Prayer requests

Let's pause today and pray for our countries and for the world. Let's ask God in this time of uncertainty and sickness to help us. Throughout the history of the world, during times of deadly epidemics, people have turned to God in prayer for help, protection, and healing.

Just a couple of things to remember as we pray . . .

Let's thank God that He is the Great Physician who not only heals but is with us in our times of need.

Let's ask Him to protect our medical professionals who are courageously treating those who are infected. Let's pray for those who are already infected that they will receive prompt and effective care and be restored to health.

Let's pray for those who are most vulnerable to this disease: the babies, our elders, the poor, and those who are weakened by other health conditions. Let's pray for our leaders as they try to be informed and prepared, and as they make plans to try to mitigate the ravages of the virus.

Let's also pray for those who are trying to develop drugs to heal and vaccines to prevent the spread of the disease.

And let's pray that through this crisis, we will all be drawn closer to Him, we will increase in our compassion for others, and we will reach out in safe ways to help others.

Blessings to all who pause here and pray with us. May we all experience the comfort of His presence and the healing touch of His love.

Of Eeyore, Piglet, and the joy of the Lord

This week, we are continuing our study of the joy of the Lord. We're not talking about always having a smile on our faces. But one can be happy without constantly grinning!
But I don't feel happy, you say?
Do you feel more like our old friend Eeyore?
Ahhh, but I want us to be more like Piglet - he was happy. Shall we say, content? Yus.
In Nehemiah 8, we have two phrases that we're focused on: the joy of the Lord, and the strength that it brings.
Ready?
Let's dive in again!
Just to refresh our memories, we found last week that repentance leads to joy. It also leads to appreciation of God's forgiveness, and a new level of trust as we experience our relationship with a covenant God, Who is in control of all that is happening.
Today, let's talk about God Himself. Do we find joy in Him? Is He our treasure, our best reason to rejoice?
I guess because we are humans, we tend to find joy in lots of things other than God Himself. We find joy in our health when we have it; we rejoice when we are fit and can compete in a 5K run. We find joy in hiking up a mountain with a friend and not being exhausted at the summit! We find joy in the beautiful view from the top of the mountain. We find joy in a wonderfully prepared meal.
Some of us find joy in our possessions, and as long as we thankfully agree that these good things came from God's hand, that's just fine. And of course, we find joy in our relationships with our loved ones.
But as we grow and mature as believers, we should be growing in the knowledge that God Himself is our chief treasure. We are His and He is ours. If everything else in life were stripped away, would we rejoice in Him alone? If we were imprisoned and tortured for our faith, as many saints are today, would we still rejoice in our God? I guess that is one of those things that is easy to say. But would we really, if the "chips were down"?

I think it's possibly the best way to rejoice in God if we focus on His character. If we think about His attributes -- they are revealed in scripture. Truly knowing God requires us to study Him . . . Satan doesn't want that. He wants us to think of God differently, as he encouraged Eve to do. He twisted her perception of a God Who is good to one that made restrictive laws and didn't tell her the whole story. Today, Satan would like for us to think that God is a grumpy guy who always says "no" when we want to have fun.....a cosmic killjoy Who is happy dancing when we are miserable.
Nope.
That's not Him.
Remember what David said in Psalm 16:11? Go back and check that, and then come back!
Here's another clue:

"The Lord your God is with you,    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Now let's look at some of God's attributes - His character traits found in the Word:

“The Rock! His work is perfect,For all His ways are just;A God of faithfulness and without injustice,Righteous and upright is He." (Deuteronomy 32:4)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  (I John 1:9) 

For this is what the high and exalted One says—    he who lives forever, whose name is holy:“I live in a high and holy place,    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly    and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15) 

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I John 4:8-10)

That's just a quick pull from the Word of God; He is righteous; He is just; He is holy; He is love. These should fill us with joy as we meditate on the verses.
We can also find joy in His actions -- I mean what has been recorded in the Bible and in the history of our faith, as God has moved in the lives of ordinary people and allowed them to serve and perform extraordinary tasks. We can rejoice in the cross of Christ, and how we have grace and salvation. We can rejoice, too, in the privilege of the daily fellowship we know through the Bible and prayer. How it inspires me to rejoice when I think that I can call Him Father; He sees Jesus instead of my sins; and I can come into His presence through Christ!
Especially joyous is the knowledge that this world is not my home -- I'm almost home: in heaven. What makes us want to go to heaven? The main reason is that we will be with God.....we will have communion with Him and we'll enjoy Him for eternity!
The joy of the Lord is especially from knowing God and rejoicing in Him!

