From the Word:  Doing good daily (from Matthew 12:9 - 37)
”How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep!  So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:12 NASB)

Here again is an interesting thought, Lord.  It is lawful to do good even on the Sabbath.  It is lawful to do good daily, whatever day it is, whether it is the Sabbath or not!  When somebody has a need, it only makes sense to meet that need as soon as possible.  No need to wait for the right day, especially if the need involves pain or hunger.  Meet the need now.

Lord, thank You that You are never late for meeting our needs!  Protect me from the plague of procrastination in my own life, especially as it impacts others.  If there is something I need to do, I pray that You would show me what it is so that I would do it now, today.  Some things I may not be able to do now… ha, there are many things that I could do today that eventually need to be done, but I pray that by Your Spirit You would show me what would be the best things, the most important things to do today, and that by Your power You would help me do those things and not put them off.  I am not bound by law as they thought they were, I am bound by my own self interest and my own set of sometimes misplaced priorities.  I only have so much time (so little time), I must not squander my time and energy on temporal pursuits.   What I need, Lord, is a change of heart to embrace Your priorities and the wisdom to know what that means for me today.  Amen.

Please pray with us:

A major thrust of our ministry here in southeastern Pennsylvania is with young men and women in their twenties and thirties.  We have a bi-weekly meeting at a coffee shop in north Philly that enables us to keep up with some of them and encourage them to keep focused on Jesus while they sort out their priorities during these transition years.  Please pray for creativity and wisdom for us as we come alongside them in their decision making and in building habits of godliness and service.   Thanks.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

From the Word:  Innocent lawbreakers (from Matthew 12:1 - 21)
”Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.” (Matthew 12:5-6, NASB)

Boy, if I am not basing my understanding on Your point of view, this can certainly be confusing! Apart from grace and forgiveness and mercy, blind obedience to the law is the result.  What I really like about this is the common sense approach – common sense lawbreaking.

What is my basis for deciding whether or not a law is a burden rather than a help? When a law no longer helps people but is a burden and a detriment to their well-being, then I need to take a step back and process the intent of the law from Your perspective, Lord. Is blind obedience to a set of rules what You want?   Of course not!  This is where I need Your Holy Spirit to guide me in my conscience, so that in a case like this I can ‘break the law’ with confidence and a clear conscience! But how careful I need to be not to rationalize away the benefit of the law or base my decisions on what is more convenient for me. My experience has actually been that more often than not the right thing to do is usually the more difficult or costly thing to do. What is the law’s intent? Spare me, Lord, from overstepping Your intent here, and help me fully embrace the basis of Your explanation – mercy and compassion over sacrifice (Matthew 12:7; Hosea 6:6). Another paradoxical example of the merging of grace and truth.

O for wisdom from You, Lord! For understanding! Without Your Holy Spirit I will invariably take one side of this issue or the other to the wrong conclusion. No wonder Your men were confused from time to time and didn’t get it! This ought to keep me humble. When I think I’ve got it figured out, that’s when You pull out a situation like this!

Will I walk with You and follow You closely enough so as to comprehend what is going on and be able to base my decisions on Your priorities rather than my own? I want to walk in humility today yoked to You and be free to respond to Your leading, especially as it takes me outside my normal way of doing things and my comfort zone. To trust You in this kind of thing, that’s what I need to do, Lord. Amen.

Please pray with us:
This week at Nav headquarters in Colorado, our military division is selecting the national leadership that will oversee our military ministries for the next several years.  Having ministered in the military environment myself for 25+ years, I know most of these men well as friends and colabored alongside some of them.  It is quite encouraging to me to see the list of names under consideration or already selected, knowing their godliness and commitment to Christ and to the Great Commission.  Please pray with me that God would guide in the selection of the right people for each of the roles that still need to be filled, and for wisdom for them and for those already selected.  Thanks.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

From the Word:  A comfortable yoke (from Matthew 11:26 - 30)

”Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy (or, ‘comfortable, pleasant’) and My burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:29 - 30 NASB)

Lord, this is cool, to imagine You as this huge strong ox, standing there on one side of a yoke, waiting for me to crouch down and slip my shoulders into the other side of the yoke.  And You, for all Your strength, will not be unpredictable or out of control, but will manage each movement so as not to cause any difficulties, surprises, or unexpected stresses beyond the capacity to be handled.  Now, I should expect that the work, the haul with You, will require my cooperation and even my best efforts, but it will be with the sense that as we are pulling together we will get the task done and accomplish our purposes!  But the first thing I must do is come to You.

Yes, I am weary; yes, I have too much on my plate right now.  The priority things are regularly overshadowed by the latest minor emergency and brush fire [and today it is a burned out headlight on the van, a broken toilet seat, a funny noise in the other car when I put on the brake, and still unresolved problems with billing for dental procedures that require more phone calls].

O to link up (or better yet, link in) with You and keep my heart close to You, eyes fixed on You (maybe that illustration doesn’t quite work here) and focus my head, and hands, and feet, to the task!  Thank You, Lord, for the promise of rest, and for the hope that You give in all things.  Amen.

