Psalm 32:5-6  I acknowledge my sins to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found.

Our God is an eternal fountain (Psalm 68:26). He delivers pure, life-giving water (Zechariah 13:1; John 4:13-14). Through His Son and in His Spirit, His grace flows freely (John 19:34); Hebrews 10:22; 1 John 1:7). Should that spring cease, so do we (Psalm 36:9). But the river of life that flows from Him will never run dry (Revelation 22:1).

Saturated in our own sewage, we come to Him for cleansing. He goes to work through water, Word, bread, and wine. He removes the guilt of our own sin and the shame of being stained by everyone else's. Once we are again cleansed, He unstops our lips and fills our mouths with prayer and praise (Psalm 51:15).

If His fountain flows so freely to us, why do we stop it up so easily (Proverbs 25:26)? We let others' sin simmer like sewage in our souls. It's a toxic, deadly mess. Like cracked containers, we fail to deliver the forgiveness God pours out so freely to us (Jeremiah 2:13; Matthew 18:21-35).

But the forgiveness is His. He is the fountain, the water, and the master plumber. As His forgiveness flows freely to us, He works that it might flow freely through us.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Matthew 4:4  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
 

Round one to Jesus! As He would in rounds two and three of those wilderness temptations, Jesus pins His wicked and wily for to the mat. He does so with the Word of God. Jesus does not belittle the need for physical bread. After forty days without food, He knew that need very well. But bread "alone" will not suffice. We also need "every word" that comes from God.

Luther does not belittle the need for physical bread when it comes to his explanation of the Fourth Petition. Indeed, his list of what that includes challenges our memorization skills! In this petition, we pray for these things and we acknowledge their source, our heavenly Father.

But the Fourth Petition also reminds us of our Father's greatest blessing, the bread of life. Jesus is "the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6:51). He came down pure and unspoiled. Then He "went bad." God placed the sin that spoils us on Him. Jesus suffered the wrath of God so we never have to. Through faith in this resurrected and living bread, we have new life. We have forgiveness. We live covered by His purity.

Continue to pray for daily bread and thankfully enjoy God's blessings. But also pray, "Give us this day Jesus." We need this bread to strengthen our faith, to turn our will to His, and to give us hope in the midst of life's many struggles.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

James 1:7  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James includes an interesting phrase: "coming down from the Father" (1:17). Christians and unbelievers alike wonder why God doesn't provide according to their expectations. "A loving God would give everyone a million dollars!" "Lord, I need a job today; what are You waiting for?" Recall Exodus 16, when God sent manna to the Israelites in the desert. The Lord instructed the people to take what they needed for each day. Their heavenly Father would certain;y provide, but in such a manner that the people would be mindful of Him. Were God to give all we wanted or even needed immediately, we would be apt to disregard Him and waste all that He has provided. Remember the prodigal son?

We should never doubt or be surprised that God desires to and will provide our earthly needs. Why would He be stingy with food, clothing, or home when He has given us His very self in the Son, our Savior, Jesus blessing those who are His children and reaching out to those who are not. Beyond all the earthly needs and wants God satisfies, He knows that burden of our sins in order to bring sinners back to Himself. Our heavenly Father longs to bring home His prodigal sons and daughters. For when we have Him, all the provisions of this world will seem vain and pale.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

John 6:39  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.

Math can be extremely challenging to even the brightest students. Yet all of math is simply counting.  Addition, multiplication, fractions, algebra, and geometry are all advanced counting. God's will can likewise be challenging for Christians to discern in certain arenas of life. And yet all of God's will is simply faith in Jesus. God's will for us is that we believe.

Is it God's will for us to do other good works as well? Yes, certainly it is. But first and foremost, His will is always that we believe in Jesus and never be cast out. So He gives us His Word. And He keeps us firm in that Word until we die. And then He will raise us up to see Jesus face-to-face. That's His will.

Truthfully, God's will isn't the most challenging will for Christians. Rather, it's the other wills that are lined up for battle against God's will. The devil's will is that we don't believe in Jesus or His Word. The world's will is to take all power and glory for ourselves rather than trust in the power and glory of God. And even our own flesh wants to be god rather than believe in God. So we pray for God to break their wills.

If we believe in Jesus, we are doing the will of God. After that, we can talk about His other will for us to love Him and love one another. But only after some simple counting - God counting our faith in Christ as righteousness (Romans 4:5).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Luke 22:41-42  And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.

A three-year-old girl sat at the dinner table. Her uneaten food was the only thing left on the table. It had been forty-five minutes since the rest of her family had cleared their plates and enjoyed dessert. No amount of bribery or threats would get the girl to eat. Even though she usually liked the dish, this particular night she simply refused to eat it and demanded something else.

When in faith we pray, "Thy will be done," we are asking God to ignore the three-year-old who lives inside us and screams, "My will be done!" To utter these words is admitting to God that His ways are better than ours. Even when we don't understand His ways, they are better than ours.

To utter the words "Thy will be done!" in prayer to our Lord requires one of two things: either total laziness to rattle off words without thinking about what we are saying, or great and God-given faith to bravely ask God to ignore our selfish will and enact His good and gracious will, even if we do not comprehend or like it.

When one considers the selfish nature of humans in comparison to the good and gracious character of our God, revealed especially in Jesus, our Savior, perhaps it is wise to pray these words after all.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

1 Peter 1:3-5  According to His great mercy, He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God rules and reigns the way He wishes. What God says, His truth, goes no matter what. Life with God is about following the King as He understands following. When Jesus says He is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), He is expressing what it means for Him to lead, to be the King. God the Father brings His kingdom through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit's power into our world. He invites us in faith to confess this and live well with Him as King. And what a King He is!

His Word is not just something to be written down as cool thoughts to be remembered when we have a moment. His Word, who is Jesus, brings us everything we need for daily life. Our King actively takes the battles to our sinfulness, to the power of Satan, and to death. All have been defeated through Jesus' death and resurrection. The very life of King Jesus, who lives in those who have been baptized and believe, now leads us in our daily living. His rule is one of love and power lived out as He sees fit - which means through His Church, His very people.

His reign does not have term limits. There is no successor-in-waiting. Our King has always been and will always be. We rejoice as we faithfully follow our King in life. Long live "us" because our King reigns!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

1 John 3:8  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Have you ever witnessed a live tug-of-war? The teams straining, the crowds cheering, and the flag in constant flux back and forth across the mid-line all keep spectators engaged and entertained. Evenly matched teams strive to physically outlast each other in a battle of strength. The competition takes an interesting turn, though, when teams are mismatched. The weaker team's strategy is to use logic, rather than brute force, to their advantage. Many a mismatched team has walked to the rope, taken their place, and grabbed hold only to let go once the starter's pistol is fired. It's a brilliant maneuver! When all tension is removed from the rope, the team pulling falls victim to the laws of motion and collapses on the ground. Does the flag cross the line in seeming victory for the fallen team? Yes. Has the weaker team fallen victim to the strength of the other side? No. Quite the opposite.

Luther uses the phrase "engage in combat" to describe the war taking place between the kingdom of the devil and the kingdom of God. No amount of human striving can keep sinners from the temptations that so easily entangle our hearts and minds. It is Jesus alone who saves. Just as a team pulling on the rope has no power over those who have let go, so the devil has no power over those redeemed by Christ. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, the tension in the struggle for our souls is released. Satan may think he has triumphed as he looks out over a sinful world. But in the world that is to come, he already stands defeated. The kingdom of God reigns victorious. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,