Month: August 2023

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Time Tested Devotion — Readers’ Choice

Scripture Focus: Colossians 4.2-6
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Originally published on October 21, 2022, based on readings from Colossians 4.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Cheryl, South Dakota — Thank you! This touched my soul! I look forward to applying it to my daily life again. I have used this process before, didn’t realize it had a name.

Barbara, Tennessee — Reminder of this examen came at a perfect time for this. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours stewing unhealthily! This is helping me move on. Thank you, Lord!

Reflection: Time Tested Devotion — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

One time-tested way of devoting oneself to prayer is the prayer of Examen. First published in 1548 in the Spiritual Exercises, by Saint Ignatius, this prayer has been used throughout the Church, by both clergy and laypersons.

There are many versions of the Examen, including the version at this link. The Examen is adaptable and customizable. As you implement it and get it into your memory, you can use the prayer at any time.

Pray the Examen regularly and it will tutor you in practicing the presence of God. When you are more sensitive to his presence and leading, you can become a reliable source of God’s influence and action, no matter where you go.

For a simple, short version of the Examen, use the following five actions: Awareness, Analysis, Admission, Acceptance, Anticipation.

Awareness: Pause. Relax. Release any concerns your mind is holding. Become aware that you are in God’s presence and have been continually…when you are settled peacefully, thank God for his presence and ask for his grace to be more aware of him, especially in the next few minutes.

Analysis: Review moments from the past day or week in which you sensed God’s presence with you. When and how did you sense him? How did you interact with God or act on God’s prompting or on God’s behalf? … Celebrate moments in which Christ’s grace, love, and righteousness shone through you. Humbly acknowledge that these moments were empowered by the Holy Spirit and not yourself. 

Admission: As you review you will also recall shortcomings and failures. Confess sins with the knowledge that Jesus has forgiven you. Confess not just actions of sin, but motivations behind them. (Not just that you shouted in anger but that you have an unhealthy desire for dominance and control rooted in a failure to trust God…)

Acceptance: Celebrate that, through Jesus, you are forgiven, reinstated, and accepted. This is the good news, the gospel! In addition, celebrate that Christ is at work in and through us for our sanctification and perfection.

Anticipation: Look forward to tomorrow with faith and anticipation of the presence of Christ going before you and being with you. Ask for grace to be more aware of his presence with you going forward, and close with the Lord’s prayer or another prayer chosen from scripture.

The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in Heaven, holy is your name.
Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

*We will return to prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime, tomorrow.


Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 16 (Listen 3:45)
1 John 4 (Listen 2:58)

Read more about Mustard Seed Prayers
Allow your prayer to be shaped and rewritten by your relationship with God.

Mustard Seed Prayers—Readers’ Choice

Read more about Breathing Prayers
Breath prayers are simply short prayers which can be said “in a breath.” These are often taken from scripture.

Breathing Prayers
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The Crowned Thorn — Readers’ Choice

Scripture Focus: Judges 9:15, 19
15 “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’
19 So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! 

Originally published on July 7, 2023, based on readings from Judges 9:15, 19.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Brian, Washington D.C. — This is a brilliant reflection. This is yet another reason that shows how the Bible speaks to us today. Thank you so much!

Reflection: The Crowned Thorn — Readers’ Choice
By Erin Newton

Abimelek sought power through his own self-promotion, persuasion, and craftiness. He won the hearts of the people who later raised his authority above the typical judge and crowned him king. He established his slogans, “I am one of you!” “I am better than all of them!”

His immediate use of power was bloodshed. Abimelek slaughtered his opponents and set up a posse of “reckless scoundrels.” He ruled through terror and force. The ordained mark of leadership of previous judges was the presence, voice, and appointment by God. Abimelek was a rogue. He nominated himself and listened only to himself.

By the grace of God, Jotham survived Abimelek’s murderous episode. In a parable, he called the people to consider the leader they had chosen. Abimelek was not an olive tree providing oil for divine worship. He was not a fig tree bringing life-giving food to the community. He was not a vine that bears the grapes that make wine for celebrations. He was a thornbush. There is nothing beneficial to the plant that hurts you when you seek it as refuge.

The succession of authority is often a tenuous event whether the passing of power is on a local or national scale or within municipal or religious communities. People begin to promote themselves seeking to diminish the worthiness of an opponent and create doubt about anyone other than themselves. The story of Abimelek stands as an opportunity to mark the features of a bad leader.

