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Praiseworthy

 “ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, 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 We are all too easily tempted to focus upon our sins, or worse, to focus upon the sins of others. The Apostle Paul gives us a better focus. If anything is praiseworthy, focus on that! If in doubt as to what to focus on, Jesus is a great place to start and end. He is true, honourable and just etc. He is the personification of all that is pure, lovely, commendable and excellent etc. There is a place for confronting sin. Jesus emphasised that in Matthew 18. Yet it is also true that love covers over a multitude of sins. Sometimes, in our zeal to be 'right', we forget to be loving, which is the most right thing to be. We tend to follow our thoughts. What we think about tends to be what we talk about and end up doing. So let...
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Approval

 " Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ” 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV I find this a challenging verse. It's all very well for me to talk the talk, but do I walk the walk? Do I practice what I preach/write about? God doesn't want half heartedness. He doesn't want us to drag our feet to obey him. The Lord expects us to do our best. Shame is a horrible feeling that doesn't come from God. Jesus dealt with our shame at the cross. We mustn't add to our shame by shoddy living. The word of truth is to be rightly handled. We must submit to God's teachings. We can't twist it to say whatever we might want it to. 'Almighty God, may we be obedient to your word of truth, and to do our best in our lives. For the honour of Christ we pray, amen'.
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Rock

 “  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ” Matthew 7:24 ESV Jesus isn't just an advisor. He is Lord. So when he says something, his word is final. For example, Jesus said that divorce is because of hard hearts. He said that what God has joined together, man shouldn't separate. So divorce is disobedience to him (although not the unforgivable sin!). Of course, separation within marriage is sometimes necessary for habitual unfaithfulness or even abuse. Yet Jesus said that a married couple are one flesh and that they shouldn't be torn apart in the finality of divorce. If we want to be wise and build our lives on the Rock we will obey the Lord. Ultimately, we are to confess, repent and renounce our sins, and trust in Christ crucified for our forgiveness. As the hymn writer said, 'Rock of ages, cleft for me/Let me hide myself in thee'. Jesus is a sure and certain refuge for those who cling to h...
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Memorisation

 “ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 ESV Often, when we sin as God's people, it is simply because we have forgotten who we are in Christ. We forget to consider ourselves dead to sin. We forget that we have been made alive in Jesus. If we remember God's word, we will recall its warnings and encouragements not to sin. If we habitually sin, we risk betraying the fact we don't truly belong to Jesus. If our lives aren't transformed by his word, maybe we were never his in the first place. To memorise Scripture is to arm ourselves with God's promises and admonitions to obey him. If we live in holiness, we can have a good conscience. If not, we're going to be troubled. As Christ himself said, 'where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also'. If we treasure God's word, we will live lives that are honouring to him. If not, we will dishonour our Lord. 'Lord our God, please help us to memorise your ...
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Division

 “ For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ” Hebrews 4:12 ESV Gods word is powerful. When wielded by the Holy Spirit, it is 'the sword that makes the wounded whole' in the words of the hymn writer. Interestingly, the writer to the Hebrews emphasises how the Bible divides, rather than makes whole. I've heard soul and spirit explained as following. Our souls are our personalities and emotions. We all have eternal souls. Our spirits are our spiritual sides. We are naturally spiritually dead, but we can be made alive in Christ. Even if we feel bad in our souls, we can be secure in our spirits. God knows our thoughts and intentions. He knows if we take his word seriously or not. He knows whether we have any intention to obey. 'God, may we obey your word. Please help us to think and to intend to honour you with o...
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Word

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ” John 1:1 ESV John purposefully referenced Genesis 1:1 here. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is Father, Son/the Word and Holy Spirit. Apparently even the Hebrew word for God 'Elohim' contains within it a sense of trinitarian plurality within it. Yet here John starts to unpack what that triunity looks like. Jesus is the Word of God: if we want to know what God would have to say to us, we need look no further than Jesus. Jesus wasn't just born a baby in Bethlehem. He has always been with the Father in glory. He's not a Son in the sense that he had a beginning. We are made in his image and likeness, not the other way round. Christ isn't just a prophet or an angel. He is God who became flesh to reconcile sinful flesh back to God. He's the only Way of salvation back to God. 'Father in heaven, thank you for your Word become flesh for us. May we trust in h...
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Equipped

 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV The writings of the Bible are God breathed. Men wrote as inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. The Scriptures are practical. God's word teaches us, but are we teachable? It reproves, but are we reproveable? We need to make sure we're correctable and trainable. If we refuse to take correction, even the Bible can't help us. If we want completeness, equipment for every good work, we must submit to God's word. By God's grace, we can do this. We need the humility to admit that we need the Bible as a surgeon's scalpel to cut away spiritually diseased parts of us. Are we willing to get under the knife of the Scriptures? The sword of the Spirit is powerful, if we allow God to wield it to make our wounded spirits whole. 'Almighty Father God, please he...
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Search

 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Psalm 139:23 ESV David was an open book. He knew God is omniscient anyway. So he didn't try to hide anything from him. King David was honest in context about his hatred for his enemies. Yet in the next verse after this he asks God to see if there's any offensive way in him. He asked God to lead him in the way everlasting. Jesus commands us to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us. He asks the humanly impossible of us. Yet nothing is impossible for God. David wasn't shy to ask God to try him. He didn't just want God to flatter him and to massage his ego. He wanted to come out purer than gold as God skimmed off the dross out of his life. 'O God, we echo David's prayer here. Please try us, and empower us to pass the test. In Jesus' powerful name, amen'.
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Deliverance

 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ” Colossians 1:13 ESV We need deliverance. We mustn't deluded ourselves that we don't. By default we're in the domain of darkness.  We need God to transfer us from the domain of darkness to the Kingdom of his beloved Son. In other words, we need to become asylum seekers from hellbound destruction. We must seek refuge in God's beloved Son. Why does God welcome sinners like us into his Kingdom? Because it's not just his own Son who is beloved. We ourselves can become adopted as his beloved sons and daughters. By implication, God's Kingdom is one of Light. We need to abandon the deeds of darkness. It is time to come into the Light of Christ! 'Sovereign Father God, please transfer us into your Kingdom, for we trust in your beloved Son for our deliverance. In his name we pray, amen'.
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Prayer

 “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ” Ephesians 6:18 ESV I've heard people say that the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God) is the only offensive weapon in the Christian's armoury. I prefer the person's description of prayer as the aerial bombardment of spiritual warfare. I don't think this verse is just tagged on at the end of the armour of God as a cute post script. We're not just to pray 'shopping lists'. God isn't a divine vending machine. We're to pray in the Spirit. We can take anything to God in prayer: our shopping lists, our needs, our wants, our burdens, our dreams etc. His shoulders are big enough to bear whatever's bugging us. In one sense prayer comes natural to God's children, talking to him as our heavenly Father. In another sense we can forget that we're not autonomous and that we rely on hi...
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