17 September: Tuesday Refocus

‘Every art unfolds its secrets and its beauty only to the man who practices it. To the humble soul who prays in the obedience of faith, who practices prayer and intercession diligently, because God asks it, the secret of the Lord will be revealed, and the thought of the deep mystery of prayer, instead of being a weary problem, will be a source of rejoicing, adoration, and faith, in which the unceasing refrain is ever heard: "My God will hear me!”’ - Andrew Murray

It is easy to lose patience in prayer. It seems slow, and we wonder if anything is happening. It seems important and yet we wonder if we are doing it right. Like the Psalmist - and every person in Scripture, and throughout history - we wonder aloud: ‘I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where Is Your God? (Psalm 42:9-10)”’ 

But if we labor on, lean in, show up, bring our sighing and ourselves we find “…the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name (Isaiah 45:3).” This is not easy work - not because God is withholding, but because we are often half-hearted in our pursuit of the One who gives us Himself (Psalm 38:9, John 1:16). Why else would we call those rare saints who seem to have been able to lay hold of something deeper and more meaningful in prayer, warriors?

Father, would you make us persistent in prayer? Amen and amen.

Amen,

AB

10 September: Tuesday Refocus

One should hallow all that one does in one's natural life. One eats in holiness, tastes the taste of food in holiness, and the table becomes an altar. One works in holiness, and raises up the sparks which hide themselves in all tools. One walks in holiness across the fields, and the soft songs of all herbs, which they voice to God, enter into the song of our soul. - Martin Buber

For the follower of Jesus, there is no sacred/secular dividing line. Because all of life is an act of worship offered in view of the mercies of God (Romans 12:1). Eating, drinking, working, and resting give evidence to whom we belong (1 Corinthians 10:31, Psalm 127:2).  

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” Colossians 1:17

Father, may this day, and every day be lived before Your face. In view of your mercies, and consecrated to You. In Christ’s name and the Spirit’s power, amen.

Amen,

AB

3 September: Tuesday Refocus

“One of the great neglected duties of the Christian life is self-examination, and maybe self-examination is neglected because it is so humiliating an exercise.” - William Barclay

Nothing surprises God. There is no corner of creation or my heart that is not already seen and known all the way through. So when we pray with the psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24),” we pray to the One who has already “…searched me and known me! (Psalm 139:1).”

We pray asking not that God would learn something new in searching us, but that we would learn something new because God already knows “When I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether (Psalm 139:2-4).”

Father, thank You that You know us and that in Your kindness the Spirit convicts us of sin, and comforts us in our distress. Thank You for raising up the humble. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

27 August: Tuesday Refocus

“This way is first humility, second humility, third humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same, not because there are not other precepts to be explained, but, if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and behind us to fence us in, pride will wrest from our hand any good deed we do while we are in the very act of taking pleasure in it.” - Augustine

If pride comes before destruction, humility comes before exaltation (Proverbs 16:18, James 4:10). In pride we most closely resemble our first parents - and the accuser of our souls. In humility, we live as reflections of the one, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6-11

Jesus, might we be humble as you are humble. In your name, amen.

Amen,

AB

20 August: Tuesday Refocus

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love.” - Corrie Ten Boom

I am convinced that we do not pray enough - that I do not pray enough. And maybe that is in large part because we view prayer as a passive activity where we run through a laundry list of requests to God hoping that he will hear, a finger-crossed hope that he will be conformed to our will. But what if prayer looked more like wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22-32), laying our case (Job 23:4), and placing all of our longings before the Lord (Psalm 38:9)? What if prayer looked more like turning our lives and faces toward the one who knows a word before it is on our tongue (Psalm 139:4), and entrusting ourselves to the One who knows our needs (Matthew 6:32)? What if prayer looked more like calling to mind - and therefore having hope that the love and mercies of the Lord are steadfast and never ceasing, new every morning (Lamentations 3:21-23)?

If that is how we viewed prayer it is likely we would pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Father, thank you that we can come to you - the One who knows us and delights in us. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

13 August: Tuesday Refocus

“That means an encounter with God that involved not only the affection of the heart but also the convictions of the mind. We are not called to choose between a Christian life based on truth and doctrine or a life filled with spiritual power and experience. They go together. I was not being called to leave behind my theology and launch out to look for ‘something more,’ for experience. Rather, I was meant to ask the Holy Spirit to help me experience my theology.” - Tim Keller

Our souls are embodied. Therefore true, saving faith cannot be simply an ascent to knowledge - even the demons believe (James 2:19). Faith must shape us, form us, stir us, and change us from the inside out. But faith is not an unbroken string of ‘mountain top’ experiences. True saving faith is still true in the mundane and quiet moments of our lives where following God feels more like obedience and less like delight. 

