Midlife Appraisal

Mid-Life Appraisal

Picture Credit

At the start of 2014, roaming through my favourite bookshop in all the world, Hatchards in Piccadilly Street, London, I came across the book Celtic Daily Prayer (buy it here), which has turned out to be one of the best daily devotional books I have come across. It contains a great deal more than just two years worth of daily devotional material. One of its sections is entitled Mid-Life Appraisal and, in retrospect, I realise it was placed before me by our Lord to gently ease me toward one of the biggest decisions of Chris and my life together, namely to move from South Africa to the United Kingdom ... see my recent From the Pastor's Desk for more on that.

Devotions for Week 2 of Sermon on the Mount: Spiritual Poverty & Holy Mourning

Read my sermon here
 Day 1 Devotions

Is He?

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Psalm 46:1

We live in an age that encourages us not only to prepare for every eventuality, but to

Daily Devotions for Week 1 of Sermon on the Mount

Week 1 Day 1 Devotions

Read my sermon here

He Lives

“I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”

Job 19:25

One need look no further than Job in the Old Testament to see someone around

Daily Devotions for Week 15 Rock or Sand. Fri

Week 15 Day 5 Devotions

Particular Questions relating t o Resignation and Meekness .

1. HAVE I endeavoured to will what God wills, and that only?

2. Have I received everything that has befallen me without my choice, as the choice of infinite wisdom and goodness for me, with thanks?

3. Have I (after doing what he requires of me to do concerning them) left all future things absolutely to God’s disposal; that is, have I laboured to be wholly indifferent to whichsoever way he shall ordain for me?

4. Have I resumed my claim to my body, soul, friends, fame, or fortune, which I have made over to God; or repented of my gift, when God accepted any of them at my hands?

5. Have I endeavoured to be cheerful, mild, and courteous in whatever I said or did?

6. Have I said anything with a stern look, accent, or gesture, particularly with regard to religion?

Particular Questions relating to Thankfulness.

1. Have I allotted some time for thanking God for the blessings of the past week?

2. Have I, in order to be the more sensible of them, seriously and deliberately considered the several circumstances that attended them?

3. Have I considered each of them as an obligation to greater love, and, consequently, to stricter holiness?

© 2006 JohnWesleyProject.com

Daily Devotions for Week 15 Rock or Sand. Thu

Week 15 Day 4 Devotions

Particular Questions relating to Mortification .

1. Have I done anything merely because it was pleasing?

2. Have I not only not done what passion solicited me to, but done just the contrary?

3. Have I received the inconveniences I could not avoid as means of mortification chosen for me by God?

4. Have I contrived pretences to avoid self-denial? In particular,

5. Have I thought any occasion of denying myself too small to be embraced?

6. Have I submitted my will to the will of every one that opposed it, except where the glory of God was concerned?

7. Have I set apart some time for endeavouring after a lively sense of the sufferings of Christ and my own sins? for deprecating God’s judgment, and thinking how to amend?

Daily Devotions for Week 15 Rock or Sand. Wed

Week 15 Day 3 Devotions

Particular Questions r elating to Humility .

1. Have I laboured to conform all my thoughts, words, and actions to these fundamental maxims: "I am nothing, I have nothing, I can do nothing?"

2. Have I set apart some time this day to think upon my infirmities, follies, and sins?

3. Have I ascribed to myself any part of any good which God did by my hand?

4. Have I said or done anything with a view to the praise of people?

5. Have I desired the praise of people?

6. Have I taken pleasure in it?

7. Have I commended myself, or others, to their faces, unless for God's sake, and then with fear and trembling?

8. Have I despised any one’s advice?

9. Have I, when I thought so, said, "I am in the wrong?"

10. Have I received contempt for things indifferent, with meekness? for doing my duty, with joy?

11. Have I omitted justifying myself where the glory of God was not concerned? Have I submitted to be thought in the wrong?

12. Have I, when contemned, First, prayed God it might not discourage or puff me up; Secondly, that it might not be imputed to the contemner; Thirdly, that it might heal my pride?

13. Have I, without some particular good in view, mentioned the contempt I had met with?

Daily Devotions Week 15 Rock or Sand. Tues

Week 15 Day 2 Devotions

Particular Questions relative to the Love of God.

