Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 ESV As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, 'darkness can't drive out darkness; only light can do that'. He famously responded to the violent oppression of racist segregation with peaceful, nonviolent protest. Thankfully, in that instance, light prevailed over darkness. At the cross of Christ, it seemed like the Light of the world had been snuffed out. Even in his dying words though, Jesus told the dying criminal that 'today', he would be with him in paradise. Not even death can separate us from the love of God for us in the Lord Jesus. On the third day, Christ rose again in defeat of the grave. The darkness didn't overcome the Light. If we trust and obey him, we took will overcome the darkness. If we claim to love God and hate others, we betray the fact that we're walking in darkness rather than in the Light. We must abandon hatred. We must come into the Light of God's ...

 “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” Psalm 139:10 ESV Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even there, God's hand shall guide us. He is our Good Shepherd who will safely lead us home. He's like a parent holding his child's hand while they cross a busy road. Through every season of life, in trouble and in joy, God is right there with us. We can easily forget him in the good times. We can be tempted to blame him for the bad times. We need to cling closely to God, whatever we're going through. We're not to arrogantly forget him when all seems well. We're not to bitterly turn from him in tough times. This verse is a great reassurance. God isn't going to give up on us half way to glory. He'll lead us safely home. 'Dear Father God, please lead us safely home to you, and help us to keep in step with your Holy Spirit. In Christ's name we ask this, amen'. 

 “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17 ESV We often think of sin as doing the wrong thing, like hating/murdering, lusting/adultery, coveting/theft. Biblically, sin is also failing to do the right thing. So if we're not loving, faithful and content; that is sin too. The context of this verse is interesting. James has been saying that we only get to do anything if God is willing. So instead of arrogantly declaring what we're going to do, we should humbly declare that if God wills, we will do whatever we set out to do. The right thing to do when anticipating the future is to have holy humility. There's no point proudly 'manifesting' our futures if our 'manifestations' aren't in God's will. We only get to do anything if God allows it. If what we want to do isn't part of God's perfect will for us, we shouldn't pursue it. If I want to greedily win the lottery, I shouldn't waste my money o...

 “Give us this day our daily bread,” Matthew 6:11 ESV We can over spiritualise this verse. I'm sure Jesus is literally encouraging us to pray for our daily needs. We need food to survive. Jesus encourages us to trust him for our daily bread. We don't need to worry about tomorrow's bread. As long as we have enough for today we should be satisfied. I'm sure there is a spiritual element to this verse too. After all, Jesus is the Bread of life. We need him to sustain us spiritually. Jesus is the Bread that was broken for us. His blood was poured out like wine for our deliverance. By his wounds we are healed of our terminal sin sickness. 'Dear Lord, please give us this day our daily bread. We ask for your honour and praise, amen'.

 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 ESV We can have confidence to approach the throne of God. It is a throne of grace. Grace is an undeserved gift, being treated like we don't deserve. Why can we approach the throne of grace with confidence? Because the One seated upon it bears scars that he bore for us. He was willing to die for us. Having died for us, Jesus now ever lives to intercede for us. He asks Father God to have mercy upon us. Because of his sacrifice on our behalf, God cannot refuse us. Mercy is not being treated like we deserve. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet through faith in Christ we can be justified. 'Dear Lord, may we approach your throne of grace with confidence. Please have mercy upon us, for your honour and praise we pray, amen'.

 “ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105 ESV This verse reminds me of a couple of verses in Proverbs. They basically say that the way of the righteous is like the sunrise. The way of the wicked however is deep darkness and ignorance about what makes us stumble.  We need God's word to illuminate our path. Jesus is the Light of the world himself. One of the main ways he brightens us up is by his word. The Bible is the primary way we can get to know the Light of the world. There's a lot of darkness in this world. There will be until the Sun of righteousness returns. We need God's word to light up our way. The Scriptures show us the way to God. They also highlight potential pitfalls and stumbling blocks. We need to stay close to Jesus to stay well spiritually. 'Heavenly Father, please brighten up our lives in the Light of Christ, and show us the way to go. In his name we pray, amen'.

 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples!” 1 Chronicles 16:24 ESV One of the main reasons we're not immediately translated to glory once we trust in Jesus is so that we can declare his glory to others. In his wisdom, God has chosen to spread his Good News not by angels but by us ourselves. There won't need to be any evangelism in heaven, but until we get there, we're to make Christ known to those who are strangers to his grace. The Good News isn't just for Israel. It isn't exclusively for traditionally 'Christian nations' (if there is such a thing). There will be people from every nation, every ethnicity, every language, every tribe; in God's Kingdom in the new creation. We are to take the Gospel to the world. God does marvellous works. He brings the dead back to life spiritually. He causes the spiritually blind to see. We aren't to miserly keep the Gospel to ourselves. We're to tell the Good News to the p...

 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” ” Luke 1:37 ESV With this verse I'm reminded of some lyrics from the Brandon Lake song 'Kids': 'we'll see the prodigal returning; we'll see the marriage on the rocks come back to life' etc. In the immediate context of this verse, the virgin conceived and would bear a Son for our salvation. Mary struggled to comprehend how this could be, but the angel explained it would be a Holy Spirit conception, not a manmade one. Sometimes people aren't healed. Sometimes marriages aren't saved. Sometimes prodigals don't return. That doesn't invalidate the truth of this verse. God is able and willing to save, by the virgin born Son of God. We need to be willing to be delivered however. Otherwise we remain lost. This verse encourages us to keep praying for the seemingly hopeless cases. Nothing is impossible for God. He can cause a turnaround/a breakthrough/a deliverance/whatever is necessary. 'Gracious God, ple...

 “ 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...