Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. By implication, it's good to have a good imagination. There's a limit to what we can pray or think.  Yet there's no limits to God's abilities. God's power is at work in us who trust him. We all live, and move, and have our being in him. Yet if we belong to him he can transform us into Christ's likeness. We're not to seek our own glory. We're to live for the glory of God. He is worthy, for redeeming for himself a people, by the blood of Jesus. God isn't just the means to the end of gaining glory for ourselves. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. From him and to him and for him are all things. Glorious God, may we ever live to make you famous. Don't let us be too limited by our finite ima...

 Proverbs 18:21 ESV  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. This verse was literally true for king Solomon. If he condemned someone to death, they would be killed. If he pronounced life over someone on death row, they would love. It has to be clarified that Biblical proverbs are general truths. Solomon wanted Jeroboam put to death for example, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt to avoid such an eventuality. Nevertheless, the truth still stands that words have power. If someone is verbally abused, they could feel driven to suicide. If on the other hand someone is edified, they could make the most of their time and live abundant lives to the full. 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me' isn't true! If we harness the power of the tongue for good, we will eat its fruits as it were. People who speak well often have good jobs, while others of us Labour with our hands. Great speakers can inspire others with th...

 Romans 12:1 ESV I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  The meaning of life is to worship God. We don't worship God as the means to the end of having meaningful lives. We do so because he is worthy of our worship. God is worthy of our worship not simply for creating us. He deserves our praise because he sustains and saves us by his mercies. That is our motivation, not an attempt to earn his acceptance.  Having been saved, we're not simply to carry on business as usual. Salvation isn't the mantra of praying the sinner's prayer with no change in our lives. We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. How can sinners like us be holy and acceptable to God? Not by offering our bodies as living sacrifices, but by the mercies of God. Having received the mercies of God however, we will offer our bodies as living sacrifices. 'Merciful God, we p...

 Revelation 21:4 ESV He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” People often use suffering as an excuse to disbelieve God. Yet because of God, suffering isn't the end of the story. If evolution was true, suffering would be the story full stop: survival of the fittest. Thankfully, for those of us who trust in Jesus, suffering doesn't have the final say. God's going to make it a thing of the past. Contextualising this verse helps us to see how. We suffer ultimately because of sin, not always directly, I hasten to add. Christ bore our sins on his body on the tree. So if we trust in him, we are delivered ultimately from the suffering we deserve. God forbid we would be all entitled and assume we deserve this verse. The wonder of it is that although we deserve hell, God delights to promise us this eternal joy. 'Dear Lord our God, may you fulfi...

 James 1:19 ESV Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  I was chatting some some friends about names and their meanings. One friend's name is apparently from the Apache meaning 'quiet one'. We're all to be quiet ones in the sense that we speedily listen to others. James isn't being dictatorial here, even as he commands certain things. He addresses his 'beloved brethren' (gender neutral in the Greek). He wants his brothers and sisters to know that he's coming from a place of love. We shouldn't just listen to respond. We should just listen. If necessary of course we can speak in response, but we don't always need to have the last word. Interestingly, James doesn't just point blank say 'don't get angry'. He's saying not to be quick tempered. Anger isn't necessarily sinful per se. 'Dear Lord, thank you for the reminder of how beloved we are in your family. Help us h...

 Revelation 4:11 ESV  “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Selfianity is all about our worthiness. There's an element of truth to that. Clearly Jesus thought we are worth dying for, even though we're worthy of hell for our rebellion against him. Christianity is all about God's worthiness. If God is just a genie to give us what we think we're worthy of and entitled to, that's not saving faith. God is glorious, us, only insofar as we feebly reflect his glory. God is honourable. He made all things well. We're dishonourable, we've messed things up. Omnipotence is one of God's characteristics. He's all powerful. He sustains the universe by his power. 'Almighty Lord, we acknowledge your worthiness of our worship. May we ever live to praise you. For your honour we pray, amen'.

