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Written by Skye Jethani, a contemporary author, speaker, and pastor. This is an excerpt from his book “What if Jesus Was Serious about Prayer?”

If God already knows all things, why do we speak to Him in prayer? And if our heavenly Father already knows what we need before we ask Him…then why do we ask Him for anything at all? In other religious traditions with fallible and capricious gods, it makes sense to pray. In superstitious religions, proclaiming the right words, in the right order and at the right time, is how one controls deities or provokes them to act. The God of Scripture, however, is not fallible, ignorant, or manipulated by any human device, and our prayers do not add to His knowledge in any way. Christian prayer, therefore, is not a means of controlling or informing God, because nothing is hidden from His sight and no one possesses more power. Still, He invites us to make ourselves and our requests known to Him in prayer, because He desires to relate to us. Through prayer we participate with God and cooperate as persons rather than mere objects of His knowledge…Our Lord sees our needs and He can meet them without our prayers, but He longs to give us something more. He wants to give us Himself…In prayer we lift our eyes to look upon the face of God and He bestows upon us the unimaginable dignity of looking back. 

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. [Matthew 6:7-8]

Today’s devotion is an old Quaker saying to reflect upon.

What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man or animal, let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” [Matthew 10:42]

Written by Keri Eichberger, a contemporary author.

Where will you choose to seek comfort? The tough truth is, inevitably, our years will deteriorate and our days will continue to contain discomfort. But the good news is this: When we truly understand, not only that worldly comfort is not promised here on Earth, but also that God is our true and only comfort, that is when we begin to truly seek him alone for the comfort for which we desire. And when we wholeheartedly seek him, we will absolutely find him, along with the true, lasting comfort of the soul we are all seeking, searching, and longing for.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. [2 Corinthians 1:3-4]

Written by Whitney Hopler, a contemporary author.

The summer heat can be so relentless that it drains away my energy. Whenever I come back to my air-conditioned home after being outside during summer, I crave some refreshment, so I pour myself a cold glass of water as soon as possible. On summer evenings, I take showers in cool water for more refreshment. This physical refreshment often reminds me of another kind of refreshment I need regularly – refreshment for my soul. Just like I need to recover physically from the heat of hot weather, I need to recover spiritually from the heat of stress that accumulates in my life from lots of work and other demands. Psalm 23 describes God as a shepherd who helps us get the rest we need, leads us beside quiet waters, and refreshes our souls. God makes it possible for us to enjoy the spiritual revival and renewal we all need… Ask God to refresh your soul whenever you need that. Just like you look for a cool drink when you’re thirsty, you can turn to God when your soul is tired. You can pray, tell him you’re exhausted, and invite him to lead you to his green pastures and quiet waters. This summer, when you feel the heat and want to cool down physically, let it remind you to seek spiritual refreshment too. God, your good shepherd, is waiting to lead you and to refresh your soul in ways nothing and no one else can! 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. [Psalm 23:1-3]

Written by Skye Jethani, a contemporary author, speaker, and pastor. This is an excerpt from his book “What if Jesus Was Serious about Prayer?”

Many don’t know that when Vincent van Gogh was a young man he served as a missionary among coal miners in Belgium. The experience left him with a deep admiration for the working poor. They did not understand deep theology, and most did not practice acceptable forms of piety, but they possessed God with a raw authenticity very different from the stiff religiosity van Gogh had known since his childhood. Vincent produced a charcoal drawing in 1882 that captures his esteem for the coal miners he served. It features an elderly man in a chair near a fire with his face buried in his hard, peasant hands. The reason for the man’s posture isn’t immediately clear. He could be crying or exhausted, but van Gogh revealed the truth with the drawing title—At Eternity’s Gate. It’s a portrait of a peasant in prayer. In a letter Vincent wrote, “This is far from theology, simply the fact that the poorest little woodcutter or peasant on the hearth or miner can have moments of emotion and inspiration which give him a feeling of an eternal home to which he is near.  Van Gogh understood that powerful prayer is available to the ordinary, simple, and even the ignorant. It is for children and peasants, not just the pastors or the powerful. Sometimes we are impressed with those who pray with eloquence or who weave deep theology and Scripture into their petitions to God, and yet the prayer of an unschooled woodcutter asking his heavenly Father for his daily bread can possess the faith to bridge earth and eternity.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God [John 1:12]

Written by Brother Lawrence (?-1691), a French Catholic religious brother.  This is an excerpt from his book “The Practice of the Presence of God.”

Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of Him?

Pray without ceasing. [1 Thessalonians 5:17]

Written by Stephanie Clinton, a contemporary writer and blogger.

I reject the temptation to use prayer like a magic lamp. God is not enslaved to my whims like a genie in a bottle, and it is immature and selfish of me to think God is at my beck and call. But if prayer isn’t about getting what I want or altering the outcome of mine or others’ lives, then what is the point? …  I have been thinking more and more about being in communion with God versus being in communication with God. Communication assumes there is conversation between the two of us. That is all well and good, like having a conversation with a good friend from time to time. It is good to take time to pour out our hearts and calm down enough to listen. Even Jesus needed to go off to be by himself to talk to God. But relying only on this practice inevitably leads to questions and wanting answers or requests and wanting results. Communion, on the other hand, is simply being with God and God being with us, all the time. Rather than setting aside time each day to stop and pray, let every thought and action be a prayer. Rather than wondering what words to say, simply let every breath be a prayer.. Maybe when we learn to continually commune with God, requests and pleas will be replaced by trust in the security of God’s sovereignty.

Rejoice always,  pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1 Thessalonians. 5:16-18]

Written by Levi Lusko, a contemporary writer. This is an excerpt from his book “Blessed Are the Spiraling.”

I once came across a jarring, apocryphal story attributed to Warren Buffett. It goes like this: The famed investor was once asked by his pilot how to set priorities. He told the pilot to make a list of the top twenty-five things he wanted out of life and then to arrange them in order of importance. The top five should be those around which he organized his time. The pilot expected Buffett to say that after doing those five, he should focus on the remaining twenty. Instead, he said the remaining twenty should be avoided at all costs because they were not important enough to form the core of his life, yet seductive enough to distract him from what matters most. Wow. The good is the enemy of the best. This is the kind of singular focus you need to have when it comes to following God’s plan for your life. If you created that list today, what would be your number one goal? Would God make the top five? If anything besides God sits in the number one spot in your life, you have identified a god. Augustine was right when he said that there is no such thing as an atheist. Everyone has a master passion or a controlling interest. We all serve somebody or something — whether or not we realize it.

I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 3:13-14]

Written by Mattea Gernentz, a contemporary writer, poet, and artist. This is an excerpt from the book “A Beautiful Year in the Bible.”

Worship springs from understanding God’s immense power and grace…Scripture draws a sharp contrast between worship driven by fear or obligation…and worship in response to being in relationship with God. Worship naturally flows from recognizing who God is…If we step back and reflect on the awesome power of God—as the creator of all things, sustainer of our lives, and redeemer of our mistakes—we cannot help but shout with joy and praise. If we think of worship as breathing, then our expressions of joy are an exhalation after we are filled with grace…Let us carry awe and gratitude into every corner of our lives. Let us turn each moment into an opportunity for worship and every breath into a prayer.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. [Psalm 96:4-6]

Written by Dennis Hollinger, a contemporary professor and ethicist.

In the aftermath of September 11, many have yearned for certainty regarding God’s actions on that day. Where was God, and what was God up to? It’s only natural to seek certainty in the divine realm, for it brings consolation in the face of threat and evil in our world. As a result, some believers have felt the need to make pronouncements regarding God’s involvement in this terrorist act; with certitude they assert judgment, causality, or other kinds of divine action. There are many things about God’s actions and character that we know with confidence. For example, we know that God is personal, triune, and simultaneously transcendent and immanent. We know that He is a God of mercy who wants to redeem us and who has taken the initiative to reveal Himself to us in the written Word, the Bible, and the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. But there are some things about divine actions that we just do not know, and this is especially true of the ways of God in human history—His judgments, actions, and permissions within the world. We need to affirm some degree of divine mystery that we will never fully comprehend and capture within the limits of finitude.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. [Isaiah 55:9]