The Worship of God

March

MARCH 1

“Father” Read Matthew 6:9

“Our Father in heaven …” – Matthew 6:9

“Our” is the operative word. We cannot come to God as if he were a private deity, a household god. He is no personal idol we manufacture to our specifications. In prayer God is not reduced to our requirements; we are expanded to the dimensions of his majesty.

Why is “fadier” such an important word for God?

Prayer: Our Father: reveal yourself to me not as I have imagined you and not as others have stereotyped you, but as you really are: creator of all that is, loving redeemer of all your people. Amen.

MARCH 2

“Name” Read Matthew 6:9

“… hallowed be your name.” – Matthew 6:9

The word “God” comprises goodness and holiness and glory. But in everyday usage it is marred with superstition. People read into die word “God” fears and ignorance and blasphemy. The name needs cleansing and burnishing. What does “hallowed” mean?

Prayer: Hallowed be thy name: purge the words that name your presence, cleanse the images that fill my mind. Scrape the noun clean of rust and grime until “Jesus” and “Christ” say the clear truth about you, Father. Amen.

MARCH 3

“Kingdom” Read Matthew 6:10

“Your kingdom come.” – Matthew 6:10

Every political scheme devised by humans is flawed somewhere, corrupt finally. The task of ordering people’s lives in harmony and in fairness eludes our competence. Meanwhile, there are people who are already being ruled in love and who experience in that rule God’s goodness and fulfillment.

What does “kingdom” mean?

Prayer: Thy kingdom come: establish your principles of redemption in me and among all who kneel in your presence and confess your lordship. Inaugurate your rule, Lord Jesus, and make me a charter citizen. Amen.

MARCH 4

“Will” Read Matthew 6:10

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:10

Our wills are given to us to exercise freely. We can assert them noisily and brashly, like Adam, in choosing what is beneath us and thereby being diminished; or we can choose, like Christ, the way of our creator and redeemer and learn a greater freedom in an expanding reality. How does your will differ from God’s will?

Prayer: Thy will be done: the will that freely elects redemption in your creation, the will that comprehends all things and everyone in a divine purpose, die will that frees my will from slavery to sin and puts it to work in righteousness. Amen.

MARCH 5

“Give” Read Matthew 6:11

“Give us this day our daily bread.” – Matthew 6:11

God created our bodily as well as our spiritual hungers, and will provide for their satisfaction. Prayer has as much to do with the necessities of this day’s living as with the certainties of eternal life.

What physical needs will you pray for today?

Prayer: Give us this day our daily bread. I will not let my needs become anxieties, but will submit them to your providence. Give, Lord, all that I need to live obediendy and joyously. Amen.

MARCH 6

“Forgive” Read Matthew 6:12

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” – Matthew 6:12

Apart from forgiveness each step we take is a link in the cause-and-effect sequence of sin and death. With forgiveness we travel from “strength to strength” by grace to life eternal. In the same way that bread is a basic need for the body, forgiveness is the basic need of the spirit. Who can you forgive as you have been forgiven?

Prayer: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: I want each detail of my life to be a result not of the sins I commit, but of the mercy you pour out in Jesus. Don’t, God, ignore me, indulge me, or reject me. Forgive me. Amen.

MARCH 7

“Rescue” Read Matthew 6:13

“And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” – Matthew 6:13

Christians are not moral giants, flexing our muscles and displaying our trophies before the world as evidence of superior spirituality. We are in a battle that very often threatens to overwhelm us, and we need help. What evil do you need help against?

Prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: I thank you, God, that you are not coolly manipulating me, puppet-like, on a string; but that you are with me, on my side in this war for eternal life, and that you will bring the victory. Amen.

MARCH 8

“Kingdom/Power/Glory” Read Matthew 6:13

“For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen.” – Matthew 6:13

These words, though not in the oldest manuscripts, are commonly on the lips of Christians. They summarize prayer as the language spoken in God’s kingdom, voiced with energy given by God’s power, and however stuttering, resplendent with God’s glory.

How does the Lord’s Prayer help you to pray?

Prayer: Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever: all that you are, O God, evokes and shapes my prayers to you. Keep me in the company of all who are struggling to master this tongue. Help me to be articulate in this great language. Amen.