1. Have I set apart some of this day to think upon his perfections and mercies?

2. Have I laboured to make this day a day of heavenly rest, sacred to divine love?

3. Have I employed those parts of it in works of necessity and mercy, which were not employed in prayer, reading, and meditation?

Particular Questions relating to the Love of our Neighbour.

1. Have I thought anything but my conscience too dear to part with, to please or serve my neighbour?

2. Have I rejoiced or grieved with him?

3. Have I received his infirmities with pity, not with anger?

4. Have I contradicted any one, either where I had no good end in view, or where there was no probability of convincing?

5. Have I let him I thought in the wrong (in a trifle) have the last word?

Daily Devotions for Week 15 Rock or Sand. Mon

Week 15 Day 1 Devotions

I've chosen as our devotions for this, the last week in this course on the Sermon on the Mount, a number of what Mr Wesley calls “General Questions.” They are from The Works of John Wesley: The Jackson Edition, Volume Eleven. The language of course is 18th-century English but I have chosen not to paraphrase but to quote Wesley directly. These questions are meant to prompt quiet reflection or deeper meditation. Not surprisingly, they cover a large amount of the teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount.

General Questions, which may be used every Morning.

1. Did I think of God first and last?

2. Have I examined myself how I behaved since last night's retirement?

3. Am I resolved to do all the good I can this day, and to be diligent in the business of my calling?

General Questions which a serious Christian may propose before beginning Evening Devotions.

1. With what degree of attention and fervour did I use my morning prayers, public or private?

2. Have I done anything without a present, or at least a previous, perception of its direct or remote tendency to the glory of God?

3. Did I in the morning consider what particular virtue I was to exercise, and what business I had to do, in the day?

4. Have I been zealous to undertake, and active in doing, what good I could?

5. Have I interested myself any farther in the affairs of others than charity required?

6. Have I, before I visited or was visited, considered how I might thereby give or receive improvement?

7. Have I mentioned any failing or fault of any man, when it was not necessary for the good of another?

8. Have I unnecessarily grieved any one by word or deed?

9. Have I before or in every action considered how it might be a means of improving in the virtue of the day?

Daily Devotions for Week 14 False Prophets

Week 14 Day 5 Devotions

Imitate and Imitated

How difficult it is to learn to discern even in the same person what you should listen to and what you shouldn't listen to, what you should imitate and what you shouldn’t imitate. It is sometimes humbling to admit that we can learn from those who perhaps we don't respect in many ways. Each of us should have people that we respect and who we are willing to listen to in things of a spiritual nature. Hopefully they will be the type of people who, under God's guidance will bring comfort to us when we are uncomfortable but who will also have our permission to make us uncomfortable with a prophetic word when we are perhaps dangerously comfortable in our spiritual walk. Each of us should also realise that there are always people who are looking to us because we are Christians and who might be imitating us and our example.

Think on these things as you read and meditate on the following Scriptures and then pray that in your life God will guide you regarding who you should imitate and that by His Spirit He will continue to make you into someone who others can imitate. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

Matthew 23:3

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone

who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil

has not seen God.

3 John 1:11

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.

Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1

We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but

in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.

2 Thessalonians 3:9

Father, help me to see imitators of Christ in the world around me who I can imitate

to your glory, and by your Spirit make me someone who others can imitate to your

glory.

© 2006 JohnWesleyProject.com

Daily Devotions for Week 14 False Prophets

Week 14 Day 4 Devotions

Look For Fruit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” Galatians 5:22-23

Jesus gives us some very encouraging words in the middle of His teaching regarding false prophets. Having warned us that they are out there, having told us that they are wolves but to us they will look like sheep, He reassures us: “By their fruit you will recognize them.” He doesn't say that we will sometimes recognise them, or that we might recognize them. No, He says we will recognise them, and we will recognise them by their fruit. We have already said that the starting point for us in the whole area of responding to the truth that there are false prophets around is to be on the lookout for them. In other words believe that they are a possible threat to your spiritual well-being. Then we went on to say: Be slow to judge, pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and be prepared to stretch your own understanding. Then we added a strong dose of personal ‘log removing’. Now with clear eyes and a pure heart we look for fruit.