I think it's significant that there are three verses where the leaders tell the people to be joyful because "this day is holy to our Lord." Have you ever thought about the fact that holiness and rejoicing are not incompatible? (Grin) Rather, they are linked! The second fruit of the Spirit is joy:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The world may put on quite a show of its enticements. And the scripture tells us there is pleasure in sin "for a season." But God and His Word are our best source of joy!

We'll talk about the strength part of the equation next time!

Friday slowdown - UPDATED

Actually, we've been talking about the joy of the Lord . . . I guess a more appropriate title for today instead of "slowdown," would be "pick me up."

In the past, our Friday posts have sometimes been times of reflection and reverence after a challenging week of study. This week, let's be joyful!





Smile!!

Is everybody happy?

We are studying the joy of the Lord this week -- we are drawing some parallels between Nehemiah 8 and a character or two from A. A. Milne's Pooh stories. (Yes, seriously.) Piglet may be tiny, just as we may feel tiny in the big world we live in, but he is (as we are) full of potential. He's creative, passionate, loyal, and compassionate; he overcomes his fears and relies on someone much larger (sound like us Christians?) and he is happy.
Now we've gone back to our chapter (Nehemiah 8) and looked more deeply at the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding land. We've seen that the joy of the Lord is a result first of repentance, and the down-deep realization that God, in His mercy, has forgiven us of our sins.
Let's get back to digging here!
Yesterday we discussed a "right" attitude toward sin -- not mourning so much that we slip into depression, and not so casual that we are flippant about failing our Father. We can, however, be certain of His forgiveness, and that is one thing that made the people joyful in our chapter.
They made their plans and they celebrated the great feast that was detailed in God's Word. All of the great feasts in Israel were reminders of God's abundant mercy to His chosen people. In spite of their sin and failures, He extended His hand of mercy to them.

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;  (Exodus 34:6-7a)

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. (Psalm 86:5)

The scholars tell us that another Psalm, Psalm 32, was probably written after King David's sin with Bathsheba. In that psalm, he details the blessings that are on the person whom God has forgiven. The psalm ended with a seeming shout of joy!

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.(Psalm 32:11)

From David's experience and from the words of the psalm, we can tell that he is not talking about sinless perfection. Instead, he is talking about the righteousness that God conveys upon us as repentant believers and our uprightness as we confess and forsake our sins. After we have confessed our sins, we can rejoice that God has forgiven ALL of our sins in Christ Jesus, and that He has pledged His covenant love to us for all eternity.
What do we mean by covenant love?
Covenants are important features of the Bible. Covenants can be based on certain obligations and pre-requisites, or they can have no conditions. They can be between two people, or they can apply to nations and people groups (or everyone in the world). This might even be an interesting study, sometime! Some examples are the covenants that God made with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, Moses, and David.
A new covenant is mentioned in Jeremiah 31. God promised to forgive sin and have a close and unbroken relationship with people. This covenant was made first to the people of Israel, but then it was expanded to include everyone who comes to Jesus in faith:

28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)

Truly this is a reason for rejoicing!
So, the joy of the Lord is a result of repentance, a result of truly knowing that God forgives, and a result of trusting in His covenant love.
Want to add a tablespoon more of happiness? (Grin)
If we look back at Nehemiah 8:12, we see another reason why the people rejoiced. It can be a source of joy for us, as well:

All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them. (v 12)

The joy of the Lord can come from understanding God's Word.
God's Word is where we find His precious and magnificent promises:

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, (II Peter 1:4)

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (II Corinthians 1:20)

It's in the Bible that we find the promise of complete pardon for all of our past sins and failures; we also find the promises of God's presence and His sustaining grace as we move forward in the present. And truly inspiring -- we find the promises of untold joy in eternity with Him!

When we go through rough times; when we are buffeted by Satan, we are sometimes tempted by Satan or our circumstances to begin thinking that God doesn't care for us. It may be that we quit studying the Word because the situation we are in makes it seem that the Bible doesn't apply.
 But it is ESPECIALLY at those times that we need to immerse our hearts and thoughts in God's Word! It will reassure us of His grace and give us a godly perspective on trials -- because it tells of other believers who have endured incredible trials by trusting in Him. In the midst of obstacles, burdens, and temptations, understanding His Word will bring us joy.

