Author: John Tillman

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The Shema and The Lord’s Prayer — Readers’ Choice


Readers’ Choice is here: Over two-thirds of our devotionals get emailed responses from readers like you. Hearing that what we have written is meaningful to you is meaningful to us. That’s why we love sharing some of your comments and messages. Thank you, readers. We do what we do to serve you. There’s still time to tell us about your favorite, most meaningful posts of the year. If you shared it with someone, or it helped you, let us know via email, direct message, or by filling out the linked form.

Links for today’s readings:

Oct 6  Read: 1 Kings 9 Listen: (4:16) Read: Psalms 28-29 Listen: (2:41)

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:

Russ, CA

Susan, TX — Come into my walled city and occupy me newly. All these furnishings, gifts, talents were provided by you. Take over and use them to draw others into your love.

This post was originally published on June 2, 2025, based on readings from Deuteronomy 6.3-9 and Matthew 6.9-13.

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 6.3-9

3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Matthew 6.9-13

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

Reflection: The Shema and The Lord’s Prayer — Readers’ Choice

By John Tillman

Many people today pray daily using The Lord’s Prayer which Jesus taught his disciples in the New Testament. Jesus and his disciples however, already grew up saying a daily prayer. It was a prayer taken from Moses’ speech to the people about to enter the land and was, in Jesus’ day, said twice daily. Jesus answered using this prayer when he was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was. (Mark 12:28-34; Matthew 22.36-40)

This prayer is called, “the Shema.” The Shema takes its name from the first word of the prayer. The Hebrew word shema is sometimes translated to listen or hear. In this prayer, and elsewhere in scripture, hearing and obeying are intrinsically linked in the Hebrew language. Shema implies not just hearing words but carrying them out.

In The Lord’s Prayer, action is also implied. Praying “your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven,” is not intended to be a passive wish with no participation on our part. In both the Shema and The Lord’s Prayer, we are expected to engage in concrete actions once we stop praying.

We will pray today, combining these two prayers from scripture. Before you rise from prayer, ask God to guide your feet and hands to enact his word.

Hear, Listen, Obey

We ask you to hear us, God, but we need to hear you.|

You alone are God, our only Father in Heaven

Your name is holy as we are to be holy.
Father, Son, and Spirit are one, as we are to be one.

You alone are the provider of our bread.
You alone are the forgiver of our debts.

In return, Lord, we love you with all our heart, showing your love to others in forgiveness
In return, Lord, we love you with all our soul, opening our inner being to your indwelling
In return, Lord, we love you with all our strength. The strength of our body and mind, we give to you for your service and will.

Tie your Word to us that…
In your strength, may we resist temptation.
In your love, may we rescue the falling.
In your Spirit, may we speak the gospel with our words, carry the gospel with our feet, and enact the gospel with our hands.


Video: (Shema — The Bible Project)

The Lord’s Prayer:

We will take a break from The Divine Hours prayers for the month of October and instead pray Dallas Willard’s paraphrase of The Lord’s Prayer:

Dear Father, always near us, may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us—may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven.

Give us today the things we need today, and forgive us our sins and impositions on you as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.

Please don’t put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one in charge, and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours-forever-which is just the way we want it!

Readers’ Choice is here!

#ReadersChoice is time for you to share favorite Park Forum posts from the year.

What post helped you pray more frequently?

https://forms.gle/aSD7X5psHqjSMtBFA

Read more: Public, Prayerful, Persistent Protest

Daniel prayed in defiance of an unjust law. He was guilty before the law of the land, but blameless before God.

Public, Prayerful, Persistent Protest
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Dream On — Readers’ Choice


Readers’ Choice is here: Over two-thirds of our devotionals get emailed responses from readers like you. Hearing that what we have written is meaningful to you is meaningful to us. That’s why we love sharing some of your comments and messages. Thank you, readers. We do what we do to serve you. There’s still time to tell us about your favorite, most meaningful posts of the year. If you shared it with someone, or it helped you, let us know via email, direct message, or by filling out the linked form.

Links for today’s readings:

Oct 2 Read: 1 Kings 4-5 Listen: (7:21) Read: Psalms 22 Listen: (3:49)

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:

Dave, TN — Thank you! He never leaves us. He is faithful.

Brian, DC — Many in my extended family can identify with this reflection. Some were never known or seen outside the family. Others were late bloomers whose gifts impacted people across the world. My brother and I think about these things a lot.

Barbara, TN — Hallelujah! Thank you for the explanation of the feelings that come with ups and downs! It is the downs in hindsight that leave me with more assurance of his care and presence!

