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Fall 2018 40 Days of Prayer, Day 1

Day 1

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalm 1 

Blessings 

Blessing is such an appropriate introduction to the entire book of psalms.  The first words of the book, "How blessed," indicate the tremendous benefit to hearing and following the truths of this particular book, as well as the truths communicated throughout the entire Bible.  The implications of being blessed by God runs counter to our transient, temporary culture of the pursuit of fun.  We pursue happiness but ironically, chasing happiness often hinders our experience of divine blessing.  As happiness seeks immediate pleasure on our own terms, blessedness seeks joy on God's terms.  Happiness is idolatry.  Happiness is ultimately the worship of the self.  Blessedness comes from an act of worship.  Worship seeks God above all else.  Jesus also opened His public, teaching ministry in much the same way as this psalm.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”  If we are following the teachings of Jesus as presented in His beatitudes, then God alters our natural, human mindset and replaces it with divine priorities.  Those who are willing to submit to the priorities of God are counted as blessed.  Blessed is an inward joy that comes from God.  It comes from outside us; it comes from God as a gift into our lives.   This is tremendously helpful for if it came from within us it would temporary and frivolous.  Since divine blessings come from God they are permanent and weighty.  Happiness comes from within us, our feelings and our emotional sense of wellbeing based on our immediate circumstances.  Blessing comes from a soul rest in God and His desire for us.  Far too often we have exchanged the divine blessing for the temporary pleasure.  This exchange comes with a price, the loss of the joyful, soul-satisfying rest in God’s divine blessings.

In this opening verse, the psalmist identifies hindrances to divine blessing. As Paul says, "bad company corrupts good morals.". Bad company also hinders divine blessing. If we long for joy, the joy that only God can give, we must be careful how we spend our time.  We must be careful about the individuals we allow into our lives that influence our thinking and our priorities.  We cannot spend time with people who are dominated by sin.  We must be careful where we get advice and counsel.  The wicked come from all aspects of our lives, constantly speaking with authority into our lives saying, “Live this way!  Embrace this idea!  Follow this dream!”  Their way sounds so good.  Their way makes us feel good and happy, at least for the moment.  However, the result is often to lead us away from God’s priorities.  The ways of the wicked are often paths to destruction and misery.

In contrast, verse 2 juxtaposes a life committed to these bad influences with that of a life committed to the Word of God. Notice the joy in this verse.  That individual "delights in the Word of God."  The blessing does not emerge from mere obedience to the Word of God.  External, rote submission to the Bible is not sufficient, but instead we must delight in the word of God.  We must move beyond merely following a list of dos and don’ts, but instead we must meditate, and abide in the Bible.  “In His law he meditates day and night.”  A life of denying the world’s priorities combined with embracing divine priorities, is a life producing divine blessing.  In verse 3, the psalmist provides a beautiful picture of this blessed life.  If we hear, love, embrace and follow the teachings of the Bible, we are like a tree planted deep, near a good source of water, producing good fruit. The blessed life has a transforming impact, the production of fruit.  Not only does the blessed life produce soul-satisfying joy, it also produces fruit in our lives.

Prayer Focus

God, keep me from godless voices that would rob me of your blessings.  Keep me in your word.  Help me to abide in Your Word.  Produce delight in my heart for You and Your priorities for my life.

From Charles Wesley’s Sermon, Salvation by Faith, Preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University, on June 18, 1738

"By grace are you saved through faith." Eph. 2:8.

All the blessings which God has bestowed upon humans are from his mere grace or favor; his free, undeserved favor; favor altogether undeserved; people having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was free grace that "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him a living soul," and stamped on that soul the image of God, and "put all things under his feet." The same free grace continues to us, at this day, life, and breath, and all things. For there is nothing we are, or have, or do, which can deserve the least thing at God's hand. "All our works, You, O God, have brought about in us." These, therefore, are so many more instances of free mercy: and whatever righteousness may be found in humans, this is also the gift of God. How then shall a sinful human atone for even the least of his sins? With their own works? No. Indeed, they are all unholy and sinful themselves, so that every one of them needs atonement. Only corrupt fruit grows on a corrupt tree. And the heart is altogether corrupt and abominable; being "short of the glory of God," the glorious righteousness at first impressed on his soul, after the image of his great Creator. Therefore, having nothing, neither righteousness nor works, to plead, his mouth is utterly stopped before God.  

