Don Guthrie – Page 13 – The Everyday Prayer

Rules

RE Verse reading–Genesis 2:4-17 (day one)

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”–v 116-17.

The Lord only gave them one rule. One! They were 99% free and 100% blessed. Who wouldn’t GLADLY corporate with such a generous arrangement?

With the rule came a warning. Clear. Immediate consequence for disobedience. But they didn’t believe Him. They weren’t warned away by His words.

I have made the same mistake. Seen it made by others. “It will never happen to me” or “just this once.”

“The wages of sin is death” warns a Holy God from Heaven. When we sin something dies. We die. Opportunities. Fellowship with Him. Serious consequences.

The universe comes with rules. Things required. Things forbidden. The great human mistake is to not hear or believe that the rules come from God.

Be fruitful

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day seven)

“Let the waters TEEM with living creatures”–1:20, “BE FRUITFUL and INCREASE in number and FILL the waters in the seas”–1:22.

The Creation story has an exuberance, an enthusiasm that is often lacking in modern life. We are jaded and weary. God isn’t! His instruction and expectation for His new creatures was for them to increase and multiply and fill the planet with life! He commands the same path of progress (in even stronger terms) to newly created men in 1:28.

I hear the same exuberance in our Lord as He instructs the disciples after the Resurrection. “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”–Matthew 28:19.

It is still God’s will to FILL this earth with New Creation life! He doesn’t “do” empty. He commands us to be fruitful!

Fill the earth

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day one)

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”–1:28.

On its face, this command refers to reproduction. Babies. Families. Through them, the human race was to GROW in size and strength and command of the planet God gave us.

Years ago, when I first came to FBCSA, I prayed for God to FILL the sanctuary–with His Spirit and with His people. My sense, then and now, is that empty things don’t bring Him glory the way FILLLED things do.

We hear the same heart in the New Testament’s command for us to “be FILLED with the Spirit”. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it in ABUNDANCE”

God does not think in small or partial terms. His character (and our assignment) is to FILL and BE FILLED.

“May the God of hope FILL you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.”–Romans 15:13.

Day by day

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:1-13 (day seven)

Would you like to know God? Serve others? Experience peace? Take one step today toward the Lord! Just one step. Tomorrow take another. Don’t worry, you can do this! Just start and keep going.

The Creator built this wisdom into the universe. Achievement is always a gradual, patient process. He used the same plan. Day one. Then day two. Then day three.

“Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily” said the wise Son.

“Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best–lovingly, it’s part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest.”–Caroline Sandell–Berg.

What will you do today that will set your life in a new direction?

Big Bang

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:1-13 (day one)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”–v 1.

Scientists call it the “Big Bang”. For years the prevailing view was that the universe had always existed in some “Steady State”. Then, new evidence came that shifted opinion in the direction of an instantaneous beginning at some distant point in the past.

The conflict between science and religion is well known. Our purpose this week (as we study Genesis chapter 1) will not be to resolve the tension. It is interesting, however, that science has (at least on this point) come back around to the place that believers have been for centuries.

It is a grand, life-restoring, wisdom-giving story! Story not because it is fiction, but story because that is the form in which an infinitely artistic God gave it.

Instantly (and then gradually Genesis will also tell us). By His word and according to His will. Creation!

Big Bang? Big God!

Feet first

Re: Verse reading–Mark 15:33-41; 16:1-8 (day seven)

“But go, tell the disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.”–16:7.

It is a pattern with God. A struggle for me. “Walk now, see later” whispers the Spirit. Obedience before confirmation. Feet first. Eyes second.

I am learning this lesson again. Like the disciples, I find myself on the threshold of a new chapter. Exciting. Unfamiliar. What I think I need is to see the Lord. To hear His assurance. What I actually need is to get forward to the place that He is telling me to go. When I get there, He will meet me. He promises!

“Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign that I have sent you; when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”–Exodus 3:12

Go and then you will know! I value assurance. He values obedience.

Eyes to see

Re: Verse reading–Mark 15:33-41; 16:1-8 (day one)

“And when the centurion. . . heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely, this man was the Son of God.’ “–v 15:39.

I like this centurion. I am grateful for his story.

For the last hours of his life, Jesus was SURROUNDED by clueless people. When the Lord cried out, “Eloi, Eloi” (God, God) they thought he was calling for Elijah. To the very last, they were blinded by their own expectations of spectacle and Jewish vindication.

The centurion had clearer eyes. He could see a deeper story, that Jesus was innocent (Luke 23). Matthew says the earthquake convinced him. (Matthew 27) Mark puts the emphasis on the Lord’s loud, triumphant last cry. Either way, this man came to a correct and courageous conclusion that GOD was involved in the death (and the life) of Christ.

It is the grace of God that gives us eyes to see what HE is doing in the world.

Conscientious

Re: Verse reading–Mark 14:43-52; 15:1-15 (day seven)

What is conscience? Is it good or bad? Commonly defined as an inner faculty that assists in distinguishing right from wrong, the ancient word literally meant, “that which I see with myself”(suneidesis), truth inwardly confirmed.

Coupled with the Word of God, conscience is a powerful tool for good. It warns against wrong and urges toward right. In 2 Corinthians 4:2, Paul said that conscience was his target. “Commending ourselves to the every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Do you ever notice the Spirit’s appeal to you through your conscience? Do you respond when He does?

In Mark 14, the Lord spoke to the conscience of the men who came to arrest Him. “Why would you come at night?” he asked. “I taught openly in the Temple” “Why didn’t you arrest me then?” Even then, the Lord was reaching out to them, touching conscience, calling them a better choice.

His love still does so today.

Fooling yourself

Re: Verse reading–Mark 14:43-52; 15:1-15 (day one)

“Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Rabbi’ and kissed him.”–v 45

Who was Judas trying to fool? Not Jesus, certainly. Their conversation a few hours before made it clear that Jesus knew what Judas was up to. The other disciples? Perhaps he hoped that the other men would assume that the authorities had “followed him” to the garden, without his knowledge or cooperation. Maybe, even then, Judas believed that he could force a revolution and that eventually these men would thank him. Why else would he pretend?

Most likely, Judas was fooling himself. It is hard to look at sin (our own). Painful. To avoid the shame, we pretend, even to ourselves. We tell ourselves lies. We play a part, never realizing that the truth is (or will be) obvious to everyone.

“Nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed”–Luke 8:17. Don’t fool yourself. A sign in Heaven says, “Truth is spoken here”.

Until that day

Re:Verse reading–Mark 14:12-31 (day seven)

“I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”–v 25

I like Jesus. Eyes on the future. Hope!

Just hours away from the cross. Betrayed by a friend (at some level, ALL of his friends), His clear eyes are still focused on the bright day of God’s coming victory. “We will be together again” he says in v 25. “At a great celebration, with wine and glad hearts”.

“For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross” says Hebrews 12:2. I wonder how courageous I would be if I could see life through His eyes? I wonder how undisturbed I would be by the pain and pettiness of this present age if I knew, really knew, that a happy victory was coming, and that I would share it with Him?

I think it is time for me to find out!