Many times when people are considering a new job, they ask about the benefits. Is there health insurance, life insurance or some kind of retirement plan in the pay package? God has a benefits package too. It is partially outlined in Psalm 103. God forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases and redeems our life from the pit. He crowns us with love and compassion like a father. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love. He satisfies our desires with good things. He renews our youth like the eagle's. If we are oppressed, he works righteousness and justice for us. He is slow to anger. When he is angry, he won't stay that way forever. He knows how he formed us, that we were made from dust. He knows that our days are short, but he remembers us and loves us forever and ever. For reflection: Let us be thankful today that God made us, that he knows us completely, and that he loves us. Let us pray. Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103: 1-2)
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We return to images and the effect they can have on us. Images are used to draw our attention, to lure us in to a story, to get us to buy something. There's a reason why beautiful people are posed in ads for cars and cigarettes. The advertising industry knows that sex sells. University researchers on memory have demonstrated that we are still affected days later after we have seen certain images even if we don't remember having seen the picture. Subconsciously we are influenced by what we have seen. Because of these studies on memory, I've wondered how responsible we are for what we do based on what we have seen. If a picture we don't even remember can influence a particular choice days later, was that choice made with free will? Or were we so influenced that free will did not apply? I don't know, but I do know that we have a choice about what we look at in the first place. We can avoid looking at advertising, internet sites and movies that lead us into sin through what is portrayed. Avoiding sin means not putting ourselves in a position to see things that lead our minds and bodies astray (see Matthew 5:27-30). For reflection: Where and when have I been deliberately looking at temptation? Where and when have I accidently been led into temptation? How can I avoid these? Let us pray. Jesus, I am guilty of looking at things I shouldn't. Renew a clean heart and a right spirit within me. Do not look on my sins or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Instead, grant me a willing spirit to help me. (based on Psalm 51) We can learn about how God works by looking at how he calls people to help him. Earlier we went through the numerous objections that Moses gave God for not going to speak to Pharaoh. Today let's look at the call of Jeremiah. God begins by telling Jeremiah that he knew him before he was born and that he determined even then to appoint Jeremiah as a prophet (Jeremiah 1:4-5). What God says to Jeremiah is true for each of us. God knew us before we were born. He gave us life in the womb. He appointed some specific task for each of us. It may not be as a "prophet to the nations" as it was for Jeremiah. It may not be to set a nation free as it was for Moses. But we each have a purpose. The basic purpose for each human being is to know God, to love him and to serve him in whatever way God asks. For reflection: Knowing, loving and serving God are my tasks. Where am I with each of these? Let us pray. (based on Psalm 139) Lord, you know everything about me - the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet you surround me with your love and your presence so much so that I cannot escape them. You think of me day and night. I am always on your mind. Thank you for knowing and loving me so thoroughly. Let's be on the lookout today for good things. Too often we notice the bad things going on around us without taking note of the good. So today let's watch for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). For reflection: Who can I compliment today? Let us pray. "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:1-3 Many years ago I had a pastor who started to preach a little longer on Sundays. You could tell people in the church were getting restless. Finally one Sunday he said, "Tell me how much time you are going to spend watching football this afternoon." No one dared answer him. So he asked, "Will it be three or four hours?" Heads nodded. "Then I think we can give God another 15 minutes now," he concluded. I'm reminded of this because the football season in the U.S. ended yesterday. People who lament not having time for prayer or Bible study (among them many football fans) should be able to find a little more room in their schedule on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights. The same is true for fans when the soccer, basketball and hockey seasons are over. Of course, it's not just sports fans who have trouble finding time for prayer. Parents with children, people taking care of the sick and the elderly, those working two or three jobs - all have the challenge of time for prayer. And God deserves quality time, not just a moment here and there on the fly. For reflection: Let's take a look at our schedules. Is there anything that can be re-arranged or set aside? God is ready. Where and when can we meet him? Let us pray. "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways" (Psalm 139:1-2). Monday we looked at the