Day seven

Genesis 15:1-6

1.) After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

2.) But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3.) And Abram said, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

4.) And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”

5.) And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

6.) And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.

         This is the beginning of the Abrahamic Covenant in the Bible. God’s promise to make the descendants of Abram, (later, Abraham) a great people. These, of course, became the Jewish people. Abram had thus far done all that God had commanded. He had done so in full faith. But here he is questioning. His wife, Sarai (later, Sarah) had borne no children. Not only did this endanger his linage, it was also a reproach to Jewish women to not have a child, particularly a male child. It was always possible that a male child would be Messiah, and at the very least, he would carry on his father’s name and linage.

         Abram, who moved when God told him to move, who fearlessly went into battle when needed, who carried the name of the Lord into lands that already had their own gods, Abram was frightened that he would have no blood heir.

          This had been an ongoing conversation from before that has been renewed here. Abram has expressed his fears already and continues to do so. So what does God say to His most beloved servant, this man who had followed the path God laid out for him? Verse one; After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Abram had just fought a battle to free Lot, his nephew. After which, he met the great king Melchizedek, who had blessed Abram. His rescue of Lot should have been a great triumph. At one time Lot had been his heir. But Lot was unstable and too willing to compromise to worldly pleasures. Abram feared not having an heir more than the battle itself.

         The king of Sodom had offered Abram a reward, which Abram turned down. A man of faith and integrity. Now God tells him not to fear. God would reward with the one thing Abram really wanted for he and his wife. As God reassured him, he brought Abram outside and showed the stars to His faithful servant. He told him his people would be as many as the stars he could see. Abram was comforted, and verse six says, And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.

         If you are a believer, then God is in control of your life. He will lift you up, give you all the strength you need and then He will go along with you.

         Today, let’s pray for the strength of God to pour into us and take hold. Remember in Philippians 4, Paul is speaking of his material need. He points out that God is caring for him. And then, in verse thirteen he says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Are you passing through a hard time? Remember and pray.

 

Day Six

Isaiah 12:1-6

1.) You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to You, O LORD, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me.

2.) "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."

3.) With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

4.) And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His name is exalted.

5.) "Sing praises to the LORD, for He has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

6.) Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

         This is a continuation of Isaiah’s prophecy from the previous chapter. Often times in Old Testament prophecy, the prophet will see into the future and see it as all one image. In this case, Isaiah sees the coming of Christ and with that, sees all through the church age. In chapter eleven he talks about the One coming and then begins to speak about how it will be at the end of time. Something to look forward to, to anticipate.

         But, how do we see that blessed day?

         Verse two says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."

         God, the Almighty, is our salvation. It is not a blanket salvation that covers everyone, nor is it a salvation that covers all the good people. It is a salvation for those who recognize who God is and what He has done for us. He sent His son to be our sacrifice for sin. Only our personal faith in that sacrifice can save our souls.

         And, of course, the world tells us different. They scoff at the feeble minded who believe such drivel. Years ago I got into a conversation with a young man. He had sought me out to have this conversation. He wanted me to see the logic of his argument. Science, he said, had proven for anyone who had a practical mind that there was this massive explosion at the beginning of time. From this and the hundreds of millions of years of evolution since, (that has been stretched out to untold billions of years now) we have our world of today. We are born, live and die and it is over for us. He was an excitable young man and he got very agitated when I told him I disagreed with him. So, he restated everything he had just said, only louder, and became more agitated still that I would not agree with him. Finally he said to me, shouting so loud that people were stopping to stare, “WHAT IF YOU ARE WRONG?!?!?!” Through all of this I had remained calm and non-argumentative, which had made him angrier still. I looked at him and in a quiet voice, I said, “So?” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SO???” “I mean, so what? If I am wrong then I will live a good life, I will love my wife and family, maybe people will have nice things to say when I die. It is not like I am trying to lead people to do bad things. And when I die, I will be buried. So what? But you, on the other hand, if you are wrong, you will die and go to Hell. That seems like a huge gamble to me.”

         Again, what did the prophet say? "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."

         Today, let’s pray for the strength of God to infuse us so that we might take the good word of salvation to our loved ones and to the world.    

Day Five

Isaiah 40:28-31

28.) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.

29.) He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.

30.) Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

31.) but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

         I know a young lady in Kansas City. Oldest child, a boy, is fifteen. The youngest child, also a boy, is three. Between the two boys there are seven sisters. The other day she posted on Facebook that she is not a bad parent, but right then she felt like she has had it. I immediately sent her a note of encouragement. Later, as I was thinking about it, I thought about how much I admire her. I have one child, and he sometimes made me crazy. Imagine having nine, seven of which are girls. Gives me a headache just to think about it.