 Proverbs 17:17 ESV A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Solomon strongly suggests that a fairweather friend is no real friend at all. A true friend is evergreen. Better a friend close by than a brother far away, as he says elsewhere. Jesus is the ultimate Friend. He was nicknamed Friend of sinners. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever: he's still a perennial Lover of sinners like you and I.  Greater love has no one than this (Jesus said): that he lays down his life for his friends. Jesus didn't just talk the talk. He walked the walk, and transforms enemies into friends. The Lord is our firstborn Brother from the dead as it were. He's the ultimate big Brother who beats the bullies of sin and death, hell, the devil and his horses. By trusting in him, we gain eternal life. 'O Lord our God, we worship you for your everlasting love. We're grateful that it transcends any and every adversity we may face. Help us reciprocate your lov...

 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. When we trust in Jesus, we're set upon a path, the way of eternal life. It's not necessarily all plain sailing however. The devil will send temptations to try and overtake us.  Satan tempts us, but God can use those temptations to test us. The evil one wants to trip us up. Yet God enables us to overcome every hurdle. God is faithful and powerful. He's able to help us to defeat the devil. It's not inevitable that we give in to temptation.  We often think of temptation as 'positive' in the sense of things like lust, hate and greed. Yet it can also be 'negative' in the sense of not doing what we ought, like telling people the Good News of salvation in Christ. In him we can and will endure, as long as we f...

 Ephesians 4:32 ESV Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. I love the motivation for kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness. We don't seek to be such things to earn God's acceptance. We do so because that is what God is like with us. God demonstrates his kindness to us not just by wiping the slate clean as it were. He welcomes us into relationship with him. He is the Lover of our souls. If we're not particularly tenderhearted, we can ask God to perform spiritual heart surgery. We can ask him to cut away our hardheartedness. We can ask him to give us soft hearts. Forgiveness starts with God. It shouldn't end with him though. Having been forgiven, we are to forgive one another. 'Merciful God, we praise you for your kindness towards us. May we follow your example, for your glory we pray, amen'.

 Matthew 6:25 ESV Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Jesus commands us not to be anxious. Anxiety is disobedience against him. Anxiety is mistrust in God's sovereign care of us. If we were assured of God's provision of our food, drink and clothing, we wouldn't be anxious. If we are anxious about our needs, a good prayer to pray is 'give us this day our daily bread'. The antidote to anxiety is to have a conversation with God and a conversation with ourselves about his gracious provision for us. God has never failed to provide for our needs. We are here today because we've had sufficient food, drink and clothing. Even the Apostle Paul knew what it was to lack such things at times but God always came through for him in the end. Greater than our need for food is spiritual sustenance: Jesus is the Bre...

 Jeremiah 31:25 ESV  For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. The Rolling Stones famously sang that they couldn't get no satisfaction. They were probably looking in all the wrong places: sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll! Even in the tumultuous days in which he lived, Jeremiah promised satisfaction for God's beleaguered people  God is the Source of all goodness, including satisfaction and replenishment. If we look to him to provide our needs, he'll never let us down. Gods people are tempest tossed, but 'with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm' as it were. How does God satisfy us? He provides our needs like food and drink,shelter and relationships. Ultimately, he invites us into relationship with him, who will never disappoint. Even Jeremiah himself sometimes complained to God about his lot. Yet God was gracious to him. The Lord picked him up, brushed him down, and sent him on his way to minister for him. 'Gr...

 Matthew 7:14 ESV For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Jesus might seem to contradict himself. He famously said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Yet he he says the way to life is hard.  Jesus makes things relatively easy, but the devil does his worst to try and make things hard for us. Alongside temptations common to man we also have persecution to contend with. We need God to uphold us in the midst of opposition. The gate to eternal life is narrow because we can't take any baggage with us. Our self righteousness and materialism have no place on the path of life. We must abandon all our worldly wisdom and entrust ourselves to the Lord. Sadly, relatively few people find the way of life. God doesn't want anyone to perish. Sadly, most people reject him.  'Dear Lord, we're so grateful for you showing us yourself as the Way of life. Please help us to follow you wholeheartedly, until you call us home. For your ...