MARCH 9

“If You Forgive” Read Matthew 6:14-15

“… But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – Matthew 6:15

God’s work includes our neighbors, and we must join lum in it if we are to continue in his ways. We are always trying to reduce God’s work to something exclusive and private, but he will not permit it. Whom will you forgive today?

Prayer: At first, Lord, these words look like a posted warning, but now I see in them a way of promise—your words of forgiveness spill out into the world through my acts of forgiveness. Thank you for letting me share in your great and creative work of forgiving. Amen.

MARCH 10

“Do Not Look Dismal” Read Matthew 6:16-18

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret” – Matthew 6:17-18

Routines dull perceptions. The purpose of a discipline such as fasting is to interrupt the routines that cushion us from the foundational realities, and so sharpen our awareness of the eternal essentials.

Will you choose a day, or a meal, to fast this week?

Prayer: Lord God, I let too many things distract and divert me from paying attention to you: train me in the simplifications that will put me in touch with what matters most—your love, your salvation, your grace. Amen.

MARCH 11

“Treasures” Read Matthew 6:19-21

“… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:20-21

God has nodung against treasure; his concern is about its location. The location of our treasure, that upon which we expend energy and fix hopes, determines the direction of our goals and the shape of our behavior. What do you value most?

Prayer: Father, I put all my wealth, my investments, my possessions in trust: you are my future and my confidence. Cure me of the possessiveness that holds tightly and will not let go. Amen.

MARCH 12

“If Your Eye Is Healthy” Read Matthew 6:22-23

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light” – Matthew 6:22

Our eyes are remarkable and accurate signs of our inner spiritual health. They narrow into slits when we hate, envy, and scheme. They open wide in wonder when we live in adoration and generosity. What obstructs your vision of God?

Prayer: God, your world is so full of people to love and things to admire: keep my eyes wide open to receive all the sensations of color and form in your creation, and to love everything and everyone I see in Jesus’ name. Amen.

MARCH 13

“Two Masters” Read Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” – Matthew 6:24

Faith is not an amalgam of all the bits and pieces of “religion” that are deposited in the delta of the sold. The Christian is not a collection bin for every religious emotion that passes through the nervous system. Christian faith is choice and service—choosing Christ as Savior and serving him as Lord.

How would you serve “wealth”?

Prayer: I know, God, that I cannot trust you as just another item in the religious stew I keep simmering on the back burner of my life. Master me absolutely so that I may serve you in body, mind, and spirit, as I now attend to your word of creation and command in Jesus Christ. Amen.

MARCH 14

“Do Not Worry” Read Matthew 6:25-26

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” – Matthew 6:25

Survival needs, important as they are, must not be allowed to define or dominate us. We are created for something far more complex and profound than food and drink and clodiing. God’s love, care, and providence are the wide world in which we learn to live easily and exuberandy.

What anxiety will you turn over to God?

Prayer: Father in heaven, forgetful of my high calling in Christ, I find myself flattened out on an economic plain, living from hand to moudi with a mean, survival mentality. Awaken the desire to live by your will, as your child, in your love. Amen.

MARCH 15

“A Single Hour” Read Matthew 6:27

“And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” – Matthew 6:27

Anxiety burns up enormous amounts of energy, wastefully and inefficiendy. It produces nothing. It is the opposite of faith, which requires only plain attentiveness to God, and simple responses to his will—and moves mountains.

Compare anxiety with die faith described in Hebrews 11:1.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, you have so riclily and extravagandy provided me with meaning and purpose and beauty and goodness—what more do I want? Teach me to live in the amplitude of your creation, not in the grab-greed desolation of the world. Amen.

MARCH 16

“Little Faith” Read Matthew 6:27-30

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” – Matthew 6:30

Anxious preoccupation with the needs and wants of daily living distract us from God, who is already present in each detail to help, strengthen, provide, and redeem by his love.

Compare this with the other “litde faith” passages in Matthew 8:26; 14:31; and 16:8.

Prayer: Dear Christ, I set aside right now my nervous concern for what I must do; I center my thoughts on what you are doing in me and in the world. I want to trade in my anxieties for your gift of faith. Amen.

