Lk 12:2 Pray 4 All to be Revealed

Luke 12:2 (NLT)  The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.

I often pray that God would reveal truth about a situation. I pray for churches and church leaders in particular that God would expose any hidden sin and reveal true motives. It often takes a great deal of time and energy to keep things hidden as well as eroding integrity and our relationship with God and others. This verse and prayers that follow from it can be real dynamite. I have found my prayers answered on many occasions with shocking results. Church leaders have been humbled and forced to resign as a result of the light of the Holy Spirit exposing short comings. This does not mean prayer replaces challenging wrong behaviour directly or asking appropriate questions but it means that even when leaders are hard-hearted or in seemingly powerful positions they cannot stand forever in face of a holy God. This verse should also keep each one of us humble, we can fool many people, we can even deceive ourselves but we will never fool God!

Father, expose my own sin and help me walk in the light

Lk 11:28 Blessing comes from Hearing and Obeying

Luke 11:27-28 (NIV)  As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

When Jesus is praised here He responds not by accepting it but by taking the opportunity to make his listeners think about true blessing, which is nothing to do with a blood line or family connections but everything to do with hearing God’s word and being obedient to it. If we truly believed this and acted on it our lives and our churches would be renewed, revitalised and be channels of transformation.

Father may you help me to be obedient

Lk 10:38-48 Difficult Choices

Luke 10:38-48 (MSG)

 As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."

The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

The opportunity to be with Jesus and listen to his teaching did not come around often for Mary and Martha but Martha has a dilemma. She wants to be a good host and give Jesus a good meal, she may have thought that was the only option. Most of us struggle with things we feel we have to do and neglect things we ought to do. We even resent those like Mary who have made other choices. Jesus wants his hearers to understand that we need to get our priorities right. Not that the meal doesn’t need preparing but that there are sometimes more important things. We need more time with Jesus in order to make best use of the hours God has given us.

Father, may we make wise choices today.

Lk 10:30-37 Mission is Breaking Down Barriers

Luke 10:30-37 (NIV) In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

The Good Samaritan overcame prejudice and animosity. He could easily have ignored the needs of a Jewish victim after all there were Jews around who could have looked after him. It was inconvenient, time consuming and perhaps dangerous to help a man who had been attacked. The helper might also become a victim. The Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get on at all and there were fundamental religious and social differences between them. Jesus went out of his way to meet Samaritans and talk to them. The hero of the story, told to Jews, was one of a despised race. This exposed the racism of Jesus listeners and their self righteous smugness. It is universally difficult for people to go to those who are different, to strangers or foreigners and reach out to them in compassion. To do so shows the gospel has really penetrated into our hearts. It is safer, more comfortable and easier to stick with our own. In the UK 90% of ‘whites’ don’t have a ‘black’ friend. Believers must break down the barriers between races the most important of which are in our hearts.

Father help me to follow the example of the good Samaritan.     

Lk 10:27 Wholehearted Love for God is the Main Thing

Luke 10:27 (NLT)  The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

Jesus promises life to those who love God wholeheartedly and show that love to those around them. All that we do and say and even think should be governed by the overriding love we have for God. Why do we get this so wrong as believers and as churches? If only we really did love God first and those around us did the same, a love with pure, unselfish, humility, preferring to meet the needs of others than seek to meet our own. Loving God is this way means a giving attitude to others, our desire would be for them to blossom and flourish and we would be encouraging and challenging them rather than manipulating and controlling. Rather than labeling and judging we would assume the best of those we don’t know well. Loving God is about caring for his honour, his name and his holiness, it is about resisting sin with all we have.  We can all delude or deceive ourselves into thinking we are OK but unless we live in real community with those we don’t get on with we are less likely to be reminded of how truly selfish and unloving we really are.

Father, forgive our woeful lack of love for you, sorry Lord for mixed motives and a judgmental attitude, help us to grow in love for you and hate sin.