There’s one other thing I remember and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. Lamentations 3:21-25
One day he [Jesus] was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Luke 11:1-4
Father reveal who you are. When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say, Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:13-15
An old Scotsman I used to work with at the Salvation Army no matter what he was talking to people about always managed to ask the question of people “Where is God in your life?” Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say I am?” Two great questions. When was the last time in your prayer life you asked God to Reveal who He is?
Set the world right. We spend so much time and energy trying to fix the world and failing. We continually beat ourselves up because we can’t be the person we should be, the person we want to be. Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” When was the last time you went to Jesus and asked Him to Set the world right?
Keep us alive with three square meals. We skimp and we scrape wishing we had things we don’t need. We work to support lives dominated by things that bring us temporary satisfaction. “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed.
Matthew 23:25 When was the last time you depended on God instead of your own selfish desires and greed?
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. We spend so much time resenting life, resenting others and resenting God. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 When was the last time you boldly stepped out in faith, knowing that God has you covered? When did you last forgive yourself? When did you last forgive someone else? Resentment kills!
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. The biggest stumbling block in most of our recoveries is ourselves/ Yes the devil plays a part but mostly he uses our own stinking thinking and unbelief to bring us unstuck. When did you last ask God to keep you safe from self-destruction and the grasp of the devil?
Jesus didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! Romans 15:4