Category Archives: Horizon Central

A Prayer about Loving Enemies Prompted by Matthew 5:43-48

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43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Heavenly Father,

Help us to love not only those who love us first, but also those who treat us badly.  Jesus expressed his love by dying for us precisely at a time when we were rebelling against his authority.  Help us to do the same sort of thing whenever we are presented with the chance.  Then help us to make opportunities to love where none exist.

When we are disrespected, help us to respond with respect.  When we are ignored precisely as we think we need someone’s attention, help us to think of the needs of others and pay attention to them.  When we are hurt, help us to respond with healing love and in so doing, become more like Jesus our Lord.

In saying all of this, we know that this love does not come naturally to us, but we know that it can arise as the result of you working supernaturally within our hearts.  We need your Holy Spirit to work within us to produce this spiritual fruit.

Father, may self-giving love be a mark of who we are as your children and as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is in his name that we pray.

Amen.

A Prayer about Following Jesus Prompted by Matthew 4:18-20

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18While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Heavenly Father,

When Christ called his first disciples to follow him, he let them know that their primary focus would change.  Instead of catching fish they would now catch people, drawing others into a relationship with you through Jesus Christ.

How appropriate that some of your first followers did this kind of work!  They knew what it was to try to bring in a catch.  Sometimes they failed and sometimes they met with amazing success.  There was even a time when they fished all night and caught nothing until the risen Christ advised them.  When they listened to him, they caught more than they could bring into the boat.

Just as no fisherman ever catches all the fish in the sea, there will be many who will not listen to the call that we put out for them.  Still, there will be many others who will and it is for these that you have sent us.  

Remind us continually that this is our first priority.  We are to go and make disciples of all the nations.  Help us to no longer live for ourselves, but for you.  Let the Holy Spirit advise us now just as Jesus did those tired disciples.  Let us see souls won for Christ and disciples multiplied.  Let us not only see converts but see those won to you who will then make disciples of others.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, believing that this is your will for us.

Amen.

Resisting temptation – Matthew 4:1-11

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When Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness, he might have just destroyed the devil once and for all.  Or, he might have used a bit less of his own divine omnipotence and suddenly shut the devil’s mouth.  After all, hadn’t the Holy Spirit just descended upon him at his baptism in the last chapter?  Wasn’t he ready to engage in a mighty public miracle-working ministry?  Maybe so, but those options would not have taught us the same lesson as what he actually did.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Instead of somehow rendering the devil powerless, Jesus, who was empowered by the Spirit and led into the wilderness by that same Spirit, confronted the devil with Scripture.  Instead of doing something that only Jesus could do, he did something that any Christian can do just as well.

When confronted by temptation, we can rely upon the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures to resist it.  That is not always easy to do because the devil tends to catch us off guard, when the Spirit’s indwelling presence is the last thing on our minds.  Arguably, Jesus also knew the Bible better than we do.

Alas, these may be real reasons, but they are not good excuses.  We should find it encouraging that Jesus did what he did in the way that he did it.  The lessons learned are to stay conscious of the Holy Spirit’s presence within us and to grow spiritually from a steady diet of the Bible.  You never know which obscure verse, say from Deuteronomy, is going to come in handy. 

Let’s continuously pray for the Holy Spirit’s help and continuously take in regular doses of God’s Word.  When temptation comes, we will be ready to resist it just like Jesus.