Daily Prayer

Good Thursday morning, my friends.

 

Human nature is a funny thing.  The longer I am part of "the Church" the more tendancy I have to become confident in my own "righteousness".  I become like the pharisee in Luke 18:9-13:

   To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

   "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Don't we all become a little like that sometimes?  We see someone on the street who is panhandling or muttering to themselves and we think "Thank God I'm not like them!"  Or we encounter someone who is arrogantly distainful about faith in God and we see ourselves as so much more enlightened, so much "better".

 

So what happens when I develop this righteous attitude?  Inevitibly, I fail; I sin.  And then I feel deep guilt and remorse and think that I am not worthy to be loved by God because, after all, God hates sin.  (And by extension He hates sinners.)  But why does God hate sin?  Is it because it "offends" Him?  I don't think so.  I think God hates sin because He knows so much better than we do how it hurts us.  He knows that when we sin we cause pain to ourselves and to others. He loves us too much to see us hurting.

 

We have to remember that the Church is NOT a place for "righteous people".  It is a place for redeemed sinners.  Yes we are redeemed, but we are still sinners.  And I (we?) need to continually remind myself of that.

 

(I will be away tomorrow and Monday so you won't likely see another message from me until at least Tuesday.  Have a wonderful weekend.)

 

 

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours,

Bruce 

 

O Father,

 

Give us the humility which

realizes its ignorance, a

dmits its mistakes,

recognizes its need,

welcomes advice,

accepts rebuke.

 

Help us always to

praise rather than to criticize,

to sympathize rather than to discourage,

to build rather than to destroy,

and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst.

 

This we ask for thy name's sake.

 

William Barclay 

(http://www.ramshornstudio.com/humility.htm)

  

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

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Daily Prayer

Good Wednesday morning, my friends.

 

If you are experiencing worry or anxiety today for any reason, lift this prayer and set your burdens down.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Bruce

 

 

Lord Jesus,
you told your friends not to worry about the future.

You showed them how to have the attitude of simple trust that young children have,
so that they could place themselves into the caring hands of your Father.

And so I ask for the power of your Spirit that I may remain positive
throughout all that is ordinary in my daily life.

I know that your touch can change people and situations,
and so I ask you to join me in offering to our Father
not only the good things of this day but also the suffering and sacrifices
that I want to offer cheerfully and lovingly, and in a quiet and hidden way.

And so may any difficulties and frustration and pain of this day
be transformed in your presence for the benefit of other people.

 

Amen.

 

(http://www.prayingeachday.org/100Prayers.pdf)

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.

Daily Prayer

 

Good Tuesday morning, my friends.

 

This morning as I searched for a prayer to share with you, I came across this simple, to the point plea:

 

O Lord,

you know how busy I must be this day.

 

If I forget you,

do not forget me.

 

Perhaps it was the circumstances in which it was written that makes it so interesting.  Purportedly it was written by one Sir Jacob Astley just before the Battle of Edgehill, 1642!

 

We may not be going to war today, at least not in the traditional sense, but it is so easy for us in our day to day lives to forget that God is there with us.  But He will never forget us.

 

It is best, however, to include God in all that we do – offer Him your day (and indeed your whole self) with the prayer below.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

Lord Jesus,

I give you my hands to do your work.

I give you my feet to go your way.

I give you my eyes to see as you do.

I give you my tongue to speak your words.

I give you my mind that you may think in me.

I give you my spirit that you may pray in me.

Above all,

I give you my heart that you may love in me

your Father and all mankind.

I give you my whole self that you may grow in me,

so that it is you, Lord Jesus,

who live and work and pray in me. 

(http://www.prayingeachday.org/100Prayers.pdf)

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.

Daily Prayer

Good Monday morning, my friends.

 

What do you regret most in your life?  Bad decisions made in your youth?  A deteriorating relationship with your spouse? Time not spent with your kids when they were younger?  What is it that sometimes eats away at your soul?

 

This was the topic of a sermon I heard yesterday.  It sounds pretty depressing, and that is certainly the way it started out.  But in the end it was very freeing and uplifting.  We do not have to live with regrets and live in the past, no matter what has happened there.  God promises in Joel 2:25a that when we turn back to Him, He "will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten"!  Yes, we may have wasted many years, many opportunities, but we are still living and still breathing.  Like He did with Job, God will can and will restore us and prosper us.  

