Every Day with Jesus

Christ’s love compels us to share His message of hope and wholeness for fractured humanity. God’s first question was, ‘Where are you?’ (Gen. 3:9), the question that resounds throughout every generation. Today’s preoccupation with self and the ready availability of so many self-help courses is testimony to the insecurity that runs deep within the human heart.

Mission in the New Testament (NT) means ‘to send’ and implies that we receive authority from the one who sends us. So, just as Jesus was sent and enjoyed the Father’s full authority, here He prays for all of us to know the government of God in and through our lives of obedient service. God’s authority is dependent on our obedience, one reason that it’s so often and clearly stressed throughout Scri...

If we’re serious in our quest to love and serve Jesus, then we’d best start with Jesus’ chosen mission. He takes these stirring promises from the prophet Isaiah and makes them His mission mandate. There are two clear meanings here. First, He describes those who are entrapped in sin and cannot see spiritual reality. Consequently, they are prisoners to their spiritual poverty and gospel deficit.

Tomorrow we move from prayer to mission. The two are intimately linked since mission is born from prayer. Indeed, as we mission we also pray. Mission is God’s love shared in a broken world. We pray for workers to go out and reap a harvest of those hungry for God’s grace. This request appears to suggest numerical increase, yet Jesus didn’t rapidly expand His team. So it’s best understood as a praye...

The good we do in obedience to God runs the risk of becoming a source for our own self-promotion and gratification. Self-congratulation, encouraged by the praise of others, is a temptation we all face. We desire affirmation for the things we do. However, anonymity is taught by Jesus (Luke 5:14). God’s work is clear only to those with eyes and ears to see and hear it.

We face a human dilemma. God says He answers our prayers on many occasions in Scripture, yet some of our prayers appear to go unanswered. We also appreciate that they need to be in agreement with God’s unseen purpose. God’s character is revealed throughout Scripture, and we, like the Israelites throughout the OT, learn more of that character daily through experience.

James’ message is simple because God’s way is simple but as humans we lean towards complexity. We constantly make mountains out of molehills. God’s way (Matt. 5:48) is plain but we insist on complicating it with both reason and sinfulness. There’s a lot that competes for our allegiance, and God invites us to make our choices for He’s no enforcer. When we simplify our approach and live God’s way ou...

One challenge with prayer is that we too easily lose interest and gently drift from our commitment to God. The cause may be found in our disappointment in God’s response to our prayer or, more often, the busyness of life. Prayer can appear drab in comparison with the many other opportunities life presents to us. Time is limited and space with God is all too easily abandoned. Yet, God inhabits the...

We’re no longer who we were once we’ve encountered and accepted Christ. Change is evident, and many testify to differences others noticed about them after they converted to Christianity. Grace begins a work of sanctification within us, by which we grow to become more like Jesus (Matt. 5:48). However, this change is gradual. Like a stag loses its antlers each year, and the resultant new growth reve...

Whilst Christians are citizens of heaven, their sphere of influence is in the world. Indeed, the discipleship is to provide evidence to an unbelieving world of the truth of the gospel of salvation through Jesus. Too often, fear of the world has created an inwardlooking church, more engaged with its own wellbeing and preservation than following in Jesus’ footsteps and willing to leave the familiar...

We are comfortable using our natural senses to make judgments. We observe, draw conclusions and make decisions based on our preconceptions. Paul prays that we might learn through the Spirit to have the eyes of our heart opened. Once again we are drawn into the reality of that which lies beyond our natural reach. God finds us, reveals the gospel and we choose if we shall respond (1 Cor. 15:1–5).

I love Andrew Murray’s book With Christ in the School of Prayer because prayer is the product of learning. It’s why I serve Waverley Abbey Trust’s mission of both helping everyone learn how to live every day with Jesus, and equipping people through practical courses with the skills to serve others. It’s taken time to discover how to pray within God’s will. In simple terms God’s will is self-eviden...

