40 Days of Prayer - Week 2

Joshua 1:9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Devotion: Moses had died. Joshua, his assistant, was to become the leader of all of Israel as they at last entered the promised land. Can you imagine how Joshua felt? No doubt Joshua was still grieving the death of his friend as he began taking on this huge new assignment. God spoke to Joshua to give him the reassurance he needed. "Be strong and courageous." God wanted Joshua to be a strong leader for the people. "Do not be frightened or dismayed." It wouldn’t serve Joshua or the Israelites well if their leader was unsteady in this important time. How could Joshua be all of these things? What was the reason? "The Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua could be the confident, strong, courageous leader God was calling him to be, because God would walk with him every step of the way. God would be with Joshua wherever he went.

As Lutherans in North America, we are facing many challenges. We have been possibly frightened and certainly dismayed by the action of the 2009 CWA and the overall trajectory they indicate. Thus we are embarking on new directions through Lutheran CORE.

Just as the Lord promised to be with Joshua, the Lord is with us as well! He is with us collectively as Lutheran CORE, and He is with each one of us personally. When Jesus gave the Great Commission, sending the disciples out to spread the gospel message, He promised to be with them always. This promise is true for you! God has sent the Holy Spirit to be your constant companion and guide. You can have strength and take courage in this promise.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your eternal promises to be with Your people. Father, You know the particular difficulties we’re facing right now. I lay them into Your hands, trusting You hear my prayer, and believing that You will indeed be with us wherever we go. Help me to be strong and courageous, not frightened or dismayed. Guide the efforts of Lutheran CORE as we gather to seek new directions that are pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Cori Johnson, Interim Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Rock, Michigan and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.

Genesis 50:20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.

Devotion: The theological climax of the account of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis comes after their father Jacob’s death. Joseph’s brothers feared that he still wanted to get revenge on them, but Joseph assured them that he intended them no harm. Instead, he testified to how God had used their evil actions toward him for a far greater purpose of good—to save the world from starvation and to preserve the covenant God had made with Abraham.

Out of the distress and turmoil of the last several years, we can also see much evidence of what God “is doing today” to preserve the Word of salvation in Christ Jesus and to provide for His faithful people. While there is reason to lament and fear, as Joseph’s brothers did, at what has occurred in our little corner of the Body of Christ, there is far more reason for the hope and confidence Joseph expressed. The Holy Spirit is raising up faithful people and equipping them with boldness and commitment to defend the truth of the Gospel and proclaim the good news of forgiveness of sin, life and salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your only-begotten Son to the cross for our salvation. Grant us faith to trust that word with all our hearts and equip us to proclaim it faithfully to a world in desperate need of your salvation. Grant us undying hope and confidence in your good and gracious will for us and for the world, even when we walk through the darkest valleys. Pour out your grace on the North American Lutheran Church as it is formed, and on Lutheran CORE, WordAlone Ministries, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and other groups that are striving together to preserve your truth and extend your Kingdom. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Scott Grorud, Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church (LCMC), Hutchinson, Minnesota and Steering Committee Member, Lutheran CORE.

Romans 15:4-6 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotion: We find ourselves in these forty days because what was written for our instruction in earlier times for our hope seems to have been abandoned. We have been asked to take Esau’s one-time meal instead of holding fast to the promised hope of Jacob, revealed through his seed, the Word Incarnate. But we will do this no more. Instead, we are called, according to the Almighty’s providence, to persevere, not as those who have no hope, but with encouragement, knowing that all things are being accomplished according to His will. Events in this life seem to come and go, but everything will be accomplished according to the unchanging Word of God. How can we have hope? How is this possible? By putting on the mind of Christ, speaking with His voice, His Word, to the glory of God the Father. What does this mean?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is really simple. We are all sinners who need to be saved. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus, God in the flesh, says coming to God the Father happens only by going through God the Son. You cannot connect with God unless you connect with God. There is no other way. Knowing that we are all sinners who are saved by Jesus, we go to the rest of the world seeking fellow sinners who will be turned by the Holy Spirit through Jesus to the Father. We know the mind of Christ desires to please the Father who desires that none would perish. Yet, we also know there are those who will, in that final day, be separated from Him. In this simple message of salvation, we share with all whom we meet the truth of what Jesus has accomplished from the cross.

It is discouraging when this simple message seems to be set aside for all manner of things. But we are told to persevere. Although we may think differently, it has always been true that there are those who proclaim a different gospel. But we are to recognize that all things are in the Lord’s hands and that nothing will falter, slip away or fail as we might imagine. When Jesus prayed that High Priestly prayer in the garden, hear Him say to all ages, with thankfulness, that no one was lost; He has accomplished the salvation of all who will be saved.

Therefore, we are to be a people of one mind: that of Christ, who came to save. We are to be of one purpose: proclaiming Christ in the flesh, crucified, dead, resurrected, ascended and coming again. We are to live knowing that everything we do through the love He has given us will work together in what He has already accomplished to the glory of the Father. Be heartened, strengthened and of the mind of Christ, knowing He is at work in all those whom He has chosen through His grace.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, for Christ’s sake through the power of Your Holy Spirit, kindle in us the fire of Your love that we may persevere through these turbulent times knowing what You are accomplishing for Your glorious kingdom. Help us not so much to see where we will wind up, but the trail before us this day that we may walk according to Your will here on earth. Hold us up as Your witnesses to the power of Your true Gospel that those who do not yet know You may come to eternal life through the grace You have made possible from Calvary. In all things, may You alone receive honor and glory; through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we pray. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Jeffray Greene, Pastor of American Lutheran Church, Rantoul, Illinois; Steering Committee Member, Seven Marks Society and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.

