SONGS FOR PRAYER

reading for: Tuesday Night, 9 MAY

John 14:15-21

Love of Jesus involves obeying his commandments

• READ

  The gospel reading for this week is the second half of John 14 which picks up from last week reading. It would be helpful to remember that John 13 to 17 records the words of Jesus on the final night before the crucifixion and hence this few chapters should be read as one integral whole.

  John 14 starts with Jesus pointing out that he is going to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house. Jesus declares that to know Jesus is to know the Father and that Jesus is the way to the Father. It is clear from the context that this going to prepare a place for us refers to the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

  John 14:15–21 (ESV)

  15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

  Jesus exhorts his disciples that if they were to love him, they will keep his commandments. In light of the preceding verses perhaps Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that just as they followed him and loved while he was on earth, similarly when he was away in heaven, they could love him by obeying his commandments. The next verse immediately picks up Jesus asking the Father to give another Helper. The role of the Helper was to be with the disciples. This Helper is the Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive but the disciples can receive the dwelling presence of this Helper.

  Jesus declares that the disciples will not be orphans for he will come to them. This may seem puzzling to some. Jesus just spoke of his going away to prepare a place for us and now in the very same chapter he says “I will come to you”. In fact he doubles down and says “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.” Jesus points out that the one who keeps his commandments is the one who loves him and will be loved by his Father and Jesus. This is the one that Jesus will “manifest myself to him” The clear point is that Jesus has gone to be with the Father, he is in heaven seated at the right hand of God. Yet, the point is also clear that Jesus is with us, he will not leave us as orphans. He will manifest himself to us. The reality of the abiding presence of Jesus and the Helper is clear.

• REFLECT

  Do we love Jesus? Will we obey his commandments? Will we abide in the presence of Jesus and the Helper?

  John 14 challenges us to reflect on our love for Jesus and how we live our lives. Will we live our lives striving to obey his commandments and seeking to please him?

  Jesus reminds us that he does not leave us as orphans and will come to us. Not only Jesus is with us, the Helper will be with us, dwell with us and in us. This is an important truth that we must treasure and not squander. Spend time with Jesus and the Helper for they are not far away from us but near to us.

reading for: Wednesday Night, 10 MAY

Acts 17:22-31

Love of Jesus involves repentance and belief

• READ

  This week’s reading from Acts portrays Paul as standing in the midst of the Areopagus in the city of Athens speaking to a crowd of Gentiles.

  Acts 17:22–31 (ESV)

  22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

  Paul’s message to the people of Athens who were gathered to hear him is that the unknown God that they worshipped is now proclaimed to them. He declares that the God who made the world is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in human temples. He is the one that needs no human service for it is he that gives humanity everything. He has made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the earth setting the boundaries and times of where and when they should dwell, that they should seek God for he is not far from us. Paul calls them to stop worshipping idols but repent. He warns them that there will be a day in which God will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed by raising him from the dead. We know that Paul was clearly referring to Jesus. Jesus is the one who died, rose again and will come again to judge the world.

• REFLECT

  Some responded to Paul with belief, some with unbelief and some with tell me more. How will we respond to Paul?

  If we believe in Jesus, the Jesus that Paul preached, let us reaffirm our belief and commitment by declaring to Jesus that we believe that he died, rose again and will come again to judge the world. Sing the song “I Believe” as a declaration to him.

  If we say tell me more, then perhaps we can seek to find out more. We can seek to read the word of God, listening to the godly sermons preached, ask other christian leaders and friends to explain to us more about Jesus. Pray that God will help you to understand and believe.

  If we are responding in unbelief, then we can pray to God and ask God to open your heart so that you can believe.

reading for: Thursday Night, 11 MAY

1 Peter 3:13-22

Love of Jesus Leads Us to Participate in His Suffering through Baptised Living

• READ

  1 Peter 3:13-22

  13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

  18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

  At first glance, this text seems to be asking us to hold to an unrealistic standard. “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.” Really? Do not be afraid? In our minds, we can understand this standard, but is this doable? Of course, we believe for Jesus it was, but the point of this text is not to put distance between Jesus and the reader, but instead, to do just the opposite, that is, to grow closer to being able to live like Jesus in our own lives. Of course, we may not want to actually live the life that Jesus led, as his was filled with suffering, violence, and misunderstanding. However, we who believe Jesus to be the most complete revelation of the nature of God’s love, and who seek to make that love real in our own lives, can look to none other than Jesus for the model. The question is how? How does this text allow us to grow closer to living a life like Jesus, when it so easily can be seen as setting an unreachable standard that only Jesus met?

