Quiet Walk

[Judy Harder]

March 31

Matthew 25

Jesus continues His teachings concerning His second coming.

INSIGHT

Christians cannot compartmentalize their lives into the secular and the sacred. All truth is God's truth, and anything done for Him whether "religious" or not is sacred.

Jesus equates loving your fellow man with loving Him. He equates serving those in need with serving Him. He equates caring for the suffering as caring for Him.
You can love your fellow man without loving Christ, but you cannot love Christ without loving your fellow man. Whether you are worshiping the Lord or washing the feet of a bum on skid row, it is sacred and holy work if it is done out of love for the Lord.

PRAYER

· The praise of the Lord's children is a sacred and holy work. Join in that praise with the psalmist:

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable
(Psalm 145:1-3).

· Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving. As you seek to keep your life free from sin, pray this confession to the Lord:

If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

· As you confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has have done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· others to see Christ in you,
· the spreading of the Gospel,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! (Revelation 5:13).

[Judy Harder]

April 1

Mark 14

Jesus spends His last two days in intimate communion with His closest friends.

INSIGHT

Prayer is one of the true mysteries in the Bible. It is inevitable, as we grow in our prayer life, that we will struggle with an inadequate understanding of how to pray.

The example of Jesus praying in Gethsemane helps us with what we can know and understand about prayer. First, we can know that prayer does not eliminate emotional struggling.

A second thing we can learn is that prayer can make us stronger spiritually and keep us from temptation. In each account of His prayer, Jesus says to His disciples, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." (Mark 14:38). If we watch and pray, we will be strengthened against temptation.

PRAYER

· As you continue your time with the Lord, offer to Him this praise:

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all
(1 Chronicles 29:11).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon
(Isaiah 55:6-7).

· As you confess your sins, pray this affirmation of God's Word:

He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength. . . .
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint
(Isaiah 40:29, 31).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater insight into the Scriptures,
· the hungry around the world,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace
(Numbers 6:24-26).

[Judy Harder]

April 2

Mark 15

After Jesus is crucified, Joseph of Arimathea buried Him in Joseph's own tomb.

INSIGHT

Most of us have a highly developed sense of justice. We want things to be fair, and we are incensed when they are not. From simple things like people cutting in line ahead of us to major things like prejudice and bigotry, we are angered when we see or experience injustice.

With that in mind, review what happens to Jesus. Though He is totally righteous and without sin, religious bigots manufacture charges against Him and take Him to a legal jellyfish who doesn't have the courage to execute justice. Then He is beaten, mocked, and crucified. Doesn't that inflame your sense of justice? He has the power to obliterate those who harm Him; yet He willingly endures it for us.

PRAYER

· Thank the Lord and praise Him for the "great and awesome" things He has done in offering you salvation:

Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
(Exodus 15:11).

Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears (2 Samuel 7:22).

· Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving. Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Of the Rock who begot me,
I am unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered me
(based on Deuteronomy 32:18).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him (John 14:21).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater love for fellow Christians,
· the work of missions in Asia,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer
(Psalm 19:14).

[Judy Harder]

April 3

Mark 16

Mary and Mary Magdalene discover that Jesus has risen from the dead.

INSIGHT

It is a momentous morning as Mary and Mary Magdalene walk to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, intent on anointing the body of Jesus but not knowing how they will get into the tomb. They say to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us?"

Miracle number one: The stone has been rolled away. Miracle number two: An angel is sitting in the tomb to explain to them what has happened. Miracle number three: Jesus is gone; He has risen.

They have two responses. They were amazed! And they report to the disciples all that they have seen.

They expect to deal with death. But they find themselves in the middle of more life than they can imagine. Such paradox is God's way. He brings life from death.

PRAYER

· Give your praise to the Lord for offering you the gift of eternal life:

He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He
(Deuteronomy 32:4).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams
(1 Samuel 15:22).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:.

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater faithfulness with your time,
· the president, national leaders, and national affairs,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever
(Psalm 23:6).

[Judy Harder]

April 4

Matthew 26

Jesus is betrayed and arrested.

INSIGHT

Peter is living and reassuring proof that "grace is greater than all our sin." We struggle, at one time or another, with things in our lives that ought to be corrected but aren't. We fear that our lives bring a stench to God's nostrils because we have failed Him so often. But Peter began to curse and swear and deny that he ever knew Jesus. What a colossal sin! Yet, just a few days later (in John 21), Peter is eating with the Lord in perfect fellowship and harmony.

For the Christian, there is no sin so great that God will not forgive.

PRAYER

· Because Jesus gave up His preeminence for our sake and became a servant, we praise His unselfishness:

Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
(1 Chronicles 16:28-29 ).

I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High
(Psalm 7:17).

· Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving. Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

O my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens (Ezra 9:6).

· Confess any personal sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· the renewing of your mind,
· the needs of your extended family,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
(Psalm 84:11-12).

[Judy Harder]

April 5

Matthew 27

Pilate tries Jesus then hands Him over to be crucified.