I will ask again . . . is everybody happy?

Our world, Eeyore, and Piglet

How can we find the joy of the Lord?
We just don't feel joyful right now.
We may feel sad. We might feel fearful, with the current world situation. We may even be depressed.
Happy dancing? Not today.
Let's look back again at the eighth chapter of Nehemiah . . . .

What happened before the people experienced joy?
When we read in verse nine that the people wept, I believe we can assume they were genuine tears of repentance. It says that the people had been weeping as they listened to the reading of the Word of God.
I believe as I read the Bible that there is a balancing act of sorts between mourning over sin and rejoicing in the Lord. When I read in II Corinthians that Paul was at the same time sorrowful and rejoicing:

 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (II Corinthians 6:10)

I think what he was talking about (I'm not a scholar, so if you think I'm off base, you can let me know in the comments!) is that a believer will be convicted of sin and sad that she has slipped out of the sweet fellowship with Christ that she can enjoy. At the same time, she will be able to be content, even joyful, because of the mercy of God that forgives her sin.
As believers, we can and should weep with those who weep in grief, but underneath the sorrow is the solid joy of sins forgiven and the hope of heaven.
Praise God!
Hope that makes sense.
As with so many things, there is a "pendulum swing" where at one end, true repentance goes too far and ends up in a swamp of depression. It's easy to have this happen  --  after all, my sin is what put the sinless Son of God on the cross. I don't dare take it lightly, but I also should not allow it to make me gloomy, pessimistic, and depressed. Taken too far, it can cause me to feel worthless, and the scripture says just the opposite:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)

Since you are precious and honored in my sight,    and because I love you,I will give people in exchange for you,    nations in exchange for your life. (Isaiah 43:4)

To combat those feelings, it may also help to look to verses like Hebrews 10:12 and put our focus on things above where Christ is making intersession for us.
In the world of the unbeliever, sin has gradually carried less of a stigma, and the sense of shame has been slowly replaced by a growing boldness of attitude - almost a flaunting of sin.
And so, at the other end of the pendulum swing are Christians that are casual, even flippant about their sins. They shrug off sin as no big deal and go on their merry way.  "We're under grace!" they say.
Paul words address this specifically:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)

The proper balance, the sweet spot in the center of the pendulum's swing, is to take our sins seriously and truly repent of them -- and then to put our focus back on Christ and on His grace.

This is a formula that will result in the joy of the Lord! More on our Thousand Acre Wood characters tomorrow . . .

The world, Eyeore, and Piglet

                                                     (Photo from Disney.com)

Are y'all kinda worried about me? Because I am telling you we can emulate Piglet? (Grin) Hang in there, and I will clarify things . . .
Remember what I mentioned about how the current world situation has a lot of peeps on edge? Nervous? Fearful?
I think it's up to believers to show peace and calm -- and joy. It's our testimony!

It's sad, but many people disassociate joy and gladness from Christianity. They think of our faith like healthy food . . . it doesn't taste very good, but it's good for you so you endure it. You get accustomed to it. Joy and gladness reminds them of a party or a night at the pub. Not a church meeting or even a believer in prayer.
But wait!
The Bible declares to us that in God's presence is fullness of joy -- we are His people, and so if we are to reflect His image, we must become joyous people.

You will make known to me the path of life;In Your presence is fullness of joy;In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11, NSAB)

When we studied the eighth chapter of Nehemiah last week, Ezra and the scribes were reading and explaining the Word of God to the people - from dawn until noon! The people realized just how badly they had failed in keeping their side of the covenant with God. They repented and wept for their failures. Now, repentance is indeed necessary; it is a realization of our sin and a turning away from it. But Ezra, Nehemiah, and the other leaders saw that the people repented and so they told them not to mourn anymore, but to enjoy the feast day and observe its significance.
They told the people:

Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them. (Nehemiah 8:10-12)

To apply this to our lives today, I believe that we need to experience the joy of the Lord, because it will (as declared in the verse above) yield spiritual strength in our lives.
Now, I realize that God has made all of us differently. There are those who have temperaments that are naturally more upbeat and cheerful. Some of us are mellow and laid back; we find it difficult to share in the swings that other people experience because we are "on an even keel." Others by nature are more like Eeyore, and are a bit more melancholy. God doesn't expect all of us to be "bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy" Tiggers (excuse my A. A. Milne reference), but we can look to be balanced in our worldview and our outlook on life.
You see, the joy that we are talking about this week is not the joy of natural temperament. Nor does it mean that we have to walk around with a maniacal grin pasted on, or giggle at the least provocation! We are talking about the joy of the Lord.
Does anyone else remember the book (and the movie) Pollyanna? In Eleanor H. Porter's novel, Pollyanna would tell the story of her father searching the scriptures for happy, joyous texts:

“... if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it—SOME.”