 

What does that mean? 

 

It means it is time to plant another harvest.  

 

It is time to start now to rebuild what has been broken down; build anew that which has been lost.  

When you come to Christ and repent, and let Him fill you up with His life, He will more than make up for these wasted years by an ever increasing Love from and for him.  This will fill you up and will flow over to others, including prodigal spouses and broken family relationships.  God can and will restore you and heal your broken relationships! (David Wilkerson - http://jesushealsmarriages.org/pain-and-hurt/god-will-restore-all-your-wasted-years-by-david-wilkerson/285/)

 

 It may not look exactly like what was there before – but then again, it may be a lot better.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Bruce  

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;

to you our vows will be fulfilled.

 

O you who hear prayer,

to you all men will come.

 

When we were overwhelmed by sins,

you forgave our transgressions.

 

Blessed are those you choose

and bring near to live in your courts!

 

We are filled with the good things of your house,

of your holy temple

 

Psalm 65:1-4

 

Dear Lord, sometimes it seems we lose more and more ground to the 'locusts' in our lives.

 

Restore what the 'locusts' have eaten,

 

restore us, Lord.

 

Amen. 

(http://www.google.ca/url?q=http://chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/&sa=U&ei=ydA_TsywGObjiAKbtJHDBg&ved=0CA0QFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFthA27ufqGIhKVRa_H1fkwE0HWXg)

 

 

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.

Daily Prayer

Good Friday morning, my friends.

 

My faith is evolving.  It began as primarily an intellectual exercise – I became convinced through several years of research that Jesus was who He said He was (the divine Son of God). Over the years it has been migrating from my brain to my heart.  This is far from complete (and never will be in this life) but I frequently have to remind myself that it is about relationship and not knowledge or works. 

 

Is your faith evolving?  Is your heart-felt relationship with God and His Son growing?  It is so easy to get off track with this, but the wonderful thing is that getting back on track is just as easy.  We simply reflect on the incredible love that God has for us, and all of the promises He has given us – to always be with us, to never leave us, and to prosper us.

 

Lift this prayer today and allow God to fill your heart with that love.  

 

 

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours,

Bruce

 

 

 

Father God, I come into your presence so aware of my human frailty and yet overwhelmed by your love for me.

 

I thank you that there is no human experience that I might walk through where your love cannot reach me.

 

If I climb the highest mountain you are there and yet if I find myself in the darkest valley of my life, you are there.

 

Teach me today to love you more.

 

Help me to rest in that love that asks nothing more than the simple trusting heart of a child.

 

In Jesus name, Amen

http://www.beliefnet.com/Prayers/Christian/Guidance/A-Prayer-for-Resting-in-Gods-Love.aspx#ixzz1UA9gwmV0

 

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

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Daily Prayer

Good Thursday morning my friends,

 

I am back at work after a wonderful two-week vacation.  While I was away I managed to get half-way through Eric Metasas' amazing biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy".  It is a great mix of story, history, theology and so much more. Bonhoeffer was an academic and a theologian, but unlike many in that category he had a love for the Bible that went beyond theology.  In a 1936 letter to his brother-in-law Rüdiger Schleicher, Bonhoeffer wrote:

 

First of all I will confess quite simply - I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive the answer. One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God on one's own strength, one has to enquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us. Of course it is also possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc.; there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as these words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, "pondering them in our heart," so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture into the words of the Bible, as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not will to leave us along with our questions, only so shall we learn to rejoice in the Bible.

 

Bonhoeffer loved the Sermon on the Mount.  Why not read those chapters today (Matthew 5-7) and ponder the words in your heart?

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was also a very humble man, and this comes through in the prayer below which he penned.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

 

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

And to concentrate my thoughts on you;

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

But you know the way for me….

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me to live now

That I may answer before you and before men.

Lord whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Amen

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

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Daily Prayer

Good Friday morning, my friends.