INSIGHT

Proverbs 20:17 says, "Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel." If ever a man illustrates that truth, Judas does. Some mysterious passion burns in his breast to betray Jesus.

Whether Judas seeks political ambition or mere lust for money, we do not know. But later, his remorse is so great that he throws the money away and hangs himself. We must remember Judas when illicit desire burns in our breast. Such desire always promises more than it delivers; it always turns to gravel in our mouths.

PRAYER

· The sacrifice which Jesus made for us took tremendous courage, for which we praise Him:

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens! . . .
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him? . .
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8:1, 3-4, 9).

· Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving. Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from the power of sin:

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord-how long? (Psalm 6:1-3).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· the leading of the Lord in your life,
· opportunities for personal evangelism,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it
(Psalm 118:24).

 

[Judy Harder]

April 6

Matthew 28

After His resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples.

INSIGHT

Jesus' message of salvation is the greatest news on earth. He does not leave to chance the need for His message to be taken to all earth's people.

In Matthew 28, Jesus charges His disciples with that task. If however, you begin the recital of the Great Commission with verse 19, you have the "great omission." Verse 19 begins with "Go therefore." But to fully understand the phrase, we must go to verse 18 to see what "therefore" is there for.

On the basis of His authority, we are to go, and to go in confidence that, as we are obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ's commission, He will accomplish His work through us.

PRAYER

· Because someone "came" to give the Gospel to us, thank the Lord and give Him your praise:

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
And let them say among the nations,
"The Lord reigns." . . .
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!
And all the people said, "Amen!" and praised the Lord
(1 Chronicles 16:31, 34, 36).

· Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving. Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly (2 Samuel 24:10).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater commitment to the Lord,
· blessings on the work of specific Christians,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord (Psalm 31:24).

[Judy Harder]

April 7

Luke 22

Jesus shares the Passover meal with His disciples.

INSIGHT

At the beginning of human history, the first people disobeyed God. That fateful choice proved spiritually fatal-for Adam, Eve, and all their descendants.

Since the fall, we have all imitated our first parents. We have tried to usurp God's right to control His creation. We have demanded the right to control our own destinies, our own moral judgments, our own decisions.

Even those who actually walked with Jesus fell prey to this proud way of thinking. During the Last Supper, which you might think would be one of the most spiritually intimate moments in the disciples' experience, an argument broke out about who was the greatest among them. Jesus replied that the greatest among them must be a servant to all.

Beware when you find yourself striving for preeminence. Instead, your quest must be servanthood.

PRAYER

· Praise the Lord that He has revealed His will for us in His Word:

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
You established the earth, and it abides.
They continue this day according to Your ordinances,
For all are Your servants.
Unless Your law had been my delight,
I would then have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have given me life
(Psalm 119:89-93).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans 7:22-23).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:.

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater humility before God,
· the preaching of the Gospel,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

I put on the whole armor of God, that I may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (based on Ephesians 6:11).

[Judy Harder]

April 8

Luke 23

Pilate sentences Jesus to be crucified on the hill called Golgotha, "The Skull."

INSIGHT

Without conflict, there are no heroes. The hero and coward look alike until the battle begins. Then and only then, in the face of the challenge, is each one's true character manifested.

In Jesus' time, you do not expect heroes of the Christian faith to emerge from the ranks of the Pharisees. But Joseph of Arimathea defies the expectations.

This godly man risks wealth, reputation, and perhaps personal safety, when he asks for and receives the permission to take down Jesus' body from the cross and lay it in his own tomb.

PRAYER

· Give God praise that He enables His children to do heroic deeds on His behalf:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death . . for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased You, O God (based on Hebrews 11:1-5).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

You were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience (based on Ephesians 2:1-2).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

· greater courage in evangelism,
· the work of missions in Europe,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Since I am surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, . . . let me run with endurance the race that is set before me (based on Hebrews 12:1).

[Judy Harder]

April 9

Luke 24

After Jesus rises from the dead, He appears to a number of His disciples.

INSIGHT

The most reasonable explanation for the empty tomb is the Resurrection. If, as some have claimed, Jesus had not been killed but only weakened by the crucifixion, the stone and the soldiers would have prevented His escape from the tomb. If Jesus' friends had tried to steal the body, the stone and the soldiers likewise would have prevented them. Jesus' enemies would not have taken the body, since a missing body would only encourage belief in His resurrection. The easiest way to quiet claims of His resurrection would have been to produce the body. This they could not do.

The angel said, "He is not here, for He is risen, as He said" (Matthew 28:6). Since Jesus predicted and experienced His own death, burial, and resurrection, we can trust Him with our lives.

PRAYER

· The Lord can be trusted with our lives because of His own life, and we praise Him:

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works. . .
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You
(Psalm 9:1, 9-10).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression
(Psalm 19:12-13).

· Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out (John 6:37).

· As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:
· greater love for the lost,
· the work of missions in Africa,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands
(Psalm 90:17).