Mission Faithwalk

              Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. (Psalm 119:18-19)                  Hikikomori (Japanese): Pulling inward; shutting oneself in.                 I seem to keep coming back to the idea that wisdom is dealing with reality as it is rather than as we want it to be. And in Scripture, we find wisdom that goes even a little deeper, not only describing how reality is, but also how it was designed to be. In the past month or so, I’ve also read at least part of two books that sound alarms about the direction things appear to be going. I have always felt like an outsider, so the mention above of being a stranger on the earth is nothing new.            ...

                     Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. (Psalm 112:5)                 Are you as generous as you suspect you should be? Do you lend freely (expecting no interest or even repayment? As you absolutely just in all your dealings? Does your answer change when we change the subject from money to time, opinions, skills, expertise, help, equipment, or some other thing that you value?                 These are exam table questions, and my answers are No, no, no, and yes. I think I am more generous with things other than money. The point of my questions isn’t to make you feel guilty. They are questions we all need to take to God and let Him work in our lives. Our evaluations are likely to be based on bad sta...

                  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 NIV) I got a phone call almost an hour ago, asking me to help someone by writing a devotional that was, in a sense, an ad for the prayer walk meetings at our church on Wednesday nights from 6:30-7:30. Her target audience is people who have survived cancer, if I remember correctly. I expanded it a little to include people are might feel too sick, too weak, or too incapacitated in some other way, and the verse above came to mind. I liked the result well enough to decide to share it with you… There are times when we need prayer. Our bodies, thoughts, feelings, relationships, circumstances, or spirits need help. We need to be on the receiving end of the prayers for one another. The prayers of others are powerful and effective, ...

                " But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 15:15-16)   She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)     This is the Gateway.com verse of the day, and it presents to us a cringy question. Who do we say that Jesus is? Yes, the good Sunday School answers all pour forth: the Son of God, the Messiah, the second person of the Trinity, God, our Savior, our Lord, our soon and coming King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, El Roi, El Shaddai, Jehovah, Jehovah Jireh, etc. And some of our quick answers would be wrong because they are names that were always applied to the Father, and not to the Son, but we would have meant well in our mistakes. Let’s stack all the Sunday School answers on the shelf for the moment, because mo...

                   I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. (Psalm 119:30)                 I know it’s the wrong time of year, but do you set New Year’s Resolutions? Have you made promises you haven’t kept? Even to yourself? Let’s take it down a notch. Have you made decisions that you didn’t carry through? Do you fail to live up to the standards you set, or that have been set for you?                 As I read today’s verse, disappointment (AKA “Not Good Enough”) opens the door to my heart and peers in with a look of eagerness. Yeah. I’ve chosen the way of faithfulness and failed miserably every time. I’ve set my heart on His laws, until they were inconvenient. The thing is, I have also read the psalms in which the psalmist laments his failures. In P...

                     But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (I John 1:7)                 To walk with someone, one has to walk where they are walking, or one has to walk where the other is walking. A person can’t walk with someone if they are not together. If you are walking in the dark, you might be able to walk together if it’s not very dark and you happen to be close together, or if you are somehow connected (holding hands, tied together, handcuffed together etc.) In other words, fellowship is much more possible in the light than in the dark.                 The hard part is that in the light, our sins are more visible. We can encourage one another and also point out areas in need of His blood a...

                    So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)                 The first thing I notice here is that this verse never says there’s nothing to fear. The verses that precede it don’t talk about what the Israelites had to fear. They focused on what God had done for them. They weren’t to fear _______ because God had already shown He could handle the situation. But how are we to not fear? Is fearing a sin? If so, what do we do with the many times angels told people “Do not fear” Or the psalms in which someone expresses fear? One source I found suggested that the fear being described is not the instantaneous feeling when something big and nasty approaches. It’s more a long-term lifestyle. Another possibility is th...