Monday, September 24
Theme for the week:
Disciples Experience God Through Genuine Prayer based in Right Motives

Matthew 6:5

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
~ Jesus

As with many Sermon on the Mount topics, Jesus isn’t condemning all aspects of an area – like in our case of public prayer today. He himself prayed publicly (i.e. John 6:11, 11:41-42). His point is not to avoid praying in public altogether; but rather to avoid praying in public like the hypocrites.

Hypocrites had a reputation for praying in order to be seen as prayerful people.

This is why Jesus says that they've already received their reward – people saw them. Jesus also indicates a lack of response from God (“reward” to the prayer) since they are merely praying for men. If you’re praying for the acknowledgement of men, expect no response from God.

You want to ensure God’s attention? Find a closet – get real with God there.

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Prayer Prompt

Find a closet (quiet place) away from people, lay out your heart and mind before the Lord, realizing that the reward of such a choice is that God is listening. Ask Him to teach you, a disciple, how to pray.

Micro-Meditation

Psalm 84:8-12

  1. Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob.
  2. Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
  3. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
  4. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
  5. LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

  • Read: the verses twice.

  • Mark: the words or phrases that catch your attention.

  • Meditate: talk (better yet write) with God about those words. Ask him to impress things upon your heart and mind; expect a response from the Lord.

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Pondering Point

(From the Lord’s perspective:)

God: I am your strength. I promise that I will help you get here,  giving you strength upon strength, like I desire to do with all who heed My call to come before Me, the Lord God Almighty. Seek Me – in prayer; in life; I am listening; look for Me; look to Me, for I am your Great Shield and Reward.

Tuesday, September 25
God’s Mission

Luke 18:14a

I tell you that this man (the Tax Collector), rather than the other (the Pharisee), went home justified before God.
~ Jesus

This week we touch on experiencing God through a type of prayer that confesses one’s sins. Acknowledgement of sin is foundational in God’s salvation plan (see 1 John 1:8-9). While many of us may be familiar with confessing sins to God, this week we remind ourselves of the biblical directive to confess our sins to each other as well. It’s right there in James 5:16: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. You know a neat thing about this? When we overcome the pride and shame that wants to hide sin, we get a chance to experience God through words of forgiveness uttered by fellow believers, fellow disciples. Any disciple – man or woman, old or young – can remind us that we are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at the cross.

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Prayer

Father God, encourage me to take seriously your directive to confess my sins aloud to a brother or sister in Christ. Let your Holy Spirit lead me to those who share a love and heart for you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Micro-Meditation for the Day:

Psalm 84:8-9

Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob.
Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.

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Teaching or Command of God:

Acts 10:38

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy  Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 

The Promise:

1 John 5:14

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

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Pondering Point

(Psalm 84:9a from the Lord’s perspective:)

God: Know that I look upon you with favor, anointed with blood and water in the name of My own Son Jesus. How precious He is! How precious you are in Him!

Wednesday, September 26
Your Identity in Christ

• In Christ, I am a disciple who is called into a personal and rewarding relationship of prayer with God my Father.

Matthew 6:6

And when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
~ Jesus

We shy away from “reward” language in the church at times, not wanting to hint at a works-righteousness theology. But children of God, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, are rewarded for a prayer life carried out as Jesus describes. So find some time, find a room, and find your Heavenly Father listening. Then you find the reward our Lord Jesus speaks of in his Sermon on the Mount.

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Prayer

[Pray about what the Lord has put upon your heart.]

Micro-Meditation for the Day:

Psalm 84:10

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Teaching or Command of God:

Revelations 1:5b-6

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen 

The Promise:

Psalms 92:12-14

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

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Pondering Point

(Psalm 84:10 from the Lord’s perspective:)

God: There is no better place than My courts; Were I to give you a lifetime to look, you’d find nothing as satisfying to your soul. I know – I made you.

Thursday, September 27
Re-Center Around God

Luke 18:9-13

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody 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 up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—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.’”
~ Luke 

You may be familiar with the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness, which expresses God’s enduring love for us. The following two verses are parodies of that hymn I wrote for a sermon illustration, aptly titled The Song of the Pharisee and The Song of the Tax Collector.

Great is my faithfulness, O God my Father;
Unlike the others who pale next to me;
You know my tithing and fasting, I fail not,
Unlike these sinners – Oh thank God I’m me.
Great is my faithfulness! Great is my faithfulness!
Morning by morning my piety see.
All I have needed to give I’ve provided;
Great is my faithfulness, Lord, unto thee!

Great is my sinfulness, O God my Father;
There is no hint of uprightness in me.
I stand in shame, my poor head I can lift not;
I am a sinner God, ‘tis plain to see.
Great is my sinfulness! Great is my sinfulness!
Morning by morning your mercies I need.
God, I have sinned and I seek Thy forgiveness;
Great is my sinfulness – Lord, rescue me!

