Prayer – Page 16 – Teach What is Good

The Need for Justice, Wisdom, and Humility

Published on August 23, 2023August 23, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Deuteronomy 16:17-18:14

The Lord knows man’s heart, and the Lord knows the future. He knows that we are prone to be partial and selfish and unjust. He knows how easy it is for us to go astray, whether we are a common laborer or housewife or the highest leader in the land.

So, in His mercy, He gave us the Law, His Word to memorize and to meditate on. Though the Israelites had never had a king, God knew that someday they would, and so He made provision especially for him, saying, “Don’t get a bunch of horses and wives and stuff because then your heart will turn away from Me.” But He didn’t stop there. God didn’t only have a ‘don’t do’ list. The Lord went on to say,

“And when [a Hebrew king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Deuteronomy 17:18-20 ESV

This is a good word for us, too.

There is great value in not only reading the Word, but also in writing it. Take the time to write down the actual words of the Bible, along with your own personal thoughts.

Read the Word daily. Meditate on what it says. And obey its commands. Remember that the Lord your God is in your midst and fear Him, that you will be humble and it will go well with you.

Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us Your Word. We want to know it, that we may know You. We want to walk in Your ways. We want to be more like You. Help us to be merciful and humble and just. Keep us from pride and self-sufficiency. Help us to love and honor You, by loving our neighbors as ourselves. We lift up our nation’s leaders to You. We pray that You will guide and direct their steps. We pray that You will “open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [You].” (Acts 26:18) In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

You are God Alone

Published on August 19, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Deuteronomy 10-11

Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens,
the earth with all that is in it.

Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples,
as you are this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Deuteronomy 10:14-16 ESV

Heavenly Father, You are God and God alone. All of heaven and earth are in the palm of Your hand. You are above all things. You rule over all things. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the eternal and unchanging One. It is by Your will that all of the universe came into existence, and it is by Your will that all of life is sustained. What is man that You are mindful of him? Who am I that You care for me? The very thought that You know me by name, that You love me, oh, Lord, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to understand. Thank You, Lord. I pray that I would fear You with holy reverence, that I would walk in Your ways, that I would love and serve You with all my heart and soul, keeping Your commands and loving others as You have loved me, all the days of my life. In gratitude to my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

You are God Alone – Phillips, Craig, and Dean

The Dangers of Pride and Self-Sufficiency

Published on August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 by kendraske1 Comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Deuteronomy 7-9

Moses had some words of wisdom for the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. He warned them not to turn away from God saying to themselves, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth,” (Deuteronomy 8:17) and “It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” (Deuteronomy 9:4) He was worried that when they were full and had built nice houses to live in and had plenty of sheep, cattle, gold, silver and children, they would “forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 8:14b)

This was a very real danger for the Israelites, and it’s a very real danger for us.

Beware, sister, lest you forget that God chose you while you were yet a sinner, an enemy of the gospel. Beware, sister, lest you fall away and trust in your own righteousness rather than Christ’s. Beware, sister, lest you no longer see your need for the Lord’s salvation and provision.

Heed the words to the church in Laodicea from Revelation 3:17-18

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered,
and I need nothing,
not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable,
poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire,
so that you may be rich,
and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”
Revelation 3:17-18

I was reminded of something I wrote about earlier this week about the roadblocks that stand in the way of us teaching our children. One stumbling block that I hadn’t thought about at the time, though, was pride. Sometimes we feel like we don’t need to teach our children because we think, “They’re good kids. They know God’s Word. They don’t really need me to teach them.” In our self-sufficiency, we become lazy parents. We take pride in our children’s accomplishments, thinking that we must be really great parents to have produced such great kids, rather than humbly acknowledging God’s mercy toward them and us.

Dear friends, the Lord did not choose you because you were mighty or lovely or powerful or smart or good. In fact, you weren’t any of those things before, and you’re not any of those things now. Sure, you might be more kind or beautiful or smart or religious than your husband or sister or neighbor, but compared to God we are all filthy and wretched.

Compared to the wisdom of God, you are a fool.
Compared to the kindness of God, you are a selfish beast.
Compared to the power of God, you are nothing more than a grasshopper perched precariously on a blade of grass.

Moses had never read my favorite Bible verse, Romans 5:8, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” yet, the Holy Spirit inspired him to write Deuteronomy 7:6-8. God is unchanging, sovereign, and good. Trust in Him and Him alone.

“The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 7:6b-8 ESV

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You for the peace that You have given to me, redeeming me and bringing me into Your family and Your kingdom. I pray that You would keep me humble. You have given me so much. You have anointed my head with oil again and again. My cup indeed overflows. Keep me on my knees. Help me to seek You and You only. Help my heart to truthfully say, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Let me not boast in anything save in the cross of Christ. You are all I need. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Treasure and Savior, I pray. Amen.