One must always tread very carefully when applying our text verse into our lives and into the lives of others. A sign of impatience, a touch of unkindness, an isolated lack of self control and so on are not necessarily signs of a bad tree good for nothing except the fire! It is probably more helpful to use these two verses and the fruit they mention and ask whether they describe the person's general character. Look for the bigger picture that you may not have seen and be open to biases that you might have which you are perhaps unaware of and which might be clouding your vision.

Wesley's Rules of a Helper can once again guide us as we decide on a course of action:

‘Speak evil of no one else your word, especially, would eat as doth a canker. Keep your thoughts within your own breast till You come to the person concerned. Tell everyone what you think wrong in them, lovingly and plainly and as soon as may be else it will fester in your own heart. Make all haste to cast the fire out of your bosom.’

Let the fruits of grace abound,

Let in us thy bowels sound;

Faith, and love, and joy increase,

Temperance and gentleness;

Plant in us thy humble mind,

Patient, pitiful, and kind;

Meek and lowly let us be

Full of goodness, full of thee. (506)

Daily Devotions for Week 14 False Prophets

Week 14 Day 3 Devotions

Self Examination

“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.” 

Acts 20:29

The apostle Paul was under no illusions regarding the reality of false prophets and in these parting words to the elders of the church of Ephesus he warns them of what he senses is going to follow his departure. This prophecy of the growth of heresy at Ephesus finds its fulfillment in 1 Timothy 1:3-7 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”

Someone has said something along the lines of: “You may be the only Bible that someone else reads today.” There is no doubt that, whether we like it or not, when we profess and live out our Christianity others look to us for example, particularly those who might be new to the faith. By the way we live, in other words by our example, we might, when our practice does not match up to our belief, be the “savage wolves” in the midst of the flock! We are sometimes the only prophets that other people will hear.

Let us add to what we've learnt in the last two days relating to false prophets and being on the lookout for them, a strong measure of humble, personal, self examination. The following words (which our Lord might well say to a false prophet) can help us in this process.

Ye call Me Master and obey Me not,

Ye call Me Light and see Me not,

Ye call Me Way and walk Me not,

Ye call Me Life and desire Me not,

Ye call Me wise and follow Me not,

Ye call Me fair and love Me not,

Ye call Me rich and ask Me not,

Ye call Me eternal and seek Me not,

Ye call Me gracious and trust Me not,

Ye call Me noble and serve Me not,

Ye call Me just and fear Me not,

If I condemn you, blame Me not.

(Source Unknown)

Daily Devotions for Week 14 False Prophets

Week 14 Day 2 Devotions

Be Slow to Chide and Swift to Bless

“Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins.” Ezekiel 13:3-4

In Richard Foster's Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible {HarperSanFrancisco (2005)} the following comments are made which can speak to us as we spend more time on the subject of false prophets.

“Ezekiel’s blunt words shocked his compatriots, who could not imagine that he was speaking the truth. The people were accustomed to the benign words of those who delivered comforting sermons. Ezekiel called these crowd-pleasers false prophets who only pretended that they heard the word of God. They whitewashed the real trouble that confronted the people in their relationship with God, “saying ‘Peace’, when there is no peace” (13:10). The exiles were in widespread denial and could not face the painful truth that Ezekiel voiced. To break through this thick shell of denial Ezekiel used dramatic signs and outrageous metaphors.

“The exilic community was challenged by one of the most difficult dilemmas that can face the people of God - discerning true from false prophecy. Ezekiel's prophetic voice did not sound sensible. In fact, it was rude and horrifying, and initially Ezekiel's preaching was rejected as foolishness. But the exile lasted a long time. The prophet stayed in the midst of the people and staked his life on the claim that, on the other side of terrible judgment, God had not given up on the people. Over time the exiles changed their verdict and judged Ezekiel's testimony to be the truth. The communal practice of discernment - rooted in the Spiritual Disciplines - demands long-term patience and daring openness to an unexpected, even unwanted, word.”

Yesterday we said that the starting point for us in the whole area of responding to the truth that there are false prophets around, is to be on the lookout for them. In other words believe that they are a possible threat to your spiritual well-being. Today we would add to that by saying: Be slow to judge, pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and be prepared to stretch your understanding before shouting out: “False prophet! False prophet!”

