Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

 "We Offer Our Prayers"

"Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you." Luke 22:31-32
   

In Psalm 50:15, God says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver You and You will honor Me." Here God tells us to pray. He promises to hear us. And He says plainly that He expects us to acknowledge His help. This we do when we give Him honor and glory.

The "Our Father" of the Lord's Prayer is a daily reminder that we are to pray with and for each other. Actually, we are to offer prayers for all people, not only for the good and gentle but also for all who are in need of prayer: the weak and the strong, the oppressor and the oppressed.

In our text we find that Jesus prayed for His disciple Peter, who had a wavering faith. We too should offer our prayers for the weak, whether the weakness is spiritual, mental, moral, physical, or economic. The fervent prayers of one who is right with God by faith in Christ are effective. Christians are people who give. We offer prayers for the criminal and his victims, for the predator and the prey, for those who feel that they are undeservedly the outcasts of the world, for the unemployed and underemployed, for the overemployed and underpaid, and even for those who, because of injustice, are underemployed yet overpaid.

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"Managing our Children"

"Let the little children come to Me ... for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:14
   

One of the greatest responsibilities in any of our lives is the care of the children God gives us. What a special privilege is ours to bring new lives into this world, and what a tremendous responsibility accompanies this blessing!

Never, it would appear, have the challenges to this extremely important responsibility been greater. Families are under siege by a host of contrary forces, threatening to estrange children from parents, endeavoring to pollute their minds and bodies with sinister forces and substances from television tube or street corner. Pressures on marriage and resulting parental separations create havoc and emotional confusion in children's minds.

Our text highlights the greatest need of children, which is also the greatest need of us all: to come to Jesus Christ. In Holy Baptism His love is poured out on us, bringing us to faith and salvation and making us members of His kingdom. And throughout life we grow in faith through His Word, and we experience His love through the care of Christian parents and others -- love that is manifest in both words and deeds, love that overflows into prayer.

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"Hidden Talents"

"To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent." Matthew 25:15
   

Many of us try our best to stay mentally and physically fit. Exercise should be regular and within our limits. To keep our minds sharp, we read or solve problems. The subtle message that lies behind our efforts is, "If you don't use it, you lose it."

All of us have received from God various gifts and abilities. Christian artists and musicians produce beauty that we can see and hear. But some talents are hidden. God has given each person some gift that can enhance His kingdom. Romans 12:6-8 lists serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, and showing mercy.

Reflect on these gifts. You may discover one or more hidden talents that you can exercise for the benefit of others. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes the greatest gift: love. We Christians received this gift while we were yet sinners, when Christ died for us. Love for others is our response to God's great love for us. With the Spirit's help, all of us can use this gift to enlarge His kingdom. Investing in these talents guarantees the highest dividends for God's kingdom and to His glory.

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"Out of the Same Mouth"

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. James 3:10
   

During the first years of our lives, we do an amazing thing. We learn how to talk.

A child learning to talk is able to make any of the thousands of sounds used by all the languages of the world. But as the child learns the language of his or her people, unused sounds disappear. Few English speakers can copy the sound of a Spanish-speaking person pronouncing a rolling "r." Had they learned it as children, it would be easy.

How we make sounds, however, is not as important as what we do with the sounds we make. A lifetime spent uttering silly oaths and vile curses, of speaking the name of our God in anger rather than in prayer, builds a pattern. Prayer becomes a foreign language to the tongue trained to curse.

A lifetime spent in praising God with our tongues, however, equips us with a language of worship. Our mouths stutter at anything foul. Unclean words are no longer part of our vocabulary.

To avoid the dilemma described by James in the text, we do well to practice the language of praise. When we do, we find no lack of words to say or hymns to sing in praise of our loving God.

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 "The Uncompromising Lord"

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne." Revelation 3:21
   

Many have said that to live in this world a person must give and take, come to terms, split the difference, stroke a balance -- in other words, compromise. Whether in business, the political arena, or our social life, we seem to be constantly hedging a bet.

The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to be uncompromising when it comes to our Christianity and the way we live out our faith in our daily encounters with family, friends, business associates, and the strangers we meet on the street. He tells the church of Laodicia that He would prefer for it to be either hot or cold. Then He could at least tell where it stands. Unfortunately, the church was neither hot nor cold; it was lukewarm toward the claims of Christ and His promises to it.

Even so, in His love, the Lord promised to those who repented and were willing to confess Him unashamedly the right to sit on His throne. He makes the same promise to you and to me. He does not want us to compromise His person or His work but rather to give bold witness to the unbounded love He displayed for us on the cross.

