Category: Prayer Intention

LIGHT MY FIRE

“Lord, would You not have us call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” –Luke 9:54 Sts. James and John asked Jesus if they should pray for fire to come down from heaven to destroy an inhospitable Samaritan town. In this way, the two apostles were showing their faith in Jesus as the new Elijah (see Mal 3:23), for Elijah had repeatedly called down fire from heaven (see 2 Kgs 1:10, 12). Jesus rejected their proposal because His kingdom was a kingdom of mercy before justice (see Mt 18:23ff). He intended to convert His enemies, even the Samaritans (see Jn...

RIGHTEOUS AND REPENTANT

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” ––Job 1:21 Many of us have said things disrespectful of God when our life hasn’t gone as planned. Contrast this attitude with “a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil” (Jb 1:1). Most likely, “you have heard of the steadfastness of Job” (Jas 5:11). Even in view of all the suffering Satan heaped upon him, “Job did not sin, nor did he say anything...

A COMFORTABLE, ENJOYABLE DEATH-STYLE

“Woe to the complacent!” –Amos 6:1 A lifestyle focused on comfort, entertainment, and enjoyment leads to complacency, that is, a selfishness because of which we don’t care that much about other people’s lives and salvation (see Am 6:4-6). Complacency is only one of the side effects of a pleasure-seeking lifestyle. A self-centered lifestyle gradually causes a spiritual blindness and deafness through which we become so hardened that even someone risen from the dead would not be able to touch our hearts (Lk 16:31). Because we naturally want a lifestyle that is as comfortable as possible, we are doomed to be...

THIS I KNOW

“They failed…to understand.” –Luke 9:45 Our human existence has limits; our minds cannot understand everything (see Lk 9:45). Our body parts wear out — eyes, ears, legs, teeth, and digestive systems (Eccl 12:2ff). Our bodies live only a limited time, seventy or eighty years “if we are strong,” and then we die (Ps 90:10). When we know our limits, we are in a position to call upon God as our only refuge (Ps 90:1). If we fail to understand many things, at least we can know by grace that Jesus is our Savior, “the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn 11:25),...

LIFT HIGH THE CROSS

The Son of Man “must first endure many sufferings, be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, and be put to death, and then be raised up on the third day.” –Luke 9:22 Early in His public ministry, Jesus told His apostles to keep it a secret that He was the Messiah (Lk 9:21). When He healed people and set them free from the devil, He told these people to keep it secret. One explanation for this may be that Jesus wanted to reveal His sufferings and death before publicizing His messianic power. Because the crucified Jesus...