For President Obama and members of his team to remain steadfast in their freedom to honor God and His values before leaders of the world
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.
�Psalm 119:45-47
Lord, You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. When we seek truth or wisdom in anything but You, we are ultimately disappointed. When we come to You, O Father, through Your Son Jesus, we find eternal life as a gift from You, and we are privileged to walk in truth as we follow You all of our days. How we praise You for this marvelous truth, Lord, and we thank You that You call us Your own and You do not put us to shame. We bless You holy, God!
You have lifted up President Barack Obama to represent our nation among the nations of the world, Lord, and we ask today, that he will be resolute, gracious and wise in his convictions and in the truth of his Christian faith as he meets with world leaders. Give him peace and encouragement, Lord, causing him to hold fast to You and Your holy word. I ask this in Jesus� mighty name, amen.
1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I'm thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, "Will I ever make it�
arrive and drink in God's presence?"
I'm on a diet of tears�
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
"Where is this God of yours?"
4 These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving�
celebrating, all of us, God's feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God�
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God's prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
"Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?"
They're out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
"Where is this God of yours?"
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God�
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God. (The Message)
"The similitude which he takes from a hart [deer] is designed to express the extreme ardour of his desire. Being naturally of a hot and sanguine constitution, the hart suffers much from thirst in the Oriental regions. When in want of water and unable to find it, it makes a mournful noise, and eagerly seeks the cooling river. And at certain seasons fo the year, harts, with an almost incredible desire, and more intensely than could proceed from mere thirst, seek after water; which is probably what is referred to by the prophet here.
When we are quite downcast, we are not free of a feeling of disquietude, which leads us to murmur and complain. The remedy to both of them is here added, hope in God, which alone inspires our minds, in the first place, with confidence in the midst of the greatest troubles; and, secondly, by the exercise of patience, preserves them in peace."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Paul uses a kind of irony as he closes out Galatians. One of the things that prompted the writing of the letter was the argument over the necessity of circumcision for Christians. Paul has argued that it is not necessary, but neither is it harmful. But it cannot be seen as a "marker" for salvation. In other words, circumcision (just as baptism) cannot save.
But at the end of the letter, Paul points to his own marks of persecution, the "marks of Jesus," that he bears on his own body, as proof of his loyalty to Christ, and as encouragement for the Galatians to stop chasing after false gospels. "Paul does not invest these marks with absolute significance for salvation; unlike the Judaizers, he does not say that one must be physically marred to be justified. But he is pointing out that true disciples show forth their love for the Master in their willingness to suffer all manner of hardships for the truth of the gospel."
Week 2/Wednesday "Impossible Debt"
Matthew 18:25
And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
How much thought have we given to how desperate our condition is outside of Christ? Have we ever realized just how truly sinful we are?
In the passage from which the above verse is taken, Jesus uses hyperbole to illustrate a point. The servant in question has amassed a debt of 10,000 talents. One talent was equal to about 20 years' wages for a common working man! There is no way a servant could have worked up that much debt.
But that sum represents the spiritual debt that each of us owes to God. Staggering, isn't it?
But Jesus paid our debt in full.
And didn't stop there. He also purchased for us "an eternal inheritance of infinite worth. And God wants us to enjoy those unsearchable riches in the here and now, even in the midst of difficult and discouraging circumstances."
However, we need to be aware of our condition before him. In fact, a good sign that we are growing in him is "an increased awareness of our sinfulness."
Also note that the author says that God wants us to enjoy his riches in the midst of our circumstances. God will not necessarily remove us from uncomfortable circumstances. Sometimes those circumstances are designed to increase our faith and trust in him.
I also pray for strength to always be willing to suffer for Christ, if called upon to do so. I don't have any "marks of Jesus" on my body. We have not truly suffered for you in this country. It is hard for me to grasp the plight of the believers in countries like China and the Middle Eastern countries. Help me to be more aware of their situations.
And I pray for thirst. Oh, God, let me thirst for you, like that deer that desperately seeks for water. Let me drink deeply of you, dear Lord!
Grace and peace, friends!