Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. v8

Once again, we are reminded that we exist for to glorify God.  Too often we seek to satisfy our own desires - yet we must remain close to Him and be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2) so that our thoughts and desires are closer to His.

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - You are a great, great God who loves me and who has sent His Son to die so that I might be free, from sin and to have eternal life. Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love.  I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

Numbers 23

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. v19-20

God delivered the above message to Balak through Balaam.  Key for us to remember is that God is not like us - He is God.  This is of course obvious but many of us, including myself, get mad or be disappointed with God because we expect Him to be good to us or to respond to us in prayer how we expect.  

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8

God does say that we will get anything that we ask for in His Name:

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." John 14:13-14

 

Yet what does "in my name" mean - for me it means "in His image" in the sense that we were made in His image (see Genesis 1), and made to glorify God.  When we renew our mind, we can better recognize His desires.

 

May [the Lord] give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4

 

My Prayer: Lord God, You are an awesome God full of love and compassion for me.  Thank You Jesus - I am not worth such love.  I am harsh with my words.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as the Lord and Savior. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

1 Peter 4

As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. v2

We are called to be a light for others to see and to be set apart.

For us to do this, we must renew our minds:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

For us to renew our minds, we must - daily - seek out God in prayer and in study of His Word.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are a great God, full of love, compassion, kindness, patience, etc. for me.  Thank You Jesus.  Yet I am not worth such efforts.  I continue in my sin - please forgive me and help me overcome my sin and turn towards You - daily.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

May [the Lord] give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

Psalm 20

May [the Lord] give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. v4

Two things of note for me in this verse - that we should pray that God give us the desires of our heart AND that from that a prayer that, assuming we have God's desires in our heart, all our plans succeed.  The latter prayer should not and cannot work without the former prayer.

It starts with us knowing we need God that we are nothing without God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

See also posts here and here. 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God full of love, patience, grace, compassion, etc. for me even though I sin and I fail to be Jesus to others.  Thank You Jesus for Your love but please forgive me.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You Jesus.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure Lisa of her cancer and the side effects from chemo and radiation.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin, and serve You.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

The Games We Play
Romans 8

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[ because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. v5-11

It is amazing how I listening to David Platt's series "Abide" and today's devotion focuses on governing the mind through the Spirit.

I am reminded of Pastor Scott's sermon how we find happiness.   He used the Sermon on the Mount for the series and specifically for this sermon he focused on Matthew 5:6:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

My Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You designed us to crave and You alone can fulfill our desires and cravings...You provide for all our needs and You bless us when we come to You.  I have experienced this in my own life - what an awesome God You are. I am not worth all the ways You have blessed me...I continue to battle with fits of rage...please forgive me Jesus.  Thank You for Your grace and patience that You have dispensed already but I need more!  Help me overcome my sin and turn towards You instead.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Strengthen her bone density.  Please heal and cure her of her cancer and the side effects from chemo and radiation.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin, and serve You.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.

The Main Thing
John 5

Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. v19-20

The theme the author pursues is one of living as Christ does by following Him, His desires, and His will.  This only comes when we are rooted in Him and know Him.  Another theme I see that is implied in today's devotion is parenting - the verse in John specifically refers to God the Father and Jesus as the Son but I believe this also refers to earthly fathers and sons (or daughters).  In my role as a father, I must be Jesus to my sons because I am the primary influence in their life.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, I love you and I love what You have done for me - You have modeled Fatherhood for me by being the Heavenly Father that I desire to be for my own sons....how great You are!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love myself...I fail to be bold in my faith...to share the gospel, etc.  Please forgive me Jesus - help me turn from such sin towards You.   Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure Lisa of her cancer and the side effects from chemo and radiation.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin...and You! Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. v14-15

If we are close to God we must know His "good, pleasing and perfect will" and Paul shows us how in his letter to Romans:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

We must yearn to be close to God, in prayer, in reflection, in study, etc.  By drawing closer to God and knowing His will for our lives, we have confidence in knowing that God hears and answers ALL prayer - according to His will.  The implication is that our prayers should consist of either praying for what we KNOW God wants for us or for us to fully submit to His will - whatever that might be.

My Prayer: Lord You are a Great God and I know that Your designs, plans, etc. for me are perfect, glorify You and are GOOD for me.  Yet I often want to satisfy my OWN desires and this is sinful and wrong Jesus - please forgive me and help me turn from such sinful behavior and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength and help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Help me desire what You desire.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure Lisa of this cancer. Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

James 3

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. v17

James warns us about evil and sin such as envy and selfish ambition.  Scripture elsewhere warns us of similar pursuits:

Proverbs 19:21 > Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

We should instead focus on pursuing and loving God with all of heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

Deuteronomy 6:5 > Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Matthew 22:37 > Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

To reinforce James' claim that wisdom from heaven is pure:  
Luke 1:37 > For no word from God will ever fail. 

Focus on God and His Desires and Word, not on self or earthly pursuits.

My Prayer: Lord, You are a great God, capable of all things, creator of all things, all knowing, and You chose me, dying for me a gruesome death so that I would not be slave to my sin and have eternity in heaven with You...how awesome are You!  I am not worthy of what You have done for me and continue to do for me...I am broken and I sin.  I worry far too much.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me turn from my sin and towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Help me follow Your desires alone!  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength and comfort.  Please heal and cure her of this cancer.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.