It's true! There are numerous commands to rejoice and be glad in the Lord! In the Old Testament, and in the New!

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;    let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,    that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:11)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

It's possible. It's even necessary. We CAN experience the joy of the Lord. It's available to all who know God's abundant salvation.
But where do we find it?
First, in His Word . . . .
You see, as we alluded to above, the joy of the Lord is neither the joy of circumstances or of our temperament.
Well, duh.
It IS called the joy of the Lord, right? (Grin)
Human beings can be joyful when they win a lottery. Or get a promotion at work. Or go on an awesome, fun trip (people did that before the coronavirus, and they will again soon). All of those joyful things can be experienced by both unbelievers and believers. But the joy of the Lord is something that only those who know the Lord can enjoy -- in spite of circumstances.

Let's look at King David. More specifically, let's look at his words in Psalm 13. Four different times, in six short verses, David calls out, "How long?" mentioning his ongoing sorrow and suffering. He even asks, "Will You forget me forever?"
But by the time we get to the end of this short Psalm, David is affirming his trust in the Lord's love and care. He states by faith:

But I trust in your unfailing love;    my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise,    for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:5-6)

This is a man who is not talking about the joy in his circumstances, but instead the joy that comes from keeping his eyes on God. It's the joy of trusting in the Lord and in His salvation.

Let's look at Paul. Specifically, the fact that Philippians was written (like many of his epistles) from prison in Rome. While he was in jail, fellow Christians were poor mouthing him. People called "Judaizers" were using subtle (and false) messages to draw away and astray many believers in churches that he had planted. But Philippians is full of joy! It's full of reminders to believers to rejoice in the Lord!
Was Paul just turning a blind eye to the issues of the day? Nope.
Was he oblivious? Naaah.
He was REALLY in tune with reality. He CHOSE to rejoice in the Lord.
Joy in the Lord is not the result of our bouncy personality. It's not the result of our circumstances. It's a choice we make to focus on our Lord and His salvation and care.
More tomorrow!

The world, Eyeore, and Piglet

Got your attention this morning with that title, no? (Grin)
Our world seems to be in even more of a mess nowadays, doesn't it? The coronavirus outbreak has many of the earth's residents in an uproar. Many are sick and even critically ill; many are struggling to endure and nurse the sick back to health; others are working mightily to develop tests and vaccines . . .
The virus has spread to many countries and many thousands of people have been exposed. If I were to post numbers, they would be out of date before you read the post. Naturally, people are alarmed. Even though we have had other outbreaks in the past (Ebola and swine flu come to mind), and even though Covid-19 has not claimed the number of lives seasonal influenza has claimed, it's alarming and even frightening. This one feels different.
Part of the problem is that it's new - no one really knows a great deal about it (except perhaps the peeps who developed it, and maybe they don't even really know), and so we are all learning on the fly. Part of the problem is that many of the media, political candidates, and even some of those currently in office are engaging in finger-pointing and shouting. Oy vey. Not helpful.
The world has been given a reminder of something that we believers have known all along, and that others have conveniently forgotten. We are not in charge of our own destiny - we exist and have life and breath through the grace of God!
God has worked through mysterious ways in the past. God can work in our world today. When the situation is the worst, believers should be at their best.
Wait a minute.
I think that was important. It's not me. It's something the Spirit said through me. (And it may be that many others have said it before I did!)
. . . When the situation is the worst, Christians should be at their best.

