Psalms 143:10 (142:10)

Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God;
Your good Spirit shall guide me in the land of uprightness.

Personal Challenge

This is a prayer that we need to utter every day. We need God to teach us His will and to have the Holy Spirit to guide us in doing that will. It is so easy to circumvent God’s will with our own and to push Him into the corner, all the while doing things that make it look like we are following Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Corinthians 4:10

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

Personal Challenge

Again, we have a situation in the scripture where we see that God’s way of doing things is much different than man’s way. God used those are fools for Him to turn the world upside down and lay the foundation for the Church to flourish for 2,000 years. He uses the weak to be strong and defeat armies and civilizations without once picking up a weapon. He uses the dishonored, those who have been abused, beaten, and martyred, to be distinguished for eternity. God’s ways are not the ways of man. Glory be to God!

Psalms 143:1 (142:1)

O Lord, hear my prayer; Give ear to my supplication in Your truth;
Answer me in Your righteousness;

Personal Challenge

I love how God often drives His point home… if we are willing to listen. In my daily devotion, I am reading Daily Readings of the Early Church Fathers as well as the writings of Origen. Below is the content for today from the Daily Readings taken from St. Cyprian of Carthage,

APRIL 28

Concentrate When You Pray

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto Thee will I pray.

PSALM 5:2

When we stand praying, beloved brothers and sisters, we should be vigilant and serious with our whole heart, concentrating on our prayers. All fleshly and worldly thoughts must be set aside. The soul at prayer must think of nothing but the object of its prayer alone.

Thus the bishop, before his prayer, readies the minds of his brothers and sisters by saying, “Lift up your hearts.” When the people respond, “We lift them up to the Lord,” the bishop is reminded that he himself should think of nothing but the Lord. Close your heart against the enemy! Open it to God alone! Do not let God’s enemy come near at the time of prayer! He often creeps up on us, pierces our hearts, and by cunning trickery pulls our prayers away from God. We end up having one thing in our heart, and another in our voice! But it isn’t the sound of the voice, but the soul and mind, that should be praying to the Lord with a pure purpose.

How irresponsible it is, to be diverted and carried off by silly and irreverent thoughts when you are praying to the Lord! As if there were anything else you should be thinking, apart from the fact that you are speaking with God! How can you ask God to hear you, when you don’t even hear your own words? Do you want God to be mindful of you, when you aren’t mindful of yourself? This is to have no safeguard whatever against the enemy! If this is how you pray to God, you offend His majesty by the sloppiness of your prayer! This is being watchful with your eyes, and asleep in your heart! But the Christian, even though he sleeps with his eyes, should be awake in his heart.

Add to this the verse for today, which is somewhat randomly selected, then I see that God is driving the point home that I need to be more focused and intentional in my prayers. Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Corinthians 3:18

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

Personal Challenge

We have become a people, and a culture, that prides itself on what it calls wisdom. Granted, we have greater access to information than any other age or culture before us, but that does not lead to true wisdom. Wisdom requires that we be able to parse all that information, that knowledge, and discard the chaff that is invalid and not truthful. We cannot do this effectively without a sincere relationship with Jesus who is Wisdom incarnate. This is what Paul means when he claims that we must become a fool in order to become wise. We must give up all that we think that we know, humble ourselves before God, and let His wisdom overshadow us. Glory be to God!

Psalms 141:3 (140:3)

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth,
A door of enclosure about my lips.

Personal Challenge

So many of us to today are plagued with the dreadful foot-in-mouth disease. This has been aggravated and spread by the proliferation of social media. How often do we say something just to regret it later? Worse yet, how often do we say things not caring how much someone else is hurt or degraded? We have entered into an age where highly visible leaders have embraced this way of speaking and therefore condoning it. As Christians, it is our responsibility to bring back decency in our conversations. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 Corinthians 2:9

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Encouraging Words

As limited, finite beings, we have no clue of that which our unlimited, infinite God and Father has in store for us. His love for us is so unknowable and therefore it is incomprehensible for us to understand the plans that He has for us as His cherished children. Our role in this is to be open to all that He has in store for us and to receive it faithfully and with gratitude. Glory be to God!

Psalms 139:23-24 (138:23-24)

Test me, O God, and know my heart;
Examine me, and know my paths,
And see if there is a lawless way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

Personal Challenge

God knows our hearts as well as the path of life that we choose to follow. He knows these better than we do ourselves. He will refine us in order to help us purge those things in our life that get in His way, He does this so that we can be purified for Him. Glory be to God!

1 Corinthians 1:30-31

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

Personal Challenge

No matter how much knowledge we gain, no matter how much physical strength we acquire in our bodies, no matter how many possessions we accumulate in our journey through life, we have nothing and are nothing without our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom from God. He is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He deserves all the glory. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!