Sunday, March 12, 2006
March 13th Matthew 7
Go ahead and look first at Matthew 6 . See how God speaks to you individually. Then come back, if you wish, and see what God has put in my mind/heart.
Key Verse(s): Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…”
Title: Beseeching God for Gifts
Observation: This evenings scripture really hits me…why don’t I more regularly ask God to give good things to me and to His church? Jesus characterizes God as the good father, who wants to give good gifts to his children. God will not trick us. And yet I have trouble asking for God, not merely for the toys that I want in life (there is good reason for me not to have them), but also for the things that I think God wants for me.
I wonder if at some level my major issue is that I want to “earn” everything I get so that I can take all the credit? Is asking God to provide too much for me to allow God to get the credit for his goodness? At an intellectual level I know that everything that I have and everything that I am is God’s first gift to me. I also know that God has taken the mixed bag of my works and purified and used them far beyond my abilities would have gone. And yet, I sit here, hesitating from asking God to provide the things that I think, feel confidently, are actually in his will for my family and the church!
Application: I need to humble myself and ask God to work in my life, work in my family, and work in His church. I will give Him all the credit for working in me, around me, and through me to accomplish the things of His will. I will allow myself to accept that I am truly limited and it is the grace of God that works miracles, not me.
Prayer: Lord, help me to give up the arrogance which makes me believe that I can do things on my own. Allow me to be more mature than my 1 year old Josiah who wants to do everything himself, but only makes a mess of things. Lord, I need to acknowledge that without your help, I am lost, my family is lost, and so is the church in which you have placed me. Help me to trust in you and your goodness, and to pull back from taking control. And while I acknowledge that all gifts come from you, help me to work hard in your service and not simply expect you to do miracle after miracle, but allow me to be your junior and mostly silent partner in changing the world into your reign in my life and in lives around me.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
Key Verse(s): Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…”
Title: Beseeching God for Gifts
Observation: This evenings scripture really hits me…why don’t I more regularly ask God to give good things to me and to His church? Jesus characterizes God as the good father, who wants to give good gifts to his children. God will not trick us. And yet I have trouble asking for God, not merely for the toys that I want in life (there is good reason for me not to have them), but also for the things that I think God wants for me.
I wonder if at some level my major issue is that I want to “earn” everything I get so that I can take all the credit? Is asking God to provide too much for me to allow God to get the credit for his goodness? At an intellectual level I know that everything that I have and everything that I am is God’s first gift to me. I also know that God has taken the mixed bag of my works and purified and used them far beyond my abilities would have gone. And yet, I sit here, hesitating from asking God to provide the things that I think, feel confidently, are actually in his will for my family and the church!
Application: I need to humble myself and ask God to work in my life, work in my family, and work in His church. I will give Him all the credit for working in me, around me, and through me to accomplish the things of His will. I will allow myself to accept that I am truly limited and it is the grace of God that works miracles, not me.
Prayer: Lord, help me to give up the arrogance which makes me believe that I can do things on my own. Allow me to be more mature than my 1 year old Josiah who wants to do everything himself, but only makes a mess of things. Lord, I need to acknowledge that without your help, I am lost, my family is lost, and so is the church in which you have placed me. Help me to trust in you and your goodness, and to pull back from taking control. And while I acknowledge that all gifts come from you, help me to work hard in your service and not simply expect you to do miracle after miracle, but allow me to be your junior and mostly silent partner in changing the world into your reign in my life and in lives around me.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