This post was originally published on February 2, 2025, based on readings from Genesis 40.7-8, 23.

Scripture Focus: Genesis 40.7-8, 23

7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Reflection: Dream On — Readers’ Choice

By John Tillman

From favorite to outcast. From a son treated like a prince to a slave treated like a criminal. From dream teller to dream interpreter.

The ups and downs of Joseph’s life sound exciting in a story but would be awful to live through.

Joseph was rejected, abused, and nearly killed for his dreams. After his brothers’ attack, the muck of the cistern, the shame of enslavement, the shock of sexual abuse, the scandal of false accusation and being imprisoned for something he did not do, he must have been questioning his and his family’s interpretation of his dreams.

Instead of the Sun, Moon, and stars bowing to him, Joseph is imprisoned. Instead of being the dreamer, he hears others’ dreams. Instead of sharing dreams that make others jealous, he hears others’ dreams and wishes for a similar outcome.

I’ve often wondered if interpreting the dreams of the prisoners was a flash of hope for Joseph or a mark of despair.

Was it exciting to use his skills? Or, was it a painful reminder of his apparent failure? Did it boost confidence that God would fulfill his dreams? Or did he wonder why these men’s dreams should be fulfilled within days while he waited years? Did he see them as encouragement from God? Or did he wonder why a pagan cupbearer’s dream should come true, when his dream, given by the one true God, seemed denied?

The repetition in the last verse of this chapter, I think, hints at Joseph’s mood. “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” (Genesis 40.23) Repeatedly, Joseph’s hopes were dashed and his dreams crashed.

Do you feel unremembered? Forgotten? Have you been in a downward spiral away from the dreams you thought God had for you? Have you gotten cast into cisterns, mired in mud, mistreated, or thrown in a prison of doubt?

Joseph’s journey is a picture for us of the path of Jesus, our suffering savior. As we follow Jesus, we will walk this path too.

Joseph was not forgotten in prison. Jesus was not abandoned in the grave. Certainly we are not forgotten or abandoned when the ups of our lives turn to downs.

Let us remain faithful in the downs and humble in the ups. Not every dream is of God, but every dream from God will come true. All God’s promises are “yes,” in Jesus.

Dream on.

The Lord’s Prayer:

We will take a break from The Divine Hours prayers for the month of October and instead pray Dallas Willard’s paraphrase of The Lord’s Prayer:

Dear Father, always near us, may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us—may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven.

Give us today the things we need today, and forgive us our sins and impositions on you as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.

Please don’t put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one in charge, and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours-forever-which is just the way we want it!

Readers’ Choice is here!

#ReadersChoice is time for you to share favorite Park Forum posts from the year.
What post reminded you of Christ’s love?

https://forms.gle/aSD7X5psHqjSMtBFA

Read more: Inaugurating The Era of the Servant

Jesus is the fulfillment of every era and every need. Today, his body, the church, is called to live out the era of love and service.

Inaugurating The Era of the Servant
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Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel — Readers’ Choice

Readers’ Choice is here: Over two-thirds of our devotionals get emailed responses from readers like you. Hearing that what we have written is meaningful to you is meaningful to us. That’s why we love sharing some of your comments and messages. Thank you, readers. We do what we do to serve you. There’s still time to tell us about your favorite, most meaningful posts of the year. If you shared it with someone, or it helped you, let us know via email, direct message, by or filling out the linked form.

From John: We begin Readers’ Choice this year with the post that got more positive responses than any other this year. The gospel must be protected from those who would corrupt it and manipulate it for other, worldly means. We continue to pray that this will come to pass so that many will be saved. I repost here, at the beginning of the post, the clarification I posted at the end of the devotional on its original publication date:

“Because this post condemns a phrase used in politics, I want to clarify how and when The Park Forum has and will speak about political issues. At The Park Forum, we do not and will not have a partisan affiliation. We do not and will not endorse or condemn any candidate or party. We do not and will not write according to the headlines of the day, but according to the text of the day. However, when the text brings up truths that are relevant to political issues of the day, we will speak to those issues according to the text and the whole counsel of scripture without regard or deference to any party or politician’s opinion. We do not seek to be “swayed by others, but…teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” (Mark 12.14) We have readers from both major political parties in the United States and we need faithful Christians to be in both parties. Suppose a Christian is in the Republican or Democratic party. In that case, they are not there to toe the line as a good Republican or a good Democrat any more than Moses was to be a good Egyptian, Esther a good Persian, Daniel a good Babylonian, or Shiphrah and Puah obedient subjects of Pharaoh. Whatever your partisan affiliation, rather than toe a party line, we pray you will stand on scripture and be a check on your own party in the name of Jesus Christ. The Park Forum does not exist to change politics but to inform, educate, and inspire a vibrant faith that disciples the reader, strengthens their community of faith, and blesses the world with the gospel of Christ.”

