God Help Us!
I’ve been introducing a new song in the last few months, and it seems appropriately timed as we find ourselves calling out to God for help in this difficult season. May it be a prayer that comforts and strengthens you!
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I’ve been introducing a new song in the last few months, and it seems appropriately timed as we find ourselves calling out to God for help in this difficult season. May it be a prayer that comforts and strengthens you!
Read More
This is isn’t exactly the title of my most recent sermon, but it is what happened! My passage was in John 15, around the theme of Jesus’ invitation to “abide in me”, and, well, since those exact words are tattooed across my arm, I couldn’t resist. Click below to hear how it all went down…
Also, here are my sermon notes if you’d like to follow along: NOTES
WEEK 4 / Jan. 26-31
“Jesus’ Proclamation”
Read Luke 4:16-21
As you imagine this scene and hear the words Jesus declares about his purpose and mission, what stands out for you?
What are some of the feelings the hearers of this proclamation might have experienced in this moment?
As you follow Jesus into this new year, in what ways might you be a part of his plan to:
Read Mark 1:16-20
Imagine you are one of those called by Jesus to “follow me”.
End your prayer time by bringing all these feelings and thoughts to God. Entrust this new year to him. Reaffirm your need for his Spirit and strength to guide and help you as you follow him. Recommit to depend on him as you step out into the uncharted waters of the future.
Keep your eyes on him as you pray this prayer of commitment and intention:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
(John Wesley’s “Covenant Prayer”)
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WEEK 3 / Jan. 19-25
“Jesus’ Temptation”
Read Matthew 4:1-11
Imagine you are looking on from afar…
When the temptations are over, imagine yourself going over and speaking to Jesus. Journal your interaction with Jesus. What do you say, and why? How does Jesus respond to you?
Close with pondering the words of this poem:
“Stones into Bread” (by Malcolm Guite)
The Fountain thirsts, the Bread is hungry here
The Light is dark, the Word without a voice.
When darkness speaks it seems so light and clear.
Now He must dare, with us, to make a choice.
In a distended belly’s cruel curve
He feels the famine of the ones who lose
He starves for those whom we have forced to starve
He chooses now for those who cannot choose.
He is the staff and sustenance of life
He lives for all from one Sustaining Word
His love still breaks and pierces like a knife
The stony ground of hearts that never shared,
God gives through Him what Satan never could;
The broken bread that is our only food.
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WEEK 2 / Jan. 12-18
“Jesus’ Baptism”
Read Matthew 3:13-17
Read through this passage, keeping in mind the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, who as a child grew up as one who was conceived out of wedlock.
Ponder these questions with the Lord in prayer, journaling your responses:
Pondering where your God may lead you in this coming year, pray this prayer as a reminder of God’s purposes for you:
God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good, I shall do His work.
(Cardinal Newman)
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