Quiet Walk

[Judy Harder]

April 11

John 2

Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana to demonstrate His deity to His disciples.

INSIGHT

In John 2:24 we read, "But Jesus did not commit Himself to them." The word commit is the same word that is translated "faith" or "believe" in other places in the Bible. It gives us additional insight concerning the concept of faith in the Bible.

Faith is more than just intellectual understanding. Once someone understands the Gospel, he must make a personal commitment to it. He must entrust himself to it. In reality, to believe in Jesus Christ is to commit one's self to Him.

PRAYER

· Offer your praise to Jesus, who, as God, offers us salvation:

Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!
We will sing and praise Your power
(Psalm 21:13).

Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord
(Psalm 33:3-5).

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

Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way. . . .
For Your name's sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great
(Psalm 25:8-9, 11).

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

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

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

· greater wisdom in decision making,
· the needs of your friends,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:5-6).

[Judy Harder]

April 12

John 3

Jesus explains the spiritual nature of salvation.

INSIGHT

Faith, or belief, is often misunderstood. Faith has been defined as "believing in spite of there being nothing to believe" or "believing in spite of the evidence to the contrary." It is often viewed as identical with wishful thinking. If we believe hard enough, we can make something come true (regardless of whether or not God may approve).

None of these concepts is biblical. Faith is belief based on sufficient evidence. In other words, faith is trusting what God has revealed in His Word and in the world, both of which give ample testimony to the truth.

PRAYER

· The sensitive and believing heart looks for opportunities to praise the Lord for His goodness:

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together. . . .
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
(Psalm 34:1-3, .

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

Sing praise to the Lord,
You saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning
(Psalm 30:4-5).

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

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye (Psalm 32:.

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

· spiritual victory over temptation,
· opportunities to serve the Lord,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

[Judy Harder]

April 13

John 4

Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman.

INSIGHT

The supreme activity of a Christian is worship. As Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman about a location of worship, He proclaims that God is spirit and that those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.

For worship, God is indifferent to places, nationalities, and methods. We may worship Him on a mound of dirt or in a cathedral. But we must worship Him in truth. When our body sits in a worship service but our mind is elsewhere, we are not worshiping.

Worship is an act of the will. You can decide to worship. Enter into the songs that are sung, the prayers that are prayed, and the Scripture that is read. Offer Him spiritual sacrifices, and you will experience worship.

PRAYER

· As an act of personal worship, offer this psalm of praise to the Lord:

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
(Psalm 32:11).

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings
(Psalm 33:1-2).

· Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin and in fellowship with Him:

Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness' sake, O Lord
(Psalm 25:6-7).

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

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12).

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

· greater passion for moral excellence,
· the ministry of Christian education institutions,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore
(Psalm 121:7-8 ).

[Judy Harder]

April 14

John 5

Jesus infuriates the religious leaders by claiming equality with God.

INSIGHT

Many people in this world-atheists, agnostics, and those in pseudo-Christian cults-say that Jesus was merely a man, not God. What's more, these people say Jesus never claimed to be God. The Incarnation-the doctrine that Jesus was one person with two natures, one human, one divine-is an anti-biblical and absurd idea invented by the church in later centuries, these skeptics opine.

The gospel of John certainly dispels that notion. In chapter 8, John writes that the religious leaders of His day picked up stones to slay the Lord Jesus Christ because He made Himself equal with God. The Jewish leaders were men of Jesus' time and culture. They understood Jesus' meaning far better than 21st-century skeptics. And as far as they were concerned, Jesus was committing the blasphemy of claiming to be God-a capital offense.

PRAYER

· As an act of personal worship, offer the following praise to God the Son:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-4, 14).

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

Our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He has mercy on us.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, have mercy on us!
(Psalm 123:2-3).

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

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple (Psalm 5:7).

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

· a greater love for the God-Man-Christ Jesus,
· the needs of your extended family,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
(Psalm 4:1).

[Judy Harder]

April 15

John 6

After feeding the 5000, Jesus teaches that He is the "Bread of Life."

INSIGHT

Throughout Jesus' ministry, He often speaks in figures of speech. Sometimes the people understand what those sayings mean; sometimes they don't.
Jesus promises living water to the woman at the well, so she will never thirst. Her reply is: "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?" (John 4:11).

And in John 6, Jesus speaks of Himself as a bread even better than the manna in the desert, for He gives eternal life to the whole world, rather than merely physical life to the Hebrews in the desert. Missing his point, his audience says hungrily, "Lord, give us this bread always" (v. 34).

He later explains to His disciples, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Jesus reveals the truths behind the figures of speech to His followers.

PRAYER

· Offer your praise to the God who reveals His will to you through His Word:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world
(Psalm 19:1-4).

· As you seek to keep your life free from sin, pray this confession to the Lord:

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
(Psalm 19:12-13).