Links for today’s readings:

Oct 1   Read: 1 Kings 3 Listen: (4:29) Read: Psalms 20-21Listen: (2:37)

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:

Barbara, TN — Thank you, John!

Paula, SC — Thank you John! We belong to Christ and are always to live out HIS message.

Terri, CO — Thank you so much for this article! Thank you for speaking the truth boldly.

Lark — Thank you.

This post was originally published on February 18, 2025, based on readings from Exodus 1.8-10, 18-22.

Scripture Focus: Exodus 1.8-10, 18-22

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Reflection: Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel — Readers’ Choice

By John Tillman

“There’s too many detestable foreigners endangering our country.”

Sound familiar? It should. It’s the ideology of the wicked Pharaoh at the beginning of Exodus. Similar ideologies have gripped many governments throughout history.

The spirit of Pharaoh echoes in Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler. He described the threat of non-Germans “poisoning the blood” of the country. He claimed their bad genes weakened the human race and accused them of plotting to control the government and oppress true Germans. Those deemed to be “poisoning the blood” of Nazi Germany were first vilified, then isolated in ghettos, then forcibly relocated to prison labor camps, then executed.

Pharaoh had followed a similar path. The Israelites were isolated, crushed with oppressive, brutal forced labor policies and violence. Then, Pharaoh instituted policies to murder their children.

The spirit of Pharaoh also shows up in China’s persecution of the Uyghur people and Russia’s treatment of Muslim Tatars and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv in Crimea.

“Poisoning the blood” has also been heard with increasing frequency in the last five years of American politics. It is unusual how broadly this phrase has been accepted and normalized. In a poll last year, one-third of Americans (including 60 percent of White Evangelical Protestants) agree with the sentiment that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the United States. (Axios article)

The approval of the phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” among Christians is theologically wrong, morally reprehensible, and politically dangerous. This phrase poisons the heart of the gospel. To believe this phrase, we must call Paul (Acts 17.26; Galatians 3.28), Peter (Acts 2.14-17, 10.34-36; 1 Peter 2.9-10), and Jesus (John 17.21; Matthew 28.19-20) liars.

At The Park Forum, we do not and will not endorse or condemn any political candidate or party, but we pray that faithful Christians in any political party will openly condemn this phrase, its implications, and any policies based in its racist logic. We pray that faithful Christians who have endorsed this phrase will repent after understanding its source, its theological errors, and the logical outcomes of believing it.

We pray that, like Shiphrah and Puah, faithful Christians will resist unjust rulers and policies in any way that God enables. We pray that the hearts of many that have gone cold, will be renewed. We pray that the nations that come to our country, especially those who are fleeing persecution from Pharaoh-like governments in their countries, would hear and experience freedom through the gospel of Christ and the salvation of their souls.

The Lord’s Prayer:

We will take a break from The Divine Hours prayers for the month of October and instead pray Dallas Willard’s paraphrase of The Lord’s Prayer:

Dear Father, always near us,
may your name be treasured and loved,
may your rule be completed in us-
may your will be done here on earth in
just the way it is done in heaven.
Give us today the things we need today,
and forgive us our sins and impositions on you
as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.
Please don’t put us through trials,
but deliver us from everything bad.
Because you are the one in charge,
and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours-forever-
which is just the way we want it!

Readers’ Choice is here!

#ReadersChoice is time for you to share favorite Park Forum posts from the year.

What post lifted your spirit?

https://forms.gle/aSD7X5psHqjSMtBFA

Read more: Divide et Impera

There are both earthly and spiritual emperors who wish to divide and rule over us through the use of division and conspiracy. 

Divide et Impera
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On What Are You Meditating?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: 1 Kings 2 Listen: (7:45)  Read: Psalms 19 Listen: (1:52)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 19.1-4b, 14

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world…

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Reflection: On What Are You Meditating?

By John Tillman

John Lennox says, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” (God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?) It doesn’t make sense that the universe makes sense unless there is a mind behind it.

In Psalm 19 the universe speaks. Heavens and skies pour forth speech, despite having no speech, words, or sound. Soundless voices and wordless words echo on earth as the heat of the sun gives everything life. How can a languageless universe lecture us and what could we learn?

