The Everyday Prayer

¹⁹ And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 1 Corinthians 15:18

Though the world may be in turmoil, a promise of transformation awaits.  This is the assurance of God in Jesus. Just as Jeremiah instilled hope in the exiles, promising a return to a restored Jerusalem, Paul urges us to live with the same confidence in the midst of our current challenges.

For Paul, the promise of Jesus’ return and the resurrection of the dead kept him committed to Jesus even when life was tough. His hope was that one day, life as it should be would be fully restored. We live with the same hope.

Re:Verse passage – Jeremiah 29:10–14 (day five)

When I read this passage, I see a loving Father God that truly cares for his children. Discipline was necessary to bring them back to Himself and to the Promised Land. What I love about this passage is that we see God’s Plans Never Change! We make mistakes and we sin against Him. We go astray and go our own way, but He remains true to His plan and promise. I’m reminded of the passage in the book of Hebrews: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:5b–6).

The Lord loves you dear child. He hears your prayers when you Call, Come, and Pray. You will find Him exactly where you left Him when you search for Him with all your heart.
Return to the place you first met Him and remember how He has brought you through this life’s journey. If you are experiencing His discipline, just remember that it is temporary and necessary to make you Holy and to bring you back to Him. If you are feeling distant and don’t know where God is, remember to call upon His name and seek Him like you never have before. He’s not far from any of us and in the Creator God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:24-28). Now that’s learning what it means to be a part of the Imago Dei!

Re:Verse passage – Jeremiah 29:10–14 (day four)

There are some who believe God to be like a watchmaker – he sets the “watch” or the world in motion, and then walks away. No longer intimately involved in the world or in our lives, he simply allows time to tick on. Then there are some who think of God more like a character in Greek mythology – constantly meddling in human affairs for their own gain and getting caught up in earthly drama, punishing his people when he has a bad day. Passages like this remind us that neither of these theories are true.

Our God’s character is unlike any other. Only Yahweh is both holy and loving, omniscient and intimate, just and merciful. Only he can stand as Lord of Lords and creator of all the earth while also speaking kindly to the specific circumstances of his people. Only he can exist in perfect holiness while turning his face to sinful people, offering hope and restoration and wanting to be found by them.

Our God is intimate enough to set hopeful plans for us, and he is powerful enough to see them to completion.

Re:Verse passage – Jeremiah 29:10–14 (day three)

“When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”

When every conceivable calamity has crashed down all around, when waking up doesn’t end the nightmare, when nothing remains of all you called valuable, when people you have loved the most have become the source of your deepest heartache, when you have asked yourself how you got to this place of misery – hope itself seems like an exercise for fools only. Has God too lost track of you? It feels like it, and no word to the contrary from well-meaning folks will change what you feel all the way to your marrow. You need others to sit with you until your dying day if need be and quietly hope when you cannot do so for yourself.

Re:Verse passage – Jeremiah 29:10–14 (day two) 

Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. vs. 12

As Pastor Chris said yesterday in the re:vlog video, 70 is a lifetime. Jeremiah contains many words of warning and admonition to kings, leaders, and people of every station. The Lord had been speaking to the people through prophets for generations, and this exile was not a surprise to those who were listening.

That’s the key to this passage; listening, keeping alert, and not straying from the path. There are many instances where people go through hardship, and they turn to every possible source of help and hope, and in their desperation they finally turn to the Lord. This is not one of those times. The Lord, in his mercy, had promised a time of hardship and exile because of the  people’s sin. There were, however, a remnant who remained faithful throughout the struggle. God reminds us of his presence throughout the trial. In this case he gives a timeframe, just like he did to Moses. Struggles can be a part of a larger narrative that the Lord is teaching you, and others. Sometimes, your job is to endure. You are to remain faithful. The Lord is not absent, he is always at work.

Re:Verse passage – John 10:10 (day seven) 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 

“Living your best life” is a phrase our household has adopted to describe someone who is living carefree and thoroughly enjoying themself. For instance in the picture below, we would say “Brock is living his best life!”

Jesus came so that we can live our best life.  Through Christ we are provided an opportunity to have a life that we never could on our own: a life of encouragement, not shame. A life of comfort, not worry. A life of peace, not fear. He can provide all those things and so much more.

This week I will be living my best life. I will have 120 teenagers from our church at Impact Youth Camp. Will you pray with me for them? Will you pray that God will bring them encouragement, comfort, and peace? Will you pray that students will walk away from the things that are stealing their life and walk with Jesus? Will you pray that our students will see that living their best life is to realize that we are made in the Image of God?

Re:Verse passage – John 10:10 (day six)

³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? Luke  15:3-4

The thief will do whatever it takes to keep you alone. That’s the strategy: isolation. Being made in God’s image, we were designed for fellowship with God and others, so it makes sense that the enemy would scheme to lure us away. He successfully convinces us that we don’t need anyone or have time for them, especially God. He does this subtly, of course; never out in the open. He will whisper things like,

“Listen to your heart.”

“You do you.”

“The Bible is so difficult to understand, plus where would you include it in your life? You are too busy.”

Some of his whispers almost sound noble and lofty, and most result in positioning ourselves over others rather than with others.

The thief’s deepest desire is to keep us alone, but abundant life is found under the care and provision of the shepherd, who leads you to green pasture along with other sheep. You can’t get there on your own.

Re:Verse passage – John 10:10 (day five) Another “Coffee Cup Verse” this week. Most Christians have memorized this verse at some point in their lives. We use it and quote it often. What struck me this week were the mission and purposes of the thief and of Jesus. Both have them. As much as we count on Jesus to save us and give abundant life, we can count on the thief to steal, kill, and destroy. Feel the tension and conflict in this verse?  Do you see the battle taking place over the sheep?  Yet, Jesus describes the ability of the thief- “only”. And He also describes His capability- “abundant”. Now, the struggle doesn’t seem even or balanced anymore does it? The abundant life consists of eternal things like salvation, joy, hope, love, strength, courage!!  What a really, really “Good Shepherd”!

Re:Verse passage – John 10:10 (day four)

Jesus gives this invitation into abundant life in the middle of a parable. In this parable, he identifies himself as the Good Shepherd. He is the only shepherd who knows his sheep by name, the only one who goes looking for the sheep that is lost, the only one who will lay his life down for the sheep. Only through him can the sheep go out and find pasture. When he uses this language to describe himself, he not only shows how intimately he loves his people, but he also reveals his divine nature.

When Jesus calls himself the Shepherd who offers abundant life, he identifies himself with God the Father. In Genesis, Jacob states that Yahweh is his lifelong shepherd. David calls God his shepherd in Psalm 23. In Ezekiel 34 God proclaims himself to be Israel’s shepherd. Jesus’ words in John 10 reveal his identity as the Son of God, the flesh-and-bone shepherd of the people of God.

So, in the context of God the Shepherd, what does abundant life look like? It looks like living without fear of thieves and wolves, it looks like fresh green pastures and peaceful quiet waters, it looks like restoration and righteousness, perpetual goodness and lovingkindness. Abundance of joy, abundance of peace, abundance of love. Sounds a lot like Revelation 21-22, doesn’t it?