         This lady’s name is Alexandria, or Alex for short. Every once in a while, once every three months or so, she will post something that expresses her weariness or frustration. But, usually within a few days, she will start to revert to the young woman who loves the Lord and who is dedicated to making her family (marriage, kids, her own college) work. Of course there are times she feels overwhelmed. But she bounces back. Always doing for others, showing the graciousness of the Lord in her life.

         In the above passage, Isaiah is giving a life line to folks dealing with frustration; frustration that often leads to actually giving up. The chapter begins with “Comfort, comfort.” This portion of the chapter is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Read the passage again. In verse 31 the word ‘wait’ means to serve. It is where we get the word ‘waiter’ or ‘waitress.’ And, the word also has the idea of serving someone while being tied to them. Not physically, but emotionally. So, re-read the passage substituting ‘serve’ for ‘wait.’ (Some translations use the word ‘hope,’ but that is not a faithful translation.)

         Have you read it? Do you see how that changes the meaning? How it electrifies the passage? Why does He give power to the faint and increases strength to those who have felt their might seep away? So that they can regain what they have lost through the struggle and start serving again.

         And the result? Mounting up with wings like eagles, running and not growing weary, walking and not growing faint.

         The best thing to do when you feel beaten is to serve the Lord.

         Today, let’s pray for the renewing of our strength. Let’s figuratively mount up on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.  

 Day Four

Proverbs 4:1-9

1.) Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, 

2.) for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. 

3.) When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, 

4.) he taught me and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. 

5.) Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. 

6.) Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. 

7.) The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. 

8.) Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. 

9.) She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown." 

         Just to set the stage a bit, the Book of Proverbs was gathered together by King Solomon, son of David. Most of the book consists of proverbs common among the Jews and their neighbors. But part of it is Solomon’s own thoughts. This is one of those sections. The words ‘wise’ and ‘wisdom’ are used literally hundreds of times in the Scripture. It is the great desire for the faithful and the great arrogance for the proud and haughty. In the Old Testament the word for wisdom, the word used in this passage, is ‘chokmah.’ In the New Testament the word is ‘sophia.’ In both cases, the words are feminine nouns. You can see how David’s words to Solomon reflect that gender case.

         David was telling his young son to always seek wisdom. In verse 6, David says this about ‘wisdom;’ Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. This became Solomon’s guiding light. A man known to be wise. When the Lord offered him anything at all, he likely thought back to his father’s teaching and chose wisdom.

         Throughout the Word, there are people with great wisdom and insight. These are humble people before the Lord. People who seek to serve Him first. Isaiah comes to mind. But there are also those who think they are wise. They feel their words ring with truth. They might give the Lord lip service in public, but privately they feel that they are in control. King Herod was one such. They often find out different before they die.

         The world is full of wise fools. Scattered throughout the world are the truly wise. The wise fools create a world of darkness and despair. The truly wise offer light and rejuvenation. Which are you?

         Today, let’s pray for wisdom in our lives. Never think that you have enough wisdom or that you are pretty wise without prayer. Let’s be the light in the darkness.

 

Day Three

Zechariah 7:8-14

8.) And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 

9.) "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 

10.) do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." 

11.) But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 

12.) They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. 

13.) "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, 

14.) "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

When you read the Scripture, it is important to read the whole passage and not just a verse or two. In this case, the people of Bethel had sent a delegation to Zechariah to inquire on a point of the Law. These people in particular, and all of the Jews in general, had come to put the issues of the Law before proper behavior before the Lord. To them, the Law had become the measure of Spirituality, rather than that to which the Law pointed. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 23:23-24.

23.) "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 

24.) You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 

They were so precise in the following of the Law that they stumbled at the true meaning. Not only that, but they didn’t want to hear the real meaning.

So here, in Zechariah, they are told to render true judgments and to show one another kindness and mercy.

I think that we put being Americans first and being Christians second. We equate being American and being Christian as the same thing, but they are not the same. For instance, we think of those who disagree with us, whether on the world stage or simply our neighbor, as being in need of correcting. If, however, we are to show true judgement, we would show kindness and mercy.

It is all about attitude. If we seek out the Lord, if we seek true judgements, then our attitude will reflect kindness and mercy. Then, when we pray for others, we will be asking only for kindness and mercy on them.

But of course, we do not want to hear that. We have to change the minds of those with whom we disagree. We tell ourselves that we are doing the Lord’s work. However, people are only truly changed when the Lord begins to work on them. We cannot change someone who disagrees, but the Lord can.