 

How hard is it to have an eternal perspective in the midst of a major (or even minor) crisis?  It certainly does not come naturally (at least not to me) - it has to be a conscious effort.  Take yesterday for instance.  After work I go down to my vehicle, parked three stories underground, turn the key, and hear nothing but "click-click-click-click".  A very depressing sound.  Made all the more depressing by the fact that I was heading home to pack this vehicle so that we could head out to New Brunswick today.  I thought "Oh great - what if it is the starter?  How on earth would a tow truck ever be able to get me out of here, considering the low ceiling height in the parking garage?  And if I do get it out, how can I get it fixed in time?"

 

I took a deep breath.  Then I took another.  And maybe half-a-dozen more.  Finally my thoughts turned to God and I said "OK Lord - what are you up to here?  Is there a message in this for me?"

 

I am not sure there was a "message" per se, but there was a blessing.  It turns out my battery was toast.  CAA arrived (I highly recommend a membership with them!) and I met a technician named Russell.  He was extremely helpful and friendly.  As he worked, he told me how much he loved his job, how much he loved helping people.  I told him he was an answer to prayer (because he was!).  I now have a brand new, fully warranteed, battery and if I have ANY trouble with it on the way they will come to me and fix it - I don't even have to try to find a garage.  This was a minor crisis, but could have been closer to major had it happened somewhere along the way to Bathurst.  As usually happens for me, something that looks like a disaster turns out to be very beneficial (to prosper me?).  And faith building.

 

What is going to happen to you today that will cause you great anxiety? If and when it does, take a deep breath (or ten).  And turn it over to God.

 

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

Dear God,

As I wake up this morning may Your spirit come upon me.

May my mind receive Your emanations, my soul receive Your blessing,

and my heart receive Your love.

May all those I meet or even think of on this day feel better for it.

May I contribute peace.

May I serve Your purposes with all I say and do, today and always.

Please show me how. Amen

(Marianne Williamson, Illuminated Prayers,1997, published by Simon & Schuster)

(http://www.pray-with-beads.com/illuminated-prayer-1.html)

  

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address.

 

Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.

 

 

 

Daily Prayer

Good Thursday morning, my friends.

 

I went seaching for a prayer this morning and found both of these beautiful ones on the same page.  They both spoke to my heart so I decided to include the two.  Hopefully God will speak to you through these words, as you lift them to Him.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

 

May all I do today

begin with you, O Lord.

Plant dreams and hopes

within my soul,

revive my tired spirit:

be with me today.

May all I do today

continue with your help, O Lord.

Be at my side

and walk with me:

Be my support today.

May all I do today

reach far and wide, O Lord.

My thoughts, my work, my life:

make them blessings

for your kingdom;

let them go beyond today,

O God.

 

 

Today is new,

unlike any other day,

for God makes each day different.

Today God's everyday grace

falls on my soul like abundant seed,

though I may hardly see it.

Today is one of those days

Jesus promised to be with me,

a companion on my journey,

And my life today, if I trust him,

has consequences unseen.

My life has a purpose.

 

(http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/today.html)

 

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address.

 

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Daily Prayer

Good Tuesday morning, my friends.

 

Do you ever catch yourself being very self-focused and realize it is affecting your relationship with God and those around you?  Well I have, and the past few weeks have been a prime example.  Between starting a new job; finding, purchasing and equiping a used boat; and preparing for a vacation (I am off next week and the week after so don't expect many Daily Prayers!) I have not had a lot of time left for God or my family.  Jesus said that the two most important things that we were created for were to: 1) love God and 2) love others (Matthew 22:36-40) and I haven't been doing either very well.  Hopefully this time off will be a chance to renew and enhance both of these relationships. 

 

How about you?  Are you distracted by confllicting priorities and letting your most important relationships suffer?  Join me in repenting of this and investing time where it counts most.

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

 

O My God,

I love you above all things,

with my whole heart and soul,

because you are all-good and worthy of all love.

I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you.

I forgive all who have injured me,

and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

Amen.

(http://www.puritywarriors.com/spiritual-exercises/prayers)

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.

Daily Prayer

Good Monday morning, my friends.

 

Oh, how I love your law!

   I meditate on it all day long.

Your commands are always with me

   and make me wiser than my enemies.