MARCH 17

“Your Heavenly Father Knows” Read Matthew 6:31-32

“… and indeed your heavenly Father knows diat you need all these things.” – Matthew 6:32

Faith breathes a confidence that God knows our needs better than we do and provides for their fulfillment. The frantic doubt that God may have forgotten about us, the panicky suspicion that God may have decided against us—all that is excluded by faith.

What are you most sure of in God?

Prayer: For your uninterrupted mercy, O God, for the constant surveillance of your provident eye, for the steady assistance of your strong arm, for the persistent invitational knocking at the door of my life, for these I give thanks. Amen.

MARCH 18

“Strive First” Read Matthew 6:33

“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all diese tilings will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33

Our priorities should be clear by now: We are made by God, for God; therefore the meaning and fulfillment of our lives must take place in the country of grace. What he says and what he does, and how we respond and how we obey, are die center realities of our lives.

What evidence is there in your life diat you seek first his kingdom?

Prayer: “Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; bear patiendy the cross of grief or pain; leave to thy God to order and provide; in every change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end” (Katherina von Schlegel, “Be Still My Soul,” The Hymnbook, 318). Amen.

MARCH 19

“So Do Not Worry” Read Matthew 6:33-34

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” – Matthew 6:34

If we are in control of what happens to us and in charge of our own well-being, we do well to be perpetually vigilant against evil and on constant alert for die lucky break. But if God is in control, if his kingdom is already a reality, a decisive “therefore” separates us from such debilitating anxieties.

What do you seek first?

Prayer: My God and King: in the course of this day, as 1 am presented with choices to make and paths to follow, give me the wise courage to decide to live in the Kingdom where I will experience your power and glory in Jesus Christ. Amen.

MARCH 20

“Do Not Judge” Read Matthew 7:1-2

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For widi the judgment you make you will be judged, and die measure you give will be the measure you get.” – Matthew 7:1-2

When we judge others—evaluate their worth, their lack of virtue, their practice of vice—we waste the moral energies that were given to us for use in the work of compassion. Examining odiers with an eye to spotting their defects is self-destructive. Whom are you tempted to judge?

Prayer: I find, by your word, O God, that I am utterly incompetent to judge others. I have only meager information about them; I only vaguely understand your purposes in them. Instead of pronouncing judgments on them, I will work and pray for them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

MARCH 21

“The Speck/The Log” Read Matthew 7:3-5

“Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye?” – Matthew 7:4

Not until we refuse to indulge our curiosity about what is wrong with others are we free to take a genuine interest in them as people loved by God to whom we may become witnesses in truth and companions in faidi. Too many times we confuse religious gossip with spiritual concern. Whom are you judging instead of loving?

Prayer: Lord, bring me to the place where my interest is not in condemning sin in others, but in confessing it in myself. I find it much easier to mount an indignant assault on everyone else’s sins dian to repent and be cleansed of my own. Amen.

MARCH 22

“Pearls Before Swine” Read Matthew 7:6

“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.” – Matthew 7:6

Our Lord leads us in knowing when to speak and act, just as he teaches us what is to be done and spoken. Timing is important in witnessing and helping, teaching and preaching. “Readiness is all” (Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 5, scene 2, line 232).

What good deeds have you done in the wrong place?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, give me the gift of discerning hearts and being sensitive to needs, so that as I share the truth and goodness of my Lord, I may not provoke rejection by my rudeness nor encourage irreverence by my ignorance. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

MARCH 23

“Ask” Read Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” – Matthew 7:7

When we ask we admit our inadequacy and confess God’s sufficiency. Asking is the basic prayer. In such prayer connections are soldered between our brokermess and his wholeness. What will you ask from God today?

Prayer: Great God, consummate all my desires in your love; complete all my wants in your grace. Thank you for the invitation and the promise: the invitation to put all my needs before you, the promise that you will meet them in wisdom and peace. Amen.

MARCH 24

“… Do So to Them” Read Matthew 7:12

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 7:12

The most remarkable thing about this summary sentence on behavior is not in the words themselves but in the life-commentary that Jesus provided. This is what he did. He converted all morality from wish to reality, from ideal to actuality. And what he did he enables us to do.

