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Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled: 40 Daily Meditations on Jesus and Prayer
160Overview
We live in a chaotic world of rapid change, personal crisis, and global tragedy, where fear and anxiety are on the rise. Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled gives you forty days of hope-filled meditations immersed in the teachings, stories, and prayers of Jesus. Each day provides:
- Devotional thoughts on the intersection of the reader, the world, and Jesus
- A Bible-based prayer focused on a single chapter of Scripture
- One or two short lines to pray and consider throughout the day
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781627079198 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Our Daily Bread Publishing |
| Publication date: | 01/02/2019 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Sales rank: | 1,164,208 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d) |
| Age Range: | 3 Months to 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Darkness and Light
During Christmas services someone often reads from Isaiah 9: "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine." After the reading, with lights dimmed, someone holds out in the darkness one flickering candle to light another. A third wick catches the flame, and another and another, until all in the congregation are together lighting the sanctuary with their candles.
Light in the darkness — we all long for it. Light is what brings clarity, feelings of safety and confidence, certainty.
Earth is a beautiful place, full of wonders, yet millions "live in deep darkness." Fear. Insecurity. Wickedness. The gospel is the good news that into the world's turmoil and tragedy a Babe was born — that God so loved the world he sent his Son to redeem it.
Psalm 136 begins, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." The psalmist goes on to describe many of the wonderful things God does, each time affirming, "His faithful love endures forever."
The troubles of our world seem to sharply contradict that. Where is God's love in the midst of wars and threats of wars? His faithful love endures forever. We need not panic. His faithful love endures forever.
Into darkness and despair God sent a great light on that first Christmas ...
The Glorious Invasion
Selections from John 1
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God ...
He came into the very world he had created,
but the world didn't recognize him. ...
But to all who believed him and accepted him,
he gave the right to become children of God. ...
So the Word became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory,
the glory of the Father's one and only Son.
Father in heaven, here I am. Please draw me to your light. Help me to sense your unfailing love and faithfulness, no matter what is happening around me or elsewhere in the world. Instead of confusions and dread clamoring for my attention, let your glory and your grace fill me.
Thank you for sending your Son.
I praise you for the magnificent reality that you share your love and glory with us as your children. Help me to live today as your child, sensitive to your Holy Spirit and ready to be part of your purposes in the world, ready to bring light to the darkness in any small way that I can.
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
Yes, Father! Don't let me take for granted all the blessings we've received. It's so easy to complain about what we lack and to dwell on the unjust things that happen to us ... and the bad things that might happen. Thank you, Lord, for all your gracious blessings.
And thank you for your assurance that you love us.
All praise to you, Father in heaven, for the confident hope that your love for the world — the love that prompted you to send your Son — will ultimately change everything.
* * *
A Prayer for Today
Draw me into your light all through this day, Lord.
Fill me with praise and gratitude for your love.
Fires of Sorrow
More than a hundred years ago Oswald Chambers declared, "Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life." Despite human "progress," that hasn't changed. Even in relative safety and prosperity, we experience pain and personal loss. Chambers advised us to get realistic about sorrow, accepting it as part of life.
In our age of constant change and heated racial, gender, and religious conflicts, many find their sense of identity uncertain. Chambers challenged his listeners to pray "that I may preserve the self God created me to be through every fire of sorrow."
God created each of us with unique DNA, in a specific time and place where we all experience struggles and sorrow. As we cry out to the Lord, we respond as the "self he created us to be," in harmony with Father, Son, and Spirit.
Described as "a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief," Jesus was sure of his identity as the beloved Son of his Father. He spoke of our being like seeds that need to die in order to be fruitful.
Yet the paradox is, he was also the man of joy, for through his suffering came both his joy of returning to the Father and accomplishing our redemption and our joy of peace with God.
In the selections that follow we see the realism in his teaching, and we see in his prayer our Lord's firm resolve to complete his mission despite the suffering ahead.
When Jesus Was Troubled
Selections from John 12
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.
But its death will produce many new kernels —
a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Those who love their life in this world will lose it. ...
The Father will honor anyone who serves me."
Lord Jesus, I want to serve you and to please your Father. I don't want to love my life more than I love you. Yet I'm painfully aware my love for you is weak. You once said some seeds fall on stony ground and others on good soil. Let mine be good soil, receptive to your seeds of love and grace.
Fill me with love for you, and help me to serve you and others.
"Now my soul is deeply troubled.
Should I pray, 'Father, save me from this hour'?
But this is the very reason I came!
Father, bring glory to your name."
Lord Jesus, sometimes I wonder how I'm to respond to sorrows that cut to the bone.
Sometimes I want to escape!
Sometimes I want to shake my head asking, "Why me?"