I have more insight than all my teachers,

   for I meditate on your statutes.

I have more understanding than the elders,

   for I obey your precepts.

I have kept my feet from every evil path

   so that I might obey your word.

I have not departed from your laws,

   for you yourself have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste,

   sweeter than honey to my mouth!

I gain understanding from your precepts;

   therefore I hate every wrong path.

(Psalm 119:97-104)

 How does knowing God's law make us wiser than our enemies?  Because we have the knowledge that the Creator of the universe is in full control.  We know that he has "plans to prosper" us (Jeremiah 29:11).  If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

 

Want to be wise?  Read your Bible!

 

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

 

 

To You, O Lord, I Lift My Soul

 

Show me your ways, O Lord;

teach me your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and in you I have always hoped.

 

Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,

for they are from of old.

 

Remember no more the sins of my youth;

remember me only in your mercy,

for you are good.

 

My eyes are fixed ever on the Lord,

for he frees my feet from the snare.

 

Look upon me and have mercy on me,

for I am alone and afflicted.

 

Psalm 25:4- 7, 15- 16

(http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/heal/wisdom/ps.html)

  

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address.

 

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Daily Prayer

Good Wednesday morning, my friends.

 

This morning I was listening to Matthew 16 and 17.  I wouldn't usually compare myself to one of the apostles, but I have to say I see a little of myself in the way Peter behaves in these chapters.  In chapter 17, during "the Transfiguration" on the mountain where Jesus is meeting with Moses and Elijah we are treated to this little scene:

 

Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

 

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:4-5)

Nothing like being interrupted by God - "Peter, shut up and listen to My Son!"  I had to laugh because I can see myself blurting out words like Peter does at the wrong time.

 

Back in chapter 16 immediately after being praised by Jesus for his declaration that "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." , Jesus says to Peter "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns".  Like Peter, I can be praising God one minute, and shooting my mouth off disrespectfully to, or about, someone the next.  Sigh - thank God for Grace.  And thank God for His Word - what a wonderful gift we have in this.

 

I know this prayer has nothing to do with the topic above, but I like it and wanted to share it with you.

 

 

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours,

Bruce

 

 

O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance,

admits its mistakes,

recognizes its need,

welcomes advice,

accepts rebuke.

 

Help us always to praise rather than to criticize,

to sympathize rather than to discourage,

to build rather than to destroy,

and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst.

 

This we ask for thy name's sake. 

Prayer of William Barclay

 

(http://www.ramshornstudio.com/humility.htm)

 

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

 

You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material.

 

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Kingdom requirements

Good Tuesday afternoon, my friends.

Today I want to share with you another great article by John Fischer.  Let me know if this strikes home with you as it did with me.

 Kingdom requirements

by John Fischer

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

   for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

   for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

   for they will be filled.  (Matthew 5:3-6)

  

Kingdom requirements. That's what these are. Kingdom requirements. It's what you need to see it. It's what you need to be in it.

  

This is not Jesus being extra special nice to people who haven't gotten a fair shake in life. This is not Jesus giving the poor a break. This is Jesus announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God and describing who is going to be a part of it. This was the first thing he said. This is where it all starts.

  

Proud people don't get in. Rich people don't get in. Successful people don't get in. Self-righteous people don't get in. Happy people don't get in. Competent people don't get in. And it's more than just getting in. People like this don't even see it. They don't know what it is. They can't. They are blinded by their own sufficiency.

  

What are these blessings and how do you get them? You get them by becoming like this. And how do you get like this?

  

Life does this to you. Your desire to be pleasing to God - your desire to be like Christ - will make you like this. It will break you. It will show you how much you are not mourning over yourself and your selfishness. It will show you how proud you are. It will show you how far you are from being righteous. The people who get into the kingdom of God are the ones who realize they least deserve it. Let me rephrase that because I think it's stronger than that: The only people who get into the kingdom of God are the ones who realize they don't deserve to be there.

  

And here's the other reason why this works. This is how you come to realize your need for the Holy Spirit in your life. This is how you finally get it that it is the Holy Spirit who does all of this. God breaks us down to bring us up. It's a requirement of spiritual transformation to be broken. God strips us of everything we thought gave us an advantage because the Holy Spirit only comes to the disadvantaged.

