Author: Megan Langan

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:1-11 (day four)

One of the best ways to know that your prayers line up with the Lord’s will is to pray Scripture. That’s what Nehemiah is doing here – he is remembering the covenant God made with Moses, and believing in faith that what God had said long ago still holds true for him and his people. Nehemiah remembered that God made a promise for scattered people: if they return to the Lord, he will gather them up again into his presence.

But what does it mean to “return to the Lord”? We often convince ourselves that returning to the Lord means a long, hard journey, or that it would be like returning to a disappointed parent, ready to scold us. When this is what we imagine lying ahead of us, it feels too daunting to take a step towards the Lord. But Scripture paints a different picture. Returning to the Lord means doing just as Nehemiah did here – bowing before him in prayer, and standing on his promises. It only takes a moment to return, and in that moment, you won’t be greeted by a disappointed parent, but a good Father rejoicing over his child.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 11:22-25 (day four)

Do you enjoy the greeting time during church on Sunday? Some of us love to walk around the sanctuary shaking hands, while the introverts among us probably wish that we could just skip that part. Other church traditions refer to this time as “passing the peace,” where, just like in our congregation, the intention is that we greet one another with the peace of Christ in our hearts.

This brief moment on Sunday morning feels routine – but it’s an important part of the liturgy that is filled with significance. Before we continue on in worship, before we receive the sermon, before we take the Lord’s Supper, we actively extend peace to the members of the body of Christ that are around us. But this is hard to do when we haven’t made forgiveness a spiritual discipline in our lives.

Forgiveness is one of the hallmarks of the Christian faith, but this radical forgiveness Christ calls us to isn’t easy. It makes no sense by earthly logic, it only makes sense in light of Christ. We can forgive others because we have been forgiven first, and because the Spirit strengthens us to offer that same forgiveness to others. Here, Jesus is asking us to make this a regular occurrence in our prayer life. He’s asking us to include forgiveness in the daily liturgy of our lives.

What if we really lived out this command? What if, when we arrive at church with unforgiveness towards a fellow church member, we seek the Lord in prayer, asking the Spirit to strengthen us, so that we can pass that person genuine peace when the time comes? I believe the effects would reverberate throughout the entire sanctuary.

Re:Verse passage – John 17:20-26 (day four)

“The glory which You have given Me, I have given to them…”

Christ has given us glory. But…I don’t often feel very glorious, do you? Would you describe your day-to-day life as glorious? The majority of our lives are spent doing pretty non-glorious things. Just getting through the day, doing what needs to get done, worrying about what tomorrow will bring, figuring things out.   

But, much of Jesus’ life on earth was filled in the same way as ours. He got hungry, he got tired, he got up, went to work, went home. He had to tend to his body as it aged, he knew what exhaustion felt like. Yet he was still full of glory. He was still full of the glory that is found in his intimate relationship with the Father. Because that’s who he is – he is the Son of the living God, created in glory. So no matter what else was happening to him on any given day, that glory was the most true thing about him.  

When he came and lived his life on earth, he gave that glory to us. He brought us into that fold, that beautiful glory that he enjoys with the Father, we now enjoy with him and the Father, through the Spirit. It’s not glory in spite of the mundane parts of life, it’s glory that reaches into those ordinary parts of life and makes them beautiful, makes them redeemed. Now, even on our worst day, on our most non-glorious day, when we’ve accepted Christ as our savior, that glory that we share with him is the most true thing about us too.

It is through living in this reality that we show the world who our God is.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:14-21 (day four)

It is in times of temporary distress or tribulation that, if we’re keeping in step with the Spirit, we can begin to appreciate the magnitude of God’s love. In times of weakness or hardship, we develop a further understanding of the width, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

When we see the Lord move in someone’s life whom we have a distaste for, or even despise, we see the width of God’s love that extends to every living thing, a far wider love than we can offer. When we think to ourselves after our latest failed attempt to get rid of that issue of sin in our life, “Surely I’ve exhausted God’s grace,” we see the length of God’s love that extends eternally, without term limits. When we cry out for an Advocate, we see the height of God’s love that extends from this earth all the way up to the throne room, where Christ intercedes on our behalf. In our absolute lowest moments, we see the depth of God’s love, finding us at rock bottom and pulling us up again.

We know, as we’re told in Romans, that tribulations bring about perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. But it’s not simply the experience of these hardships that cause this to happen. It’s the newfound experience of God’s love that leads us to hope. So if you’re in the thick of distress right now, don’t dismay. You’ll find new, unexplored territory of God’s love – more than you could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:1-8 (day four)

This odd little parable comes right after Jesus is telling the disciples about the future coming of the Kingdom of God. He advises them, as they consider his second coming, “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” He concludes this conversation on an ominous note as he foretells his crucifixion.