Please pray with us:
In our most recent newsletter I mentioned my plan to be more intentional with accountable relationships that are essential to finishing well.  So far (and this is in addition to my organizational supervisor) I have identified three men, one local and two within 3 hours of here, that I think are candidates for this role in light of my already established relationships and an affinity with each of them regarding the direction and goals of our lives.  One has already agreed to this, although we haven’t yet talked through the details.  Please continue to pray for us as I approach the other two.  I am hoping for input and accountability that I feel I need in order to overcome any blind spots and make sure I am dealing with the priority issues in my life.   Thanks.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

From the Word:  ”Vindicated by deeds” (from Matthew 11:1 - 19)
”For John came neither eating nor drinking,  and they say, ‘He has a demon!’  The Son of Man comes eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’  Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. ”  (Matthew 11:18 - 19 NASB)

Lord, how interesting that Your critics are able to find fault at every turn, as they look at Your life and operating style.  But what they fail to evaluate is what comes from Your life, as in  verse 5 - so many good things: the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, etc.  Were I an unbiased observer stumbling into this interchange, how absurd the accusations would be!  Certainly, as You previously stated, a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).

How is my reputation lately, Lord?  What have I been doing that would vindicate me?  Are my actions an expression of wisdom or of foolishness?  I shouldn’t have asked that question…I can think of several things I’ve done recently that certainly are not an expression of wisdom, maturity, and grace.  Thank You, Lord, that none of my foolishness has had any long term (or even short term) results, at least none that I am aware of.  Still in need of copious amounts of Your grace at my age and level of understanding.  Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy, and may I take to heart the opportunities I have to speak words of grace and encouragement, and may I do deeds of wisdom appropriate to my season of life as a committed follower of You.  Amen.

Please pray with us:
On a conference call today we prayed for another Navigator whose son is about to deploy to Iraq.  Our conversation brought to mind for me the numerous friends we have in the military who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan in the past or are over there now.  Please pray with us for those who are deployed with our military, both for physical safety but also for spiritual growth and fruitfulness.  The Navigators have a significant ministry in all branches of the military, and those who have received training in discipleship are having fruitful personal ministries over there as they live and disciple among their comrades in a dangerous and demanding environment.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

From the Word:  ”Becoming like You” (from Matthew 10:1-42)
”A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.  It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master…”  (Matthew 10:24-25a NASB)

Lord, I want to become like You, as much as is humanly possible!*  If I am Your disciple - and I consider myself one - what should my life be like?  How/what should I think , feel, say, do?  Even before figuring that out, the first thing to do is to learn from You.  To follow You so that I can see how You respond to situations that come up.  What were Your ‘unfilfilled expectations’?  Do You react with disappointment, disouragement, frustration, anger, or do You have hope?  Where does Your heart’s cry for Jerusalem come in here? 

Jesus, I want to be like You, I want to become like You.  What is holding me back?  What are the hindrances in my life that unknown to me are making my pursuit of godliness and Christlikeness more difficult at best, and unattainable at worst?  Lord Jesus, may I keep my eyes fixed on You and not worry so much about what I am supposed to look like, but simply walk the path You set before me, looking to You and not being so concerned with me. 

O to have a blessed fixation on You!  May I find my hope and joy in You and always be looking to You in each situation in which I find myself.  Thank You, Lord, even for the chance to follow You, to be close to You, to learn from You, to be yoked with You (I look forward to thinking through that analogy in ch 11…).  Meanwhile, it is enough that I seek, as Your disciple, to be as much like You as I can be.  May I follow You closely today, and take every thought captive (II Corinthians 10:5).  Amen. 

*[ see comment ].

Please pray with us:
Next week with some of our Philadelphia staff and key laborers we will be participating in a gathering in the countryside for a time of spiritual rest, refreshment, and refocusing.  It should come as no surprise that the demands of time, schedules, and other legitimate commitments are making full attendance a challenge for some.  Please pray for each of us while there to be able to let go of our local concerns and focus on Christ and on what He wants to say to us, and for those who can’t be there for the whole time, to be fully engaged during the time they are able to be there in order to benefit from the opportunity.  Thanks.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

To send me an email click here.

From the Word:  ”Who is worthy” (from Matthew 10:1-15)
”Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.  And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city.”  (Matthew 10:9-11 NASB)

The word ‘worthy’ is used here to describe two groups of people; the first refers to Your disciples whom You are sending out; the second group is the people they will be meeeting as they go into a city.  Both worth considering today, Lord, but one thing at a time - the first being the question as to my own work.  Am I working so as to earn the descripton of ‘worthy’?  O that I may be found in that group!  What does ‘workng hard’ look like for me?  Give me wisdom, Lord, to see what it looks like so that I may pursue my responsibilities with diligence.  And not just hard work, but with good judgment. 

That is where I need Your wisdom, Lord, to work wisely so that my efforts pay off, rather than doing things that seem right to me but have little or no impact.  May I commit myself to seeking You daily in prayer for wisdom as to how to trust You with all the concerns of my life and how to fulfill my responsibilities by putting my ‘hand to the plow’.  Help me, Lord, to work hard and to work smart.  Wisdom, diligence, and faith in You for the results.  Amen. 

Please pray with us:
We finally said goodbye late last week to the last of the three of our children who have headed off to college.  Even though we still have one at home, the pace of life is a bit different now, and there are a number of changes that we are adjusting to in our schedules.  Please pray with us for wisdom as we rethink our priorities, and for a heart of obedience to do with enthusiasm what God wants us to do.  Thanks.

To go to my website, click here or on the title.

To send me an email click here.