Today is Sunday, the thirtieth of May, in the second week of Ordinary Time.
Peace be with you!
Day 23,089
Tomorrow is Memorial Day!
Today is also Holy Trinity Sunday.
We are up and getting ready to go to Mineral Wells, this morning. I don’t have a lot time, because we need to leave the house by 8:30. So I won’t get into any personal stuff, not that there is much to get into anyway.
There is a bit of sad news. We lost BJ Thomas and Gavin McLeod both, yesterday. McLeod, whom I knew best from Love Boat, was 90, and I believe Thomas was 78. I don’t know about Gavin, but BJ had been in poor health for a while, as I remember a previous announcement that he was suffering from some kind of cancer.
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
Follow the light--
and turn your life around.
Read the page in Scripture--
and turn the words over in your mind.
Acknowledge the grace of God--
and turn it into faith.
See the love around us--
and turn it into praise.
Stand firm in your faith--
and turn the other cheek.
Grow closer to our Lord--
and turn away from sin.
Thwart the spread of bitterness--
and turn to forgiveness.
Know of his resurrection--
and turn to joy.
Turn away from darkness--
and turn to the light.
("Turn to God" by Dayrl Madden, from On a Bench of Wood: Reflections of God's Grace)
Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the LORD.
(Psalms 26:12 NLT)
Today I am grateful:
1. for the peace in my soul, this morning 2. that, because of the work of Christ, I am eternally at peace with You 3. that there is nothing that can disturb that peace 4. that You answer me when I call 5. for the mystery of the Holy Trinity
Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year
ORDINARY TIME – DAY 1
(This will start over each week, from now until Advent)
INVITATION
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:5 NIV)
I pause during this moment to briefly meditate on the presence of God and His love, poured into our hearts.
BIBLE SONG
A song of ascents.
I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me.
Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
(Psalms 120:1-7 NIV)
BIBLE READING
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:1-5 NIV)
DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION
I leisurely read these passages again, allowing the Holy Spirit to direct my thoughts and meditations.
The Lord answers me when I call out to Him. Maybe I am in distress over something. Maybe I’m just dissatisfied about something, maybe even dissatisfied about the way He is responding or not responding to something.
Don’t tell me you have never felt that way. Just read the Psalms. Even the great and might David, the “man after God’s own heart,” felt that way at times. And God never chastised him for it.
But the point is, God will respond in some way. More often than not, it is a gentle nudge in my spirit. But sometimes, circumstances seem to redirect.
Also of note, in Psalm 120, is this idea that God is not too fond of deceitful lips. Be careful what you say, both to Him, about Him, and to others and about others. One of the more grievous sins (although I truly believe that God does not categorize sins) seems to be that of gossip.
Please note that the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not lie.” The command, one of the “big ten,” says,
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:16 NIV)
“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:16 NLT)
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:16 ESV)
The Message, not a literal translation, is the only one that even uses the word “lie,” but then qualifies it with “about your neighbor.”
No lies about your neighbor.
(Exodus 20:16 MSG)
Just some food for thought, here, telling us that we really need to be careful with the words that come out of our mouths, especially when talking about our “neighbors.”
As for the Romans passage, the first word that jumps out at me is “peace.” Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God! Because of the work of Jesus Christ, we are in an eternal state of peace with God!
And through this progression of events, named in verse 3-4, we have hope, in which we are not put to shame. The invitation verse for the week is verse 5. The book chooses to omit the first phrase for the invitation, which says, “And hope does not put us to shame.”
Shame is a nasty tool of the devil. It may be one of his biggest tools against Christians. Shame is debilitating. Shame will make you sit still and do nothing, wallowing in self-pity, because you believe that you are not worthy of anything that God has done for you and that He could never use you to do anything good.
Shame is brought on by people who will attack your worthiness (sometimes even parents, but thank God, not mine). “You’ll never amount to anything,” people may tell you. Or you may tell yourself that.
Lies.
Remember the Psalm??
Remember the commandment??
You are not to even bear false witness about YOURSELF!!
I tell you the truth, these words are coming to me, as I type, and I am fully persuaded that they are coming from the Holy Spirit.
You are enough! Because of the work of Jesus Christ, you (if you have called His name, and begun to follow in His words and steps) are enough! And because we are justified by faith, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, we are in a state of peace with God, which is now and forevermore!
There is nothing that can disturb that peace!
Well, nothing except shame, which is a lie, and only disturbs my peace from my direction.
I once heard an oversimplified definition of “propitiation,” on of those fifty-dollar theology words. The definition was, “God is not mad at you any more.”
Oversimplified, yes. But true. More lies from well-meaning preachers. God is not mad at you. If you are in Christ, all of your sins have been erased, past, present, and even future. You are, I am, enough.
Please take some time to rest in that, this morning, especially if you are one who struggles mightily with your own worthiness.
Father, I praise You for the work of Jesus, because of which I am eternally at peace with You. Am I perfect? Not even close. Do I still sin? Daily, maybe even hourly. Are you angry with me? Not the way I understand it. I love You, Father, and I am so grateful for the work You have done in my spirit, over the past few years. I am thankful for the peace, the love, and the way You are gradually (gradually because I’m so darned stubborn) transforming me into someone who spreads that love, and who loves his neighbor. Keep transforming me, Lord. Don’t stop.
Three-personed God, you are a wonder. God the Father our Creator, God the Son our Deliverer, God the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier. United and yet each unique, sole God but not solitary, three and yet one. Thank you for this mystery: that at the heart of the universe is a communion of love. Amen. (Heidelberg Catechism 24/25)
BLESSING
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV)
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe.
(Psalms 4:8 NLT)
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
(Genesis 28:16 NLT)
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
(Psalms 46:1 NLT)
Father, thank You for being my refuge and strength. Thank You for giving me rest and sleep each day. Thank you for moving a universe to answer our prayers. Or maybe thank You for leading us to pray for things that are already happening.
Lord, please give us resurrection hope and joy, this morning, as we join with the communion of saints in worship, around the world. Give us faith and strength and boldness to share the Gospel of Christ in love. May we all experience a deeper fellowship with You, the Triune God.
I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
(Romans 12:12 ESV)
Grace and peace, friends. Shalom Aleichem!
Spaces of Beauty, Grace, Prayer, and Mercy 