 Proverbs 19:21 ESV Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. A popular Western philosophy is 'I think, therefore I am'. People think they are what they think they are. In reality, what God thinks matters infinitely more than what we think. I could think I'm going to become a millionaire. Unless God decrees it, that's not going to happen. More spiritually, I could try and make millions 'make a decision for Christ'. Ultimately however Christ has to make a decision for the millions. As James said, we should always add the caveat of 'God willing' to our plans. We pencil plans in. God's purposes are set in stone. God is sovereign, not us. If we make a declaration, it isn't necessarily so. When God declares something, it assuredly is. 'God, forbid that we would assume that our plans will inevitably prevail. Help us to entrust them to you, and bow to your Sovereign Son. In his name we ask this, amen...

 Philippians 4:7 ESV And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I know some people seem to take some kind of sadistic pleasure in conflict, but surely most of us are yearning for peace. God is the Source. He seems far removed from us in our enmity and strife. Gods peace seems to transcend all understanding. How can we know it in the midst of this world of woe? By the blood of Jesus. Because Jesus bore Father God's wrath on the cross, we can know peace with God, in spite of this conflicted world in which we live. If we put our faith in Jesus, we become blessed peacemakers. We're adopted into God's family, and take up the family business of making peace. The very fact our hearts and minds need guarding reveals that there's a war for our peace. The devil wants to destroy our peace. He can't rob us of our salvation, so he'll try and steal our peace and assurance. 'God of peace, please guard our...

 Psalm 59:16 ESV But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. It's not just David who had distressed days. Sadly, we all face them. For much of David's young adulthood, he was a fugitive on the run from murderous incumbent king Saul. David didn't feel sorry for himself. He was God focused, not self absorbed. He determined to sing praises to the Lord who delivered him from his distress. God doesn't promise a life free from distress. What he does promise is to be with us in the midst, and to look after us. Even if we're martyred for our faith in Jesus, our eternity is secure in him. If football fans can sing in praise of their team's kicking a ball around, how much more should we sing praises to our Rock of refuge! He'll never let us down, unlike our favourite sports teams. He'll always be there for us, even when we don't feel his pr...

 Ephesians 6:13 ESV  Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.  The armour of God isn't some pick and mix selection. We need it all to stand firm in the evil day. Thankfully, we don't need to rustle it up ourselves: God provides it. Having received the whole armour of God, through faith in Jesus, we're to take it up. There's no use allowing it to gather dust in a corner. It is provided to be utilised. God wants us to be able to withstand the evil day. He doesn't want us to crumble. He gives us what we need to be able to resist the devil. We are to stand firm. We're not to buckle under satanic pressure. We don't need to, with God on side. 'God our Lord, please help us to use every provided resource to fight the evil one. For the glory of Christ we ask, amen'. 

 Colossians 3:12 ESV  Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  I love how Paul describes God's chosen ones. We are holy and beloved, through faith in Jesus. That doesn't mean to say we can rest on our laurels though. We need to clothe ourselves in compassion. We're not just to exchange pleasantries, but to demonstrate compassion and kindness in practical ways. God doesn't just want lip service, he wants us to prove our love. We're to be humble and meek. We're to consider others before ourselves. We're not to insist on our own rights. We're to be patient. Sometimes I'm impatient with my lack of patience. I can still ask God to help me to develop it though. 'Dear Father God, thank you so much for choosing to make us holy and to set your love upon us. Please help us to become more holy, for your honour we pray, amen'.

 Revelation 3:20 ESV Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  This verse is often applied to unbelievers. They need to 'open the doors of their hearts' to Jesus, we're told. The Holy Spirit had a different application in the original context. This verse was applied to a church, a group of professing believers. They thought they were the bee's knees, but Jesus was absent. However great we may think we are, if the Lord is absent, we are nothing.  Jesus doesn't wash his hands of us, even if we're blind to the fact he's absent and we're all self-congratulatory. He's knocking on the door of his people's hearts, calling us to open up to him. If we do, we will enjoy sweet fellowship with him. William Holman Hunt famously illustrated this verse. Jesus, the Light of the world, knocked on a door without an outside handle. He wasn't going to batter down t...