  

The Holy Spirit doesn't come alongside strong people to make them stronger; the Holy Spirit comes inside the lives of those who know they can't make it any other way.

  

Now go back and read those "blessed"s again and realize Jesus is saying this the start. This is where it all begins.

Only when we recognize our need for God and a saviour can we be part of the Kingdom. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

God, our Creator, thank you for the gift of Jesus. He walked among us embodying your creative and life-giving Word in his body, his life, his words, his deeds, his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. When we see him loving the outcast, forgiving the sinner, confronting the hypocrite, and teaching the crowds a new way of life, we see your heart, your compassion, your mercy, your character. To know Jesus is to love him, and to love him is to know him, and to know and love him is to know and love you.

So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught.

Help me, Lord, to be among the poor in spirit, to see and know that your kingdom is my homeland even now ...

Help me, Lord, to be among those who mourn, to join you in your sadness for all that's wrong and broken in this world, and in joining you, to find true comfort.

Help me, Lord, to be among the meek, those who find strength in weakness and power in vulnerability, to never fear lack or want, because when I have your love, I have all the world.

Help me, Lord, to desire justice, rightness, goodness, fairness, cleanness, clearness, and integrity more than I hunger for food or thirst for water ... and so let me find the truest fulfillment and satisfaction.

Help me, Lord, to be among the merciful. Help me to be a true friend to those who are hated, misunderstood, rejected, excluded, disregarded ... just as you, God of Mercy, are. When others fail - when they fail me - help me show the same mercy you show to those who fail you ... including me.

Help me, Lord, to be among the pure in heart. May your pure light shine in my heart and dispel every shadow, every layer and fold that conceals or pretends. Since it is only the heart that sees you, remove from my heart everything that keeps me from seeing you.

Help me, Lord, to be among the makers of peace. Many build walls. Many sow fear and distrust. Many spread rumors. Many inflame conflict and profit from it. Help me to be even among them an agent and messenger of your peace and reconciliation, and so bear your family likeness, God of peace.

Help me, Lord, not to fear being among the persecuted, but rather, to rejoice in having the honor of standing for your restorative justice and rightness, so I will see that your kingdom is my homeland, even now.

Help me, Lord, to be among those who suffer wrong well and with grace. Help me not to resent it, not to fear it, not to seek to escape it. Instead, help me to find joy in it ... when others insult me, make my life more difficult, or falsely malign me because of you. Help me to see through the momentary, light trouble to the lasting and weighty reward, even now, for your kingdom comes by suffering rather than by making others suffer.

So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught. I am a limping, broken sinner and beginner, far from these realities, but this is where I want to go. In your mercy, lead me in this path.

 Amen.

(http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/a-prayer-1.html)

 

Bruce MacPherson

macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821

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Do not quarrel or cry out ...

Good Monday morning, my friends.

This morning I read the first part of Matthew 12.  Jesus becomes aware of a plot by the Pharisees to kill him, and this is what transpires:

  Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen,

   the one I love, in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

   and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not quarrel or cry out;

   no one will hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

   and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,

till he has brought justice through to victory.

  In his name the nations will put their hope."

Matthew is wonderful at taking Old Testament scripture and showing how it is fulfilled through Jesus. 

There are a number of things in this passage that really draw me.  First is the word "all".  Jesus healed all who were ill.  Not just the important people.  Not just the so-called righteous people.  Not the ones who "had it all together".  He healed anyone who came to Him.  And the quote from Isaiah is quite interesting as well.  "He will not quarrel or cry out."  "A bruised reed he will nnot break."  "A smoldering wick he will not snuff out."  These are words we would do very well to ponder.  In general, we Christians are perhaps too quick to quarrel and argue our case.  We are very defensive.  And we, again generally, tend to be quick to condemn - to break that burised weed.  We were all once (and still are) sinners.  Yet someone else's sin is no worse than ours and we have no standing as a judge over anyone.  Instead we should be holding out our hand to help that person up.  And if they are not yet willing to take that hand, then we need to understand that the Holy Spirit has not finished the prep work there yet, and we just need to lift that person in prayer.

That's my mini-sermon for today. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.