Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ” Jeremiah 29:11 ESV Note that God has plans for us in the plural. It's not that if we mess up plan A we're doomed. God doesn't plan to condemn his people. God wants good for his people. Jesus even blessed us when we're persecuted, because great is our reward in heaven. God can even bring good out of evil circumstances. We have a glorious future to look forward to if we belong to Jesus. We have eternal life guaranteed with him in glory. We just need to trust in him. Our hope is assured. Because Christ defeated death, we can too. We will rise to meet our Lord and Saviour, and to be forevermore with him. 'Lord our God, we're grateful for your good plans for us, in the midst of the evils in this life. Please lead us safely home to glory, in Christ's name, amen'.

 “ Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22 ESV The Lord doesn't want us to go around burdened. He wants us to cast our burdens upon him. He promises to sustain us. Jesus's shoulders are broad enough to bear our burdens. He gave his life to liberate us from the burden of sin. By his blood he sets us free. We're not naturally righteous. Through faith in Christ however, we can be made righteous. If we are righteous in him, we're safe and secure. Spiritually, we're immoveable if we belong to Jesus. We can't be knocked off from our security in Christ. We're safe in him. 'Lord, we cast our burdens upon you and ask you to make us immoveable spiritually. In Jesus' name we pray, amen'.

 “And have mercy on those who doubt; ” Jude 1:22 ESV Mercy is to not treat someone as they deserve. If someone doubts the truth of the Gospel, they don't deserve to receive the Good News. Yet Jesus is our only hope. There's a difference between doubt and cynicism. Some people have genuine doubts, concerns and questions about their faith. Others just dismissively pour scorn upon the Bible. If in doubt, we should take our doubts to God in prayer. We can be honest with him about how we feel. He is omniscient/all knowing, after all! The father of the demon possessed boy is a good example to us. When Jesus asked if he believed that nothing is impossible for God, the man replied, 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief'. Of course, Jesus mercifully delivered his son. 'Lord, have mercy upon us. Please help us to overcome our doubts and be merciful to doubters. For your glory, amen'.

 “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 ESV David didn't deceive himself. He knew his heart was naturally dirty. He knew God needed to clean his heart. If we're honest, we're all in the same boat as David. We may not have committed adultery, but most of us have lusted. We may not have murdered, but most of us have hated. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We need God to renew a right spirit within us. We can echo David's prayer here. Thankfully, God restored David. He can renew us too into the likeness of Christ. By his death on our behalf and his outpoured Spirit he can do this. 'O God, please create clean hearts in us, and renew right spirits in us. For the honour of your name, amen'.

 “ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ” Exodus 20:8 ESV We are not machines. We can't run non stop 24/7. We need times of rest. God designed us to have a day of rest a week. He even took a day off when he created the world! He didn't need to, but did so as an example to us of the pattern our lives should take.  Jesus made clear that we don't need to be prescriptive about weekly Sabbath rest. Religious people do that. Yet the Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath. Hebrews makes clear that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the Sabbath rest personified of his people. In him, we enjoy one everlasting holiday from trying to earn God's acceptance. We can rest in his finished work upon our behalf. 'God, please help us to remember to take the rest we need. Above all, may we rest in Christ crucified for our salvation. In his name we ask this, amen'.

 “We love because he first loved us. ” 1 John 4:19 ESV We as humans are not just animals. We're capable of love. We're made in the image and likeness of God who is love personified. Because God is love, he created us, to share in loving fellowship with him. Because we are hateful, we have broken that fellowship. Because God is love, he's made a way for that fellowship to be restored. Because the Father sent the Son to give his life for us, we can respond to his love. We can be capable of that same kind of heavenly, sacrificial love. All we need to do is to trust in Jesus. We mustn't put our faith in ourselves for being loving. As John clearly states here, the reason we do love is because God first loved us. So there's no room for boasting. 'Dear Father in heaven, please help us to love you and others as you have loved us and given your Son for us. In his name we ask this, amen'.

 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV The devil can't be accused of being lazy. He's busy about trying to destroy us. We must destroy his satanic arguments. If we don't destroy devilish arguments, they will destroy us if they persuade us. When people offer us their lofty opinions, we shouldn't take their word for it. We are to destroy arrogant opinions that are raised against the knowledge of God. Most importantly, we need to know God. We're not just to know him intellectually, but relationally. We get to know him in his word the Bible, as applied by his Holy Spirit. We're to involve Christ the Lord in every flitting thought that passes through our minds. Some seed of a thought has the potential to choke the garden of our minds with weeds. We're to allow Christ to weed out anything that's untoward in our thinking. 'Dear Lord our God, ...

 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ” Philippians 4:19 ESV The Philippian church was generous. Maybe they were tempted to worry that they were out of pocket because of their generosity. So Paul assured them with this verse. This is a wonderful promise of God's word. God isn't going to let us go without our needs. We don't just need money to buy food and drink and to provide for shelter though. Ultimately, we need to make it to glory with Christ Jesus our Lord. Thankfully, because of the riches of his grace in giving his life for us, we can attain to the new creation. We just need to trust in him. God isn't stingy and miserly. He's generous with his immeasurable riches. He doesn't necessarily give us what we want all the time, but he does provide for our needs. 'Dear God our Lord, please look after us. Thank you that you always have and you always will. For your honour and praise, amen'. 

 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 ESV Jesus echoed Solomon when he said that 'out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks'. From a good heart comes good speech; from a bad heart comes bad speech. Sadly, we're a bundle of contradictions, with good and bad coming out of our same mouths. If we're to keep our hearts, the implication is that God has performed a spiritual heart transplant. If he has done so, we're to keep our hearts healthy spiritually. We're not to feed ourselves with spiritual junk like false teachings or other inappropriate content online. It's all too easy to get complacent. Solomon commands vigilance. He seems hypocritical- he allowed pagan wives to lead his heart astray- but God brought him back.  Some intellectual a long time ago famously said 'I think, therefore I am'. Solomon seems to suggest there's an element of truth to that. What we think tends to dictate our ...