Prayer Practice
Cup Prayer – This
prayer will help you pour your heart out to God (Ps. 62:8). Begin with your
hands folded together like an upside-down cup. Pour out before God all your
fears, anxieties, guilt, sin and shame. Tell Him what troubles you. Take time
to be specific. When you feel like you’ve poured out your heart, flip your
hands over, folding them like an open cup, ready to receive from God. Sit in
silence, asking God simply to fill you with His Spirit. If your mind runs back
to sin, shame, anxiety or concerns of the day, flip your hands back over and
pour it out to the Lord. When you are finished praying, read today’s Scripture
and listen as God shares His heart back with you.
DAILY
READING
REFLECTION
Enigma
by Mary Alice McGinnis
How would you define an enigma? The Oxford dictionary defines it as “a person
or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.”
On this 20th anniversary of 9/11,
those of us who are old enough to remember the events of that day know, it was
an enigma in the worse kind of way. As
we watched the events unfold on our televisions or computers, we were horrifically
puzzled, perplexed, and yearned for answers as to how something like this could
happen. The cruel devastation that was
unleashed upon our country that day left a mark on all of us.
The church at Thessalonica was also experiencing
hardship. It is not clear exactly what
their circumstances were, but we do know from the book of Acts (17:1-10) that this
body of believers was birthed in and through persecution.
The apostle Paul writes to them, “Therefore,
we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and
faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.” 2 Thessalonian 1:4
The next sentence is puzzling and begs
for deeper understanding.
Paul says, “This is evidence of
the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom
of God, for which you are also suffering.”
He says, this suffering, this hardship,
this persecution they were suffering is evidence or PROOF of
something. Another translation says, “It
is the plain indication.”
What is their steadfast, enduring faith
evidence of?
The righteous judgment of God.
This word EVIDENCE in the original language,
Greek, is the word endeigma.
Does that seem like a mystery, puzzling enigma
to you?
In their suffering and persecution, they knew they did not measure up on their own. And neither do we. We all know we are not worthy of God’s hand of blessing, but only deserved His punishment. Yet, God counted them righteous, and therefore worthy of the Kingdom of God because of Jesus.
We too can have this same confidence of
righteousness before God when we trust that because of Jesus we too have been
declared “NOT GUILTY” in God’s Divine Courtroom.
Therefore, as the Thessalonians were
suffering, they became an enigma. They
did not give up, they did not get crushed under the weight of their persecution,
they held steadfast to their faith. They
did not allow the judgment or retribution of earthly accusers dissuade them.
Philippians 1:28 says, “Only let your manner of life
be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . striving side by side for the faith of
the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear
sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”
What stories of Christians of faith enduring suffering, remaining steadfast in the faith encourage you? How are they an enigma to the world around them? How is God using these as evidence that He will indeed come again in all His Righteousness? How does this encourage you today?
Lord, thank You for counting us worthy of Kingdom of God through Your sacrifice of Jesus for us. You alone guard and keep us through faith until You come again. Use our lives as a shining beacons of conclusive evidence of Your Glorious Righteousness.
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