Jesus tells the crowd listening that the Tax Collector rather than the Pharisee went home justified, finishing with these words: For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:14)

Review the week

Jesus tells the crowd listening that the Tax Collector rather than the Pharisee went home justified, finishing with these words: For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:14)

Repent (if necessary)

Jesus tells the crowd listening that the Tax Collector rather than the Pharisee went home justified, finishing with these words: For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:14)

Return (as necessary)

Both of the men in Luke 18 turned to God. But only one man returned to God. And it wasn't the more religious of the two as measured by the eye standard. Model your prayer after the Tax Collector as you turn – and return – to God.

Micro-Meditation for the Day:

Psalm 84:11

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

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Teaching or Command of God:

John 12:26a

Whoever serves me must follow me;
and where I am, my servant also will be…

The Promise:

John 12:26b

…My Father will honor the one who serves me.

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Pondering Point

(Psalm 84:11-12 from God’s perspective:)

God: Get here, get to Me – let nothing stop you, For I am the Lord God, your sun and shield; I have all kinds of favor and honor to bestow on you; Trust Me, I will withhold no blessing from you,  My child – not one good thing. Come!

Friday, September 28
Discipleship Point

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. ~James 5:16 (see also Matthew 3:6, Acts 19:18)

God has placed the forgiveness of sins in baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the Word; in fact, he has placed it in the mouth of every Christian, to comfort and pronounce to you God's grace for the sake of Christ's vicarious satisfaction. You can receive it nowhere else, for that is tantamount to Christ himself speaking it with his own mouth.
~ Martin Luther, 19th Sunday after Trinity sermon, 1533.

The Role of Confession of Sin in the Life of a Disciple

Christians are called to confess sins to one another – and hear them. While traditionally this is heard by a pastor, any believer can do so. Seek someone you can trust. The hearing believer is to speak words of forgiveness in the name of Jesus: Here’s Luther’s explanation on it:

What is Confession?

Confession consists of two parts: one, that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the pastor or confessor as from God himself, and in no way doubt, but firmly believe that our sins are thereby forgiven before God in heaven.

What sins should we confess?

Before God we should acknowledge ourselves guilty of all sins, even of those which we do not know about, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. But before the pastor or confessor we should acknowledge those sins only which we know and feel in our hearts.

Which are these?

Here consider your own situation according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, employee; whether you have been disobedient, dishonest, lazy; whether you have injured anyone by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, wasted anything, or done any harm.

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Discipleship Prayer

Father God, thank you for forgiving me all of my sins in the name of Jesus, who sacrificed his life for me. Help me set aside all pride that keeps me from confessing my sins to a fellow disciple. And do not let any judgmental attitude render me unapproachable for confession from a fellow disciple. In Jesus’ name I pray.

Micro-Meditation for the Day:

Psalm 84:12

O LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

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Teaching or Command of God:

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

The Promise:

1 Peter 4:14

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

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Pondering Point

(Psalm 84 from the Lord’s perspective:)

God: Trust me, I will withhold no blessing from you,  My child – not one good thing. Come to Me!

Saturday, September 29

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 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. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “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.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

If you have not already read through this story from Luke 18:9-14, do so now. Known as the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (or Publican), it is an indictment of public religiosity, similar to Jesus’ indictment of hypocritical prayer. It's okay to be religious in public; it's not okay to be religious for publicity’s sake.

Take note at the role pride plays in this parable. The Pharisee is clearly conscious (and prideful) of his supposedly superior spiritual position. The tax collector shows the opposite of spiritual pride here. Jesus points out that the spiritual pride gets in the way of forgiveness. So often in our world, pride and shame get in the way of forgiveness as we find ourselves unwilling to confess sins to a brother or sister in Christ.

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Prayer Prompt

Lord Jesus Christ, as you teach me how to pray, remind me that it's always good to have a desire to pray, whether in private or public. But when choosing to pray in a public venue, there are extra pitfalls to navigate while doing so – such as the perception of others. Let me always stay focused on You – in private and public. Amen.

Sunday, September 30
Call to Worship God, to Gather Together

God Bless You

Psalm 84:10

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

Worship is a believer's response to God's revelation of himself it is expressing wonder, awe, and gratitude for the worthiness, the greatness, and the goodness of our Lord. It is the appropriate response to God's person, his provision, his power, his promises, and his plan.
~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss
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Prayer for Worship

Pray for the marriages that you know – the strong, the fractured, both newly-created and longstanding. And pray for the marriage of Jesus and his bride the church.

Sponsored by Hope Lutheran Church 

Copyright (c) 2017-2019 Paul vonWerder

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