I’m sure the tension was palpable after the disciples heard this. Seeing their pain and confusion, he gives them a word of encouragement. He tells them, in the face of all of this, to pray. Pray with determination like the widow who had nothing left to lose. Pray to the One who is not an apathetic judge, but who is the creator of justice. Pray with boldness to the One who meets judgment with mercy. It is nothing short of a miracle that we’re invited to pray with boldness to this good of a God.

Part of that “losing your life” business Jesus talked about happens through this kind of prayer. The more we boldly approach the throne of God, the more acquainted we become with the One who sits on it. The more we get to know him, the more we can loosen our grip on our life as we give it into his hands.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 11:5-13 (day four)

At first glance, this passage can be puzzling. Are we waking a sleeping deity when we pray persistently? Do we simply annoy God into answering our prayers? Of course not. Jesus is saying that if a reluctant neighbor is willing to honor your persistence, how much more will the Father who loves you?

It seems to me that the Lord honors his children who stay leaned in, who are willing to wrestle in prayer. I’m reminded of Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles with God. Jacob is persistent, he stays engaged and he receives a blessing. Our persistence doesn’t badger God, it honors him. Every time we ask, seek, and knock, we’re proclaiming that we believe God is who he says he is – a good Father who is mighty enough to meet our every need.

So go ahead – ask with persistence, keep knocking, wake the neighbors, seek the Lord shamelessly in prayer. The Lord is faithful to open the door.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day four)

There are moments in life that are simply too big to fit into language. Sometimes our circumstances are so heavy, so agonizing that all we can do is fall at the Lord’s feet and groan. Other times, our joy is so great and overwhelming that the only sensical thing to do is shout and dance. Then there are times where we simply can’t find where to start. Language is amazing, but it is still limited. We know that there is no word uttered on this earth that can adequately describe God – because he is bigger than language too.

So if the God to whom we pray is bigger than language, and we experience moments in life bigger than language, then it must be so that prayer can happen without uttering a word. Sometimes our most meaningful moments of prayer are when we simply hold up our hearts before the Lord with shaking hands. We can do this because the Spirit that dwells in us and intercedes for us is the very Spirit of God himself. He is both that intimate and that cosmic. I am so glad that words can’t contain our God.

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day four)

There are many times when church life in 2023 reflects this description of the early church. I have enjoyed breaking bread with many of our FBCSA family where that spirit of gladness and sincerity of heart was present. I have experienced the generosity of our members when they have given selflessly as I or my ministry had need. I have experienced that sense of awe as I’ve seen the Spirit move in miraculous ways in and through this body of believers. In fact, in the middle of writing this, the Lord used a coworker to give me an encouraging word right when I needed it.

And then there are moments – and often they’re just that, moments – when a ministry isn’t going the way you want it to, or you read a troubling headline about a pastoral or denominational failure, or the reality of having all things in common is a little grating, and you begin to wonder if the church has drifted from this vision in Acts.

But let me tell you, if we continue to devote ourselves to teaching the Word, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and, chiefly, to prayer, the Lord will continue the good work he started in the early church. He will make himself known to us just as he did with them. With Christ as the head of the church and our great high priest, that devotion will never return void.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day four)

The life of a prayer doesn’t have to end when it’s answered. Paul is asking his readers to reflect on how God has moved in their lives, and pray that that would multiply. Part of the practice of prayer is reflection – this helps turn our prayer life into a dynamic relationship with God, rather than a list of to-do’s for God.

When we reflect on what God has done and how he has answered our prayers, we begin to see that the impact of that answered prayer could be far bigger than we ever imagined. Part of the work of the Spirit is using that answered prayer to minister to the whole body, the whole community. When we spend time in reflection with the Lord, we’ll see how the Lord’s faithfulness to us is meant to be multiplied.

This is witnessing, isn’t it? We share what we experience of God – in real time. Witnessing is more than telling our salvation story, though it’s not less than that. We’re meant to continually witness to what we have experienced of God, trusting that he will multiply his faithfulness. An answered prayer is bigger than we realize.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:17-20 (day four)

“I’ll pray for you” is a common phrase around church. When we hear of a prayer request from someone in our Bible study class, or as we’re chatting in the hall on the way to worship, we respond, “I’ll pray for you.”

Many of us do bring that request to the Lord later in our prayer time. Sometimes we intend to but forget along the way. And sometimes, if we’re honest, the words are barely out of our mouth before our minds have moved on to the next thing. But if we’re not careful, we can make the phrase “I’ll pray for you,” into simply a nice sentiment.

Paul wasn’t asking for nice sentiments here. He’s assuming that his readers understand that prayer is the most powerful thing we can offer someone. When we put on the full armor of God, pray through the power of the Spirit, and partner with Jesus who intercedes for us at the very right hand of God, our prayers hold more power than this world knows what to do with.

Let’s consider the power that prayer holds this week, and pray for each other in that way. And if you’re worried you’ll forget someone’s request on the way home? Pray for them on the spot. Let us be a praying people.