WHEN IT RAINS LOOK FOR THE RAINBOW “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” – Matthew 5:45 I was running errands this past week in the rain.  While I enjoy the clean air, I will admit that I don’t enjoy road closures due to flooding or damp clothes, because I forgot my umbrella. I was just starting to recount all of the hard things I had endured in recent seasons and on the verge of grumbling, when the Lord interrupted. He reminded me that He hears every word I think — both the spoken and unspoken.  He also reminded me that the rain may not be convenient, but that the water we were being showered with was a blessing from Him to meet our needs in warmer months ahead.   Those simple thoughts caused me to begin to wonder how many things that I encounter that are hard, frustrating or irritating, are actually designed by God to bring a blessing. In retrospect, I could see so many blessings and tiny ...

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry;” – Psalm 34:15 NIV Lord, You are so good!  You are truly our Father in the most marvelous sense of the word.  I lift Your child before You.  Meet them at their point of need.  Throughout this entire journey, there has not even been a split second when Your eye was not upon them with the full range of their fears, concerns, needs, anxieties, hopes and dreams on display before You.  No detail about them has escaped Your careful attention, and Your heart is moved with compassion.   Lord, You are their Great Physician, Provider and their God of all comfort.  Call them into the secret place.  Minister healing to their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.  Show them how to fan the flames of their faith, stir up theirs gifts (2 Tim 1:6), take their thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5), cinch down their armor (Eph 6:11) and respond to the tormenting...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “”Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.” -  1 Corinthians 6:12 (BSB) Father, we praise You that the Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus.  Through it we have been given great freedom, grace and liberty.  Coupled with that liberty, however, there is a temptation to exceed the boundaries of wisdom in exercising our freedoms.  It’s sobering to remember that “There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. Sure, those people appear to be having a good time, but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.” - Proverbs 14:12-13 MSG .  Our life is not our own.  We have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19). Father, I lift my friend before You.  We ask You for wisdom, that the use of their freedoms would not l...

BLIND SPOTS “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” – Psalm 19:12-13 NIV Lord, I just had a lengthy conversation with someone who has a blind spot.  They were adamant that they understood what I was saying, but their response told me they didn’t have the remotest clue.  What I was suggesting was beyond their ability to even imagine.  Father, we all have blind spots.  We can’t even imagine what they might be.  Even when they are pointed out by others, we often have difficulty accepting that what is being said is truth.  Our blindness is truly an inability to see. Father, I lift my friend before You.  We ask You to lift the scales from their eyes. Heal their blindness and reveal what they are unable to see.  Expand their minds to create a space where they might receive the seed of the...

BABY STEPS “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin,“ - Zechariah 4:10 a NLT Father, when starting out in a long journey, it is tempting to become discouraged by the sheer magnitude of what lies before us.  We look at our small beginnings, our tiny, feeble attempts to move in the right direction and often fall prey to the lie that to accomplish the task is impossible.  Whether starting a new diet, a course of study, exercise, fighting an addiction or just cleaning out a closet, it can generally be said that things worth pursuing come at a cost.  Rarely in life do we simply happen upon treasure.   Father, I lift up my dear friend.  Today as they stand on the threshold of a new day, I ask for fresh courage.  I ask that in Your mercy You would replace the memories of struggle and pain from yesterday with a blessed reminder of why they started out on this journey to begin with.  As the brilliant hues ...

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” - Psalm 37:4 NIV Lord, we long for so many things.   Many things are our daily bread — those things we need to live in this world.   Along with true needs there are hosts of longings that we host within our hearts.   In the latter use of the verb “host” it relates to providing accommodations or place of lodging for.   In the former, the noun “hosts” can refer to spiritual presences as in the “heavenly host” and the term used to describe a person or entity that plans and organizes events and invites others to come and join. Father, You bring into question if we have provided a place of lodging in our hearts for unsanctified longings — seemingly innocuous guests who have taken up residence within us that invite other unholy hungers and cravings to join with it.  One craving begets another, and before we know it we are buried in the refuse of unrestrained longings that exchange wis...

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” - Philippians 4:13. Lord, we have read this verse so many times.   We believe it to be true, but still face regular disappointment with ourselves with the disparity between the truth of Your Word and what we see played out in our lives.   We see a measure of victory, but are in full agreement with Paul who said, “I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” - Romans 7:15 NLT. I lift my precious friend before You.  Relying upon our flesh, we can do nothing (John 15:5).  Our willpower and good intentions will only take us so far before out focus fades and our oomph fizzles.  We ask for an outpouring of Your Holy Spirit and a harvest of the fruit Your Spirit.  In the middle of seeing victory in partnering with You, help us to remain aware of our role and fight the temptation, in our excitement, to pull the controls out of Your han...

