Gut-Level Honest Prayers

“God, listen to me shout, bend an ear to my prayer.
When I’m far from anywhere,
down to my last gasp,
I call out, “Guide me
up High Rock Mountain!”

“You’ve always given me breathing room,
a place to get away from it all,
A lifetime pass to your safe-house,
an open invitation as your guest.
You’ve always taken me seriously, God,
made me welcome among those who know and love you.

“Let the days of the king add up
to years and years of good rule.
Set his throne in the full light of God;
post Steady Love and Good Faith as lookouts,
And I’ll be the poet who sings your glory—
and live what I sing every day” (Psalm 61, The Message).

I’m up to the Psalms in my yearly Bible reading. They were originally the equivalent of a hymnal for God’s people back in the days before Jesus. You could also call the Psalms the prayer book of the Bible. Many of them were penned by King David, who never was one to mince words with God. They’re honest. They’re raw. They’re confessional. They’re sometimes not very pretty.

I think we lose something when we try to “pretty up” our prayers to make them more presentable before God. After all, He already knows what you’re thinking when you’re heart is breaking and you’re still trying to use flowery language because you somehow think those kinds of prayers are more acceptable to God. I confess I’m guilty of that one.

Prayer is the one place you can be honest. You can be real. I do think that you should still be reverent and not make Jesus your homeboy, but I also think God can handle your emotions and your frustrations.

Prayer doesn’t have to be pretty. Prayer doesn’t have to be proper. What prayer does need to be is authentic. Don’t tell God what you think He wants to hear. Tell Him where you are and how you feel and where you want to be. The key in every prayer is to say, “Not my will but Thine.”

That’s the prayer that never fails. You’re saying to God, “I know that You know better than I do what’s good for me and what will make me more like Jesus. You still work all things together for good, so I can trust You with my life.”

The best way to get good at praying isn’t to read more books about praying (although that can be super helpful). The best way isn’t to attend all sorts of seminars and listen to all kinds of sermons about prayer (which again can be useful). The best way to get good at praying is to pray.

I mean pray all the time. Pray whenever it comes to mind. Pray when you feel like it. Pray when you don’t. Pray when the words flow. Pray when there are no words. To borrow the old Nike slogan, just pray.

The Covenant Story

I don’t know how many of you remember an old Rich Mullins song that talks about Leah and Rachel. It says that Jacob loved Rachel, and Rachel loved Jacob, and Leah was just there for dramatic effect. Rachel was the pretty one. Leah had “weak eyes,” which I’ve always been led to believe meant that she had a really great personality. You know what that means.

Leah was the pawn in Laban’s cruel practical joke on Jacob. Neither one of them loved her very much to treat her the way they did. It’s obvious that Rachel was the favorite child. Also, remember that this is just another in a long line of examples that show how polygamy in the Bible never had a positive outcome, yet God worked through these broken people with broken relationships to bring about the salvation plan for the world.

I read something recently that completely flipped my perspective on the whole Jacob-Leah-Rachel story in Genesis. I confess that I was a full-on Rachel fan for most of my life. She was the one I would have chosen, and Leah came across as whiny. But now I think that Leah was God’s chosen instrument to carry on the lineage that lead to the Messiah. Jesus didn’t come through Rachel, but Leah.

Read these words and remember that when you feel rejected by the world and by those you love, that God has a different story in mind for you. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’? (1 Cor. 1:27, The Message).

“Did you know Jacob was buried with Leah, not Rachel?
Not the woman he loved.
Not the one he cried for.
Not the one he labored fourteen years to have.
Leah.
In Genesis 49:29–31, when Jacob was about to die, he gave a clear instruction:
“Bury me… in the cave… where Abraham and Sarah are… Isaac and Rebekah… and there I buried Leah.”
Pause.
Rachel was his passion.
Leah was his alignment.
Rachel was the love story.
Leah was the covenant story.
Rachel had his emotions.
Leah carried the promise.
Rachel was buried on the roadside (Genesis 35:19).
Leah was laid in the ancestral grave of covenant—the lineage of God’s dealings.
And here is the mystery:
Leah was the rejected one.
The one Jacob didn’t choose.
The one he endured, not desired.
But heaven chose her.
From Leah came Judah.
From Judah came Jesus Christ.
Let that settle in your spirit—
The woman rejected by a man
became central to God’s redemptive plan.
This is where many people miss it:
We are all trying to be “Rachel”—
seen, desired, celebrated.
But God builds legacy through “Leah seasons”—
hidden places, painful processes, quiet obedience.
Jacob’s final decision was not emotional—
it was spiritual alignment.
At the end of his life,
he didn’t choose love…
he chose covenant.
And that is the gospel pattern:
God does not build His purposes on human preference.
He builds on grace and election.
So if you feel overlooked…
if you feel like second choice…
if life has not chosen you first—
hear this clearly:
God’s choice overrides man’s rejection” (Joanne Macfarlan Pharo)

Watch Your Thoughts

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” (Frank Outlaw)

The problem with a lot of modern Christianity, particularly the American variety, is that most people think that you automatically drift toward holiness aside from any intentionality or effort. True, you don’t work for your salvation, but the Bible commands us to work out our salvation. Holiness takes discipline and effort; that’s why there are so many professing Christians and so few disciples.

