4, against the KC Royals. You won’t see me talking much about ST games, though. I don’t put a lot of stock in them. It is exciting to know that they are playing baseball, but the scores and stats in these games don’t matter, other than to see how the players are performing and to come up with the final roster for the season.

JESUS TIME

Most merciful God,
we confess that we are in bondage to sin
and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us.
Forgive us, renew us, and lead us,
so that we may delight in Your will
and walk in Your ways,
to the glory of Your holy name.
Amen.
God of all-encompassing and unconditional love, 
open our hearts to love You with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole soul. You are the only way, Lord; the true pathway to everlasting peace and joy. Please continue to guide us so that we may mirror and project Your light in a darkened world. Merciful Father, teach us to be perfect as You are perfect. Help us to be more merciful, forgiving, and loving of others just as You have been for us. 
We pray this all in Your good and holy Name, amen.
(Prayer for the first Saturday in Lent, psalm91.com)
For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is his name. 
I have put my words in your mouth, and hidden you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, "You are my people."
(Isaiah 51:15-16 NRSV)

Today I am grateful:

  • for Jesus Christ, the true pathway to everlasting peace and joy
  • that God, the LORD of hosts, has put His words in my mouth, and hidden me in the shadow of His hand
  • for the unconditional love of God; God is love
  • for the light of God, which directs us back to Him
  • for the suffering and death of Christ, which brings us to God
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. 
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Thessalonians 5:19-23 NRSV)
"You have come to us Emmanuel, teach us to choose the good and to ever sing Your praise as You teach us how to live: 
O come, Thou Wisdom, from on high, 
and order all things far and nigh; 
to us the path of knowledge show, 
and teach us in her ways to go. 
Amen."
(Spiritual Contemplation of Christ's Suffering, Saturday in first week of Lent)

I feel compelled to share this lovely poem, this morning, from Daryl Madden, titled, “I Love You Because.“

A prayer of Your Presence
Is a true blessing of
Letting go into
God’s embrace of love

I’ve learned to realize
It’s not something God does
Is to use the phrase
I love you because…

Because you are good
Or you show mercy
Because you serve the poor
Or even love me

Love without conditions
I am just love you see
I have loved you first
You love eternally

God simply loves us. There is no “because.” Please visit Daryl’s site at the link provided, to see more of his inspirational poetry.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
(Psalms 34:18 NRSV)

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 
Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor. 

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters. 
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 

The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!" 

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. 
May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! 
(Psalms 29:1-5, 9-11 NRSV)

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
(1 Peter 3:18-22 NRSV)

As I quietly enjoy God’s presence, this morning, these Scripture passages speak to me and teach me. I made note of a C.S. Lewis quote in regard to Psalm 29:1-2. The quote comes from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, which I have read, and I actually remember these lines from the book. It says, “Gratitude exclaims, very properly, ‘How good of God to give me this.’ Adoration says, ‘What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!’ One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun . . .”

What does that even mean? What are “coruscations?” I had to look that up. “Coruscation” is the noun form of “coruscate,” which means “to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes: sparkle.” Obviously, it is not a word we see very much. In fact, I’m pretty certain that the only place I have ever seen it is in this C.S. Lewis book. Does God “sparkle?” I don’t know about that, but we know from Scripture that He gives off pretty intense light, to the point that a person could not survive being in the direct presence of that Light.

But the gist of the whole quote, to me, is the bit about our minds running “back up the sunbeam to the sun.” When we experience the “coruscations” of God, we are directed to Him, the source of that light. This is true adoration, as we ascribe to Him the glory that is due His name, worshiping Him “in holy splendor.”

The passage from Peter is rich with meaning. First, we get the true purpose of Christ’s suffering. “In order to bring you to God.” The only way we can be brought to God is to be pure and sinless, and Christ’s suffering and death accomplished this.

Then we get this picture of baptism, and how the salvation of Noah and his family on the ark was a foreshadowing, a “prefiguring,” if you will, of our baptism, which saves us just as the ark saved humanity. Baptism does not literally wash dirt from our bodies, but it clears our conscience from sin by spiritually cleansing us. In baptism, we are cleansed from our sins, and saved.

Father, I thank You for Your “coruscations,” beams of intense light that direct our minds and hearts back up the sunbeam to You. Help us to adore You the way we should, and to ascribe to You the glory and strength, of which You are worthy, and of which You are due. Your voice, Father . . . Your voice is so powerful that it breaks the mighty cedars of Lebanon. I have never literally heard Your voice (at least, not as far as I know). Perhaps I have heard Your “quiet whisper,” thought.

I am grateful, Father, for Your gifts to me. But I want to show more adoration than gratitude. Make my heart adore You, Father. Help me to worship You and You alone (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. You are love, Father. You love us, and there is no “because.” There is no reason . . . You do not love us because we are worthy, or because of any works that we do. You just love us because You, Father, are love; the very essence of love.

