For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 12:15-17

    The first two proverbs fit together. Those who will not listen to advice will usually get angry with those who try to warn them about the weakness in their plan. However, the thing to do with these proverbs is to use them as a mirror for ourselves. Do I listen to others when I make plans? Do I incorporate what they say into my plans? Do I get angry when people insult me?
    As I read and thought about this, I realized a place where I struggle dealing with this. When people suggest I attempt to solve a problem using something I already tried, I have a tendency to feel insulted and get angry. The wise person stays calm in such a situation. I am working on recognizing that people often give such advice knowing that I probably know to try it, but may have forgotten. Let us all work on staying calm when we think someone is insulting us.

Psalm 76:1-12

    I like this psalm, but I struggled with finding something to say about it. Until I looked at verses 9 and 10 again. God has stood up and judged those who do evil. He has and will continue to rescue the oppressed on this earth. Those who defy God enhance His glory and He uses their defiance as a weapon to gain His victory. Those who defy God are serving Him just as much as those who submit to His will (the difference being that those who choose to do His will are rewarded, while those who attempt to resist it suffer).

Luke 10:38-11:13

    Jesus taught us how to pray. That teaching was a two part lesson (there I am with the two parts again). First He gives us a model prayer:

Father, may your name be kept holy.

God has adopted us as His children and we should look to Him as a loving, caring father. In addition, Jesus instructs us to pray that our actions show that God’s name is worthy of complete devotion. And that we pray that everyone learn to be completely devoted to God’s name. It is here that we pray for our wants. We should strive to want those things which will allow us to show that God’s name is worthy of complete devotion.

May your Kingdom come.

Our prayers should include the desire that the entire earth and everyone on it knowingly submit to God’s sovereignty (I need to do a blog entry sometime one my understanding of the Kingdom of God…not because I am so insightful, but because I need to work through comprehensively what I believe about the Kingdom of God). It is here that we pray for others, part of the coming of God’s Kingdom is others coming to Him and having their needs met.

Give us each day the food we need,

Here Jesus explains what sort of things for which it is appropriate for us to ask. We are to ask God to supply our needs, not our wants

and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.

We need to recognize that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. And we need to recognize that God has even more right to hold our sins against us as we do to hold others accountable for the harm they have done us. God is only willing to forgive us if we are willing to forgive others. Actually, we are only able to accept God’s forgiveness if we are able to forgive those who have sinned against us (or who we perceive to have sinned against us).

And don’t let us yield to temptation.

And finally we pray that God give us the strength to resist temptation while guiding us to actions which will keep us far from it.
    Having given us an example of what our prayers should look like Jesus explains the importance of patience and persistance. Note that this prayer is short and does not spend any time telling God what He has promised us, nor does it repeat itself(I understand that sometimes when we pray we repeat ourselves in order to put our thoughts in order. That is different from saying the same thing a different way on purpose. We do not need to repeat ourselves for clarity, God understand what we mean). If we remember that part of the point of prayer is to listen to God and to allow Him to show us the changes He is making in us, the emphasis on patience and persistence becomes clear.
    It takes time for us to accept the changes which God is making in us, as well as time for those changes to take hold. We will not be prepared to receive what we are asking God for if we are not patient. Further, we will not undergo the transformation God has in mind for us if we are not persistent. There is one more point about the importance of persistence and patience in praying for things from God. As we persistently and patiently pray for things, God will reveal to us how our true desires will be better fulfilled with something else (maybe different in a large way from what we started out praying for, or perhaps only different in a minor way). Let us learn to pray following the model Jesus gave us, and let us learn to be persistent in our prayers.

Deuteronomy 26-27:26

    The lesson from the first fruits offering is that we should give of our resources to God’s service before we pay our bills or use them to meet our needs. I will not condemn those who have so little that they have come to the conclusion they have none to spare for God’s ministry. I have been in that situation. I think I was wrong and that God would have provided for my needs, more importantly, I suspect that on at least one occasion I was in that situation because I had chosen to spend money on wants that should have gone to needs. Beyond that, we should put aside some of our resources to meet the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves.
    The Israelites are God’s chosen people and if they follow His commands to them, He will set them above all other nations. However, any people who serve God and strive to follow His commands will find themselves prospering.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 12:15-17

    Most people think that they know what is the good, right, and true thing to do, but those who are wise honestly seek and consider the advice of others before choosing a course of action. When others suggest that their chosen course of action is a mistake, a fool gets angry and feels insulted, while a wise person calmly considers what they have to say.

Psalm 76:1-12

    This psalm is a wonderful reminder that God is glorious and majestic. He is more majestic than anything on this earth, or anywhere in this universe. God will judge those who do evil and deliver the oppressed. Even those who stand in defiance of God bring glory to His name. He will use those who defy Him as weapons to carry out His will.

Luke 10:38-11:13

    I have heard several different takes on the story of Mary and Martha. Today it struck me that Martha was caught up in getting things done, in providing things to her guests. Mary, on the other hand, was more concerned with spending time and socializing with her guests. Jesus’ message was that it is more important to spend time with people getting to know them and their needs than it is to get things done.
    Next Jesus taught His disciples about prayer. First, He gave them a template for prayer. I remember when I first saw this broken down into its component parts (actually, it was Matthew’s version, but it works here as well). It gave me a new insight into prayer that has stuck with me ever since. I am going to try to do the same thing here using the NIV:

Father,

Acknowledging both God’s authority over us and love for us as our father

hallowed be your name,

We desire that people venerate God’s name and acknowledge that it is holy

your kingdom come.

We pray that God’s authority be recognized by all

Give us each day our daily bread.

Provide us each day with what we need to make it through that day

Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.

This is a twofold piece. We ask God to forgive our sins while recognizing that He will only do so to the extent which we forgive those who sin against us

And lead us not into temptation.

Finally, we ask God to help us avoid, and resist, temptation to do wrong.
    Having given us a template of how to construct our prayers, Jesus reminds us to be persistent in our prayers. He then gives us a threefold approach to petitioning God: Ask, Seek, Knock. If we persist in asking God for our desires, He will give them to us. However, it is not an entirely passive thing. We must actively seek the things we desire from God. As we seek we will find (especially as we seek to align our desires with His will). Finally, when we find what we seek, we are to knock to request admittance into God’s presence. This last reminds us once more of the need for persistence. Jesus concludes His teaching about prayer by pointing out that earthly fathers will give their children good things when they ask for them. How much more will God give us the good things we ask for out of His love for us. There is also a subtle reminder that when God is slow to give us what we ask for, perhaps we should examine our desires to see if what we ask for is really something good. Jesus tells us that when a child asks his earthly father for an egg, he will not give the child a scorpion. The reminder here is that an earthly father also is unlikely to give his child a scorpion even if the child asks for one. In the same way, some of the things which we ask of God may be bad for us just as a scorpion would be a bad gift for a young child.

Deuteronomy 26-27:26

    I have declared today that the Lord is my God. I will walk in His ways and do as He tells me. This is not the first time I have made this declaration, and I pray to God that it is not the last. Will you join me in making this declaration? Will you dedicate your life anew to serving God? If we do this, God will send His Spirit upon the people of this land and claim them for His own. God will use those who submit to Him to change the world. Use me today God to show someone Your love!