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9 NIV I was thinking this morning about how many times Jesus was criticized and rejected and the multiple detours and interruptions along His way.  His life was riddled with discouragements, distractions and delays.  Through it all, He maintained His focus and kept going, even to the point of death and resurrection, because He was on a mission from His Father.  Lord, we see that distractions and interruptions served as the first acts for dramatic displays of Your power.  Without them, so many of the miracles that we see in the Bible would disappear from its pages.  The story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter, the woman healed of the issue of blood and the resurrection of Lazarus, for example, all came as a result of interruptions.  Frustrations and postponements ar...

“The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good.” - Psalm 36:3 Every single day, it seems, I receive an email or text, or I am forwarded a message that is a hoax.  Some of them are clearly bogus, as the premise is even ridiculous.  Others are cleverly disguised, using fear, greed or tantalizing, false bits of gossip that appear plausible, in order to attempt to lure me to forward it.  Sometimes it is a random phone call from “tech support” offering to fix my computer issue or someone gleefully announcing that I have won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes that I never entered.  Generally, I will investigate the validity of anything that is represented as truth or news.  I feel an obligation to those downstream from me to dispense truth, and I don’t want a lie to color my understanding, perspective or response to God or the world around me.   The question crossed my mind this morning about how often lies ...

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:13b-14. Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  Lord, help us to leave yesterday and every bit of its negativity behind us.  Help us to let go of frustration, anger, bitterness, guilt, regret, resentment, exhaustion, disappointment, anxiety and fear.  Help us to forgive and move forward with the mind of Christ, the tools we have been given, the whole armor of God and the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus.  May we respond like Jesus, who keeps no account of offenses that are covered by His blood. May we walk with the freedom of those who are unencumbered by the carrying of heavy record books of offenses.  Help us to release them, so our hands will be free to grasp our blessings and our arms will be open to wrap tightly around our promised hope and future.  You...

A PRAYER FOR UNSPOKEN WEAKNESS “Their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.” - James 5:15 (TLB) Heavenly Father, we all have weaknesses in life.  Some are physical and some are not.  Some are temporary, while others, like the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh, are not (2 Corinthians 12:7).  We know that some things happen in life as a result of poor choices, but Your Word also says, “He makes his sun rise on people whether they are good or evil. He lets rain fall on them whether they are just or unjust.” - Matthew 5:45.  Sometimes it is just our turn - both good and bad happen to all of us. Lord, I bring my friend before You.  You know precisely what they are struggling with.  You knit them together in their mother’s womb (Ps 139:19) and they are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14).  We ask for healing by the stripes of Jesus (Is 5...

“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.” (Proverbs 17:3 NIV) The fire of God is a powerful and discerning force.  It burns away the things of the flesh, everything that is unholy, impure or tainted by sin.  Lord, You remind us about Moses with His face to the ground before the burning bush (Ex 3:2) and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace with a fourth man who had the appearance like a son of god (Dan 3:25).  In both cases, that which was pure was not consumed.  In the intense heat of the refiner’s fire in the purification of silver, it is merely the impurities that are burned away, and not the silver itself.  The refiner takes great care to limit the intensity of the heat to prevent the silver from being vaporized.   Father, we come before You.  We want You to work within our lives and to be used in a powerful way for your glory.  Yet, inviting Your fire to burn within...

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." - Revelations 21:4 It is human nature to put high value on what we can see with our eyes.  We cling tightly to what promises joy or fulfillment.  It may sound like a crazy thing to say, but I am grateful for the trials and disappointments in life - not because I enjoy pain, but because I know that they help us to hold on to this world a little less tightly.    Father, I lift Your child reading this right now.  We acknowledge that You are the only one, the only thing, that remains eternally the same (Heb 13:8).  Everything else in life will rust, decay or pass away.  It is a wonderful thing to enjoy our blessings, but what a horrendous grief it is to have to have our fingers pried off of people and things that are taken away.  The tighter the grip, the more intensified the pain when we later have to let...

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9 His strength is made perfect in our weakness.  I have come to learn that our infirmities, while unpleasant, are a gift from God that cause us to rely heavily upon Him.  And because of our weakness, it becomes clear that it is the work of God within us and not we, ourselves.  Scanning scripture, apart from Jesus, I am hard-pressed to find anyone used more mightily by God than Paul, who had his own thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7).  Even Moses had a speech impediment that he felt disqualified him from speaking on behalf of God.  We, who are similarly encumbered, are members of an uncomfortable, yet privileged group to be entrusted with a thorn to be used for His glory.  Father, I lift up the dear one reading this before You....

Isaiah 53:5 - “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” In the pressure of the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ anguish was so great that His sweat was as great drops of blood.  Aware of the crushing weight of sin that would be upon Him, the pressure was so intense that what was in Him was literally squeezed out.  Like the crushing of grapes, His blood in the Garden as well as on the cross, was poured out like wine.  He was crushed, and what came forth from Him was the ultimate sweetness of forgiveness. I look at this verse and I marvel at the work of the cross.  I see the sinless Son of God who allowed Himself to be insulted, spat upon, beaten, stripped, hanged on a cross and pierced for our transgressions.  The Word says of Jesus, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the ...