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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” - Matthew 20:28.
This passage from the Gospel of Matthew has always struck me. If Jesus came not to be served, then why do we call ourselves His servants? He came to serve us! This can be quite perplexing. If Jesus didn’t come so we could serve Him, then why did He come? If Christianity was like any other theism, serving (read: owing) would be the proper logical response. But being the God of the Bible’s image bearers, humanity's existence is not merely one of subjection to a “higher power.” Jesus came to show us what it actually means to be human.
This passage from the Gospel of Matthew has always struck me. If Jesus came not to be served, then why do we call ourselves His servants? He came to serve us! This can be quite perplexing. If Jesus didn’t come so we could serve Him, then why did He come? If Christianity was like any other theism, serving (read: owing) would be the proper logical response. But being the God of the Bible’s image bearers, humanity's existence is not merely one of subjection to a “higher power.” Jesus came to show us what it actually means to be human.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 14:7-11
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 14:7-11
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” - Psalm 46:10
For quite some time, I wrongly believed this verse was a call to quiet my life and soul, to reject the world’s busyness, so that I may more fully know God. And, perhaps, there is a great deal of truth in such a premise, but as my seminary professor always liked to say, “right doctrine/belief, wrong text.” As I began to read the context around the verse, the entirety of Psalm 46, I noticed these poetic verses speak out of a troubled, perilous, and war-torn world, a tumultuous world created both by the evils of the earth and those of humanity. Verse 10, then, is not so much about quieting our inner-soul, as it is a call to place our confidence in the Lord amidst a dark and oftentimes terrifying world, to stop tarrying about like the rest of the fear-plagued world, and trust that all of history is moving toward God’s intended end, namely an entire created order singing His praise and honor (v. 10b).
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” - Psalm 46:10
For quite some time, I wrongly believed this verse was a call to quiet my life and soul, to reject the world’s busyness, so that I may more fully know God. And, perhaps, there is a great deal of truth in such a premise, but as my seminary professor always liked to say, “right doctrine/belief, wrong text.” As I began to read the context around the verse, the entirety of Psalm 46, I noticed these poetic verses speak out of a troubled, perilous, and war-torn world, a tumultuous world created both by the evils of the earth and those of humanity. Verse 10, then, is not so much about quieting our inner-soul, as it is a call to place our confidence in the Lord amidst a dark and oftentimes terrifying world, to stop tarrying about like the rest of the fear-plagued world, and trust that all of history is moving toward God’s intended end, namely an entire created order singing His praise and honor (v. 10b).
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’” – Luke 14:15-20, ESV
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
On a recent Sunday after church, when I picked up my two-year-old son from children’s ministry, I asked the volunteer how he’d behaved that day. To my surprise, she told me that he’d behaved well (he’s been going through a tantrum stage). She warned me that his pants were a little loose and had fallen down once or twice. Bored by our conversation, he wriggled out of my arms to return to play with the other children. As he ran away to play, I noticed his loose pants slide down to his ankles, revealing his chubby legs and diaper. Some of the kids pointed and laughed at his “nakedness.” Oblivious to their taunting, he continued to happily play with a toy train that was nearby. As he shouted “choo choo!” to no one in particular, I thought to myself, my son is literally “naked and unashamed.” He had no idea that he was supposed to be embarrassed because he was exposed in public. Naked and unashamed. In our appearance-obsessed culture, we rarely use these two words to describe ourselves. We may use one or the other, but rarely both.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
-- Psalm 127:1-2
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
-- Psalm 127:1-2
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
In his Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life (Eerdmans, 2007), Paul F. M. Zahl writes, “The more dire the circumstance or checkmate is, the more heartfelt and spontaneous the prayer for help is.” I love the image of a checkmate because it describes well the human condition: defeated and helpless apart from God’s grace. Due to the invasion of evil we find in ourselves and our world, we are utterly impotent to change, improve, or save ourselves. We are surrounded by reckless rooks and cruel queens that render our personal kingships hopelessly conquered.
Checkmate.
While this may sound pessimistic, it’s the only thing that makes sense of “heartfelt and spontaneous” prayer, isn’t it? To the degree we are optimistic about our ability to save ourselves and change the world, our fervency in prayer will disappear. But to the degree that we see ourselves accurately, as helpless, we will pray to God for help. And perhaps this is why energetic and sincere prayer is so rarely found today: we don’t know that we’re in checkmate.
Checkmate.
While this may sound pessimistic, it’s the only thing that makes sense of “heartfelt and spontaneous” prayer, isn’t it? To the degree we are optimistic about our ability to save ourselves and change the world, our fervency in prayer will disappear. But to the degree that we see ourselves accurately, as helpless, we will pray to God for help. And perhaps this is why energetic and sincere prayer is so rarely found today: we don’t know that we’re in checkmate.
Wall Street Journal Article Shows How Christians Can Positively Engage the Culture Around Them
Author Eric Metaxas wrote an exceptionally popular article for the Wall Street Journal concerning God, faith, and science in 2014. Since its publication, the article has gained traction in both Christian and scientific circles, attracting both critics and advocates alike. Metaxas supports the idea that scientific research increasingly points to the existence of a universal creator, drawing attention to recent findings that exemplify exactly how unlikely it is that a series of random events led to creation as we know it. He writes:
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. –Luke 2:36-38
Anna’s life didn’t turn out the way she’d planned. As a young bride, Anna envisioned herself like other women in Jerusalem who spent their days and nights attending their families. But after her husband’s untimely death, Anna never remarried. One can only imagine the combined agonies of widowhood and old age in first-century Jerusalem. But what did Anna do with the time God gave her? Was she to live out her days as an object of pity?
Anna’s life didn’t turn out the way she’d planned. As a young bride, Anna envisioned herself like other women in Jerusalem who spent their days and nights attending their families. But after her husband’s untimely death, Anna never remarried. One can only imagine the combined agonies of widowhood and old age in first-century Jerusalem. But what did Anna do with the time God gave her? Was she to live out her days as an object of pity?
A Devotional from the 40 Days Initiative
Day 16
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17
In the fall of 1740, Harvard College tutor Daniel Rogers was eager to learn of an impending visit to the New England colonies by Anglican clergyman and transatlantic revivalist, the Reverend George Whitefield.
A 1725 graduate of Harvard College, Rogers was anticipating appointment to a pastoral position with Boston’s New North Church when he first had opportunity to hear Whitefield preach. Although raised in a Congregational home and familiar with the orthodoxy common to the “New England Way,” Rogers had not personally entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ despite his familiarity with Christian doctrine.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17
In the fall of 1740, Harvard College tutor Daniel Rogers was eager to learn of an impending visit to the New England colonies by Anglican clergyman and transatlantic revivalist, the Reverend George Whitefield.
A 1725 graduate of Harvard College, Rogers was anticipating appointment to a pastoral position with Boston’s New North Church when he first had opportunity to hear Whitefield preach. Although raised in a Congregational home and familiar with the orthodoxy common to the “New England Way,” Rogers had not personally entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ despite his familiarity with Christian doctrine.