How can you use this golden rule in a specific action?

Prayer: “So let our lips and lives express the holy gospel we profess; so let our works and virtues shine, to prove the doctrine all divine. Thus shall we best proclaim abroad the honors of our Savior God, when His salvation reigns within, and grace subdues the power of sin” (Isaac Watts, “So Let Our Lips and Lives Express,” The Hymnbook, 250)-Amen.

MARCH 25

“The Narrow Gate” Read Matthew 7:13-14

“For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matthew 7:14

Faith is not an accumulation of vague impulses that tend, generally, toward the good, nor is it the nurture of obscure emotions of piety; it is choosing to walk through a particular gate (“I am the door” [John 10:7]), and down a definite road (“I am the way” [John 14:6]).

What do you find difficult or demanding about the narrow gate?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are my way and my truth and my life. Lead me through the narrow gate into the wide life, through the place of concentrated decision into the country of expansive blessings Amen.

MARCH 26

“Beware of False Prophets” Read Matthew 7:15

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” – Matthew 7:15

Christian charity must not be confused with pious gullibility that puts up with fraud and nonsense in its leaders. Religious claims are the easiest to make, but the hardest to document. Prophetic mantles easily assumed must be painstakingly verified.

How do you exercise caution toward religious leaders?

Prayer: Give me, Lord, the gift of discernment so that I may not be led astray by those who prey upon my faith, so that I may not be exploited by those who would profit from my devotion. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

MARCH 27

“Fruits” Read Matthew 7:16-20

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.” – Matthew 7:18-20

In evaluating religious leadership, it is far more useful to observe how a person treats his dog than to ask him for his opinions on God. “Fruits” are not success anecdotes or upward-swinging statistical curves, but instances in which it is obvious that inward belief has metamorphosed into behavior.

What fruits do you see in your spiritual leaders?

Prayer: Father, I don’t want to be uncritically naive toward someone just because he or she is called pastor, or preacher, or evangelist; but neither do I want to develop a cynical skepticism toward anyone who is in the spodight. Show me the middle way of alert obedience in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.

MARCH 28

“Lord, Lord” Read Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” – Matthew 7:21

Name-dropping works the same way in spiritual things as it does in earthly things—it gives the impression of intimacy when there is only the flimsiest of relationships. Using the name will get us nowhere if we are unrelated to the person we name.

Are you a religious name-dropper?

Prayer: Lord Christ, when I use your name, keep me honest so that I am expressing a relationship with you and engaging in a response to your will. I want my whole life, not just my mouth, to speak your name. Amen.

MARCH 29

“Founded on the Rock” Read Matthew 7:24-27

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” – Matthew 7:24

Visible behavior is built on invisible truth. Jesus provides the commands that, as we obey them, are solid, foundational underpinnings for eternal life. What are some items in your life foundation?

Prayer: All praise to you, O God, for giving me such weighty, sure, foundation-making commands. Thank you for giving me the desire to respond to them in obedient belief. Give me daily directions for building upon Christ the rock. Amen.

MARCH 30

“Astounded at His Teaching” Read Matthew 7:28-29

“Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” – Matthew 7:28-29

The world is so full of people who attempt to shock, startle, and surprise us that we finally become blase. Then our Lord comes along and speaks the truth simply and truly. The sheer authenticity and naked reality of it shakes us out of our ennui.

What is most astonishing to you in Jesus’ words?

Prayer: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand” (E. Mote, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less,” The Hymnbook, 313). Amen.

MARCH 31

“Lord, If You Choose” Read Matthew 8:1-4

“… And there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” – Matthew 8:2-3

The leper is the needy person in extremis: cut off, lonely, shunned. But no needy condition is so extreme or so absolute that we are consigned to despair. There is hope in God. The approach, timid and tentative—”if you will”—unexpectedly finds a bold and positive desire to save: “I will.” What was so bad about being a leper?

Prayer: I want cleansing, dear Christ, quite as much as that leper. But in your way; what you will. I want my life to be shaped not by my demands, but by the sure but mysterious movement of your grace. Amen.