Hope Springs Eternal

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  Romans 8:11

 On a regular basis, I deal with situations of deep and overwhelming heartbreak.  It is an occupational hazard for me.  I am regularly at hospitals, funeral homes and cemeteries.  In these moments, we pray for God’s healing.  I believe that God does answer prayers, and even brings healing in many cases.  However, He does not always heal someone when we ask Him to.  Sometimes He answers by allowing the illness to progress or He even allows death itself to come.  We pray for miracles and yet He has perfect knowledge and perfect timing in these moments, even when we cannot see His orchestration of events from our limited viewpoint. All we can see is illness ravaging our loved one’s body.  We see death’s definitive reality.  It feels hopeless. It seems like our hearts will never heal.  We cannot see the divine workings around us and through us.

This must have been how the disciples’ felt.  They saw the soldiers arrest Jesus.  Some of them followed along to the place of His trials.  They saw Him crucified, and they watched Him die.  Two of His disciples took His dead body down from the cross and placed it in a tomb nearby.  Grief, pain, heartache, disillusionment, anger, despair, and much, much more, must have dominated the thinking and emotions of the disciples.  Their pain was so deep that they may have literally felt death’s grip on themselves as they contemplated the death of Christ.  “He’s gone.”  “Our lives were a fraud.”  “We have followed Him in vain.” “We should have never gotten involved.”  “If we had stayed in Galilee and minded our own business, our ignorance of these events could have provided protection from this painful reality.”  “My heart aches to the point of breaking beyond any repair.”  God allowed the three days of overwhelming, penetrating loneliness to permeate the lives of these followers.  His message to them was painfully clear.  “Here is the reality of sin and death.”  “Here is the reality of brokenness in this life.”  The disciples were going to minister to a fledgling church racked with persecution, suffering, and even death.  God gave the disciples the clearest demonstration of the penetrating impact of the ravages of human sin.  Then, like the breaking of the dawn as it defeats the power of the night’s darkness, God demonstrated His victory over death.  God breathes life back into Jesus Christ.  In that one moment, in that first inhale of oxygen into Christ’s lungs, God shattered the power of sin and death forever in our lives.  It took the disciples all day long to grapple with the meaning of it all.  From despair, to confusion, to doubts, to wonder, to faith, to joy, on the day Christ had risen from the dead the disciples processed all that had transpired.  God had instantly destroyed all the power of sin and death over His chosen ones.  It took these disciples all day, even several days, to understand it all.  

It is not surprising that we take time to work through similar emotions.  When someone is sick or dies we, like the disciples, work through a series of emotions.  We despair.  We are confused.  We doubt.  We then begin to see these trials in light of the breaking dawn of the resurrection of Christ.  We begin to imagine the implications of His empty tomb, especially in the life of our precious husband, wife or child.  Faith is renewed through the work of God’s gracious presence.  Faith is established through our contemplation of His Word.  The final, victorious emotion comes after days, weeks, months or even years: Joy.  Victorious joy comes and overpowers our despair.  This joy is ours as we allow the truth of what God has done in Christ to seep into the crevasses of our mind.  Why does the resurrection of Christ bring hope when my spouse, parent or child dies?  Because God has a habit of bringing His children back from the dead.  In Romans 8:11, Paul tells us that in the same way that God raised Jesus Christ, He will also raise us up.  The Spirit of God dwells in us and accomplishes many things in our lives.  There is a work to be done by the Holy Spirit that is in the future.  He will bring life to our mortal bodies.  He will do this.  We know that He will because He already has.  God has a habit of bringing life into the mortal bodies of His beloved children. Hope springs eternal.  Even now Lord Jesus, come.

Resurrection Sunday of the 40 Days of Prayer, 1 Day of Celebrations

Resurrection Sunday, April 1 of the 40 Days of Prayer, 1 Day of Celebration: The 2018 prayer focus in preparation of our worship of Christ for His death for our sins and the celebration for His resurrection that gives us eternal life.

Verses of the Day:  
Matthew 28:5-7  The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Prayer for the Day:
Jesus, we declare that You are Lord.  You were Lord over Your own life, with all authority You laid it down for us and took it up again.  You are Lord over sin, death and the grave, having died and risen again.  You were Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth since the beginning of time.  You forever reign over all of the created universe.  You are the Lord of my life both now and forever.  You are Lord of eternity and Lord over the church.  You are the risen and exalted Lord.