You are my All in All – Maranatha

Teaching your Children – Part 2

Published on August 17, 2023August 17, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Deuteronomy 5-6

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV

Yesterday I wrote about having a daily time in prayer and the Word with your children. Today I want to write about teaching your children as you go about your days, talking about what the Lord has taught you as you do whatever the day has for you to do.

I like to begin my days with my own time in the Word. This means early mornings, but it’s so worth it. Rising before the sun starts my day off right and helps to set my mind on heavenly things. Then, as I go throughout my day – teaching English online, vacuuming, washing dishes, doing schoolwork with my son, going for a walk in my neighborhood – my thoughts often return to what I read that morning or that week.

In praying about what to write today, I was reminded of Luke 6:45b ESV, “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” If my heart is full of grumbling, my mouth will be full of complaints, but if my heart is full of gratitude and wisdom, my mouth will be, too. I can’t speak of the Lord’s goodness, if I don’t in my heart believe that He is good. I know how much I need the Lord to renew my heart and mind daily. I know how prone to wander that I am. If I miss even one day with my Savior, I can feel it in my spirit.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness
is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26 ESV

The only way for your tongue to speak wisdom and kindness is for your heart to be full of the wisdom and kindness found in the Word of God. Start there for yourself, and let your heart overflow into your children as you rise and sit and walk and lie down day after day. Just like you would casually tell your children about what you bought that day at the store or about that friend you ran into that day at work, share with your children what you learned that day in the Word or in the circumstances of your daily life.

Your children need the wisdom that comes from living. Let your successes – and your failures – guide them to the path of life in Jesus.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, help me to sit at Your feet each and every day, day after day soaking in Your Word and Your presence. Draw me close to You that my life and my mouth may overflow with love for my children. May my mouth be full of wisdom and kindness. May my eyes be gentle and bright. May my ears be attentive and compassionate. May my mind be fixed on things that are above and not on the things of this earth. Help me to remember that this earth and its tribulations are passing away, while the unseen things are eternal and weighty. Fill my heart with Your love. Fill my mouth with Your Word and Your words. Help me to live for what matters. Give me the strength to love my children as myself, to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Make me Your mouthpiece, teaching truth diligently to my children – from the time they awake until they go to sleep – for the glory of Your Name and for the good of Your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and my Lord I pray. Amen.

A Prayer for Diligent Parenting

When God says No

Published on August 15, 2023August 15, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Deuteronomy 3

In Deuteronomy 3, we read the words of Moses to the Lord, “Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan …” (verse 25a) and we read the Lord’s answer. Moses would be allowed to view the Promised Land from atop Mount Pisgah, but he would not be allowed to go in with the people he had led for all those years. Despite Moses’s humble plea, God chose young Joshua to lead His people across the Jordan.

Why won’t God let Moses go into the Promised Land with those people that he has served through plagues and battles and complaint after complaint? It seems mean, unfair.

Is there something you’re pleading with God for, something you’ve asked God for time and time again? Do you ever feel like God has forgotten you, that He doesn’t love you, that your requests aren’t important to Him?

Let me first say that if you are not a member of God’s family, if you haven’t been adopted as His Son or daughter, then that’s the first step you need to take. Give your life over to the Lord. Repent of your sins, and ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to put His Holy Spirit in you and turn you from darkness to light. Study His Word and get involved in a local Bible-believing, Bible-preaching body of believers.

But, if you have been born again into the family of God, then let me encourage you that God hears your prayers, but sometimes His answer is no. As His children, we can trust that God has a purpose for our lives even when His answer is ‘no.’

Sometimes He is disciplining us for our past disobedience, like a good Father should.
Sometimes He is giving someone else a blessing, a chance to lead or receive.
Sometimes He knows that giving us what we ask would hurt us and He is protecting us in His refusal.

I may never know why God says No, but I can always trust that no matter what, He is with me, He hears me, and He is at work in my life.

Heavenly Father, Your ways are not my ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. Help me to trust You when I don’t understand Your ‘No.’ Help me to believe that You are at work behind the scenes, working all things together for good, because I love You and You have called me for Your purposes. Whether I get to lead my people all the way into the Promised Land or I only get a glimpse of the good things to come, I want to be used by You. I trust You. In the Name of Jesus Christ who is faithful and good. Amen.

A Prayer for Purity – Romans 14

Published on August 5, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Romans 14

Pray with me.

Heavenly Father, May my life be lived daily “in honor of the Lord”. Whether I eat or whether I abstain, let me be fully convinced in my own mind, walking by faith and not by flesh. I want to be prepared to give an account to You for how I have lived. I am thankful that You are my judge, because You are impartial and righteous and merciful and wise, and I am selfish and foolish and petty. I am not my brother’s judge. You are. You are the all-knowing, all-righteous judge of the world. I pray that I will pursue what makes for peace and building up the body in unity and holiness. I pray that I would not do anything that would cause my brother or sister to stumble. May the body of Christ be pure and holy, without blemish, in word, thought, and deed, to the glory of Your Name, and may that begin with me. In the perfect name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior I pray. Amen.