Recently, I was reading to a little one from a Winnie the Pooh storybook. The residents of the Hundred Acre Wood stayed in my mind as I was looking again at the passage in Nehemiah that we just studied.
Would you mind terribly if we camped here again? (Grin)
Let me explain. I'm really not dragging my feet. Seriously.
My thoughts were about the health situation our world is facing and the personalities of the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood.  (I know, I know, strange....)
We don't have to flip through too many channels to find someone who seems like Eyeore. Eyeore, the little gray donkey with the easily lost tail, is sad and discouraged. He sees the world's cup as half empty and draining fast. His motto could be "woe is me."
On the other hand, many people approach life with an attitude like Pooh. Pooh is sometimes a little fuzzy in his thinking, and he freely admits that he does not know it all, but he is positive and upbeat.
Piglet may seem to be a worrywort and flighty, but I am going to champion Piglet as the one we should adopt as our role model.
Gasp!
Why?
Piglet may be tiny, but he is full of potential. First, in spite of being anxious, Piglet never lets his fear stop him from doing what he wants to do. He tries incredibly hard to be brave, even if every bone in his tiny body (oh, wait, he is a stuffed animal...no bones) is telling him to run away.
Piglet is terribly loyal to his friends, and will face danger in order to take care of them. The only time he will bail out on a friend is when someone larger and more intelligent (Christopher Robin) comes along to help. He is passionate about the relationships he has, and battles his insecurities to do what's right. Piglet often comes up with creative, "brainy" ways to be compassionate to his buddies and ensure their safety (like leaving a jelly bean trail to find their way home). He has no problem admitting his faults and overlooks the flaws of his friends.
Quite frankly, he is happy.
And he wants everyone around him to be happy, too.

Do we find it difficult in these times to be happy?
Has our joy gotten pushed aside by worry?
Are we focused on the negative?
The people in Nehemiah 8 had been saddened by the realization of their sins. They were worried that they could never hope to measure up. They were focused on the negative situation.
Nehemiah and the Levites needed to cheer them. Perhaps they reminded them of this verse:

You will show me the path of life;In Your presence is fullness of joy;At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

We know for a fact that they said this:

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) [emphasis mine]

Are we finding it tiresome to keep keeping on with all the fear in the world today?
This week we are going to focus on joy.
We are going to try to move past our inner Eyeore, and emulate tiny Piglet.
Interested?
Stay with me!

Friday

When we studied this week, we saw that responding to the Word of God could bring repentance, joy, compassion, obedience, and worship.
I thought this song was a fitting ending to our studies. Thank you all for joining me!

More discussion

Did you leave your "two cents worth" yesterday?

After this two week study of Nehemiah chapter eight, what are your thoughts on having a responsive heart? How can we develop a heart that is responsive to the reading and hearing of God's Word?

And lastly, let's all think and write down one spiritual goal that we can work on, related to what we have learned in the past two weeks of study. If you don't mind sharing, we'd love to hear -- your goals may inspire others to achieve their goals, too!

Discussion - your turn!

This week I am going to give all of us more to think about. . .

I know that we all carry on busy lives, so I'm going to post some questions today, and a couple tomorrow, too. I'd like to encourage us all to consider the questions and search our Bibles and our hearts before we leave our answers. I heard from someone a couple of weeks ago who said she had been especially blessed by an answer left here -- it made her think and it gave her peace about a subject that had troubled her.

Doesn't that make your heart sing, to know that someone has been blessed? The widow who gave her two "mites" at the temple may not have known how her action would bless so many . . . so put in your "two cents worth" today and know that God can use your addition to the discussion in amazing ways!

First, if we are not the studious type, if we are not a "bookworm," how can we develop a hunger to read and study God's Word?

Secondly, how can we guard ourselves from the spiritual pride that often accompanies knowledge? I Corinthians 8:1b tells us a clue:

Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

What do you think?

I look forward to seeing your thoughts here . . .

Prayer requests

I realize I have said this before, but I truly feel it's an honor to be able to pray alongside those of you who have left prayer requests here at the study blog. It's a joy to be able to thank God with those of you who've let us know of answered prayer.

We talk about so many things in our lives and give them "ratings."
How was your meal? Well, on a scale of one to ten, it was about a six . . .
How was your vacation? On a scale of . . . .
You get my drift.
Recently I applied that concept to my prayer life. If one is almost non-existent, and ten would be stellar, where would I be? If I'm truly honest with myself, I'm probably a three or a four . . . That's a low number.
But, continuing to be honest, we do live in a world of distractions. What if we gave ourselves to prayer for thirty minutes a day? Maybe fifteen minutes and another fifteen later? That might be a good day, right? It amazes me to hear of peeps like John Wesley, who spent over two hours each day in private prayer.
But that was before television.
Before computers.
Before smartphones.
Before email.
 Yes, that is true. There are a lot of technology "toys" that can threaten our prayer time. These become obstacles to our praying. They contend for our time as certainly as if they were animate, tapping our shoulder or tugging on our sleeve. If we find out that we need to wait before a doctor can see us, before a shop opens, before a friend arrives to meet us . . . what do we do?
Do we instinctively reach for that smartphone to pass the time?  Recently, I have tucked two scripture cards in my pocket, and I reach for those instead.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Reaching for these verses will help me focus. (And help me to memorize them, too!) Reading these verses will help me develop an attitude that steers me to prayer, especially in the times that we think are "wasted." Don't give up on yourself - return to prayer as many times during the day as you can.
Time spent in prayer is not wasted. It's used more effectively!
Remember Ephesians 5:16?