We are the ones who love because. We can’t help it. And we love because You first loved us.

Thank You for Jesus, who went through what He endured that He might bring us to You, for that is the only way we could get to You. Thank You for the picture of baptism we see in the ark of Noah. As all humanity was saved through the waters of the ark, so we are saved in Christ through the waters of baptism. Help me to remember my baptism every day, Father, and to wake up remembering that I am baptized into Christ, and into His Church.

"Persuasive God, 
I know it sounds odd, but sometimes my sin seems too big and ugly even for you. Keep me from adding to my sin by thinking that your power can't forgive me now. Convince my unbelieving heart that through Christ's sufferings I'm forgiven and forever right with you. 
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
(Seeking God's Face, Prayer for Day Ten of Lent)

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 NRSV)

I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love GOD, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that GOD, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 MSG)

“In the first chapter of the Bible, we read that God created life; two chapters later Adam and Eve chose death. It’s important to note that the biblical story isn’t preoccupied with death but with life. It isn’t about damnation but salvation. It isn’t a funeral dirge but a celebratory song. Even so, God leaves it up to us to choose which sheet music we will sing from.” (Eugene H. Peterson, Conversations: The Message Bible with its Translator, at the end of Deuteronomy 30)

"Jesus, refuge of the weary,
Blest redeemer, whom we love,
Fountain in life's desert dreary,
Savior from the world above:
Often have your eyes, offended,
Gazed upon the sinner's fall;
Yet upon the cross extended,
You have borne the pain of all."
(Jesus, Refuge of the Weary, Girolamo Savonarola, Lutheran Book of Worship, 93)

Grace and peace, friends.

The Past Is Gone

Jeff

Today is Sunday, January 17, 2021, the second Sunday after Epiphany.

Peace be with you!

Day 22,956

I lost 2.2 pounds at my weigh-in at WW, yesterday morning, which negated the weight gain over the previous two weeks. I know need to lose 1.4 to hit that 100 pound mark! But I am not hyper-focused on that. I know I will get there, and beyond, so it’s really not important when that happens.

I have a doctor checkup in a little over a month. I’m hoping that my meds will be reduced, this time. I’m also hoping that, when I go back again this coming August, maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to get off of the diabetes medication, at least.

As far as my final weight goal, I don’t have a projected time frame on that, just yet, although it would be nice to be there by the end of 2021.

The rest of yesterday was pretty much nothing. I did spend some time messing with ProTools, but nothing productive happened. I also played the guitar for a few minutes. My fingers have gotten so soft, that was all I could do. Small steps, right?

C is feeling better, this morning, she says. She is hoping to get a walk in today. I’m supposed to get a new pair of New Balance walking shoes today. If they fit, I plan on getting back on the treadmill for a walk.

We have our Zoom worship gathering, this morning at 10:15. We will be beginning with Acts 24. We usually manage to make it through a couple of chapters. We should finish Acts next Sunday. So far, there has been no talk of where to go next.

JESUS TIME

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, you heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
(Traditional Doxology)

Today I am grateful:

  • That I am alive and breathing
  • That I am immersed in Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwells within me
  • That You show no favoritism (and expect the same from us)
  • That in Christ, You have not only forgiven my sins, You have changed my past: my sins are not just forgiven . . . they are GONE
  • For our future in Christ, for our reward in heaven, unchanging, imperishable, and eternal

Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

EPIPHANY – DAY 12

INVITATION

The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
(Psalms 118:24 NIV)

BIBLE SONG

A psalm of David.

LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?

The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the LORD; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;
who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things will never be shaken.
(Psalms 15:1-5 NIV)

BIBLE READING

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
(Acts 19:1-7 NIV)

DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION

As I try to “dwell” in these passages, there are mixed thoughts and feelings. Psalm 15 has always unsettled me a bit. It sounds like you have to be perfect to “dwell in [God’s] sacred tent.”

A blameless walk; only doing what is righteous; speaking truth from the heart; uttering no slander; doing no wrong to a neighbor; casting no slur on others. That’s a hefty list, there.

And then there’s that bit about despising a vile person. That seems to fly straight against everything Jesus teaches us.

But wait, there’s more. Keep your oaths, and even it hurts or causes you loss, don’t change your mind. Lend money to the poor without charging them interest, and don’t take bribes against the innocent.

I won’t try to reconcile all of this, today. I’m not that wise. But I will say that I believe that, in Christ, if we truly follow Him and walk with Him, then we can fulfill these requirements. My walk is “blameless,” if I am following Jesus, because my sins are forgiven, cast as far as the east is from the west. (For more discussion on that topic, see this previous blog post.)