But you too faced "terrible sorrows," and you were "deeply troubled" by the dreadful things ahead of you, but you didn't pray to escape them. You were determined to fulfill your Father's purpose. Am I fulfilling your Father's purpose for me, even though I fail and feel overwhelmed?
Please cleanse my soul in this refining furnace.
"Walk in the light while you can,
so the darkness will not overtake you ...
Put your trust in the light while there is still time;
then you will become children of the light."
Father in heaven, I want to be a child of the light. As I drag my concerns and baggage into your light, shine on me, Lord!
Yes, shine on me.
Cleanse me.
Clear my eyes so I see from your perspective.
* * *
A Prayer for Today
Whatever I face today, Lord,
help me to welcome your loving,
cleansing, energizing presence.
The Source of Love
"For God so loved the world ..."
Does he really?
For skeptics, the apostle John's bold assertion in his gospel that God loves the world seems flatly contradicted by harsh realities. The old pop song "What the World Needs Now Is Love" has been sung by millions, yet bitterness and revenge keep squelching empathy and love.
And if you think that our day is worse than the apostle John's, do some reading on the Roman empire and the revenge-seeking brutality inherent in the conflict. So where did the beloved disciple of Jesus gain his conviction that God loved the world?
We get plenty of clues when we turn to John's accounts of what Jesus said to him and the other disciples. Shortly before he was betrayed and taken before Pilate, he strongly emphasized his Father's love, and he made it practical: "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
That's how they would stand out in their day. And that's how we will stand out in ours. Those in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit are called to be known for their love.
The source of authentic love is God. Today's Scripture includes selections of the personal things Jesus said about love and how we can receive it.
"My Father Will Love Them"
Selections from John 14
"If you love me, obey my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate,
who will never leave you.
He is the Holy Spirit ..."
Lord Jesus Christ, it's painfully clear to me that I cannot create love. My love for you does not come from me but from you and your Father. I want to love you and open myself now to your love. Thank you for the promise of your Holy Spirit to be here with me and to pour your love into me.
Help me to empty myself of my self-centeredness. Help me to be fully open to your love and to share it in the ways your Spirit shows me throughout this day.
"Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.
And because they love me,
my Father will love them.
And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them."
Lord, show me how to obey your commands, for I know they're embedded in your love for me, in your love for all of us. Help me to reject cynicism and fear and bitterness.
"All who love me will do what I say.
My Father will love them,
and we will come and make our home with each of them."
Thank you, Jesus, for this wonderful promise that you and your Father love me. Thank you for giving me the hope that today I can walk in your love because I am God's beloved child.
* * *
A Prayer for Today
Father in heaven, grant me joy today as I absorb what it means that you make your home with me.
Excerpted from "Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Harold Myra.
Excerpted by permission of Discovery House.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Welcome 7
Consider … Jesus' Invitation 9
Part 1 Praying Like Jesus
Day 1 Darkness and Light 13
Day 2 Fires of Sorrow 16
Day 3 The Source of Love 19
Day 4 The Delight Cycle 22
Day 5 Walk with Jesus 25
Day 6 Habits 28
Day 7 Keep Knocking 31
Day 8 Poor and Blessed 33
Day 9 Into the Thick of It 36
Day 10 Opening Our Eyes 39
Consider … Jesus' Stories about Prayer 42
Part 2 Our Heavenly Father
Day 11 Fatherless? 48
Day 12 Where Is God's Justice? 51
Day 13 Shaken by Holiness 54
Day 14 "Always Working" 57
Day 15 The Best Invitation 60
Day 16 The Music of Life 63
Day 17 Our True Nature 66
Day 18 Satan's Strategy 69
Day 19 What Is Peace? 72
Day 20 "Don't Be Afraid" 75
Consider … Jesus' Straight Talk about Prayer 78
Part 3 Our Troubled Times
Day 21 The Evil Commander 83
Day 22 "All Shall Be Well" 86
Day 23 When Someone Betrays You 89
Day 24 Is Joy Possible? 92
Day 25 Look for the Fun 95
Day 26 Prayer in Disaster 98
Day 27 Shouting into Silence 101
Day 28 In Heaven's Light 104
Day 29 Mortal, yet in God's Image 107
Day 30 Fly to Safety? 110
Consider … Jesus Praying 112
Part 4 Jesus in Trouble
Day 31 What's My Role? 117
Day 32 Prayer for Fellow Believers 120
Day 33 Joy and Hatred 122
Day 34 Holiness: Wholeness 125
Day 35 What Awes Us? 127
Day 36 The World Is Watching 129
Day 37 What Will We See? 132
Day 38 War in Heaven 134
Day 39 Resurrection Joy 137
Day 40 The Ultimate Answer to Prayer 140
Appendix: Prayer throughout the Scriptures 143
Notes 157
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