Yes and No

“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” -Jesus

‭‭John‬ ‭14:13-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

http://bible.com/116/jhn.14.13-14.nlt

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Yes and No

By: Joy Ortiz

How to reconcile

"I will give

All you ask"

With

"No"

?

Contradiction. 

My stomach roils. 

Doubt swells. 

How can it be?

Doesn't "all" mean "all"?

An infinite "yes"?

Yet doors close

As I pray, "Open."

People die

As I pray, "Heal."

Lost wander

As I pray, "Save."

Depression drains

As I pray, "Restore."

Isn't "yes," "yes"?

No. 

Sometimes yes tomorrow 

Means no today. 

Sometimes all tomorrow 

Means none today. 

Sometimes life tomorrow 

Means death today. 

Sometimes Spirit ignores brain

And prays,

"His will, not mine,"

Louder than my cry. 

God of "yes,"

God of "all,"

I will lift my prayers,

Accepting "no."

Believing "yes"

Is yet to come. 

.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Jesus

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

http://bible.com/116/mat.7.7-8.nlt

Prayer for Leadership

For those I lead, make me a leader worth following, oh Lord.
Make me cheerful and positive, building up others with encouragement.
Rather than excessive criticism or negativity,
May I lead by example, patient and kind.
Open my eyes to see the potential in everyone,
The intrinsic worth in all people.
May I see them as you see them.
May I love them as you love them.
Refine me and burn away my flaws.
Teach me self-control so that I can be responsible.
Make me an effective communicator.
Make me trustworthy.
Direct my paths to endeavors worthy of my time and energy.
Keep me from pointless tasks.
Highlight my true priorities and give me a clear vision.
May my work be meaningful and make a difference in the world
For your glory, not my own.
Burn away my pride.
May I consider others before myself.
May I take a genuine interest in their lives.
Give me an eternal perspective.
Keep me from meaningless busywork.
For your glory and your purpose, Lord,
Make me a leader worth following.

Prayer for Joy

Lord, fill me with joy
Whatever the circumstance.
Grace me with patience
On all occasions.
Make me quick to listen
And slow to speak.
Keep me from becoming angry.
May love and kindness
Be my first response.
May I be known for my love.
May I be known for my joy.
May my life be a light,
A flame burning bright
That draws others to you.
Burn away my depravity.
Refine what is good in me.
When trials come,
Give me the grace
To see them as gifts
From your hand.
What a crazy statement.
Why should I love difficulty?
Why wouldn't I run
From pain, annoyance, and spite?
Because you didn't.
You don't.
You teach me
That the greatest blessing
Comes from staying.
A dangerous thought.
Controversial.
What about me?
Should I stay to be hurt?
Yet you whisper,
"Stay.
There is more to life
Than self-preservation."
I am stronger with you
Standing firm
In the face of adversity
Than I ever could be
In running away.
So give me joy
In difficult moments.
Give me deep breaths
And peace.
And I will find you there.

Prayer for Purpose

Lord, give purpose to my day.
Direct my attention to the things that matter,
Whatever they are.
Give me a gentle spirit
And words of life for my children.
Thank you for quiet,
Thank you for coffee.
You see my piles of laundry,
My unfinished schoolwork,
My dirty floors.
I see them, too.
May I quit escaping to social media.
May I open my eyes to the world,
My ears to my children,
My mind to the task at hand,
And my spirit to you.
Make me effective and responsible,
A good keeper of all within my care.
Teach me to prioritize.
Give me wisdom
For things of this world and of yours.
Marry them both within me.
Fit me for today and tomorrow,
That I might live today with purpose,
Fully present in it
While still invested in the future.
Refine my character.
Work out my flaws.
May my words and deeds be pleasing to you.
Lord, give purpose to my day.

Reason and Why

Reasons and Why

Lord, I just read a chapter from Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind, and it unsettled me. She was talking about how reason is a type of abnormality in our minds if we are seeking to follow Christ. Constantly asking, "Why?" and trying to always make the logical decision interferes (according to her) with our ability to listen to you and be guided by your spirit. 

Why did this bother me?  (See how my first instinct is to ask why?)  I am a rather intelligent person, frankly, and I don't like being told not to use my brain. I like puzzles, creative challenges, filling in bubbles on test papers, getting A's on report cards, and raising my hand in class with the right answer. Academics came rather easily to me when I was in school, and I derived a great deal of pride and personal worth from my good grades. I still look back on my report cards and ACT scores with pride. I like being smart. I like having the right answers.

What does a person do when a well-respected author tells her that her intelligence isn't that important?  I became annoyed and defensive. "This," I thought, "is why Christians get the reputation for being blind fools who go around making ridiculous claims with no evidence. This is why Christians cling to literal creationism and ignore all of the scientific research about the origin and age of the Earth. This is why Christians bury their heads in the sand while waving their Bibles at the world."  I was disgusted. 

"She wants us to stop thinking?  To become blind followers of an ancient book and its archaic teachings?  To live our lives listening to an inaudible inner 'voice' that tells us to do weird things that make no sense?  This sounds stupid."  However, I kept reading. I had to see what this seemingly intelligent woman would say to try and convince me to stop thinking for myself. 