choice the Israelites made in choosing to have a human king. The first three kings, Saul, David and Solomon had their good and bad points. The kingdom of Israel degraded into civil war and divided after that. Northern and Southern Israel were ruled by a succession of evil kings (and one queen) until both were conquered by foreigners. The rejection of God as their King cost them everything - even their country. God did not force himself on the Israelites. Using their free will, they chose human leaders and suffered the consequences about which God had warned them. We use our free will every day, and we too either gain the advantages or suffer the disadvantages of our choices. For reflection: What major decisions/choices am I facing? What might the long-term benefits or consequences be? Let us pray. Father, I am not able to see as far down the road as you. You know better the advantages and disadvantages of the decisions I am facing. Impart your grace and grant me wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise" (Psalm 111:10). What are we to make of the image of fire in Luke's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit? Wind and fire appear together frequently in the Jewish tradition to signify an appearance of God. In Exodus 19:14-19 Moses and the people experience thunder and lightening, a thick cloud, a trumpet blast, billowing smoke and fire. The whole mountain trembled. Of course, we have the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day to lead the Hebrew people in the desert. In Psalm 50:3, God "comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages." Speaking of the last judgment, Isaiah (66:15) proclaims, "See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." (See also Isaiah 4:4, 2 Samuel 22:16 and Jeremiah 30:23.) In these images the fire is the purifying fire of judgment. But that does not appear to be the case for Luke in the Pentecost account. It is not a time of judgment on the disciples. Luke speaks of "tongues of fire" in Acts 2:3 and "other tongues" in 2:4. These other tongues are enabled by the Holy Spirit. There is Jewish tradition for God speaking visibly, speaking from fire also. Recall Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3). We also have Deuteronomy 4:36, "From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire". (See also Habakkuk 2:1.) People could "see" God's voice. In Acts chapter 2 then, Luke really means some visible appearance of the voice of God manifesting to others through the disciples speaking in other tongues. For reflection: Have I seen the voice of God? Have I experienced the fire of Holy Spirit? Let us pray. "Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before. . . . Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power in in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" (Psalm 68:28-35). Whenever David prayed for help in overcoming his enemies he was concerned with people trying to kill him or armies fighting for his kingdom. With God's assistance, David never backed down from a fight. This is the guy God called "a man after my own heart." We can still call on God for help in overcoming our enemies, whoever and whatever they may be. Enemies and temptations come in various forms. I noticed this year that several friends gave up Facebook for Lent. Others have told me, both men and women, that they have become addicted to pornography on the internet. Temptations abound. But where temptations abound, grace can abound all the more. David never had to fight the internet, but he gave us an example in going out to face the enemy, calling on God at all times, and listening when God spoke. Following this model, we too can be people after God's own heart. We can be victorious; we can conquer our enemies and hold our ground. Psalm 60:11-12 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man in worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. With any psalm there are short portions on which one can meditate to great effect. The opening of today's psalm has been meaningful in my life. Many times I have ruminated on "Where would I be now if I had not given my life to Jesus?" The answer is never a good one. I agree with King David that God "lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth." I hope this song helps you to reflect today and to appreciate what God has done for you. Not everything in the Psalms is beautiful and loving. In fact, some of the images are horrific, such as in Psalm 137:9. The idea of revenge or vengeance turns up many times in the Psalms because the writer does not hold back his/her emotions from God, as nasty as they may be. Since God knows our thoughts and our hearts,we may as well be honest with him in prayer. Whoever wrote Psalm 137 was certainly straightforward. The author, though, does not plan to seek revenge himself. Perhaps he is in no position to seek revenge, so he asks God to do it for him - to do to the oppressors what the oppressors had done to him. It's time to exact an eye for an eye. We live under a new law though. We live under "Pray for your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you." Maybe you find it easy, but I don't find it easy to do good to those who hurt me. Sometimes I am much more in line with the Psalmist than I am with Jesus. I need to let the desire for revenge go. Put a right spirit within me, Lord. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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