I’m guilty for thinking that I will become holier the longer I’m saved simply because I’m saved. I think a lot of us are. We forget that for every godly saint, there are 10 older believers who are just as immature in their faith as they were on day one of their salvation. A lot of people who call themselves believers know very little about what they believe and even less about the Bible.

But we (me included) are called to a higher standard. If we truly live out what we believe and strive for biblical holiness, three things will happen: 1) People will call us extreme and radical, even those inside the Church who are comfortable in their lukewarmness. 2) Many will hate us as they hated Jesus for speaking the trust and not compromising with sin. 3) Some will be drawn to the real holiness they see instead of the pretend piety they see most of the time that actually puts people off from the faith.

Lord, help us to love You more than we love anything else in the world. Help us to follow You instead of following the world’s idea of faith. Remind us how Your disciples rejoiced when they were counted worthy of suffering for Your name because that means that people are paying attention. Help us to be lights to a dark world and salt to a decaying culture. Amen.

Drown Out the Noise

“…new week coming and yeah, do I hear you. It’s all coming at you & you can hear this voice that says you can’ t do it & it’s all a bit impossible, just too hard.

And there’s this in the quiet: To silence the other voices in your head all day, You need God’s Word in your heart at the beginning of your day.

His Word that holds you close & whispers:

“I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love & more love! I will strengthen you. I will take you by the hand & guide you.

I’ll never let you down, never walk off & leave you. I am with you, ready to help.

Live fearless — Who or what can get past Me to get to you? I promise, every detail in your life of love for Me, will be worked into something good”

(Jeremiah 31:3MSG, 1Pet2:9, Eph3:14, Jn16:12, Heb.13:5,Ro8:28)

Hear that? God’s got this — *and you.*

*Never* let the noise of the world around you,

drown out *God’s Word* about you — His voice about you & this week is all that matters!

#PreachingGospeltoMyself

I read recently that we consume the same amount of information in 30 minutes that our grandparents took in over the course of a month. That’s crazy. No wonder we’re overwhelmed. We’re literally living in the middle of a TMI epidemic. At some point, it’s too much information for one brain to process successfully.

Maybe that’s why it’s good to turn off the noise. Shut off the laptop. Turn off the phone. Pick up the Bible. Or sit in silence and make space for God to speak to you. Give your mind a chance to recover the same way you give your muscles a day to recover after an intense workout.

Ultimately, the way to peace is not doom-scrolling for hour. It’s not even taking in good information through social media. It’s learning to shut everything off and be comfortable in the quiet and stillness. After all, God didn’t speak to Elijah in the whirlwind or in the storm or in any of the noisy events but in a small still voice that Elijah would have missed had he been preoccupied with his own thoughts or distracted by noise.

Lord, we yearn for You. We know the best way to find You is to sit quiet and still so that we can learn to hear from You instead of being overwhelmed by the 9,999 other voices that clamor for our attention all day. Give us peace as we give You time to speak to us and over us. Amen.

God’s Heartbeat

This is one example of why Dr. Adrian Rogers of Bellevue Baptist Church was one of the best communicators of God’s Word that I have ever heard. He was indeed a gifted pastor and preacher. I’m sharing one of the thousands of sermon excerpts that are the reason he is so well loved and remembered to this day, over 20 years after he passed to glory:

“Once I was reading the Houston Chronicle and came across a picture of a woman who had her ear on the chest of a man. And there was a caption under the photo that explained the man had received a heart transplant, and the heart that was beating in his chest was the heart of this woman’s son. She was listening by putting her ear to his chest to hear her son’s heart beating. When I read that, I thought, ‘Would to God that He could put His ear on my chest and hear the heartbeat of His Son.’

If God Almighty puts His ear to your chest, and Jesus is in there, you’re going to have a heartbeat for missions and evangelism. Jesus said, ‘As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ (John 20:21). And why was He sent? Luke 19:10: ‘for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.’

Does your heart beat with God’s heartbeat? Does mine? That’s not something that happens overnight. It takes a lifetime of prayer and obedience, of sacrificial love and surrender. It’s not something you can declare over yourself or magically wave a wand and automatically make it happen. It takes years of laying down your life and taking up your cross and following Jesus daily. Not sporadically or periodically or even regularly, but every single day.

