The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day seven)

There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. vs 15

“Although it may not seem so now, this passage, when it was first spoken, was well-nigh the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament.” -Barclay

What makes this so revolutionary? The focus of many of the rules in ancient Israel, including parts of the the Law, were hyper focused on keeping the individual ritualistically pure as to differentiate them from a pagan society. To do so, they watched closely the things they took into their body. What Jesus begins to challenge them on is the idea that the things coming out of the body, the things we say and do, are a better reflection of the purity of the soul than the things we eat. Our hands may be clean, our hearts can still be dirty.

Even though we might not struggle with things that are Kosher in modern Christianity, we still struggle with the same mentality. Many in our churches today are more concerned with how others perceive them and how they appear than the actual cleanliness of their heart. When observed at a closer level, their words, their actions, and their fruit will tell a much different story. What are the things that come out of you?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day six)

Traditions can be beautiful. They help us express love, reverence, and belonging. Whether it’s dressing up on Easter morning or receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday, traditions shape the rhythms of our faith and bind us to one another.

But as helpful as they are, traditions should never take the place of loving people.

In Mark 7, Jesus challenges a group of religious leaders who had grown more concerned with keeping traditions than with caring for people. Their spiritual routines had become a substitute for true transformation.

It’s easy to fall into that same trap—mistaking outward piety for inward renewal. We can get so good at “doing church” that we forget the reason behind it all: love. Real, sacrificial, others-first love.

So here’s a question worth asking:

Would we be willing to change our traditions if it meant someone in the heart of the city could experience the love of Jesus?

Let’s hold our traditions with open hands, always ready to lay them down if it helps someone else take hold of grace.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day five)“And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,”

‭‭One of the many reasons I love and regard the scriptures is because it gives honest accounts of the actions and attitudes of the human heart- including the disciples. They should “get it” (what Jesus is teaching and revealing) sooner and deeper than most, yet often times they don’t. Could Jesus have been any more blunt or clear?  He calls the crowd closer to listen again to His teaching. Then, He has even more to say to His disciples (goes over it again- because they were struggling to understand)-the darkness and sinfulness of the human heart. Some still didn’t get it. How do we know?  Because God continued to teach and challenge them until they did. For Peter it was years later (see Acts 10- same lesson). Praise God for His patient graciousness that continues to teach, convict, and encourage His children (for hours, days, years, and decades). He’s not finished or given up on any of His followers!!  Ready to listen and learn?  Search the Scriptures not traditions. He continues to teach and reveal!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day four)

Jesus draws a very clear distinction between two forms of the inner life. One is prideful and self-absorbed, making an idol of oneself and “righteous” to a T. The other is one that prays Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

Ironically, the Pharisees would have known this Scripture. It is a vulnerable thing to ask the Spirit to search you, but the more you do, the more you experience God’s gentle conviction and loving kindness. The Pharisees in their pride were not gentle, though. They bullied others with their law-keeping and  condemned them with their self-righteousness.

Which inner life will you choose? What areas of your life do you need to ask the Spirit to search?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day three)

“You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”

Jesus and the Pharisees agreed on at least one thing: their standing as experts. They touted their expertise in the law; Jesus pointed out their expertise in setting aside the law. It seems that often within the spiritual and moral realm there exists a drive for assurance that one is properly spiritual and moral. Assurance-seeking will always involve self-policing and then expand to the policing of others. Righteousness-policing becomes the touchstone of assurance rather than, you know, actual righteousness. Jesus declared that his disciples were experiencing an immersion in the pursuit of righteousness, while the Pharisees were immersed in the pursuit of assurance of righteousness. The former flows from a state of wonder at God’s goodness, the latter from a state of fear of God’s rejection.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 7:1-23 (day two) Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. v. 8

This should hit everyone square between the eyes. Whether it is tradition of denomination, our own culture, our particular gather, we have ways of doing things “in the name of Jesus.” So much so that we often don’t remember how they became tradition in the first place, but they have become our stock and trade when it comes to how we do church. You won’t find a bigger advocate for tradition than me, but I also want to be the first to say that if we don’t run everything by scripture and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we are running a risk of being far from God. Even more than that when our traditions become our doxology we teach others, ie our children, to worship the tradition first. This is a hard lesson for any institution that has been around for generations, but our litmus test should never be measured against our history, but against God’s authority.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 6:45-53 (day seven)

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

Jesus loved the masses. If he didn’t He wouldn’t have performed such a miracle as to feed them all. Yet, the crowds were draining. Even the Messiah had limits to what he could handle. This day, ministering holistically to the masses He loved, had taken a toll on His battery. He recognized that He needed some time to recharge those batteries. He needed time to rest and refresh so He could continue this ministry, perform more miracles, and fight spiritual battles, so Jesus went to pray.

How do we rest? We probably think of sleeping in or a day of no chores, but it seems like our ideas of rest are often borderline acedia (slothfulness). We run to our devices instead of running to the Lord. Jesus recharged His batteries in prayer. Maybe instead of a lazy day in the name of rest, we should spend a day praying on a mountain (or hill, or neighborhood). Maybe we will figure out a new way to recharge our batteries so we can continue His ministry, be a vessel for His miracles, and fight spiritual battles. Maybe we will find a better way to rest.

Mark 6:45-46 (NLT) “Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone goodbye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.”

They were in between ministry. Jesus had dismissed the people, sent the disciples ahead to Bethsaida, and then withdrew to pray. It was in this in-between space that the disciples ran into trouble—again. And for some reason, the last thing they expected was for Jesus to meet them in their struggle. Yet, he did. And in the most unexpected, miraculous way.

He showed up in the in-between.

Sometimes, we limit Jesus to the big moments—the church services, the mission trips, the obvious spiritual highs. But what about home, work, the long commutes, the ordinary days? What about the seasons of waiting, transition, or uncertainty?

Jesus doesn’t just move in the moments we expect. He is present in the in-between. And that’s often where we need him most.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 6:45-53 (day five)  

It might be easy to become critical and skeptical of the disciples and their inability to perceive who their Rabbi actually was. Perhaps they’re not so different than we are- even thousands of years later. The words and thoughts of Donald English are too profound and convicting to try to summarize or restate.

“We are often no better. We may be fine when God comes to us in Christ along the recognizable avenues, even if they are miraculous, so long as they are good and affirming. How awesomely splendid to have distributed bread to a crowd, knowing how little Jesus began with and yet seeing that there was more than enough for everyone. Many of us have our own version of that experience. But how different it was in the middle of the night, when the wind was high, and rowing hard, and safety threatened, to see a ghostly figure dimly passing you by on the water!

Most Christians have our own version of that, too. It happens when events conspire to disappoint us, or trusted friends hurt us, or illness and loneliness overtake us, or spiritual dryness oppresses us. The bread-providing master at the center of the crowd is often then more like the ghostly figure on the stormy sea ‘wishing to pass us by’. It is much easier then to take fright and cry out. But such experiences are meant to have the opposite effect. They are intended to strengthen our faith, to assure us that we are growing, to signal that Jesus can trust us to go through such storms, not needing to have our hands held all the time, but knowing that the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who feeds his people and stills the storms and walks on the waters, will never leave us or forsake us. It is in that sense that the darkest days we go through can produce the greatest degree of inner illumination”.