John 10: 27-30 …So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, “I have told you and you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Devotion: As to the matter before us, the words of Jesus are instructive and normative: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”

As to the issue of provocation, hear the voice of the Shepherd, as recorded by St. Matthew– “Have you not heard that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (19:4-6) My sheep hear My voice – not the cacophony of revisionism of whatever form and content. Let not contemporary mankind sunder the nature of marriage as declared by God and endorsed by our Savior.

As to going forward, the voice of the Good Shepherd prevails over all the siren songs of culture and any advocacy thereto. He has given us His Great Commission: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

My sheep hear My voice.

Prayer: Lord, we follow you as our Good Shepherd. Give us ears to hear your voice, within and above the voices claiming what is contrary to your Word. Help us be the sheep who hear your voice. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Dr. J. Larry Yoder, Professor of Religion and Director of the Center for Theology, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina; Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Newton, North Carolina and Theological Advisory Board Member, WordAlone Ministries.

Deuteronomy 8:1-4 The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Devotion: The Bible bears frequent witness to the need for sinful human beings to be humbled before God. When we are full of ourselves or take pride in what we do, we need to be put in our place. The theme is prominent in Moses' long sermon to the Israelites just before they will cross the Jordan River to enter the promised land.

The people hearing Moses’ long sermon were the children and grandchildren of the adults who had left Egypt 40 years earlier. Because the adults who left Egypt had not humbled themselves before God, they perished in the wilderness. Being humbled by God is not a walk in the park. Divine judgment and punishment are never easy to bear. The Israelites learned the hard way that everything and everyone is dependent upon the divine Word.

Yet Moses’ words to the Israelites emphasize that God humbles people not just for the sake of inflicting punishment. The Lord is working for good in those he humbles. Later in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses says to the Israelites that God “fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.” (v. 16, emphasis added)

The reconfiguration of Lutheranism is ultimately God’s work and in that reconfiguration we all need to be humbled by and before God. Being put in our place is to be made a beggar, completely dependent on receiving our Lord’s mercy and grace. That will be a difficult experience, but it will certainly do us good in the end.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we confess that we have not lived by every word that comes from your mouth. We have tried to live by our own words and deeds, and in so doing we have done great harm to ourselves, our neighbors and your Son’s Church. Forgive us and be merciful to us, but also humble us so that we, along with all sinners, are drawn to live by every one of your words. We offer our prayers in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Mark Chavez, Landisville, Pennsylvania and Director, Lutheran CORE.

Ephesians 4:11-16 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.

Devotion: Unity is a word stressed often in our churches today. We are admonished to remain united because of our shared “evangelical and missional witness.” But unity for the sake of unity can be facile and artificial, the feel-good type that attempts to smooth-over or ignore disparate views that are irreconcilable. Such unity is unity in appearance only. True unity is something altogether different. It is the unity described by Paul as the “unity of the faith.” It is the unity which comes through God’s grace as each individual strives to conform her will to God’s will.

There can be no unity apart from the truth. We are called, says Paul, to speak the truth to each other in love. When we speak the truth, there are no barriers to separate us: no cunning, no self-centered craftiness, no deceit, no self-serving manipulation. When we speak the truth in love, we are not acting according to self-interest; we are acting out of concern and care for the other and for the other’s interest. We are being united with him in love.

We come to know both truth and unity through our relationship to Christ. Paul says that we are to grow up into Christ, into an ongoing mature faith relationship with the Son of God. God has provided us with the gift of nurturers in the faith: the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It is/was their responsibility, their calling, to nurture us in the Christian life, to equip us with the knowledge needed for our journey toward theological understanding and truth. As each of us grows up into Christ, we grow closer to each other as we strive to conform our wills to God’s will. We enact the body of Christ as we minister to each other. We are unified through our connectedness in Christ.

Prayer: Gracious Heavenly Father, Help us to understand that true unity, both in our personal relationships and in the church, comes through conformity to Your will. Enable us to speak Your truth in love, remembering that we are made in Your image and that although Your love is unconditional, to love You is to keep Your commandments. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by Marianne Howard Yoder, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a philosopher; Member of Grace Lutheran Church, Newton, North Carolina and Steering Committee Member, Lutheran CORE-North Carolina.

Joshua 1:9 I command you: be firm and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.

Devotion: New ventures are fraught with uncertainty. The Lord’s words to Joshua, successor to Moses, as the Israelites are about to cross the River Jordan could not have come at a better time. For all those years they were led by Moses, a prophet without equal, and on the cusp of crossing to the Promised Land, he died. God gives Joshua a necessary pep talk (Joshua 1:2-9). Twice in a short space God says “be firm and steadfast.” Is Joshua up to the work ahead?

Are we? The Lord’s word to Joshua should echo in our minds. The path ahead is not always clear, but the command is always a clarion summons.

Prayer: Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, to travel pathways as yet uncharted, perhaps to encounter perils as yet unknown. Give us courage to out with good faith, not always knowing where we are going but knowing always that your hand is guiding us and your love is supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Russell Saltzman, Pastor of Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Missouri; former editor of Forum Letter and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.