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"Burdens for Blessings"

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Matthew 5:41
   

Under Roman law a soldier could require you to carry his baggage one mile, but no further. "To go the extra mile" means to do more than is required.

Jesus encourages us to do much more than the bare minimum. We help others not grudgingly because we have to, but freely and gladly out of love for our Savior.

Jesus did infinitely more for us than we deserved. He obeyed His heavenly Father perfectly to fulfill the Law for us. He willingly accepted the death penalty on the cross for our sins. He went the extra mile for us to provide us with forgiveness and eternal life.

Jesus calls us to respond in faith and love by bearing the burdens of others and going that extra mile. We resist the temptation to take revenge on those who have offended us and, instead, repay evil with good, just as Christ has loved us despite our offenses against God. We assist the undeserving, knowing that we too do not deserve the numerous blessings that are ours through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And instead of bearing grudges, we forgive those who may seem unforgivable because God in Christ has forgiven us all our sins.

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"Pray for My Enemies?"

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:44-45
   

Enemy--the very word conjures up feelings of anger and hatred. Surely Christ must be joking. The only prayers we'd want to offer for our enemies have to do with retribution and revenge.

Yet Jesus prayed for His enemies. He laments their rejection of God (Matthew 23:37-39) and forgives them from the cross (Luke 23:34). It would have been easy to bring punishment down on those who failed Him. Yet even Judas is loved and called "friend" at the very moment he would betray Jesus (Matthew 26:50).

What good things would follow were you to pray for your enemies? What if you were to pray that your enemies might know the Lord better and become more loving like Him? What if you asked the Lord to help you understand what your enemies are gong through? As you bring them before the Lord in prayer, you might find His power working in your heart, softening your feelings toward them.

Are there people right now whom you would call enemies? Talk about them with the Lord in prayer. Call for the power and forgiveness of the Lord to transform their lives. You might end up with a Christian friend instead of an enemy.

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"My Body"

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
   

I praise God for the gift of my body.

It is not what it might be or ought to be. I have inherited from a long line of ancestors, stretching all the way back to Adam, flaws and weaknesses and susceptibilities that have weakened and maimed it. I have also inherited that fatal sickness of sin that leads to death. Yet it is a wonderful machine I inhabit--this body of mine--while I live.

With no conscious effort on my part, my heart keeps beating, my lungs breathe, my glands secrete, food is digested, and my body is kept in constant repair.

But greatest of all natural gifts is the gift of reason. My body may not have the sight of an eagle, the strength of a horse, or the speed of an antelope, but it has something none of these has--a superior brain. No computer can match it in its ability to learn, remember, reformulate, verbalize, communicate, and create.

To what greater purpose can I put this, my body, than to use it wisely, keep it healthy, increase its strength and ability, and above all give it back to Him to become a dwelling place, a temple, for His Holy Spirit?

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"Standing in Awe"

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere Him. Ecclesiastes 3:14
   

Be careful! The week can get so full of activities that we fail to take in our wonderful world. All around us are the things God in His good pleasure has given us. We stand in awe of Him and His power, beauty, and wisdom.

Let your mind soar for a moment! At the speed of light (186,273 miles per second), one could travel around the earth seven times in one second, but it would take five and one-half hours to reach Pluto, and 100,000 years to cross the diameter of the Milky Way.

Our God has created a spectacular universe! Why? So that, recognizing Him as creator and provider, we would stand in awe of Him!

But God's greatest act is not found in the stars or in a beautiful sunset, but in the cross of Christ on Calvary, where salvation and eternal life were gained for us sinners. While His universe is awesome, one day it will pass away. But His greatest act, forgiving our sins through the cross and empty tomb, will endure forever.

In awe and joy we stand before Him in prayer and worship and let Him know how great He is.

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"Discipleship Test"

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets." Luke 5:5
   

Simon couldn't believe his ears. Did Jesus really expect him to go out there and start throwing his nets again? Right after he had finished the messy job of cleaning them up? And after a whole night of tough work--all for nothing? We can almost picture Simon's face clouding up for a retort like: "Nothing doing! I'm no fool."

Had he done so, quite likely we never would have heard of fisherman Simon, who became Peter, the heroic disciple. He would have missed the chance of his life. This was a crucial turning point. Jesus was giving a discipleship test. Was Simon's faith up to it? His answer proved it was.