  •  A bad leader creates a self-centered world. There is no room for sympathy, grace, mercy, or compassion unless it is self-serving.
  •  A bad leader welcomes more power. Like Abimelek, the power granted initially is quickly laid aside for more power and prestige.
  •  A bad leader divides the community. Quick to establish an “us vs. them” mentality, bad leaders avoid negotiations.
  •  A bad leader invites violence. If an opponent cannot be silenced through the passing of power, bad leaders will silence all supposed opponents through bloodshed.
  • A bad leader is not a safe harbor for the community. The security offered by the bad leader wounds the community instead.

Jotham’s parable ends with a plea for introspection. Has their appointed leader done good things? Or is their leader guilty and dishonorable? Leaders should be a joy to the community, not a thorn.

Are we appointing leaders of our churches, organizations, or governments that are more like a nettle than a balm?


Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him! — Psalm 34.8


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 15 (Listen 5:46)
1 John 3 (Listen 3:21)

Read more about Marks of Leadership — Selflessness
Tests of leadership are almost always connected to selflessness.

Marks of Leadership — Selflessness

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Be Amazed — Readers’ Choice

Scripture Focus: Matthew 7.28-29
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. 

Originally published on February 13, 2023, based on readings from Matthew 7.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Melissa, Texas — Thank you.

Reflection: Be Amazed — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

Matthew and Luke (Luke 6.12-49), draw on imagery from Moses at Sinai when recording the Sermon on the Mount. Out in the wilderness, a leader goes up a mountain. A small group goes with him. Crowds follow below. From the mountain come moral teachings that define a new way to live for a new community.

The crowds following Jesus were a mix of society. Among them would be religious authorities and experts, average Jewish citizens, Roman officials, pagans, Greeks, and of course outcasts from all walks of life. Those who find beauty in Jesus’ words today are similarly diverse. Passages and principles from Matthew 5-7 are well-known and admired. Even those who reject religion, recognize that these teachings describe a beautiful way to live. Even today, the crowds are amazed at Jesus’ teaching.

Jesus’ teaching is a guide, an invitation, to live life in a way that is life-giving. These teachings are tied to Jesus’ authority and to the Law. Jesus often said, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” Jesus wasn’t canceling or replacing the Law. He was correcting bad interpretations. (Matthew 5.21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44)

The Law, as it had been taught for centuries, had cracks and corruptions. The poor, outsiders, and widows slipped through these cracks. Many provisions in the law meant to support them were given legal loopholes allowing religious exemptions to true righteousness. (Mark 7.10-13) This is just one example of the blindness and corruption of the religious leaders of the time.

We can’t disconnect Jesus from his divinity when considering his challenging words. If his divine claims are false, all his teachings are only the ideas of a madman. If Jesus is God, as we believe, then he is the ultimate fulfillment of the Law and the ultimate authority in our lives. What corruption do we need Jesus to confront today? What cracks need to be filled in? What sins do we need to escape? 

The Sermon on the Mount isn’t just fluffy ideas about being nice to one another. It describes a kind of exodus. The power structures and selfish principles of the world are overturned one by one and, for those willing, an escape from brutality and greed opens up. His teaching excited the outcasts and frustrated or shocked those in power. It still does today.

Climb the mountain. Join the crowd. Be amazed at Jesus’ teachings. Let them shock, offend, and correct you.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. — Psalm 144.5


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 14 (Listen 9:01)
1 John 2 (Listen 4:04)

Read more about Killing With our Hearts
Some of the most popular sayings of Jesus are here in Matthew’s fifth chapter. So are many of the most ignored sayings of Jesus.

Killing With our Hearts

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Amazing Jesus — Readers’ Choice

Scripture Focus: Matthew 8.16-17
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 
“He took up our infirmities 
and bore our diseases.”

Originally published on February 14, 2023, based on readings from Matthew 8.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Jon, Hong Kong/TX — I recently came across an old recording of Michael Card at some conference and he talked how about Jesus’ response to faith in others was most frequently amazement.

Reflection: Amazing Jesus — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

Matthew closes this section saying that the healings prove something about Jesus.

The central feature of this section of healings is the exemplary faith of the centurion. The centurion who previously would send the servant out on his behalf, went out on behalf of his servant. Jesus is amazed. He says the centurion has greater faith than anyone in Israel. Pause for a moment and think about the people to whom Jesus is comparing the centurion…

No one Jesus has found in Israel has shown greater faith than the centurion? Not Mary, Jesus’ mother? Not the twelve disciples? Not John the Baptist? Not the devout leper in the previous scene who said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”? None of them had greater faith than the centurion? Apparently. So, does it take “amazing” faith to be healed?