One of the ways we can consistently embody our faith and experience our theology is through gathering with the people of God. Singing to one another, hearing God’s Word preached and proclaimed, serving one another, taking the bread and the cup, praying with and for one another, forgiving as we have been forgiven, giving away our money, talent, time - and our very lives.

Spirit, would you help us experience our theology. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

6 August: Tuesday Refocus

“In this life, victory often looks like endurance.” - Mark Dever

It can be easy to see endurance as something we gut out—clenched teeth, powering through. And perhaps there is an element of endurance that looks like that. But I think that Christian endurance looks more like Jesus, who, “…for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Endurance looks more like acknowledging the honest reality of the broken world but setting our hope on future glory. More like dying to ourselves in subtle and small ways that go unseen by everyone but the Father than single moments of self-denial. More like carrying a cross than seeking comfort. More like setting our minds on things eternal. More like Jesus.

Father, may endurance increase in your people for your glory and our good, in Christ’s name, and the Spirit’s power. Amen.

Amen,

AB

30 July: Tuesday Refocus

“Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.” - Eugene Peterson

God has spoken and is speaking. He spoke all things into existence and sustains the universe by the word of His power (Genesis 1:3, Hebrews 1:3). His voice brings forth life, and melts the earth (Psalm 29:9, Psalm 46:6). His Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:15). His word is ‘living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of heart.’ Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God, the voice of God is not an accessory to a decent, moral, Christian life, but the reshaping reality of all life for followers of Jesus. ‘But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”’ Matthew 4:4

God, You alone have the words of eternal life, may we be nurtured and mobilized by Your Word, for Your glory and for our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

23 July: Tuesday Refocus

"Man cannot break the laws of God. He can only break himself against them." - G.K. Chesterton

Christ is the cornerstone of His Church (Ephesians 2:19-22). He is the one who created and sustains the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). For some, this truth is not foundational but offensive - it is a place of stumbling (1 Peter 2:8). But for followers of Jesus, this truth is an anchor for the soul, and a sure foundation (Hebrews 6:19, Isaiah 28:16).

Christ as the foundation means that I do not get to build my life according to my will. Christ as the foundation means that he determines the scope and shape of my life. My desires must be purified, my mind must be renewed, my affections must be rightly aimed, and my heart must be made new. This is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit continually taking me down to the foundation of Christ. This work is not without pain, not without struggle, but ultimately, what else would we need?

“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!” Psalm 61:1-4

Amen and amen.

AB

16 July: Tuesday Refocus

"Ever-loving God, who having loved us loves us still, help us to hear again your word, 'By this shall they know you are my disciples; that you love one another." Turn our hostility into hospitality and our callousness into care. Through Christ, we pray. Amen.” - A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People

Forgiveness and love go hand in hand (Luke 7:47). If enemies of God can be welcomed as friends, and called family - what a small thing it is for us to love one another (Colossians 1:21, John 15:15, 1 Peter 2:9-10)?

Father, may we as your children show how much you have loved and forgiven us by loving and forgiving one another. In Christ’s name, and the Spirit’s power, amen.

Amen,

AB

9 July: Tuesday Refocus

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” - Galatians 6:2

Sin is heavy - the sin from within and without. If many hands make work light in life, how much more at a soul level as we wrestle not ‘…against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)’? 

How deeply we need one another as the family of God. How desperately the world needs to see the family of God being known by their love for one another, and willingness to bear burdens rather than devouring one another - especially those who are caught in transgressions (John 13:35, Galatians 6:1)?

While the Pharisees tied up heavy burdens for people (without lifting a finger to help), Jesus takes on our flesh and bone, becomes our sin, so that we might become His righteousness (Matthew 23:4, John 1:1-15, 2 Corinthians 5:21). When we bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters, in a small way we become like Christ to them. May that be true today for you and me.

Father, may our relationships be deep, our burden-bearing without end, in Christ’s name and power, amen.

Amen,

AB

2 July: Tuesday Refocus

In 2024 so much of our lives are mediated through a screen: computers, smartphones, and social media. Perhaps this is not all bad, but one of the functions of the digital age seems to be the ease with which we stay vigilant: looking for people and opportunities for correction, condemnation, or cancellation. But followers of Jesus are called to something other than this kind of disembodied disintegration:

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” - Colossians 3:15-17

We are called to live:

…with Christ’s peace ruling our hearts, recognizing our identity as one body. 

…with thankfulness.

…with Christ’s Word living so deeply in our hearts that it overflows in teaching, wisdom, and song.

…with everything we do aimed toward the glory of God and thankfulness to God.

May this paradigm be increasingly true in our lives - in person and online.

Spirit, we need your help to grow these things in our lives, would you work deeply in the people of God to that end? Amen and amen.

Amen,

AB