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (KJV)

making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (NIV)

Let's be determined to pray often. It will make such a difference in our attitudes and in our lives!
I hope that if you have a prayer request or a praise for answered prayer that you will leave a comment so that we can pray or rejoice with you!!

Long sermons and revival

We've been studying a marathon session in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah, where the Word of God was read, preached, and explained.
For spiritual renewal to happen, there must also be a response to the Word.
If we are just studying the Word in order to know more than the next person, that's not good. We are setting ourselves up for the sin of pride that way. Yes, we need to study, to ponder, and to memorize, but knowledge is not our ONLY aim!
The better goal is to learn and then transform our lives.
What do we mean? We can look back at our chapter and see . . .

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. (Nehemiah 8:8-9)

The people had listened attentively and reverently, and they began to weep when they heard and understood the Word. They began to realize how much they had sinned against God. (We'll actually see some more about this in the next chapter, too.) It's not that they knew they'd been wrong. It apparently had not been willful disobedience. But it was sin, nonetheless, and they began to weep and to repent.
This happens in our lives, today, as well. The more that the light of God's Word is applied to our hearts, the more corners the light will shine into -- and the more we will see areas where our hearts and lives are not conforming to His Word. We will see that we are not measuring up to His righteousness. Hearing and understanding His Word will lead to repentance.
If repentance can be compared to storm clouds, then the next result of God's Word is when the clouds move aside and let the sun come shining in -- godly joy will flood our souls after we repent.  The realization of our sin wounds our hearts and makes us sad, but knowing that He has forgiven our sins brings joy. The knowledge that we are His people buoys our spirits. Remember the children's song? "I've got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!"

Then all the people went away . . . .  to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them. (v 14)

The next response to God's Word after repentance and joy is compassion for others. Ezra and Nehemiah instructed the people to help others:

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (v 10)

They reminded the people to show compassion and send portions from the parts of the sacrifices that they could eat to those who had nothing to eat. God's Word should result in compassion in our hearts for those who are needy. He saves us for this:

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14)

We see another response from the people in the next few verses of the chapter. Their spiritual renewal included obedience to what they learned from the Word. The people had heard about the different festivals that were outlined in the Law, and they now knew about the Feast of Booths. Since the correct time for this feast was only two weeks away, they scrambled to make preparations to celebrate. This was the feast commemorating two things - the harvest that God provided and the deliverance that He granted under Moses, when Israel lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness. Our passage says that the Israelites had not celebrated a Feast of Booths like this one since the time of Joshua! It must have been a wonderful time of feasting, rejoicing, and worship.

The Feast lasted a whole week, and each day included more reading of God's law; the final day was the climax. On the last day, there was a solemn assembly.

Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly. (v 18)

All week, as the people camped in the temporary shelters, they took time to reflect on God's faithfulness to the nation, in spite of their sins. Because of this, their hearts were overflowing with gratitude and love toward God for His grace and mercy to them.
Worship is another response; it's another mark of spiritual renewal. As we read the Word and study it, and as we hear it preached, we should reflect on His abundant blessings to us -- our hearts will be full of thankfulness, and we will worship Him!

We've seen that spiritual renewal and revival comes from our responding to God's Word. It doesn't necessarily mean that we must participate in marathon services that go on for hours, though our passage says the Israelites did!  I think an application to our lives today would be to strive to have their attitude -- an attitude while reading or listening that says "God, please teach me! I want to know you more!" We need to have an attitude of readiness to respond to the Word. We need to be ready to deal with sin, and then allow Him to transform our hearts.
If we want spiritual renewal, if we want revival, we need to check our hearts. We need to be ready to reverently listen, ready to read, ready to respond with repentance, joy, compassion for others, obedience, and worship.
If we respond in these ways, revival will come!