The other time in scripture where Jesus is “amazed” is visiting his hometown, where he would receive no honor and find no faith—yet he still healed. (Matthew 13.58; Mark 6.5-6) Faith is not a currency we purchase miracles with. If it was, how could those bankrupt of faith be healed? Jesus’ healings are connected to his identity and his mission, not our faith. 

Jesus’ healings validate his authority to teach and to forgive sins. (Matthew 9.6) But Jesus’ healings are more than a flex against the religious establishment. They tell us who Jesus is. Matthew records them to prove that Jesus is the one Isaiah prophesied. Jesus took weaknesses and sickness on himself to prove that he was the one who could take upon himself the sickness of death.

Healing is an emotional topic because it touches people we know. I have known people healed through medical science and people whose healing was inexplicable to medical science. I’ve also known people who prayed fervently for healing, yet died.

When someone dies, it sounds like an insensitive cop-out to say ultimate healing will come at the resurrection. I wouldn’t recommend it as a counseling strategy. However, we must remember that resurrection is the only form of healing that is not temporary. Every person you read about being healed in the Bible, died eventually. Every one of them will be ultimately healed at the resurrection.

Even today, healings tell the amazing story that Jesus’ resurrection is real and those who aren’t healed now await the full resurrection-healing that he promises.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
How great is your goodness, O Lord! Which you have laid up for those who fear you; which you have done in the sight of all. — Psalm 31.19


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 13 (Listen 3:54)
1 John 1 (Listen 1:28)

Read more about Pain and Healing
Hosea shows how far God is willing to go to heal and restore. God is committed to our healing and restoration. Call on him.

Pain and Healing

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What We Loose On Earth — Readers’ Choice

Scripture Focus: Matthew 18.3-7, 10, 18-20
3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 

6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 

19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Originally published on February 24, 2023, based on readings from Matthew 18.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Brian, Washington DC — Thank you for this great word on what is happening in Kentucky.

Barbara, Tennessee — Excited and praying for the Lord to loose his Holy Spirit further in our country and world! We are praying for a real outpouring revival…for the Holy Spirit to fall on us!

Reflection: What We Loose On Earth — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

I grew up in churches that didn’t just pray for revival but planned them. A joke I often heard from preachers at revivals was that “Like taking a bath every day, we have a revival every year, whether we need it or not.” 

This joke acknowledges the awkwardness that an event on the calendar can be called a revival, but that doesn’t make it so. Calling these meetings “revivals” was aspirational. Revival was what we hoped for.

The term “revival” has often been tainted by unscrupulous, charlatan preachers of the past. Today politicians co-opt the term for political fundraisers which have little to do with the Spirit of God.

Though we can’t put revival on a calendar and we can’t remove the stain of past abuses of the term, it doesn’t mean the genuine article doesn’t exist. A revival movement with all the marks of being genuine sparked at Asbury University in Kentucky on February 8th. 

After that day’s chapel service, a spontaneous, round-the-clock time of prayer, singing, and testimony began. This was led and continued not by plans or schedules but by the hearts of students who were moved to do so. As I write this on Tuesday evening, the continuous service on campus is scheduled to end on Friday, the day this devotional will post. Services are currently being planned to continue in other locations and “The Outpouring,” as it was called, has inspired similar events at churches and other college campuses across the United States.

Many people hearing of this responded with hope but many responded with cynicism. Cynicism is just as lazy as naïveté. Neither requires thoughtful evaluation. 

We would be wise not to do anything to make these young followers of Christ stumble. Revival often begins among young people and Jesus has a special place in his heart for young believers. (Matthew 18.6, 10) Instead of doubting these young people and quenching their spirits, (1 Thessalonians 5.19-22) perhaps we should become like them. Instead of sniping from the sidelines, “Nothing will come of this.” We should pray fervently, “God, use this for your glory!”

Many great movements of God can be traced back to experiences such as the one at Asbury. 

We should not seek to copy-paste the Asbury experience into our communities. But we should seek God’s face, asking him to loose his Spirit on earth in our community in his own unique fashion. (Matthew 18.18)

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
In the due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed this message in the desert of Judaea: “ Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” — Matthew 3.1-2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 10 (Listen 4:34)
2 Peter 2 (Listen 3:52)

This Weekend’s Readings
1 Samuel 11 (Listen 2:43) 2 Peter 3 (Listen 3:21)
1 Samuel 12 (Listen 4:19) Jude (Listen 3:52)

Read more about A Responsive Heart
Josiah’s revival was unlike anything seen before. No king ever repented and turned back to God like Josiah.

A Responsive Heart

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What will you hear when you read the Bible with us at a sustainable, two-year pace? What will God say to you through his Word?

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