Lord, make us Your disciples whose hearts truly beat with Your Son’s heartbeat. May people observe us in all our actions and hear us in our words and see not us but You in us. May they see Your Church at work and see Jesus with skin on in this world. Amen.

Sunday Blessings

“O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

I’m still processing a lot of what happened today.

My church met at the Fisher Center today while our sanctuary is being renovated. It was a bit like having church at Carnegie Hall or at The Met. It was a different kind of Sunday, but I believe God still knew where to find us. He still showed up as always.

I’m still so thankful to be a part of an amazing congregation that is growing not only numerically but spiritually as well. I love how so many of our members have such a willingness to serve and to be flexible to do whatever God asks, whenever God asks.

Ultimately, that’s the only fulfillment. Learning to discern the voice of Jesus and to follow where He leads is the only pathway to joy. Any other voice that promises joy only delivers disappointment.

Jesus spoke about how He knows His own sheep and calls them by name. Each one of them. He knows the very number of hairs on our heads and cares for each one of us. He said that we in turn are learning to recognize His voice and only heed His voice above all others. We know that where He leads is better than any other way that promises fame or wealth or power.

Lord, we are Your sheep. We don’t always know where to go. We recognize that without You, we are lost and helpless as any other sheep would be without a shepherd. Teach us more and more to know and love Your voice. Teach us to follow You as You lead and never doubt that they way You lead us is the only way that leads to life everlasting. Grant us to lead others to follow as You lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Amen.

Rock-firm and Faithful

“You’re all I want in heaven!
You’re all I want on earth!
When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
God is rock-firm and faithful.
Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.
But I’m in the very presence of God—
oh, how refreshing it is!
I’ve made Lord God my home.
God, I’m telling the world what you do!” (Psalm 73:25-28, The Message)

Even to old age, God is faithful. When every last vestige of youth is gone, God remains the same. When everything in this world that we thought would sustain us is taken away, God is true to His word and true to us. Ultimately, when we leave this world we can take nothing with us but the faith that sustains us and the people we were faithful to share the gospel with.

I love the part in the gospel where Jesus has lost the majority of His followers after He told them some hard truths. He then turns to His disciples and asks if they’re leaving as well. Peter says, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68, NLT).

Where else is there to go? Any other religion is bankrupt and false. Any other belief system leads nowhere and does nothing. The only way which guarantees us real and eternal life is the way of Jesus and the way to Jesus and the way through Jesus to the Father. He said that He’s the only way, the only truth, and the only life not because He was being exclusive but because He was being truthful. There is no other way.

So Lord, at the end of the day, You’re all I want in heaven and on earth. Long past when I’m gone from this world, You will still be faithful and true. You will still have the words of eternal life. May everyone who trusts in Your name always be faithful to love Your name and share Your name with all the world from now until You return. Amen.

A Liturgy for Community

I liked this one so much I decided to borrow it for my own blog post. It’s by Douglas McKelvey and it’s for those who are seeking biblical community. I’ve been learning recently that there’s a reason why there are no Lone Ranger Christians in the Bible. We were designed and created for community. We’re better together. So here’s the post (with a link to the actual liturgy at the end):

"Good Father Who Gives Good Gifts
to His Children,

Like Abraham, in a step of faith
I have journeyed from the comforting
sameness of all I once knew—my family
and home, my friends, my neighborhood,
my church, my old school, my settled
rhythms and routines.

I have moved far from all
that was familiar, foundational,
and steadying. The distance is
disorienting in ways I did not foresee.

For now I have little to anchor my life.
That organic and interconnected web of
community was so deep a part of my identity.

In this new place
I do not know
where I fit.

I feel myself adrift.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.
I do not yet have here the same
resources of vital relationship
to sustain me.

I feel like a weary pioneer recently arrived
with one meager pack of supplies,
who must now find a good place
to begin to carve out a homestead,
a place to sink new roots in hopes
of finding good soil for flourishing.
A meaningful life must somehow be
constructed in this open prairie
of undefined possibilities.

O God, I am lonely here.
But you are present with me.
I am unmoored,
but you are my anchor.
I am unsteady.
But you are my rock.

Now lead me into good community.
Let me forge new friendships.
Give me a place in this place.
Graft me in to your Body, and into
this community, in ways that I might be
blessed, and also be a blessing. Plant me
in places where I might find delight—in
serving and in receiving, in fellowship
and celebration, in sharing the many joys
and griefs and labors, and small and
meaningful moments of which friendships
and fellowships and the community
of saints are finally built.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.

