Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 Psalm 27:14 ESV  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Waiting is hard to do, but the psalmist insists that we wait for the Lord. We don't have to wait for him like we're passively waiting for the bus. We are to wait for him like a pure and spotless bride awaits her marriage, with preparation. We're to be strong. Jesus has been 2,000 years and hasn't returned yet. Scoffers mock, yet we're still to wait in expectancy for his return. God doesn't want us discouraged. He wants us to take heart. Jesus has overcome the world and its troubles, and we will too, through faith in him. We're told twice to wait for the Lord. The psalmist knows it's hard to do. We need the reminder, the reinforcement of the command. It's like a parent telling their kid to wait before they cross the busy road. 'Lord our God, we wait for you with longing and expectancy. Please help us to be strong and encouraged, in Christ's name...

 Colossians 3:1 ESV If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  If we belong to Jesus by faith, we are raised with him to newness of life. Therefore we're not to live for stuff which is perishing. Instead, we're to live for our Saviour and Lord. We might think this verse is 'pie in the sky when we die'. Yet it's this world that's passing away with its desires. 'Only one life, will soon be past/only What's done for Christ will last'. We don't need to be so 'heavenly minded that we're of no earthly use'. We can and must do everything we do 'as unto the Lord'. We can wash the dishes to his glory, or put out the rubbish! Christ is on the throne of heaven. One day we will go to be with him. We will even judge angels: we must walk worthily of such a high calling. 'God our Father, may we walk worthily of your Son our Saviour and Lord, in whose name w...

 John 14:1 ESV   “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  To our legalistic minds, simply believing in God and Jesus seems too simple. What do we have to actually do, we wonder? Believing seems too passive. This isn't even some isolated statement from Jesus. Some people asked him what they must be doing to do the works of God. He simply replied, 'to believe in the One whom he has sent (himself)'. God doesn't want us troubled. Disney says to believe in yourself. If we did we would be troubled, because we let ourselves down, never mind God and others. The antidote to troubled hearts isn't to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps as it were. The antidote to troubled hearts is belief in God and Jesus. They'll never fail us. 'Dear Lord, please don't let us be troubled. May we believe in you instead. For the honour of your name we pray, amen'.

 Psalm 23:4 ESV Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. We often gloss over the poetic nature of this verse. As Billy Graham said though, mountaintops might be good for the views, but valleys are where the fruit grows. Note too that death is just a shadow; the substance is eternal life. If God is for us, who can be against us? We don't need to be afraid if he is on our side. Not even death can defeat us if we belong to Jesus. A rod is to correct us, or to beat up our enemies. It might not seem particularly comforting. Yet it keeps us safe on the straight and narrow. The staff can bring us back onto God's way if we're going astray or we've got stuck in some predicament. Even through adversity we can be comforted that God wants what's best for us. Not only so but he will achieve what's best for us. 'Dear Abba Father God, we're so grateful for your care...

 Acts 1:8 ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  At first glance, this promise of Holy Spirit power sounds great. Yet the Greek word for witness here is the one from which we get our English word 'martyr'. Jesus wasn't deceiving his people that all would be health, wealth and happiness if we follow him. Jesus is warning us here that we'll be like sheep to the slaughter. Yet even so, we will be given the power to testify of him as our Lord and Saviour. Very soon the likes of Stephen and James would be martyred. If we have the Holy Spirit we have all we need to give for God. We will have the power to endure even death for Jesus' sake. Nothing can separate us from his love. Note how the church is spreading across the globe. We share the good news where we're at (Jerusalem), regionally (Judea), cross culturally (Samaria) and globally...

 Micah 6:8 ESV  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? God hasn't left us in the dark as to what his will is for us. If we want to know what God wants of us, this verse would be a good place to start. God has revealed what is good. We're required to do justice. We're not simply to talk the talk but to walk the walk. We're not to leave justice to our nations justice systems. God isn't telling us to go vigilante in punishing unjust people. He's calling us to positively do good to those who are unjustly oppressed and marginalised in society. We're to love kindness, especially to the likes of widows/single mothers, orphans/children in need and strangers/migrants. We're to walk humbly with our God. We're not to pat ourselves on the back if we're just and kind. Instead, we can be grateful for God's work in our lives. 'Lord, may we be ...

 Exodus 33:15 ESV And Moses said to the Lord, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here." I love this quote from Moses, the friend of God. The Lord wasn't a means to an end for Moses. God wasn't just a ticket to a land flowing with milk and honey.  The Lord was everything to Moses. Is he everything to us? Or is he just a 'get out of hell free' card?  Would we care if God isn't present in our afterlives? If not, we are heading for hell. Only if we yearn for God's presence will we get to enjoy worshiping him for eternity, as he deserves. God isn't just a divine slot machine to get what we want out of. He is the Source of all that is good. The worst thing he could do for us is to withdraw the goodness of his presence. 'Dear Lord God, thank you for promising never to leave or forsake your people. Please presence yourself amongst us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen'.

 A friend has a Christian Discord Community, it'ld be good if you joined :)  https://discord.gg/wxARVhkn 

 Ezekiel 37:5 ESV Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  Imagine a load of bones of Christians slaughtered by Muslims in Nigeria. It seems pretty hopeless. Yet Jesus blessed the persecuted, because great is our reward in heaven.  Even if we're martyred for the Lord God, hope is not lost. Just as Jesus defeated death, so can we. We just need to trust in him. Imagine a load of Islamists marching in London, and then a load of racists marching in London too. Each faction seem hopeless. Yet God can cause the spiritually dead to come alive.  Nothing is impossible for God. A white supremacist and an Islamist fighter alike can come to faith in the Lord God. If God wants to make us alive spiritually, we can't stop him. 'Heavenly Father, please make us alive in Christ, in whose name we pray, amen'.