Welcome to Week 46 of A 2020 Prayer Life!
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
November 11
In Deuteronomy, Moses declares to the Old Testament people of Israel: "The LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords." (Deuteronomy 10:17 NASB)
In the Book of Revelation, John writes that the Lamb will overcome His enemies, "because He is Lord of lords and King of kings." (Revelation 17:14 NASB)
And, later in that book, John's description of the triumphant Jesus includes this: "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'" (Revelation 19:14 NASB)
Meditate on the meaning of "Lord of lords." Invest several minutes jotting down some of the implications of that title.
Now, in your prayer time, talk to Him out of that perspective. Let your reverence and your thanksgiving and your praise each be informed -- thoughtfully and deliberately informed -- by the truth that He is Lord of lords.
In the Book of Revelation, John writes that the Lamb will overcome His enemies, "because He is Lord of lords and King of kings." (Revelation 17:14 NASB)
And, later in that book, John's description of the triumphant Jesus includes this: "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'" (Revelation 19:14 NASB)
Meditate on the meaning of "Lord of lords." Invest several minutes jotting down some of the implications of that title.
Now, in your prayer time, talk to Him out of that perspective. Let your reverence and your thanksgiving and your praise each be informed -- thoughtfully and deliberately informed -- by the truth that He is Lord of lords.
November 12
Eight days after Easter, John reports that "His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.' Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" (John 20:26-28 NASB)
Talk with the Lord about this scene.
Talk with the Lord about this scene.
- What is the significance of this particular exclamation being Thomas' response to the truth of the resurrection?
- What is the significance of Thomas pairing "my Lord" with "my God"?
- How should Thomas' declaration influence me in my relationship with You?
November 13
Paul wrote that "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NIV)
We want to spend two days thinking deeply about this passage, discovering the depth of its meaning so that it can inform our understanding of what it means for us to call Jesus "Lord."
Accordingly, talk with the Lord about this passage, including these questions:
We want to spend two days thinking deeply about this passage, discovering the depth of its meaning so that it can inform our understanding of what it means for us to call Jesus "Lord."
Accordingly, talk with the Lord about this passage, including these questions:
- What is the relationship between confessing with my mouth and being saved?
- What is the relationship between believing in my heart and being saved?
- What is the relationship between Jesus being "Lord" and Jesus being "raised from the dead"?
November 14
We continue today our consideration of this important declaration by the Apostle Paul: "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NIV)
Talk with the Lord about this passage, including these questions:
Talk with the Lord about this passage, including these questions:
- Of all the things that I might be asked to confess, why is "Jesus is Lord" the most important?
- Why is it essential for me not merely to believe that Jesus is Lord but specifically to confess it with my mouth?
November 15
The Apostle Paul wrote that "God highly exalted (Jesus), and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11 NASB)
Spend a few minutes meditating on the picture that Paul has painted. Imagine the scene: both the look of it and the sound of it. Be deliberate about thinking of specific individuals from the past and present when you envision every knee bowing and every tongue confessing.
And now, in your prayer time, talk with God about the meaning and implications of what Paul wrote:
Spend a few minutes meditating on the picture that Paul has painted. Imagine the scene: both the look of it and the sound of it. Be deliberate about thinking of specific individuals from the past and present when you envision every knee bowing and every tongue confessing.
And now, in your prayer time, talk with God about the meaning and implications of what Paul wrote:
- Why is "Jesus is Lord" meant to become the ultimate and universal affirmation?
- Why does the acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus bring glory to the Father?
- Why do the knees bow and the tongues confess? Couldn't people stay standing? Couldn't people think it without saying it?
- When I join with the rest of creation in confessing that Jesus is Lord on that day, will I be saying something that I already know now? Or to what extent will I be saying something that I don't know and understand yet?
November 16
As we near the end of our two-week focus on the title "Lord," we want to give some thought to insights from Juan Carolos Ortiz:
"Lord doesn't mean today what it meant when Jesus was here. Back then it meant the maximum authority, the first one, the one above everything else, the owner of all creation.... The gospel which we have in the Bible is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. It presents Jesus as King, as Lord, as the maximum authority. Jesus is at the very center. The gospel of the Kingdom is a Christ-centered gospel... When people realized that Jesus was actually the Lord, they were 'pierced to the heart' (Acts 2:37) and began to tremble."
In your prayer time, reflect on Ortiz' insights.
"Lord doesn't mean today what it meant when Jesus was here. Back then it meant the maximum authority, the first one, the one above everything else, the owner of all creation.... The gospel which we have in the Bible is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. It presents Jesus as King, as Lord, as the maximum authority. Jesus is at the very center. The gospel of the Kingdom is a Christ-centered gospel... When people realized that Jesus was actually the Lord, they were 'pierced to the heart' (Acts 2:37) and began to tremble."
In your prayer time, reflect on Ortiz' insights.
- Do I recognize and affirm You as "the maximum authority" and "at the very center" in this world?
- Do I recognize and affirm You as "the maximum authority" and "at the very center" in my life?
- Why did the people on the Day of Pentecost respond the way they did "when (they) realized that Jesus was actually the Lord"?
- What does their response teach me about conversion?
- What does their response suggest about the day Paul anticipates when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord?
November 17
Jesus said to His disciples, "Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'? But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink'? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'" (Luke 17:7-10 NASB)
The teaching seems far removed from us because it begins with "Which of you, having a slave..." Since we don't have slaves -- and can hardly even conceive of the world in which we would have slaves -- the rest of the teaching may be lost on us.
And yet, of course, the key to understanding this teaching of Jesus is not that we should have slaves. No, the key to what He is saying is that we should understand ourselves as slaves. This is one of the natural counterparts to calling Him "Lord."
And so, in your prayer time, talk to your Lord about His teaching. Ask Him what He wants you to learn from it. Tell Him your gut reactions to it. Reflect on the kind of Lord He is. And then reflect on the kind of slave you are.
The teaching seems far removed from us because it begins with "Which of you, having a slave..." Since we don't have slaves -- and can hardly even conceive of the world in which we would have slaves -- the rest of the teaching may be lost on us.
And yet, of course, the key to understanding this teaching of Jesus is not that we should have slaves. No, the key to what He is saying is that we should understand ourselves as slaves. This is one of the natural counterparts to calling Him "Lord."
And so, in your prayer time, talk to your Lord about His teaching. Ask Him what He wants you to learn from it. Tell Him your gut reactions to it. Reflect on the kind of Lord He is. And then reflect on the kind of slave you are.