She told a story about how you led her to give away her brand new dress to a friend. First she resisted your direction, dismissing it as silly since she liked the dress, and it was new. The second time you directed her to give the dress to her friend, she listened and did it anyway, recognizing that it was your voice that was directing her to stop overthinking it and just obey. 

This resonated with me. I have made some very large faith-based decisions that defied my reason as I followed your small inner voice. Marrying my husband was the biggest one. You have indeed been faithful to bless me in ways I could have never imagined. You have answered my prayers as I have obeyed your Spirit. When I trusted you, it has been best for me. 

"Trust in The Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5 NIV)

I already knew that trusting you is best. I learned that Bible verse by heart when I was a child, and I have always believed it. I think that my intelligence has become a stumbling block to me, however. It is keeping me from living fully attuned to your Spirit. Come and free me from pride about my own knowledge. Help me to acknowledge you in all of my ways so that you can direct my paths, even when they don't make sense. I have seen the fruit of a life lived for you, and I want more of its sweetness and richness. 

I want to stop feeling like I have to prove everything I believe. I want to live life as you have created for me: attuned to your spirit and willing to do whatever you ask of me, even if it doesn't make sense. I believe in you, and you are more important to me than having all of the answers and proving I am smart. Please free me from slavery to Reason and Why. 

Amen

(Meyer, Joyce. Battlefield of the Mind. P. 95-102.)

Treasure

Treasure

Lord, this morning I am thoughtful about my possessions. Our house isn't very big, but I still see clutter everywhere I look. Why do we accumulate so many things?  What really matters?  What can we shed, give away, throw away?  What should we keep?  How should we be preparing for the next chapter in our lives?

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."  (Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)

Those are Jesus' words. You don't want us to store up treasures on Earth. You don't want us to be absorbed with all our stuff, cleaning it, organizing it, and protecting it. You have a different priority for our time and energy: storing treasure in heaven. But what does that mean?

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."  (Matthew 6:33 NLT)

Okay. Seek the kingdom of God. Store up treasure in heaven. Live righteously. How do I do that?  How do I seek you first?  How do I let go of materialism?  What should I do with my time and energy?  What is treasure in heaven?  How do I store it?

I know we can't take anything with us when we die.  All of our possessions will stay here and belong to someone else. What, then, can we accumulate in heaven?  My first thought is people. Anyone who comes to know God as a result of my testimony and goes to heaven when he or she dies could perhaps be considered a treasure I have laid up in heaven. I would have invested my time and energy in an immortal soul for the glory of God.  Still, I don't see myself as an evangelist or preacher in the face-to-face way normally associated with those roles. I am a writer, and any influence I have on another person's soul would probably come via words I have written or art I created. Is this how I lay up treasure in heaven: by writing and creating artwork?  Is this my life's work?  

Lord, as I clean my house, give me eyes to see what really matters. Give me courage to get rid of everything else. Bring us freedom from clutter and our possessions. Help us to spend our time and energy on things that matter to you, things that will last. Teach us what it means to live well on the earth while storing up treasure in heaven. 

Amen

Dinosaurs and Doubt

Dinosaurs and Doubt

Lord, thank you for always being with me. Thank you for your spirit that lives inside of me, making me more than I alone could be. I don't understand much of who you are or how everything works, but I feel stronger and happier when I believe in you.

 A lot of people say that you are a fabrication, made by humans to give them comfort and help them make sense of the world.  All I know is that I never could have invented you. I've tried living without believing in you, and it made my world dark and hopeless.  I don't know if that's just because I was raised in the church, and I never learned any other way to manage my life, or if it is because you are indeed the only way for me to function. Either way, I choose life with you. You bring me hope.  You bring me joy and purpose.  My days are better with you. 

I read a web page of Creationist beliefs (they call it science) about dinosaurs: when they lived, if they coexisted with humans, and what happened to them. https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/dinosaurs-and-the-bible/

 It relied very heavily upon the Bible as a resource for scientific fact, using the six days of creation in Genesis as a vehicle to "prove" that dinosaurs were created on the same day as humans and existed on the earth at the same time, possibly even up to today, hidden away in deep, unexplored places. 

Honestly, it all sounded pretty ridiculous. It made me kind of ashamed of your followers. They are honestly trying to follow you and take the Bible for their guide, yet they explain away or ignore the vast body of scientific research that exists about dinosaurs, instead dismissing it as "the beliefs of evolutionists" that "cannot be proved, because they were not there to observe it."  They are making Christians sound like idiots, and there are people who believe them and are teaching these "facts" to their children.  

I am torn. I want to believe in your Word and let it shape my world view, but I also don't want to bury my head in it so deeply that I ignore everything that mankind has discovered since Moses penned Genesis.  I believe that you made the world and everything in it, but I remember that your time is not like ours, and,

"With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8)  So the six days of creation in Genesis could have each been a thousand years, for all we know. 

As my daughter asks me questions about the world, as I teach her about science and how things work, give me wisdom, oh Lord, to teach her what is true. I want to honor you in all that I do, and I want your Word to have authority in what I believe and how I live my life. However, I don't want to be a blind fool and accept everything verbatim if that's not how it should be read. Please help me to find my way. Be glorified, God in my life.