I will say that I have caught myself loathing one whom I perceive as “vile.” But it makes me feel uncomfortable. Because Jesus says to love my enemies. I think that’s one of the reasons that we struggle with the psalms that fall in the category of “imprecatory.” You know, the ones that call upon God to bring down judgment or curses on our enemies. Psalm 137 is a classic.

Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
(Psalms 137:8-9 NIV)

I could never pray for that to happen to anyone!

The other passage, at least this morning, doesn’t draw me in, really. I do note the difference between John’s baptism and the baptism in Jesus.

John’s baptism was one of repentance. That is what he called the people toward. “Repentance” is often misconstrued as only being sorry. That’s not the only meaning of the word. I am not called to simply be sorry for my sins. I am called to turn around, to go a different direction. To change my mind about something.

In John’s case, he called people to change their direction, in preparation for the One who was coming, who would bring the Gospel.

The baptism of Jesus is one of freedom. In Jesus, because we have repented, changed our minds, turned around, we are forgiven and free. We are also empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I’m sure an official “theologian” could do much better than me at explaining this.

Father, I thank You for the two baptisms. I thank You for the call to repentance, which can only be successful if You gift me with the act of repentance. I cannot do this in my own strength, because, if left on my own volition, I would continue down a path of sin. As it is, I still struggle with sin, even in my redeemed state. If it were not for Your grace and gift of repentance, my path would be totally wrong. I thank You for the forgiveness of sins in Jesus, and for the freedom that His baptism provides. I also praise You that, in Christ, as You look at me, You see one who is wearing the righteousness of Him, and therefore, walks blamelessly. May my walk truly be blameless, though, that I might be worthy of the name of Jesus.

"Abba Father,
I praise you that I enjoy
all the freedom and privilege
of being your child - 
your name,
the spirit of adoption,
unhindered access to you.
I'm pitied,
protected,
and provided for,
disciplined but never cast off,
kept for eternity where I will
inherit the promise of your everlasting salvation.
Amen."
(Westminster Confession 12)

BLESSING

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
(Romans 8:15-16 NIV)

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?
(James 2:1 NLT)

“For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed.”
(Deuteronomy 10:17 NLT)

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7 NLT)

But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
(James 2:9-10 NLT)

Let’s go back and consider Psalm 15 again. Specifically that part about walking blamelessly.

When Jesus turned water into wine, His first recorded miracle, He did more than change the flavor of the water. He even did more than change the molecular structure of the liquid.

He changed its past!

You see, good wine (I’m not a wine connoisseur, by any stretch . . . not even that fond of it) has to age. It has a past. When Jesus turned the water into wine, He gave it a new past.

Can a piece of cloth that has been dyed with color be turned white again? I think that would be very difficult, if not impossible. That cloth’s past is, by human terms, permanent.

Yet, in Christ, something happens to us, something miraculous.

“If God can give a past where there was no past, then He can remove a past where there once was one.”

When our sins are forgiven, something more happens. We aren’t just forgiven. Our past is changed! “God doesn’t just forgive the scarlet cord or pretend it isn’t scarlet. He changes its past and, by that, changes its reality. He undyes it.” (Emphasis mine)

When I was growing up, I used to hear a preacher say, in defining the justification of God, that being justified meant that it was “just as if I’d” never sinned. Clever and cute.

And also not quite accurate.

This is important. Perhaps more important than I have ever realized until this morning.

“It’s not just as if we never sinned but in His redemption, it has become that we’ve never sinned. In salvation, the impossible becomes the reality, the guilty become innocent, the tainted become pure, the rejected become those who were always beloved children, and our sins, which were scarlet, become . . . as white as snow.” (Emphasis by author)

“The Mission: Soak in the undyeing. Receive from heaven your changed, innocent, pure, and beloved past, a past as beautiful and as white as snow.”

And maybe this sheds a little more light on the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’s.

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”
(Isaiah 1:18 NLT)

When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
(Luke 7:37-47 NLT)

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT)

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
(1 John 1:8-9 NLT)

Father, this truth is affecting me, this morning. Perhaps I have never considered that, in freeing me from my sins, in forgiveness, that You literally changed my past. It is not as if I had never sinned. The fact that I sinned was erased! My feeble brain cannot wrap itself around this truth very easily. I need time to consider it, ponder it, chew on it. But I thank You and praise You for the truth. Help me to live in it and walk in it, as well!

Lord, as we cry out to You, may You uncover the idols that reside in my heart. If there is anything in my life that takes precedent over loving You, please remove it. May I truly know and experience Your forgiveness, and may I also be faithful in extending that same forgiveness to anyone who has wronged me in any way. Help me to show the same kind of grace that has been extended to me. I thank You, Father, for the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, 
have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
O, Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,
grant us Your peace.
(Agnus Dei)

Grace and peace, friends.