Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 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...