Restore Us Again

“Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing

love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.” Psalm 85:4-7 (NIV)



The sons of Korah plead with the Lord to restore the people of Israel. They ask some penetrating questions. Will God be angry with the nation forever? Will He prolong His displeasure for future lifetimes? Won’t God revive His people so they can rejoice in Him?

I heard a story that illustrates the life-giving freedom of God. A dear friend happened to see the father of one of her daughter’s old boyfriends. The father told my friend that his son was no longer incarcerated.

The son had been sentenced for multiple lifetimes for confinement and a statutory violation. The sentence was harsh. In recent years the judge has been removed from the bench. A lot of his decisions have been reconsidered; this case may have been one of those. This fairly young man’s mother never got to see her son’s release. The father joyfully shared the news with my friend.

When we seek God’s forgiveness, He erases His disappointment in us. When we ask Him to revive us, we seek peace with Him. When He restores us, He, once more, grants us His salvation. For this act of mercy, we should rejoice.

Prayers for Revival and Unity

Dear Lord:



Please pour your Holy Spirit out on all our world. Let the people of each nation feel your presence as they go through these traumatic times. Enter into the hearts of the people who inhabit Your lands. Allow your children to petition you with their needs and desires before they make any decision especially if it affects the life of another.

Let your Holy Spirit be felt in your houses of worship. Enter into each service with those in attendance. Strengthen us who call on Your name. Guide us as we walk with You. Comfort those of us who grieve. Direct us who seek our way. Help us as we sometimes fall short and miss the mark.

Allow Your Spirit to be present in each marriage and family in our lands. Speak to each heart, tell them of Your love for them and of Your plans for their lives.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen



Prayer for Unity

Dear Lord:

We see a lot of heartache and sadness around us. We see people hurting others, people not enjoying one another's company, senseless acts of violence. We don't always understand the reasons for this dysfunction but You do. Please help us to put away our differences and learn to work together in this world, so we may work with one another and with You in the next one.

Please restore unity and peace to our world.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen

Restore and Grant

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and

grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:12 (NIV)



When children get into trouble with their parents, they want to regain the feeling that all things are forgiven. As a teenager, when I knew I was not in my mother’s good graces I would go out of my way to be sure that I had done all my chores before she got home from work.

King David sinned against God. He realized his transgression when the prophet Nathan confronted him. In Psalm 51, he pleads with God to do a new work in his heart.


When we fail God, we go through the same steps: we realize we have sinned; we ask forgiveness; we petition the Lord to restore to us the sense that we are loved,

God answered David’s plea. In spite of the dysfunction of his family, in later years a descendant of David gave birth to the Son of God.

Our Fruit

Read Matthew 3:110



“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8



John the Baptist preaches to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He calls them ‘a brood of vipers’, a very critical phrase. The Pharisees stayed away from those who non-Jewish. The Sadducees only believed in the first five books of God’s Word. These two groups were always at odds with each other. But they both opposed Jesus.

Earlier in this passage, John tells his hearers to “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” To repent means to change behavior.

We know neither group followed John’s direction. The two groups interfered with Jesus’ ministry at every turn.

How does John’s message apply to us in the 21st Century? When we come to Christ, we are all eager to do what God tells us. A little while later, things get hard and we begin to let our old selves take over. We get confused in what we are to do. Basically we take our eyes off Jesus and believe we can live our lives the way we want.

But we can’t. When we ask Jesus to live in our hearts, we turn over control of our lives to Him. We have to do this every day. God wants us to ask each day what it is He has for us to do and how He wants us to act.

Our actions, as well as our reactions, are supposed to honor Christ. We can no longer let things slide by, we have to align our behavior, as well as our hearts, with what would honor Him

Loving God

“‘Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that

God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all

your heat, with all your understanding and with all your strength,

and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings

and sacrifices. ’” Mark 12:32-34 (NIV)



The teacher of the law got it right. He agreed with Jesus on the point of what was the greatest commandment.

Our Lord was quoting passages from what we now call the Old Testament. The teachers knew these passages. They knew the words, not necessarily the intent.

In our 21st Century world, do we forget to put in practice what we learned as children to actually think kindly of our neighbors? Even when they choose to live differently than we do?

We have lived in our home for 35 years. At one time we knew they people who lived around us, eleven families. Some, we knew better than others. People died and others moved. Now, we know two sets of our neighbors.

At least two of the houses on the street are empty-one for a few years now; the other has become a rental. Some of the people who have moved in choose not to acknowledge our presence. If I would happen to see a dangerous situation transpire, I would do what I could to take away the burden.

If any of them had a need I know I should help with, my reason for choosing to help any of them would be because of my love for God.

A Measure for Giving

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give

what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver.”

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NIV



God looks down on His children and smiles when they give aid and assistance to those who need help. A family friend owns her own business, a hair salon. She recently expanded its services. During an open house she arranged with a local charity to collect older hair appliances from clients to supply the charity with those devices to help the charity’s focus group to have a better self image.

Our friend’s sister-in-law works for a dentist. That dentist donated small toothbrushes and toothpaste to the charity. Oh, just so you know, the dentist and the hair salon are located in different parts of our county.

The nonprofit ministry I work in has sponsors for half of the children in their focus group. Each sponsor is asked to provide school supplies and a Christmas present to their sponsored child.

Several churches in our town have food pantries, most stocked by donations from their congregations. A north-side church near us sends me their newsletter. That church collects canned goods for a smaller church on the west side of town.

A few years ago, one of our relatives had a fire in her home. They lost everything. My sister-in-law called me to see if I could help gather items for them. Not long before this, our school system adopted a school uniform code. I made one phone call and received school uniforms for the daughter. These came from a lady at our church who had a girl just a bit older than the girl in need. The founder of the ministry I work with brought me book bags with school supplies for the younger two children. This lady was settling her late uncle’s estate and also brought me dishes and pots and pans for our extended family members.

One of the elderly women of the church handed me some money. We were going down to see our friends in the southern part of the state. There is an outlet mall in that county. I took the donation and added to it and purchased kitchen towels and potholders and oven mitts for the mother.

The scripture tells us God loves a cheerful giver. In each of the stories I have shared, God has blessed each of those who have extended mercy to those who were hurting and in need.

I’m certain each one of you can recall others who have reached out to comfort ones who have benefited from mercy at a time in their lives when they were hurting.

God’s Love Seen in Us

“We know we have come to know him if we obey his commands. . . .

if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.

This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as

Jesus did.” 1 John 2:3, 5-6 (NIV)



John tells us our knowing God is a result of our obedience to His commands and if we live like He tells us to.

How can we do these things in the 21st Century? We can study the scriptures to learn what God desires for our lives. Our prayer life can focus on what He has for us each day.

As we study God’s word, we should apply His messages to our lives. We should also turn over what we learn to Him in prayer, giving thanks for what he has taught us and seeking His guidance for what we need to incorporate into our lives in order to become more like Him.

A dear friend of mine used to say, “Jesus Christ makes a difference in our lives.” She continued with this thought, “That difference should be evident to those around us.” We are to let Christ’s love permeate our hearts and minds, letting that love fill us and be apparent to those we meet.

One of the nicest things a child of God can hear from someone he or she meets is to be asked, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”

We should all strive to display signs in our actions that would cause an observer to ask that question of us. We can display God to others only if we have His love in our hearts.