The Everyday Prayer

Re: Verse reading–Luke 21:5-24 (day four)
Jesus is talking about end times.  He is giving the disciples some signs to watch for that will signal the end.  He forewarns that persecution will come.  Persecution will:  fulfill prophecy, signal the end times, lead to an opportunity for your testimony, and gain salvation by persevering through it.  All good, right!  Verse 16 says, “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.”  Then Jesus says something peculiar…”Yet not a hair of your head will perish.” How can that be?  How can we be put to death and still not lose even a hair to death?  Jesus is giving us assurance of God’s perfect control over our lives.  There is more to our lives than our physical body.  We are assured of eternal life.  We need have no fear!  God is able to grant perfect peace, even in the face of unspeakable persecution.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 21:5-38 (day three)
“Not one stone will be left on another…”  Everything that comes from the way of men will be overturned.  The way of men is a way of impossibility, a way of limited resources, a way of temporary life, a way of fading riches.  As a building is demolished, so the way of man will meet the wrecking ball.  But we are not doomed: “I will give you words and wisdom; stand firm, and you will win life,” our Lord says (Luke 21:15, 19).  Nothing outside of that way of Jesus will survive.  Nothing.  But within that way, nothing will perish.

Re: Verse reading–Luke 21:5-24 (day two)
“Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?  Certainly first-century human nature still resonates 20 centuries later.  If we are to endure hardship, we generally want to know when it’s coming.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  How much time do we have to prepare? What do I have to do immediately?  But Jesus knows our nature better than we do.  He also knew/knows that if we were given a time and place we would also squander opportunities to love and serve.  Dave Ramsey has a slogan in his Financial Peace University that says “Live like no one else so one day you can LIVE like no one else.”  This is good financial stewardship, but it also make sense for how we govern our lives.  We shouldn’t live with the fear of imminent doom, but with the joy that one day Christ will restore and redeem.

Re: Verse reading—Luke 21:5-24 (day one)
“The time when come when not one stone (of the temple in Jerusalem) will be left upon another.”  (v 6)  Jesus saw it coming.  Judged by their stubborn rejection of Spiritual truth, Israel would soon be gone.  “All good things must come to an end.”  So says the old proverb.  The Bible affirms the same truth.  We tend to think of nations and families as quasi-permanent.  Hard to imagine a world without America in it, isn’t it?  The scripture shouts a different truth.  Things come to an end.  People.  Churches.  Families.  Careers.  Nations.  And those who have placed their identity and/or confidence in these temporary things are shattered with the fall.  “A voice says , ‘Call out.’  Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’  All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. . .the grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of the Lord lasts forever.”  (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Re: Verse reading—Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day seven)
“John’s baptism, was it from heaven or from men?” (v 4)  The Greek word for obedience is a combination of two ideas.  The literal translation is “to hear under”.  Essential step for anyone who hungers for LIFE.  Two questions.  1) Am I listening to God?  2) Am I under His authority? (will I actually do what He says?)  When the chief Priests came to Christ with questions, He challenged them at this point.  “How can you ask for more information, greater clarification, when you have not demonstrated a surrendered heart?”  His specific challenge was the call that came from God, through John, for Israel to be baptized.  They had, in the main, resisted.  Real problem.  None of us is welcome to come to God to have our curiosity satisfied.  Those who surrender get their questions answered.  Those who resist are pointed back to an earlier lesson.  He will speak, but only when we have ears to hear.

Re: Verse reading—Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day six)
“But he detected their trickery and said to them. . .”  (v 23)  I can be naïve, sometimes.  Lulled to sleep.  Defenses down, unprepared for imminent danger.  Jesus wasn’t.  Without being paranoid or suspicious, the Savior was always on alert for the next attack of the enemy.  A life-long lesson for him.  He began life with his family fleeing for safety as soldiers searched to kill Him.  He entered ministry being tempted in the wilderness.  “Get thee behind me, Satan!” He said to Peter in a tense moment.  No wonder He stayed on guard!  “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” said Paul.  (Ephesians 6:12)  “We are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) schemes.”  (2 Corinthians 2:11)  I forget, sometimes, how hostile the world is to faith.  How real the enemy is.  Jesus never did.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day four)
It would almost be funny if it were not so sad…the chief priests, scribes, and elders were trying to outsmart the Creator of the Universe.  They were looking for words to trap Jesus with.  Maybe they never even considered that Jesus was who He said He was.  Their first attempt went rather badly…they could not find any solution that did not corner them with their own words.  On their second attempt, they tried to corner Jesus just as He had done to them.  His was a very simple answer…but had far reaching ramifications.  “Render to God the things that are God’s.”  Even these leaders knew they had not done that.  Jesus’ answer penetrated to the heart of the issue…simple , yet profound.  God’s truths are often like that.  We go through verbal and mental gyrations trying to justify our disobedience or lack of faith.  Truth is simple, when viewed through eyes of faith.  Simple, yet true…”render to God the things that are God’s.”

Re: Verse reading – Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day three)
“Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”  Jesus refused to answer the question, but not because he was attempting to avoid a trap.  He refused to answer the question because it was not his question to answer.  It was the interrogator’s question to answer.  It’s your question to answer.  It’s my question to answer.  And therein lies the reason for astonishment at the statement Jesus made: God allows you to have say over resources.  Therefore, he will not answer your question, but there’s coming a day when you will answer his.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day two)
If you have ever discipled a young believer about evangelism it is likely they asked a question like “what if someone asks me a question and I don’t know the answer?” This is a very earnest question that most of us have faced when sharing our faith at some point even to a contentious audience.  As always we take our cue from Jesus.  He knew what was happening and how almost any answer would trap him, but rather than play to their scheme he listened.  He listened to the heart of those who questioned him.  They were not seeking truth, they were seeking justification for their plot.  Thanks be to God for the gift of discernment in these situations.  We should continue to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the heart of the matter.  Logic, doctrine, dogma, mean nothing if he who asks doesn’t have ears to hear.  As we continue to share our faith pray that the Lord will reveal the words that will truly penetrate, and then listen.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day one)
Stressful day.  The last week of Jesus’ life.  His enemies challenged Him.  Public.  Dangerous.  They questioned His authority.  So He questioned back!  “John’s baptism,” he said pointing back to that moment years before when the call had come for the nation to “repent and be baptized.”   Was it (John’s message) from God?  Dilemma.  Say “yes” and Jesus would counter, “then why did you not obey?”  Say “no” and they would lose favor with the crowd.  “We don’t know” they finally said.  “Then I will not answer your request for more information about God until you have demonstrated your willingness to respond to the information you already have.”  (v 8 – Guthrie translation)  The way to more is to use what you already have.  “Be careful how you listen; for whoever has, to him shall more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”  (Luke 8:18)