So, what happens if we neglect kindness and mercy? From the above passage;

11.) But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 

12.) They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. 

13.) "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, 

14.) "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

Let’s pray that we show the true judgements of kindness and mercy.

            Day Two 

Psalm 9:7-10

⁷ But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
    He has established His throne for justice,
⁸ and He judges the world with righteousness;
    He judges the peoples with uprightness.

⁹ The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ And those who know Your name put their trust in You,
    for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

         People can be oppressed for many, many reasons. We think of the politically oppressed, racially oppressed, socially oppressed, financially oppressed and such like. But we rarely, if ever, think of those who are Spiritually oppressed. Yet, Spiritual oppression can take the form of unresolved grief, unreasoning anger, uncertainty as to how to meet the day. So much is tied to our Spiritual well being, but our modern world rejects all of that.

         In the passage above, verse 9 refers to the oppressed and it refers to the times of trouble. Here is a tale of two Dads.

         I was staff clergy for nine years at a funeral home. A teenaged boy had died in an accident. He wasn’t driving the car, it wasn’t a horrific accident, more of a fender bender. But this young person hit the side window with his head pretty hard. He was in a coma for a few days. They did surgery to relieve the pressure off his brain. But he just passed quietly in the middle of the night. Typically, in a situation like that we would have the parents and siblings come in the day before the visitation so they could express their grief. In this case, it was only the Dad. He began to wail and weep. He cursed God and he swore that if he ever got his hands on the driver of the car, he would kill him. I tried to talk to him and he threatened me. Everything was at high volume. Finally, he ran out of steam, falling to the floor. I helped him to a chair and I talked to him. I doubt he heard me. His weeping was deep and trembling. He was oppressed with grief and unable to cope.

         The second situation involved a ten year old boy who had gone with his Dad and two older brothers to Lake Erie to fish from the shore. Like a lot of ten year old boys, he became bored. A small stream ran into the Lake and his father led him to it. It was not even twenty yards away from where they were fishing. Maybe four inches deep. His father set the little guy to finding crayfish for bait. The Dad went and joined his other sons and they fished for about five minutes before he turned around to check on the youngest son. The boy was laying face down in the water. He had drowned. A slight bruise on his head led the police and coroner to conclude he had his head close to the water to see the crayfish and had slipped and knocked himself out. At the funeral home, the father told me that his son had accepted Christ as Savior just a couple of weeks before. “I am going to miss him until the day I die, but I will see him again.”

         Let us pray today about the Spiritually oppressed. If you are oppressed, pray for yourself. That’s OK! We are to take the things on our heart to Him. If you know someone who is Spiritually oppressed, pray for that person.

         A small child hears the boom of thunder and runs to find a parent. Once with the parent, the child begins to calm. Be that way with the Lord.

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.

            Day One.

            It has been about five and a half years ago now. Melissa Wilcox came to me with a forty day prayer plan. It was an interesting idea. The Bible instructs us to pray privately. Matthew 6:5-8;

5.) "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 

6.) But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

7.) "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. 

8.) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 

However, even though we are to pray privately, would it not be a good idea to have the prayer of many focused on an idea, much as we do with the prayer chain? Melissa had the forty day plan and we did it for the forty days. We did this through daily e-mails.

The forty day plan has been on my mind ever since. It helped me just knowing that others were praying as I was and that there was strength in that.

So, I thought we would revisit that forty day plan. The difference is that we will use the concept, but the direction will be the way the Yoke should respond to the world situation. By beginning today and going every day, we will finish the day before Resurrection Day. These will not be long. They are just intended to direct our thoughts and our prayers. And, brothers and sisters in Christ, there is plenty to pray about.

To begin with, we have a situation in the world right now that is very dangerous. We need to pray for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as well as the coming conflict between China and Taiwan. When geo-political struggles begin to brew, we tend to feel helpless. We don’t want to see the smaller, weaker country be steamrolled, but we also do not want to see our country involved. What is the answer? Obviously, for us, the answer is prayer. But what do we pray for? Solomon gives us the beginning of the answer in Proverbs 1:1-7;

1.) The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 

2.) To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, 

3.) to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 

4.) to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- 

5.) Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, 

6.) to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. 

7.) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

         I believe that we are to pray for wisdom for the nations of the world. Solomon was told by God that he could have anything he wanted. He chose wisdom. If we choose wisdom for ourselves, it will be easier to pray for wisdom among the nations.

         Let us seek out wisdom for ourselves and then come boldly before the throne of Grace and ask for the wisdom of the Lord to settle among the nations

         We will be back tomorrow for day two.