Our Lord still poses such discipleship tests. The tasks He assigns are not always to our liking--to be His witnesses when we fear we'll be rejected, to attend church services instead of sleeping in, to teach a fidgety Sunday school class, to take a big percentage off the top of each paycheck for the Lord's work, and so on. Frankly, we'd rather not.

But not doing so may mean missing the chance of a lifetime. Peter did not lose a thing that day by taking the Lord at His Word. Neither shall we.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Using our Time"

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, "Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6:31

A management company in Pittsburgh computes that in a life span of 75 years the average amount of time spent sleeping is 23 years; working, 19 years; in amusement activities, 9 years; traveling, 6 years; eating, 6 years; waiting in line, 5 years; cleaning the house, 4 years; preparing meals, 3 years; returning telephone calls, 2 years; searching for misplaced items, 1 year; opening junk mail, 8 months; sitting at red lights, 6 months; worshiping, 6 months; and praying, 19 days.

Our Lord set a day aside for us to rest and to spend time in His presence, giving Him thanks and praise. Christ took time to separate Himself from the daily routine for rest and prayer. Look again at the list of how we spend a life's worth of time. Prayer comes out at the bottom and Bible study not at all. We don't have time, we complain. We have time, it would seem, for less important activities. And if we followed Christ's example, we would make time by carving out a space for prayer and study and by arranging a significant time to be in the Word.

After all, time spent in prayer and with our Bibles is when we come face-to-face with our Redeemer.

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"They Can't Take It Away from You"

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
   

Wow! What an assurance. Nothing can take the love of God away from us.

There are many forces around us that try. One is the love we have for ourselves. We may value our life, our body, our job, our rights, or our possessions more than God's love. We may pursue earthly goals rather than heavenly gains.

The world around us is a second force that competes with God's love in Christ. The world tempts us to desire more money, more power, more recognition, and more prestige. And the love of God in Christ doesn't even get a thought in the rat race around us.

My, how the devil loves those Godless forces! He uses every opportunity he can to egg us on to claim our rights and satisfy our needs, to get with it and do as the world does.

But hang in there. God is not only with you in the struggle of life but also fighting for you. His forgiving love will support you through all of life, into eternity. Trust Him and His Word.

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"A Child's Faith"

"Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14
   

Our homes are the best schools of Christian living. What children learn in the home from the example of their parents will be woven into their character and the design of their later years. This places a tremendous responsibility on parents.

From the time Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me," He destroyed the blindness of the world to the glory and meaning of childhood. Christianity took note of children from the beginning and never deserted them. Jesus never used harsher words than when He warned against the abuse and neglect of children. To offend a child in his or her faith is to tamper with eternity.

There is no better way to serve Christ than to serve Him through service to children. Those who faithfully instruct their children in the home and church are making one of the greatest contributions to the kingdom of God and of man. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me."

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"Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed"

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed ... nothing will be impossible for you". Matthew 17:20
   

Jesus calls our attention to a tiny mustard seed. If you were to place a grain of sand and a grain of mustard on the palm of your hand, you would almost need a magnifying glass to tell the difference. God's marvelous wisdom and power are in that small object. The mustard seed has life in it. Put it into the ground, Jesus is telling us, and it will take root and grow into a plant that is the largest of the herbs--a treelike plant with stalk, branches, leaves, and blossoms, a plant large enough for birds to perch in it and to build their nests.

This parable tells us how a small nucleus of believers, such as the group that followed Jesus, will under God's blessing grow into a strong congregation. And it keeps growing because, together with other congregations, it sends out mission workers to add other people to Christ's church. Many thriving church bodies in various parts of the world were begun in this way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin, is God's power unto salvation to all who believe it. What we need is stronger faith, being fully convinced that for Christ's people nothing is impossible.

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"The Problem with Complaining"

Do everything without complaining or arguing. Philippians 2:14
   

Complaining! We hear it wherever we go--in our families, among our co-workers, from our friends, and even in our churches. It is one of our most popular pastimes. Yet the apostle Paul admonishes us to do everything without complaining.

God knows that constant complaining is not good for us and usually ends up making us unhappy. When the children of Israel got caught up in constant grumbling, the results were tragic. Only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

What do we do when something irritates or concerns us? Paul wrote, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29). Instead of grumbling, we are able to go to people and speak to them directly, firmly, and gracefully, trusting that Jesus Christ will help us to bring contentment to others. Through the Spirit's power we can replace the word of complaint with a word of grace. We demonstrate with our lips as well as with our lifestyle that we depend on the power of Jesus Christ, our Savior.