Month: May 2024

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”

Hebrews 10:19-20 (RSV)

This scripture has so much to say about confidence in prayer. We are reminded that there is a constant need to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering. It’s all too easy to waver, and our mind is the usual battleground for confidence.

Paul tells us that we are soldiers, in a constant spiritual battle, and to be armed with helmet of salvation, shield of faith and sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

(Ephesians 6:11-17)

Today’s scripture takes us into a deeper understanding of the confidence we can have in prayer. It starts by wearing our spiritual armor. While we are holding a shield of faith in one hand, we have the sword of the Spirit in our other hand. These are foundational elements of what gives us confidence to conquer doubt. 

In the battleground of our minds, there are defensive and offensive weapons to rely upon. The sword is an offensive weapon that demolishes all arguments against God’s truth. Our trust in Jesus is our defensive shield of faith. When we are overwhelmed with fear and worry, we use both defensive and offensive spiritual weapons. 

In this battleground of our mind, as soldiers for Christ, we are to offensively take every thought captive that is contrary to His truth. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

It sounds like common sense, and we may practice all these things, until our thoughts become captive to a totally new worry. A new worry can throw us off so that we lose confidence or simply forget to pray. I experienced something like this last weekend. 

As I was in church I started having a periodic stabbing pain in my right temple. It was very distracting because it kept recurring every few minutes. I found myself thinking about it so much, that I didn’t hear the sermon at all. I wondered if I was having a stroke or a brain aneurysm, and soon my thoughts were held completely captive to fear and worry. 

Suddenly I realized, here I am, sitting in church, which is the sanctuary of the blood of Jesus, while obsessing over whether I may collapse in my pew or in my car on my ride home. Crazy thoughts had taken over my mind. Worry held my mind hostage and was starting to rob me of faith and hope. 

Then I caught site of the cross at the front of the church. Jesus, who shed His blood on that cross for me, seemed to be looking at me in that moment, reminding me that His blood has given me confident access  to ask anything in His name.

I found it amazing that I was sitting in His sanctuary for all those minutes, forgetting to pray and ask for healing. I finally took the confident access He gave me through His blood, and started to pray for healing and the pain went away soon after I received communion. 

The pain returned the next morning, and I again prayed, taking all my thoughts captive to Christ and applying His blood to all that I ask.

Jesus gave us confident access to God through the curtain of His flesh. We were meant to gain our confidence in prayer by faith in His blood.

That pain has not returned since. Faith is a battle of confidence within our minds, which is won after we keep applying the blood of Jesus to everything we ask for, without wavering.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

(Hebrews 10:23)

Confidence in prayer comes from the all empowering blood of Jesus. 

Whatever we are experiencing, the blood of Jesus empowers us to reclaim our peace by taking every thought captive to the obedience of His truth. The book of Revelation tells us that on the very last day, it is the blood of Jesus that overcomes all in the end. 

Lord, we pray in confidence, knowing that your precious blood has made a new and living way for us to take every doubtful thought captive to your truth. Help us to live in the power of your blood and receive all that you have promised us. Amen 

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Romans 8:26-27 (RSV)

It’s very frustrating to not be able to express in words whatever we are feeling. I imagine that’s how my son, Jon, and Andy, the other man in the Nursing Home, feel, since both of them are unable to fully express themselves in words, due to brain injuries. The Holy Spirit is still interceding for them whenever they pray in their mind or heart. 

The Spirit intercedes for all of us, not just brain injured people like Jon and Andy. This scripture says that none of us know how to pray as we ought, but it’s the Spirit who intercedes for us. He knows everything that’s in our hearts and He relates it to God with sighs and deep groaning, which is beyond any words we could say.

There is a deep place in all of us, where we file away our hopes, fears, disappointments and frustrations. The Holy Spirit can clearly read our deepest pain, insecurities, and our helplessness. He is God, so He can read the things that we are not even conscious of. The deepest groans within us, that may never rise to the surface, are brought to God by the Holy Spirit, when we pray. 