 Psalm 34:14 ESV   Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. It's not enough to pay God lip service. We must actually turn away from evil. If we profess faith in God but persist in evil, we betray the fact that our profession isn't genuine. Of course, we don't live in a vacuum. We can't just not do evil. We must actively do good. The fact we're told to seek peace suggests it doesn't come naturally to us. In fact, peace is supernatural. We need Almighty God to bestow it upon us. Peace is to be pursued, like a dove on the wing. To shoot it down as it were requires speed and skill. It's all to easy to find conflict; peace requires more effort. 'God of peace, may we find in you the reconciliation we need. Help us to forsake evil and to embrace goodness. For the glory of Christ, amen'.

 1 Timothy 6:12 ESV  Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  The Christian faith is a fight. It's not a crusade. It's spiritual warfare. Every Christian is called to receive eternal life. Timothy was also commissioned as a pastor though. The implication is that when he was called as a pastor he gave his testimony of faith to many witnesses. Even if we're not called to pastor, we're all called to make a good confession of our faith. There's no such thing as a 'secret believer'. We have to go public with our trust in Jesus. We shouldn't take eternal life for granted. We need to take hold of it. God wants us to be wholehearted in our devotion to him. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to be wholehearted in our pursuit of you and our witness of you to the world. For your glory, amen'.

 Matthew 19:26 ESV But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Jesus said that it's humanly impossible for a rich person to enter God's Kingdom. Riches tend to come with pride, greed, and stinginess. God isn't anti rich, but he is anti pride, greed and stinginess. The disciples were men of the world who had imbibed the assumption that riches are good. Jesus challenged the status quo and asserted that it isn't necessarily so. Thankfully, it isn't impossible for God to save rich people.  If God saves rich people, he will empower them to become less proud, greedy and stingy. He will encourage them to become humble, meek and generous. We have no divine right to riches. Even though believers are adopted into the family of the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills as it were, that doesn't mean to say we necessarily own countless cattle. Children serve their parents. We only inherit glory in the new cre...

 Hebrews 12:14 ESV  Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  Peace doesn't come naturally. We live in a conflicted, wartorn world. We have to strive for peace. We're not just to strive for peace with Christians, or people we get on with. We're to strive for peace with everyone. 'When a man's ways are pleasing to God, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him'. Holiness might seem incompatible with peace. We can't make others holy, so there's no point disturbing the peace in an attempt to do so. We can only ultimately work on ourselves. Thankfully, we can be made holy through faith in the Holy One, his death and resurrection for us. We are to strive to become like him, and not to settle for our shoddy ways. We're not to rest on our laurels. 'Holy God, please help us to be holy, as you are holy. May we also strive for peace with others. For we ask in Jesus' name, amen'.

 Isaiah 26:4 ESV Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. God doesn't want part time lovers. He doesn't want us to trust in him only when the sun shines. He doesn't want us to doubt him when the storms come. We're to trust in the Lord forever, come rain or shine. He is everlastingly trustworthy. He'll never let us down, even though it sometimes feels like he might. We do well to remember that this life is temporary. When God momentarily might feel untrustworthy, we need to make sure we're 'in it for the long game'. Jesus might have been murdered for example, but ultimately he defeated death, and so shall we, through trusting him. 'Rock of ages, cleft for me/ Let me hide myself in thee/ May the water and the blood/ From thy riven side which flowed/ Be for sin the double cure/ Cleanse me from its guilt and power' 'Lord our Rock, may we take refuge in you from the storms of life. Help us build our lives on you and endu...

 Romans 12:12 ESV Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.  Joy and hope go together like strawberries and cream! It's hard, if not impossible, to be hopeful and miserable at the same time. Christ's resurrection fuels our hope and joy. Patience and tribulation are more like chalk and cheese than fish and chips! Yet if we respond well to troubles, God will develop patience within us. After all, another name for patience is longsuffering- having the strength to suffer long and to bear up under it. How can we have forbearance in the face of suffering? Through the hope of the Gospel. Tribulations aren't the end of the story; resurrection life is. Prayer isn't so much natural as supernatural. Naturally we like to do things in our own strength. Prayer is an acknowledgement of our need of God's strength constantly. 'God of hope, may we rejoice in you as we ought, persevere through troubles, and cry out to you at all times, for we ask in Jesus...