The Perfect Gift from the Perfect Giver

Published on July 20, 2023July 23, 2023 by kendraske1 Comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Romans 4:1-12

My granddaughter recently turned two years old. My husband and I bought her one of those little trampolines for her to jump on to her heart’s content. (Unfortunately, it arrived missing several pieces and had to be sent back, but that’s beside the point for this illustration. 😜)

Imagine if I wrapped up that birthday gift and said, “Here you go, sweetie. If you are really, really good and obey your mommy and daddy every day and go to bed without crying every night and eat all your vegetables every dinner, then next year I’ll give you this amazing gift!”

That wouldn’t be much of a gift, would it?

… And I wouldn’t be much of a giver, would I?

Now to the one who works,
his wages are not counted as a gift
but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness
Romans 4:4-5 ESV

The way I see it, most people around the world today are living in one of two ways:

Either they are trying to reach God by being really good …
Or, they aren’t trying to reach God at all because they just don’t believe or don’t care.

Well, what if both of those groups are wrong?

What if the truth is that God came to us, reached down to us, and the only way to find Him is by following the path of trust, not the path of trying harder?

Certainly, God wants His children to “work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” (Colossians 3:23) But that hard work is the result of our salvation – rather than the way to salvation. Our good works are the fruit of our rebirth – rather than the means to it. Let’s put things in their proper order.

Like Ephesians 2:8-10 says, it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God is the perfect giver
and salvation is the perfect gift.

Heavenly Father, Thank you for all of Your many, many gifts: the gift of faith, the gift of salvation, the gift of Your Holy Spirit, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of new life and hope and peace. You are the perfect giver. I pray that I would have a heart of humble gratitude, receiving these gifts with thanksgiving. I pray that You would use me to speak these gifts to the four corners of the world, for the glory of Your Name and the good of my fellow man. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

None are Righteous – No, Not One

Published on July 19, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Romans 3

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:10-18 ESV

Do you read this and think, “Wow! Those people are really bad”? Or do you read this and want to fall on your face and beg for mercy?

If I’m honest with you, which I am, I would tell you that in some ways I’m thankful that God allowed me to wander in the wilderness for many years before saving me. These words of Romans 3 are all too familiar to my heart. I had turned away from God. My mouth was an open grave, spewing curses and bitterness and deception. My path was ruin and bitterness, and I knew no peace. Truly there was no fear of God in my heart or before my eyes.

And then, when the time was right, the Lord opened my eyes and put a new song in my heart and new words on my lips. And now I can praise His Name with such heartfelt gratitude. I know what it means to be lost, and I know what it means to be found. With my every breath, I want to pour out His praise!

This didn’t happen to me because I started to “live right.” I could never have done that on my own. This happened to me because God opened my eyes to my own wickedness, and His immense holiness, and all I could do was cry, “Holy! Mercy! Save me!”

Have you experienced that? Have your eyes been open to your need for a Savior?

Heavenly Father, You are good, and we are not. You are righteous, and we are not. We need Your grace. We need Your mercy. We need Your holiness. Wash us in the cleansing blood of Your Son and make us pure. Put new desires into our hearts that we will want to please You, and give us strength to resist the devil and our flesh. We want to obey You. Help us, Father, moment by moment to walk by faith and not by flesh. In the Grace of our Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.

Holy, Holy, Holy – Shane and Shane

Think About What You’re Thinking About

Published on July 16, 2023July 16, 2023 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Philippians 4:2-23

Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 ESV

What do you fall asleep thinking about?

What is first on your mind when you wake up?

Where does your mind dwell?

When you have a few quiet moments, where do your thoughts naturally run to?

Is it to things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy?

Or is it to things that are anxious, rude, mean, cruel, crude, immoral, and irritable?

Dear sisters, we are caught in a battle, a battle between light and dark, good and evil, God and the devil. So much of that battle is fought in our minds and, sadly, that is where the battle is so often lost. Think about Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

If we want to win this battle, we have to think about what we’re thinking about, and forcibly take those rogue thoughts captive to obey Christ.

Ask yourself, “Is this true?” No? Get rid of it! “Is this pure and honorable?” No? Put it away! “Would I want to tell Jesus about these thoughts that I’m dwelling on?” No? Then, cast them away! They don’t belong in your head.

Heavenly Father, help me to think about what I’m thinking about. Help me to recognize the power that the thoughts in my head have over what I say and do and feel. Help me to remember that I am in a battle, and that You are victorious, that I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ, the King of kings. Help me to take every thought captive to obey Christ. Help me not to be anxious, but in everything to cast my cares upon You and know without a doubt that You care for me. Help me to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks, knowing that this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for me. It is in the name of Jesus Christ that I pray. Amen.

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