The New Testament term for the Holy Spirit is “Paraclete”, a word which translates to being our advocate, champion, supporter and promoter. It also means He is the one who pleads our cause. The Paraclete brings us so much positive power and hope, and His help is the most encouraging support we have.

The term advocate, reminds us of a defense attorney. When we don’t know how to plead for ourselves, the Holy Spirit stands beside us and becomes our attorney. He helps us in our weaknesses, since His nature is to be our supporter. He promotes us and pleads for us. In other words, He is our champion. 

He not only pleads for us, but He also prompts us to listen to His soft voice. He prompts us to confess our faults, and to say we are sorry when we do wrong. Most of all, He prompts us to forgive those who have done wrong to us. 

Two years ago my neighbor became so angry at me because my dog peed on her bushes. She called me up scolding and berating me in every way she could think of. We didn’t speak to each other for months, after that. 

I eventually prayed and forgave her, but couldn’t reconnect with her because whenever I walked by, she would look away. 

One day I prayed and asked God, if He would let me face her without her looking away, I would offer to invite her to go out to dinner so that we could reunite. After I prayed that prayer, that very night, she texted me and apologized. She asked if we could reconnect, and we did. Now we get together for dinner every few months. 

The Holy Spirit really did the prompting between us that day after months of not speaking. There is no other explanation except that the advocate pleaded for us both. 

He may prompt us in our weakness, to forgive or to call someone or speak to someone, at a needed moment. He also prompts us to give a gift or to say a kind word to someone, which may change their life.

As we approach Pentecost Sunday, we can meditate on and appreciate the great gift of the Holy Spirit, who pleads for us, supports us, and is our champion, doing what our own words fail to do. He was sent from the Father and the Son, to teach, guide and comfort all of us, who are His beloved children, the church. 

Lord, thank you for sending us the Holy Spirit, our helper who pleads and intercedes for us and champions every cause, in order to make us more like you. Amen

“One night in a vision the Lord said to Paul, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

Acts 18:9-10 (NAB)

The vision or dream that Paul had couldn’t come at a better time. All Jewish people were ordered to leave Rome in 49 A.D. Roman authorities grew tired of all the Jewish disputes over Jesus and His messiahship. Even though Jesus had long left the earth and ascended to heaven, He was still shaking up the world He left behind. 

Many Jewish believers who were forced out of Rome, moved to the cities in Greece, which also required a huge adjustment. We learn that Paul felt totally exasperated in Athens, which was a city full of idols. (Acts 17:16)

He preached the gospel but was confronted with pagan cults and lots of opposition. Leaving Athens, he went on to Corinth, another city full of strange religions, cultish customs, and the same opposition to Jesus. 

It was a difficult period of time for Jewish believers. Paul and the other Jewish Christians felt outnumbered by the pagan Corinthian natives. While reeling from the culture shock of Corinth, Paul had a dream one night, where Jesus appeared to him in a vision and reassured him that He has many other people who believe in Him, right there in the city of Corinth. Jesus also told Paul not to be afraid, and that no one would harm him there. 

The reality is that being in the place where God wants us is the safest place to be. Being expelled from Rome, appeared to be a negative event, but in God’s divine direction,  the news of salvation would be spread to gentiles who had never heard of Jesus. 

While in Corinth, Paul met a couple, Aquila and Priscilla, Italian Jews, who were also expelled from Rome. Aquila was a tent maker like Paul, so they had a lot in common, especially being mutual believers in Jesus. They helped Paul as missionaries in Corinth, and their home became the church for all the believers there.

(1 Corinthians 16:19)

The Jewish faith was going through birth pangs at the time, with some resisting belief in Jesus while others embracing Him as their Messiah.

Since the first century church was mostly made up of Jewish people, believing in Jesus as the Messiah wasn’t a different religion, but rather a sect of Judaism. Sending Jewish Christians to Corinth was all part of the providence of God.

We all have a Corinth in our lives.

It’s a place or a situation that makes us feel outnumbered or uneasy. It may be some new adjustment in our lives, that God is using for good. Our Corinth may be a workplace, a difficult group of people to deal with, or a new and unfamiliar environment. Corinth may even feel wrong at first, but it is the right place, and God is in it with us. 

