Category: Uncategorized

Ezra 4:59-60 (1 Esdras 4:59-60 LXX)

“The victory and the wisdom are from You, the glory is Yours, and I am Your servant. Blessed are You who granted me wisdom, and I give thanks to You, O Lord of our fathers.”

Personal Challenge

It can be very easy to forget Who is really responsible for our successes in our lives. We usually claim all the glory for ourselves and chalk it up to hand work or diligent studies. Every once in a while we might give some credit to someone who has invested in our lives. Maybe a spouse, or a parent, or a coworker, or a teacher. But all too often we forget to give the credit to Whom it is really owed. It is always our Lord, working in and through us that deserves the recognition for our successes and victories. Everything that we have and everything that we are comes from Him. Glory be to God!

Mark 12:29-31

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Encouraging Words

Can Christianity be condensed down into something as simple as one word? The answer to this question is, “Yes!” It can be defined in its entirety with the word, “Love!”, however, a person that is pursuing God, seeking to be like Christ, will spend their entire life trying to understand how to practice this love and always be reminded that we can never master it. God is love? Throughout the history of mankind, He has never stopped demonstrating His love for Us. Jesus is love! He gave up His position in the heavenly realms to become man and to live a sinless life leading the way for us to do the same. He willingly gave His life for us so that we might be freed from the prison of death. The Holy Spirit is love! He dwells within us to guide us and direct us. God desires that we too strive to live lives of love so that not only do we become like Him, but that through that life we lead others to Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Teach me to love as You do, oh Lord!

Psalms 51:17 (50:19 LXX)

A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit,
A broken and humbled heart God will not despise.

Personal Challenge
Oh, how many times in my life have I gotten caught up in doing things in the name of my Lord believing that I was pleasing and honoring Him. In reality, all that I was doing was pleasing and honoring myself and fulfilling my desires. God doesn’t want the fruits of my labors or any of the things that consume me and my time as much as He desires my heart, a heart that is broken and humble before Him. The sacrifices that the world claims are so special and believe to be so valuable are also of limited value to our Father. As a practicing Orthodox, there are many things that we do in our faith that we believe is for our personal growth and development. We participate in our liturgies, we fast, we give alms and help to the poor, and many other things. It can be easy to get distracted by these things and forget that we are doing them because we love our Lord and desire to serve and honor Him. This is why the sacrifice that our precious Lord desires from us is a broken and contrite heart, a heart that is totally sold out for Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have Mercy on me, the sinner and teach me Your ways?

Mark 12:27

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.

Encouraging Words

Praise God that He is the God of the living and not the dead. Sometimes it seems that all the world cares for is death and not life. Knowing that God cares for the living, both in this life and the next, makes it easier to go through each day. Jesus became a human, led a sinless life, died on the cross, and was resurrected from that death so that He could be victorious over death and the grip that it had over each of us. Glory be to God!

Psalms 51:1-4 (50:2-6 LXX)

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy;
And according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgression.
Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my lawlessness,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You only have I sinned
And done evil in Your sight;
That You may be justified in Your words,
And overcome when You are judged.

Personal Challenge

This is probably one of the most powerful passages in the Old Testament. David has recently committed his grievous sin of adultery and murder. Nathan, the prophet, has confronted him and pointed out the errors of his ways. This entire Psalm is David’s confession and repentance for these sins. Isn’t it fitting that every one of our liturgies starts out with this Psalm being read by the priest or the deacon as the sanctuary is being censed? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner!!

Ezra 2:2 (1 Esdras 2:2 LXX)

“Thus says Cyrus the king of the Persians: Israel’s Lord, the Most High, revealed and indicated to me, the king of the inhabited world, that I should build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judea.”

Encouraging Words

This is an interesting turn of events. Here we have Cyrus who is the king of the Persians. These are the same Persians that have captured the nation of Israel. And here we have God, Israel’s Lord, the Lord Most High moving him to build a temple for Him. Many would consider Cyrus a pagan and yet God worked through him to do His work. So, God not only works through those who follow Him, but also those who oppose Him. Glory be to God?

Mark 10:43-45

Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Personal Challenge

Jesus always seems to challenge the norms of our society. If I want to be great I must become a servant. And if I want to be first then I must become a slave to all. And even deeper than this, if I desire to be like Christ and follow in His footsteps, then I shouldn’t even want to be great or try to be first. Wow! What it all boils down to is that my desire should always be to be last, to be humble before my Lord and my fellow man, and to love my neighbor above myself. Again, Wow! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, THE sinner and help me to be transformed into Your child.

Psalms 46:11 (45:12 LXX)

The Lord of hosts is with us,
The God of Jacob is our protector.

Personal Challenge

Our God is so awesome! His love for us, His creation, has no limits. His patience with us has no bounds. As the psalmist points out here, He is with us and is our protector. Knowing this and believing it deeply, I often get so frustrated with the vendor-style approach that I so often see exhibited in our World, especially in the social media world. “Post this prayer and God will reward you?” “Like this picture of Jesus and you will have something good happen to you in 30 minutes!” Really!! Is God a vending machine where we put in a coin and He pops out a miracle? And yet, because He loves His creation so much, He remains with us and is our protector. God is with us all the time and He desires that we be in communion with Him all the time. I doubt if any one of us would walk up to a total stranger and share with them our crisis of the moment and ask them to help us out. However, we so often go through on entire life totally ignoring God until we have a crisis and then expect Him to step up. I can never be so bold as to judge the state of another person’s heart. but I can judge my own. And in doing this I must recognize that all too often I do this as well. My prayer life gets drowned out by the busyness of life and then I find that my thoughts about Him are few and far between. Then a crisis happens and I am expecting Him to fix it. He has become that stranger that I am expecting something from. God, please forgive me.