  For a start, we need to look first to the end of the text, where we find a discussion about baptism. The process of growing closer to living a life like Jesus begins with a recognition of the meaning of our baptism. At the core, baptism represents the truth that before anything else, God loved us. The death and resurrection of the Lord is Jesus’ ‘Yes’ to the Father for us. What came first in each of our lives was a love from God, which is unaffected by whether or not we choose to respond to or recognize that love. God loves us. We may not feel it. Some may not want it. Others may choose to ignore it. Regardless of our response, God’s love endures. Of equal importance in this equation is our response. When we get baptised, we say ‘Yes’ to God in return. “Because God loved me first, I now choose to love God back.”  

  To begin to see our lives, our value, our worth through this lens, is to begin to free ourselves from the tyranny of self-pity and doubt. Instead suffering as part of our Christian walk of obedience and identity brings us into participation with a God who suffers to redeem His fallen humanity. And this grows us as His image-bearers and we look increasingly like Christ who reflects the very essence and nature of God. When we grow in this, we grow closer to an ability to live as Jesus did—to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, to love those who torment us, to lift up in prayer those who seek to tear us down. And when we are able to engage the world and those who would oppress us in this way, we reveal our confidence in God. The more able we are to reveal our confidence in God through our choices, the more closely we grow to living like Jesus, whose entire life was a picture of living confidently in God.

  As the desire to listen closely to God is awakened in us, we begin to listen to God in a way that reveals our confidence in God. As we do so, we will avoid the paths set by those of Noah’s day, who did not rely on God, whose confidence was not in God. Instead, ours will be a story of close listening. Ours will be a story of trust, of confidence in God, revealed most clearly in our actions toward others. To live this way is to grow closer to living as Jesus did.

• REFLECT

  How well have you been doing in your Christian walk this year? Consider how you’ve responded to various moments of suffering for His sake.

reading for: Friday Night, 12 MAY

Psalm 66:8-20

Love of God Results in Faithful Remembrance of His Goodness

• READ

  Psalm 66:8-20

  8 Bless our God, O peoples;
      let the sound of his praise be heard,
  9 who has kept our soul among the living
      and has not let our feet slip.
  10 For you, O God, have tested us;
      you have tried us as silver is tried.
  11 You brought us into the net;
      you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
  12 you let men ride over our heads;
      we went through fire and through water;
  yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

  13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
      I will perform my vows to you,
  14 that which my lips uttered
      and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
  15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
      with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
  I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

  16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
      and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
  17 I cried to him with my mouth,
      and high praise was on my tongue.
  18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
      the Lord would not have listened.
  19 But truly God has listened;
      he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

  20 Blessed be God,
      because he has not rejected my prayer
      or removed his steadfast love from me!

   

  Psalm 66 brings the reader to worship where the faithfulness of God is remembered, offerings are made, and the Psalmist who offers testimony to all who will listen. The first seven verses of Psalm 66, left out from the lection, echo the exodus. In verses 11–12, the psalmist speaks of a time of testing and trial, using language that echoes the prophets’ descriptions of the exile. In the face of trial, God has proved to be faithful. Such remembrance of God’s mighty deeds makes for a song of God’s faithfulness.

  In the midst of this congregational praise, a solo voice rises up to declare, “I will come into your house with burnt offerings” (v. 13). Gratitude for God’s faithfulness results in offerings, but attention to the entire psalm reveals that the offerings include more than gifts which are laid upon the altar. God’s faithfulness revealed in the old stories of God’s people provides the lens through which the psalmist interprets his or her own life. Just as God has previously responded to the needs of God’s people, now God “has given heed to the words of my prayer” (v. 19). God has listened. Because God has listened, in addition to gifts laid on the altar, the psalmist must offer testimony: “I will tell what God has done for my soul” (v.16).

  More than just a personal experience, just as God’s faithfulness to Israel reveals a redemption that is creation-wide in purpose, so God’s faithfulness to the psalmist results not only in offerings of failings, but also in testimony that is creation-wide in purpose. The psalm reminds the worshiping community that the purpose of worship cannot be limited to the “internal” experience of the worshiper, but the worshiping community is called to look to “all who fear God,” for they too are the object of God’s love.

• REFLECT

  Our testimony should express the humility witnessed in God’s gracious choice to listen to us. Therefore we should spend as much time listening as we do speaking. Is your testimony one that reveals a God who truly has listened? This week in your LG gatherings take time to share testimonies of God’s presence and working in your life.