Whilst we have little knowledge of how prayer works in practice, here God’s angel encourages Israel through Zechariah. We feel pressure when we pray. Life’s problems close in, and we experience little by way of relief. Prayer requires courage and perseverance, for it is born of faith – unseen yet substantial (Heb. 11:1).

Ezra had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon under strict instructions from its king, Artaxerxes. He was to establish the Temple and teach God’s ways once more to the Israelites (Ezra 7). Discovering disobedience, Ezra humbled himself and prayed on behalf of those who faced God’s judgment (Ezra 9). This illustrates how we can take responsibility to stand and pray before God on behalf of th...

Prayer is always about putting God first. We live in an age obsessed with itself. Fascinated with self-realisation and psychometrics, delving ever deeper into our assumed personality, it’s easy to think that the world’s future benefit has something to do with me. Whilst it may, it’s not perhaps as much as we’d like to think. John the Baptist had the right understanding: our ‘I’ must decrease to ma...

We are constrained by mortal limitations but can ensure we lay a solid foundation for the next generation who choose to serve God. This is not legacy as a monument to ourselves but a commitment to commissioning others for future kingdom-building. It’s a missional provision for the ongoing work of God. Our contribution is made within our lifetime alone; our legacy is the extent to which we equip ot...

Our prayer is limited by our mortality. We see in part only (1 Cor. 12:9—10), whilst God is the beginning and end of all (Rev. 22:13). So our prayer is constrained by the limitations of our earthbound vision and understanding. Here King David is restrained in his ambition to build God’s house. Whilst the ambition is indeed godly, the timing for its execution lies in the future. This is not somethi...

Prayer offers us a sacred space in which God can work. Sacred means a place and time we set aside to be alone with God. In other words, it’s a ‘Godspace’ – where we deliberately step aside from the normal distractions of life. Prayer, self-evidently, is continuous when we choose to practise it as Paul encourages (1 Thess. 5:17), but there can be set times of more focused prayer.

I’ve frequently been asked by those who are not disciples if they can pray to God. Here we have a wonderful story for all our encouragement. A godly Gentile is commended by God’s messenger for his prayer and his generosity. God’s intention is that all should have the opportunity to receive the good news message of salvation (John 3:16). Often the journey starts with a prayer. I certainly prayed ye...

Jesus tells His disciples that life presents problems (John 16:33), and then immediately turns to prayer. Our response to life’s disappointments and troubles is to start praying. Our heart rate may be pumping with anxiety, and our mind filled with catastrophic thoughts, but we are best to pray at such times. This means looking towards heaven as the source of our hope and true future.

Hannah returns to place her son, the fruit of her prayer, into Eli’s care for training in God’s service. Her painful petitions gave rise to his birth. It is amazing how the process of prayer can alter our whole perspective of ourselves, our world and our circumstances. This is a measure of God’s engagement with us as we pray.

I like to mouth my prayers silently and so prevent my mind from wandering and pursuing its own many thought trails. I don’t focus on each phrase’s content, but remain focused on the purpose of my prayer. The mind is a challenge for each of us when praying, and we can emerge from our personal time with God with no remembrance of our actual prayers.

Prayer is an offering we bring in demonstration of our confidence in God. It’s like a present, and we want the gift to reflect our perception of the recipient as well as to be valued by them. So our prayer is to originate from a pure heart. Whilst Old Testament (OT) offerings may seem antiquated and no longer relevant, the basis on which they were established remains true today. God calls on us to...

We can find ourselves praying because of circumstance. I well remember when Katey (my first wife) and I were told we couldn’t have children; we turned to God in urgent prayer. We had a need and we figured God would fix it. Our new-found fervency in prayer, driven by our own selfish need, was surprised to find that God fondly welcomed us. Thrilled to have us praying so regularly, and taking us at o...

Prayer is never to force God’s hand. God established free will at the creation. Adam and Eve enjoyed choice in exercising obedience to God’s word. This free will has accompanied humanity from that point forward. However, Abraham had himself been guided by the intervention of an angel at the moment he was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Gen. 22:10–12). That angel is the Word of God, and now Abra...