Jesus appeared to Paul to assure him that he was in the right place, for a right purpose and that He would be with him all the way through it. 

He proved it by leading Aquila and Priscilla to help him in Corinth. He will do the same for us.

I’m dealing with a new era of having an adult son living in a Nursing Home. It’s the Corinth that I have been adjusting to, but I have also received many signs from God that He is with me. 

I already shared how a total stranger at the bank, months ago, overheard me talking about Jon’s accident, and asked my son’s name so she could pray for him. Then there was the ICU nurse, two weeks ago, who asked to pray for Jon as he was lying in his ICU bed. 

Last week, someone I don’t even know, messaged me, saying that he was an old friend of Jon’s from a youth group many years ago. He heard what happened to him and although he lives in another state, he wanted me to know that he and his wife and family were all praying for Jon. 

We may not have a dream or a night vision like Paul, where Jesus speaks directly to us, but He knows how to sustain, strengthen and encourage us through other people. 

Wherever or whatever represents our Corinth, Jesus is in it with us, sending others to help us. He keeps assuring us, as if to say,

“I am with you, I have people for you to meet, and people who are praying for you, so don’t be afraid, because you are not alone.”

Lord, thank you for reassuring us that you are always with us in whatever Corinth we are in. Help us to grow in confidence through your love and grace, knowing you are working all things together for good. Amen

“When you pass through the waters,

 I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)

Mayday became the universal distress call because there was a need for a better radio transmission call for help, other than SOS. The letter S was often misheard as F over the radio. 

With increased air and water travel in the 1920’s, the Royal Air Force developed the word “Mayday,” which originates from a French phrase for help me, m’aider, and turned into the word Mayday. It was easy to hear over the radio and became the international call of distress, when it is called three times in a row.

Some may recall in 2009, a US Airways Flight 1549, collided with a flock of Canadian geese. They hit the plane shortly after take off from LaGuardia, disabling both engines. The seasoned pilot, was an Air Force fighter pilot before flying commercial, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who was known by his nickname, Sully. 

When Sully saw that both engines were disabled, his quick thinking decided the best chance of survival was to avoid the Manhattan skyline, and steer the engineless plane around and into the waters of the Hudson River. 

With a calm demeanor, Sully made the Mayday call only 22 seconds after the birds hit the plane. In less than four minutes from his Mayday call, he glided the plane into the Hudson River. The force of the plane spun around in the water, but rescue boats quickly arrived, saving all 155 people on board. 

The people on that plane landed in the Hudson River, but the waters did not sweep over them, just as the scripture verse says. 

It happened 15 years ago, but after hearing a survivor share his story on a Christian TV show, it renewed my interest. Fred Beretta, in the weeks prior to the accident, had been in a phase of renewing and deepening his personal relationship with Jesus. He decided to take a Christian book along with him on the flight that day.

He was reading his book after the flight took off, when he looked out the window and noticed both the engines in flames. Sully announced to the passengers to prepare for an emergency landing, after calling in a Mayday. Within those seconds, Fred wondered if his recent recommitment to his faith, was to prepare him for the end of his life.

The thought crossed his mind that the book on his lap was the last book he would read, and these could be  the last seconds of his life. Fred Beretta surrendered himself into God’s hands and braced for the end. By God’s grace and to his surprise, he survived, as did all the people on board that plane. 

I always thought it’s a good practice to live each day as if it’s our last day, yet no one can prepare for the moments before a plane crash or any similar disaster. An experienced, seasoned pilot can, however, be prepared for the technical skills required in steering and landing an engineless plane. 

News coverage and articles were written about this event, which rightfully credited Sully with his 20,000 hours of flight time, quick thinking, calming demeanor, four decades of flying experience, and his expert control in landing a plane in the Hudson River.

There were still many factors that Sully, or any other pilot, could not control that day. He couldn’t control the flock of geese from hitting the engines of his plane. He couldn’t control whether there would be ice on the water where the plane landed, and yet there was no ice on the river that cold January day. He couldn’t control whether other boats would be in the region when that plane hit the water, but there were no other boats around. 