Use now even this time of disorientation
to draw my heart closer to yours; to teach
me how better to trust and hope
in your promises, how better
to rest in your love.

Let whatever hardships I endure
for a time be turned—under the sway
of your Spirit—into a more mindful
and active compassion extended toward
others who might suffer similar dismay.

Give me grace enough that I might,
even in my own season of discomfort,
still offer friendship and fellowship to
others who also struggle to find their place.
Let us build good community
and strong friendship
by serving one another.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.
Amen."

https://rabbitroom.substack.com/p/a-liturgy-for-seeking-to-find-your

The Difference Between Saul and David

Today’s sermon was all about David and Bathsheba. You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to realize that David messed up. Badly. He wasn’t where he should have been, he let his eyes control his mind instead of the other way around, and he let his desires control his actions. Basically, he screwed up big time.

In order to cover up adultery, he added the murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, as well as those who just happened to be nearby, to his rap sheet. At some point, he had become spiritually numb to sin and was heading down a path to swift destruction. But God had mercy.

Nathan confronted David about his sin. That was God’s mercy. God could have let David keep going down the road to where his desires were taking him to a tragic end, but God intervened. Were there natural consequences to David’s sin? Absolutely. But it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been had David continued on his original path.

The difference between David and his predecessor Saul was in the way they reacted to being confronted with sin. Saul’s heart was hardened and doubled down on his defense and self-justification. David’s heart was broken and he showed real remorse and repentance. He told God that ultimately his sin was only against Him because it was a kind of cosmic treason.

By no means does David’s sorrow negate the egregious nature of what he did. It was awful. Ultimately, it lead to a divided kingdom as the seeds were sown that would eventually lead to strife and conflict between Judah and the rest of the tribes. But if you continue to read your Bible, you’ll find that God called David “a man after my own heart.”

Every one of us will mess up at some point. Maybe our sin won’t be as obviously blatant as adultery and murder, but sin is sin and all sin is rebellion against a holy God. The key is what we do with our sin. What do we do when someone confronts us? Do we make excuses or do we make it right? Do we harden our hearts or do we let the Spirit break our hearts?

The beauty of it all is that the seed from David’s line, Jesus, took all of David’s sins upon Him on the cross. He took all of your sins and all of my sins. He paid the infinite and eternal punishment that those sins merited and gave forgiveness and freedom to all who would believe in His name.

I think David understood a little of this Messiah and put his faith in what he understood and that’s what saved him. We on the other side of the cross can believe in the fully revealed, fully finished work of Jesus on the cross. That is our salvation.

May we never become callous to sin or disregard the consequences to the choices we make. May we always seek accountability from others who will tell us the truth even when it’s uncomfortable or painful. May we seek above and pleasure or profit to be people who are after God’s own heart.

Sin Avoidance Mode

The sermon in church was on Genesis 3 about the whole deal with the serpent and the fruit and sin. Basically, Adam and Eve messed up. I don’t presume to know what they were thinking about but if they were anything like I am, then I imagine they went around all day chanting the mantra, “Don’t eat the fruit. Don’t eat the fruit. Don’t eat the fruit.”

Of course, that’s not the best way to avoid sin, but it’s the way most of us try to live. We have our sin avoidance mode where we’re constantly thinking about what we shouldn’t be doing. All the focus is on the fruit (or whatever it is that’s bad and sinful). The problem is that when that’s all you think about, then that’s all you want to do. It doesn’t work.

The Bible talks about setting our minds on things above. We’re to think about whatever is pure and lovely. We’re to fix our eyes on Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. Nowhere does it say to avoid sin by constantly dwelling on the concept of not sinning and specifically that sin you should never do.

I had a friend once who told me that if you’re trying to break a bad habit or overcome an addiction. you don’t want only to stop doing the bad habit. You need to replace it with something godly. You need to replace it with a spiritual discipline. Otherwise, you wind up trading one addiction for another.

In one of His parables, Jesus spoke about the demon that was cast out and left the person, but found the place he left had been swept clean but left vacant, so he came back and brought seven friends with him who were even more evil than he was. If your aim is solely to stop sinning, then you risk ending up falling to a deeper temptation or a worse sin if you don’t add a good habit in its place.

Paul says to put off, be renewed, and also put on. In other words, stop doing that sinful activity. Confess your sin. Be cleansed and renewed. But don’t forget to practice daily habits of prayer and Bible study. Don’t forget to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to live godly.

Lord, help us to focus on pleasing You more than avoiding sin. Help us to see no so much that sin is bad but that You are glorious and worthy of our holiness. May Your love for us fill us up and compel us to live in love toward You and toward everyone else so that they too can know of Your goodness and love. Amen.