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

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

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

· greater understanding of the Bible,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

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

[Judy Harder]

April 16

John 7

Jesus becomes involved in controversy with religious leaders over His true identity.

INSIGHT

When iron and aluminum shavings are mixed together, they are indistinguishable. You cannot identify them by sight; you must sweep a magnet through them. The magnet will attract all of the iron filings, but the aluminum filings will remain undisturbed.

The Lord Jesus Christ has exactly the same effect on those to whom He ministers. Those whose understanding is anchored in faith are drawn to Him like iron to a magnet. Those who choose not to believe remain undisturbed, as though nothing special has happened.

Some of the multitude were saying, "This is the Christ" while others were saying, "Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?" Understanding, combined with faith, understands even more. Unbelief blinds people.

PRAYER

· Let us praise Him, for surely, this is the Christ:

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions
(Psalm 45:6-7).

We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,
In the midst of Your temple.
According to Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness
(Psalm 48:9-10).

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

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit
(Psalm 32:1-2).

· Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Your word is a lamp to my feet,
And a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).

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

· greater love for your family,
· the work of missions in North and South America,
· your activities for the day.

· Offer this closing prayer:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (2 Corinthians 13:14).

[Judy Harder]

April 17

John 8

Jesus teaches on truth.

INSIGHT

By nature, we want absolute freedom. But such freedom is not possible. In fact, no such thing as absolute freedom exists. To be free to sail the seven seas, we must make ourselves a slave to the compass. This subservience irritates us.

All of life is a contrast between freedoms and corresponding bondages. We can be slaves to Jesus and free from the bondage of sin, or we can be free from Jesus and slaves to the bondage of sin. We can make ourselves slaves to truth, and the truth can set us free.

PRAYER

· The heart that has been set free by truth can offer praise to the Lord of all truth:

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by. . . .
I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth
(Psalm 57:1, 9-11).

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

When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,"
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin
(Psalm 32:3, 5).

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

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).

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

· greater faithfulness with the finances God has entrusted you with,
· revival to spread among American Christians,
· your activities for the day.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel . . . to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen (Romans 16:25, 27).

[Judy Harder]

April 18

John 9

Jesus heals a man born blind, stirring up controversy.

INSIGHT

While Jesus certainly has compassion on those to whom He ministers, His miracles are done not only to relieve human suffering but also to establish His credentials. He claims to be the Bread of Life. To validate that message, He feeds the 5000.

In chapter 9, Jesus says that the man's blindness is not because of sin but for the purpose of manifesting the work of God in him. The same was true with Lazarus. His death was not final but was for the purpose of bringing glory to the Son of God. Jesus raises Lazarus and then says that the Son is glorified.

PRAYER

· Offer this psalm of praise as you seek spiritual closeness with God:

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory
(Psalm 63:1-2).

You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were
created (Revelation 4:11).

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

I said, "Lord, be merciful to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You." . . .
But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them. . . .
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
(Psalm 41:4, 10, 13).

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

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25).

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

· an eternal perspective,
· your spiritual goals,
· your activities for the day.

· Finally, offer this closing prayer:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

[Judy Harder]

April 19

John 10

Using the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus teaches of salvation and His deity.

INSIGHT

Whoever comes in contact with Jesus is either blinded or enlightened. They either accept Him or begin manufacturing reasons not to believe in Him. Jesus illustrates this reality with the imagery of sheep and a shepherd. He says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (10:27). Make your heart tender and sensitive to hear and obey Jesus. Walk in His light and you will not stumble.

PRAYER

· Join your heart with the saints of the ages over the last 2,000 years in offering praise to the God of our salvation:

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name. . . .
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings
I will rejoice (Psalm 63:3-4, 6-7).

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

Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me
(Psalm 51:1-3).

· As you contemplate the mercy of God, confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pause to pray this affirmation to the Lord:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).

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

· greater personal discipline,
· Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

[Judy Harder]

April 20

John 11

After Jesus raises his close friend, Lazarus, from the dead, many believe in Him.

INSIGHT

Jesus was ministering on the east side of the Jordan River, about a day's walk from Bethany, when Lazarus fell sick. Messengers were sent to tell Jesus, who waited two days before returning to Bethany. He found that Lazarus had been dead for four days, apparently having died the same day the messengers were dispatched. So Lazarus was dead by the time Jesus learned about his illness.

Why, then, did Jesus delay His return for two days? Jesus knew Lazarus' condition. His delay was to heighten the manifestation of the power of God. Jesus called, "Lazarus, come forth!" And Lazarus came forth. The result of this miracle? Many of the Jews believed in Him, and the Son of God was glorified.

PRAYER

· As a God, both of power and compassion, we offer Him our praise:

Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!
Blessed be Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You
(Nehemiah 9:5-6).

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

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit
(Psalm 34:17-18).

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

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:.

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

· a stronger desire to be like Christ,
· the ministries of your church,
· your activities for the day,
· whatever else is on your heart.

· Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21).