As the plane hit the water, he also couldn’t control the violent spin, which could have caused fatalities, but there were no fatalities, and only five injuries. 

All the factors that couldn’t be controlled by the pilot’s expertise, were taken care of by God’s response to the Mayday calls sent up by those who were on that plane.

Sully used his skills and experience, to the best of his abilities, but God did the rest. It’s a basic spiritual lesson for all believers, that we are expected to use our faith experience and prayer skills, to the best of our ability, and trust God for whatever we cannot control. 

Living out our flight hours of faith, requires daily communication with Jesus, lots of endurance and perseverance to keep trusting in Him in times of adversity. It can certainly feel like we are flying an engineless plane at times, with so much out of our control, as the waters of life spin us around. Our Mayday prayers still ascend straight up to God and He is always with us.

The protocol for the distress signal, internationally, requires calling out “Mayday” three times.  While we journey through life, we are in a relationship with a Triune God. We are praying to the Father, through Jesus, the Son and are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Helper who Jesus sent us. 

Trusting in the three in one, is the Mayday call of every human soul and spirit, which leads us to a safe landing for all eternity.

Lord, we never know what life will bring, but we know if we stay close to you, sending up Mayday calls to heaven, we can pass through the waters and remain secure through anything that comes our way. Amen

“Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land.”

Job 1:10

This scripture is actually what the devil said to God about Job. All scripture is inspired by God and so even these words are meant for teaching, because God wants us to know how the enemy sees us. 

Paul reminds us that we are in constant spiritual warfare, and we must stay alert and put on the armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11)

By Satan’s own admission, in the book of Job, we know that God put a protective hedge around Job, which the devil was forbidden to trespass. According to all of David’s Psalms, God protects all those who trust in Him, and sends His warrior angels to drive the enemy away.

Our lives and our families are under that hedge of protection, and it is untouchable by the enemy. Satan cannot touch it, without permission from God. 

If God allows anything, it’s because He knows we will overcome by our faith. God loves us and is ultimately working all things together for our eternal good. 

We can see that God had confidence in Job saying, “Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.” (Job 1:8)

God trusted in Job’s faithfulness, believing he would remain faithful, even if some hedges were removed. 

If God trusted in Job’s faithfulness, then He also trusts in ours today. We have an advantage over Job, since we know Jesus, who died for us. He loved us and invested Himself in us, with His blood, and from His perspective, we are cherished and worth protecting. 

If we are going through some really difficult trials, it’s because God believes in us, and He knows how that trial will build our perseverance, and refine our faith, and He promises to never test us beyond what we can endure. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

While we are wise to the enemy’s schemes, we can also be confident that God surrounds us with more protection than we could ever think or imagine, and there are more angels protecting us than just one guardian angel. 

Joshua told the Israelites many times, that the angel of the Lord will go before them to guard them and wipe out their enemies, if they abide in His covenant. (Joshua 24:20-23)

If we could only see all the ways God surrounds us with invisible hedges of protection, we would probably collapse in awe.

In the story of Elisha and his servant, the two of them were being pursued by an enemy army who sought to kill all the prophets. When his servant saw the vast army closing in on them, he became frightened, and asked Elisha what they should do. Elisha just looked up to heaven and asked God to open his servant’s eyes. Immediately, his eyes were opened and he saw thousands of angels from heaven, surrounding them, in fiery chariots, and all were sent just to protect those two prophets.  (2 Kings 6:17-18)

God’s angelic army far outnumbers the earthly one. Even though we see the problems that are before us, there is an unseen realm, that we can be confident and assured of. 

We see it with our eyes of faith, because faith is the assurance of things not seen.

We are protected by the unseen hedges of God. Elisha knew it, and when he prayed, God opened the eyes of his servant to see it too. 

The story of Job, David’s psalms and Joshua’s words of encouragement, all confirm that we are abundantly protected, and God’s authority is always in control. 

Lord, open our eyes of faith to know that your hedges and angels are with us and they outnumber any enemy who is against us. Give us the wisdom to always live in the confidence of faith in you. Amen