Perhaps it is not that mathematics, physics, and other sciences don’t say anything about God. Perhaps we have forgotten how to read their alphabet and decode their vocabulary and grammar. But God doesn’t leave us with only this forgotten language to guide us. What is revealed by the universe leads us to discover God’s law, principles, and prophets.

The rest of the psalm describes the effects of remembering our “letters” to read the speech of the universe and the other means God uses to speak to us.

The ways of God affect our thinking, reasoning, and action. God’s law refreshes our souls and minds. God’s statutes cause the simple to act like the wise. God’s principles bring joy to our hearts. God’s commands brighten our eyes. The fear of the Lord sustains us forever. From our inner emotions and thinking, to our outward actions and perceptions, God’s law shapes us.

Pleasing God begins with meditation and continues with communication and action. The results of this meditation are rewarding. God’s words become more valuable than anything we treasure and more pleasing than anything we might taste. They protect us by warnings, detect hidden faults, and free us from the tyranny of our willful rebellions.

Divine means guide us to God’s blessings to make us a means of God’s blessings. By meditating on, speaking about, and acting in ways consistent with God’s truth, we bless ourselves and others.

On what are you meditating? Your meditations affect your speech and actions like seeds in soil—words and actions are their fruit. If we do not start with good seed, we will never blossom with good words or actions. Give ear to better “speech” than that of the algorithms that send you messages, news, and politics.

If speechless stars can speak, so can you. If wordless heavens can teach, so can you. Meditate on his glory so that your words and actions propagate his gospel.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” — Psalm 14.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Readers’ Choice is here!

#ReadersChoice is time for you to share favorite Park Forum posts from the year.

What post reminded you of Christ’s love?

https://forms.gle/aSD7X5psHqjSMtBFA

Read more: Meditation in Spiritual Rhythm

Meditation is a breathing apparatus to help us survive in a poisonous atmosphere polluted by anxiety and fear.

Meditation in Spiritual Rhythm :: Readers’ Choice
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Who Is the True King?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: 1 Kings 1 Listen: (7:52) Read: Psalms 18 Listen: (5:47)

Scripture Focus: 1 Kings 1.50-53

50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ ”

52 Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”

Reflection: Who Is the True King?

By John Tillman

David is rightly remembered as the greatest of Israel’s kings. For generations, every good king will be described as following in David’s footsteps, and every bad king will be described as forsaking them. But David’s reign and personal life are far from perfect. The writers of the scrolls of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles go out of their way to show us that even the “man after God’s own heart” fell short.

The cracks caused by David’s flaws showed early. David’s taking of multiple wives and concubines and his inability or unwillingness to deal justly with crimes and corruption within his family explode into bloodshed over and over.

At the end of David’s reign, Israel found itself with two would-be kings. Which one is lawful? Which one is the usurper? Did Adonijah know David planned to place Solomon on the throne? Did David forget? Did Bathsheba or Nathan deceive David, making him think he forgot a promise he never made? Palace intrigue and conspiracy theories are always interesting to us.

Adonijah’s three older brothers were dead. According to tradition, he was the rightful heir. The writer carefully points out David’s failure to correct Adonijah or warn him about his presumptions. Adonijah and his supporters may have taken this as David’s tacit approval.

Some have proposed that Nathan and Bathsheba plotted against Adonijah by manipulating poor, old, senile David. However, David doesn’t seem weak or senile in his response. In addition, Chronicles has a fuller account of David’s public declaration that Solomon would be the next king. This public knowledge makes it hard to see Adonijah as innocent.

The sins of a normal person harm the individual, friends, and family. But even the tiniest flaws in rulers are multiplied by their wealth, influence, and power—and they slay multitudes. The warning tremors of instability we see during David’s lifetime grew after his death. Solomon’s reign would end with a nation-splitting earthquake of a civil war that cost tens of thousands of lives.

More powerful rulers are more likely to do greater harm, even with good intentions.

There are no perfect rulers on Earth, but that doesn’t mean character is a poor political strategy or that victory outweighs virtue. As we select rulers, remember: The more powerful rulers are, the more important character becomes. And in a democracy, the true king is the voter. And God will hold us to account.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Be seated on your lofty throne, O Most High; O Lord, judge the nations. — Psalm 7.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Readers’ Choice is here!

#ReadersChoice is time for you to share favorite Park Forum posts from the year.

What post helped you forgive?

https://forms.gle/aSD7X5psHqjSMtBFA

Listen to: Victory Over Violence

Violence is a complex topic in scripture, made more complex for those who have experienced it in their lives.