Believe evil of no one unless fully proved; take heed how you credit it. Put the best construction you can on everything. You know the judge is always supposed to be on the prisoner’s side.

                                                         (John Wesley's Rules of a Helper)

Daily Devotions for Week 14 False Prophets

Week 14 Day 1 Devotions

Health Warning

“Watch out for false prophets” Matthew 7:15

Depending on which translation of the Bible you read the following words are used in this verse: Watch out, Beware, Be Wary, Be on Your Guard. Nowadays we are getting more used to health warnings being printed on various items that have been medically proven to be dangerous to one's health. In some places there is the added protection of not only placing a warning but also preventing the sale of such items to people under a certain age. These things have happened because people have become more aware of the absolute danger that some products are to one's well-being and so governments have taken it upon themselves to warn their citizens. This is indeed commendable. The degree to which people respond to the warnings is another subject.

Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus warned us about false prophets. He makes it clear that they are severely hazardous to our well-being, a danger to our spiritual health. Long lasting and detrimental effects may be caused by this product. If only false prophets came with such a warning stamped on their foreheads, but they don't. This does not mean that we need live in fear of false prophets and their teaching. In Scripture we have been given a very useful resource to help us in the discerning process. Furthermore when we seek the illumination of the Holy Spirit into our discerning process we bring a light from which all darkness must flee. Our part is to humbly realise that there are false prophets out there, which is why Jesus warned us about them, and therefore to be on the lookout for them. Stairs are only dangerous when you are not on the lookout for them, but when you are looking out for them you will see them, judge them and deal with them appropriately.

In the context of the Sermon on the Mount (and the whole of the New Testament) a false prophet is anyone who would claim that there is another way to the Father other than Jesus Christ and that there is another way to live other than the way that Jesus teaches in His Sermon on the Mount. Look out for false prophets (and for stairs).

Into a world of ruffians sent,

I walk on hostile ground;

Wild human bears on slaughter bent,

And ravening wolves surround. (301)

Daily Devotions for Week 12 of Sermon on the Mount Fri

Stephen’s Narrow, Difficult, Lonely Road

This week we look at five biblical heroes namely David, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Stephen who each in their own way discovered the difficulty and loneliness of walking the Lord's way. Draw strength and encouragement from the truth that the Lord who strengthened them and who was with them even when they thought He wasn't with them, is the Lord who is with you, strengthening you and strengthening those you might be led to pray for.

Acts 7:54-8:1

When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.

Pray for those Christians who walk the lonely road of martyrdom. Use the verse below to pray for yourself:

God only wise, almighty, good,

Send forth thy truth and light

To point us out the narrow road,

And guide our steps aright; (456)

© 2006 JohnWesleyProject.com

Daily Devotions for Week 12 of Sermon on the Mount Thur

Jesus’ Narrow, Difficult, Lonely Road

This week we look at five biblical heroes namely David, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Stephen who each in their own way discovered the difficulty and loneliness of walking the Lord's way. Draw strength and encouragement from the truth that the Lord who strengthened them and who was with them even when they thought He wasn't with them, is the Lord who is with you, strengthening you and strengthening those you might be led to pray for.

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, and am not silent.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the praise of Israel.

In you our fathers put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

They cried to you and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by men and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

"He trusts in the LORD;

let the LORD rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him."

Pray for those Christians who walk the lonely road of feeling abandoned by God

and who suffer the taunts of those who mockingly suggest that God should make

their situation better.

Daily Devotions for Week 12 of Sermon on the Mount Wed

Jeremiah’s Narrow, Difficult, Lonely Road

This week we look at five biblical heroes namely David, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Stephen who each in their own way discovered the difficulty and loneliness of walking the Lord's way. Draw strength and encouragement from the truth that the Lord who strengthened them and who was with them even when they thought He wasn't with them, is the Lord who is with you, strengthening you and strengthening those you might be led to pray for.

Jeremiah 20:7-18

O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.

Whenever I speak, I cry out that proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,"

His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side!

Report him! Let's report him!"

All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying,

"Perhaps he will be deceived;

then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him."

But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;

so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;

their dishonor will never be forgotten.

O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous

and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them,

for to you I have committed my cause.

Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD!

He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.

Cursed be the day I was born!

May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,

who made him very glad, saying,

"A child is born to you—a son!"

May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity.

May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.

For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave,

her womb enlarged forever.

Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow

and to end my days in shame?

Pray for those Christians who walk the lonely road of mockery and scorn because of

their commitment to the work that God has called them to do.

Daily Devotions for Week 12 of Sermon on the Mount Tues

Jonah’s Narrow, Difficult, Lonely Road

This week we look at five biblical heroes namely David, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Stephen who each in their own way discovered the difficulty and loneliness of walking the Lord's way. Draw strength and encouragement from the truth that the Lord who strengthened them and who was with them even when they thought He wasn't with them, is the Lord who is with you, strengthening you and strengthening those you might be led to pray for.

Jonah 2:1-10

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said:

"In my distress I called to the LORD,

and he answered me.

From the depths of the grave I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the deep,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers

swept over me.

I said, 'I have been banished from your sight;

yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'

The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down;

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you brought my life up from the pit,

O LORD my God.

"When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, LORD,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

"Those who cling to worthless idols

forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

Salvation comes from the LORD."

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Pray for those Christians who walk the lonely road of struggling to come to terms

with a call of God.

Daily Devotions for Week 13 of Sermon on the Mount Mon

Week 13 Day 1 Devotions

David’s Narrow, Difficult, Lonely Road

This week we look at five biblical heroes namely David, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Stephen who each in their own way discovered the difficulty and loneliness of walking the Lord's way. Draw strength and encouragement from the truth that the Lord who strengthened them and who was with them even when they thought He wasn't with them, is the Lord who is with you, strengthening you and strengthening those you might be led to pray for. 

Psalm 55:1-14

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest-I would flee far away and stay in the desert; Selah. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm. Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it. Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets. If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

Pray for those Christians who feel the way David does in this Psalm and especially for those who walk the lonely and painful road caused by the betrayal of loved ones.

Daily Devotions for Week 12 Hindrances to Holiness Fri

Week 12 Day 5 Devotions

Love

“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on

him.” Luke 10:33

This parable must surely vie with the parable of the Prodigal Son for the position of the most well-known or most popular of all the parables. It is sometimes forgotten that the context of this parable has to do with love. An expert in the law had approached Jesus and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus had replied by asking him what he thought the answer was to which the law expert replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” The law expert didn't have a problem understanding the love part of it, his problem was in understanding the neighbour part of it. The truth is, however, that his lack of understanding in the neighbour area was due entirely to his lack of love. In the parable it is not a lack of understanding on the part of the Priest and the Levite regarding who their neighbour was that was the problem, it was their lack of love. The parable of course also teaches us that love of neighbour can be  dangerous (stopping to help opened the Samaritan up to possible attack himself), time consuming, costly and ongoing. Fear of these things did not stop the Samaritan from showing his love, neither should it stop us from loving our neighbour as ourself.

Jesus says to the law expert and to us: “Go and do likewise.” Wesley says: “Let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self love reflected. With an honest openness of mind let us always remember that kindred between man and man, and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.”

The words from the following hymn might well, in a sense, be on the lips of someone you

pass today:

O thou good Samaritan,

In thee is all my hope;

Only thou canst succour man,

And raise the fallen up:

Hearken to my dying cry,

My wounds compassionately see,

Me, a sinner, pass not by,

Who gasp for help to thee. (108)

© 2006 JohnWesleyProject.com

Daily Devotions for Week 12 Hindrances to Holiness Thurs

Week 12 Day 4 Devotions

Pray for Holiness

“Pray continually.” 1Thessalonians 5:17 “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:2

Pray that the two verses above and the delightful story below will help you understand how a lack of prayer for holiness might be hindering your growth in holiness.

How Much Does a Prayer Weigh?

There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I. A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend.

"My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered. The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it." To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby." The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down. He became angry and flustered and finally said, "Well, that's all the scale will hold. Here's a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy." With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed.

After that the store was empty of customers and the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales? The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers. And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman's prayer had been written simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread."

Could it be that you are not as holy as you should be because you do not pray and because you do not ask?

Lord Jesus Christ, please help me to grow in holiness today.