Waiting for God

This prayer-a-phrased poem from today's Daily Bible Reading in the Psalms gives a glimpse of the Psalmist's prayer stance as he awaited a response from God:

Psalm 62:1-2

For God alone
in silence waits
my soul.
From Him alone
in strength waits
my salvation.
My Rock! My Fortress!
I shall not be moved.
In God alone
my soul shall not be shaken.

© 1998, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. The poem first appeared in 1998 in UpSouth and the Saints Alive chapbook then the Letters to a Priest anthology in 2010.


©2013, Mary Sayler

Chatting with Paul about the church

Me: Paul, recently I heard you say there’s only one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, and yet we children of God don’t always act like that’s true. How can this change? What do we do?

The Apostle Paul: Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Me: Yes, we’re different and have different ways of doing things, but sometimes that seems to make misunderstandings and ill feelings get in our way.

Paul: That’s why the Bible says Jesus ascended into heaven and captured captivity.

Me: Wow! Jesus imprisoned prisons. He bound up whatever binds us. He confined whatever confines us. He….

Paul: He gave gifts to His people. So some of us are apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

Me: It’s wonderful how God gives each of us exactly what we need to do the work God gave us to do! Now, if we’d just respect those differences and appreciate one another more.

Paul, nodding: Each gift equips each saint for a unique work of ministry to build up the Body of Christ (the Church) so we can all be united in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God as we grow and mature into the full standing of Christ.

Me: Hmm. Sounds like God wants us to grow up! And grow into the Spirit of Christ.

Paul, nodding his head again: We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro or blown about by every wind of doctrine or by people's trickery or by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

Me: But, oh, sometimes it’s hard to know what's what! So I pray for God to help us become more discerning and loving too.

Paul: As we speak the truth in love, we grow up in every way into Christ, Who is the head of the whole body, joined and knitted together by each ligament, so each part is equipped to work properly, promote body growth, and build up the whole Church Body of Christ in love.

Me: Amen! And may God keep on reminding us to keep on praying for spiritual growth, discernment, love, and unity in the Body of Christ in Jesus’ Name.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased conversation with the Apostle Paul drawn from today’s Bible reading in Ephesians 4:7-8, 4:11-16

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Being a child of God and acting like one!

And Jesus said His followers:

Are you listening?
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.

If someone slaps your face,
don’t return the insult
but instead turn your cheek.
If anyone grabs your coat,
don’t hang onto your shirt.

Give to the one who begs,
and if anyone needs to borrow,
don’t bother to ask
to get your own stuff back.

Treat every person the way
you want each one to treat you.

Then, if you act like a child
of the Most High God,
your reward will be greater
than great!

Remember: God is kind
even to those ungrateful,
annoying, awful people in your path!
So show them the mercy of God.

Do not judge or condemn anyone,
for God does not judge you
nor enclose you in condemnation.

Forgive and remember:
You are forgiven.

Give and remember:
You will receive
a good measure –
pressed down, packed tight
and running over and over all
you can hold before spilling
God’s goodness
onto your lap!

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased Bible promises from today’s Daily Bible Reading in Luke 6:27-30 and 35-38.

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Paul prays for our discernment

Background: Paul, who became an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God after the Resurrection rather than during Jesus’ earthly ministry, wrote this letter (epistle) to his young friend and fellow Christian Timothy and to the faithful followers of Christ who formed the church in Colossae, but also to all people made saintly by belief in Christ.


Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

In our prayers for you we always
thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for we have heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love you have
for all the saints because of your hope in heaven.

You heard of this hope in the word of the truth,
the gospel that came to you, growing your faith
and bearing fruit to nurture the whole world.

From the first day you heard of the grace of God,
the Gospel began bearing fruit among you,
thanks to Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who
faithfully ministers to you in Christ and who
made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And from the first day we heard this,
we have not ceased praying for you
and asking for you to be filled
with the knowledge of God's will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
so you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing to God as you bear fruit in every good
work and grow in the knowledge of God.

May you be made strong with the strength
that comes from Christ’s glorious power,
and may you be prepared to endure everything
with patience while joyfully giving thanks
to the Father, Who enabled you to share
in the inheritance of the saints in the light
of the Lord Who rescued us from the power of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son
in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, Bible prayer from Colossians 1:1-14, today’s reading in the Epistles

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Jesus touches the untouchable

Background: In Jesus’ earth era, leprosy had become a common skin condition, which included everything from a flesh-eating illness to a bad case of zits. To avoid spreading serious disease, the affected person had to remain outside the city in a most solitary place, isolated from family and the rest of the community. If skin eventually began to clear, the person still could not rejoin the community without first showing evidence to the priest, who also served as physician. Until the priest gave an “all clear,” the person could not come near anyone without loudly crying, “Unclean! Unclean!”

In a town
[yes, in town where lepers were not allowed]
a man filled with leprosy came to Jesus
and fell down onto the ground
on his face –
[his pitiful face, which, maybe, had only a little left
of a nose, a lip, a chin.]
And when he’d fallen face-down before the LORD,
he implored, “If You will,
You can heal my skin and make me clean again.”

“I will!” Jesus said. “Be healed!”
and He reached out His immaculate hand
to touch the untouchable man,
and immediately the leprosy left.

Jesus charged him to tell no one
he might meet, but go
to the priest and make an offering
as Moses commanded and show
skin proof
evidence of healing.

Still, the news spread,
and more and more people came to Jesus
to hear Him and be healed of all that ailed
them each day until He withdrew His
own face into a most solitary place
to pray.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased lines drawn from today’s Daily Bible Reading in Luke 5:12-16.

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Praying boldly

I’m writing to you who already believe
in the Name of Jesus, the Son of God,
so you may know you have received
the life unceasing.

In Christ you can be bold!
In Christ you can hold up anything
in prayer,
according to His will, and He will
hear.

When we know God hears us
and what we ask, we know we have
what’s been requested.

So if you see a brother or sister in Christ
doing something wrong, ask God on behalf
of the person’s life,
and God will give it
to all who haven’t killed the spirit.

About that, I do not say to pray
for some sins kill the soul, but know
that those born of God do not do this
for God protects those who belong to Christ
from even a touch of the evil one.

Know this! We’re God’s own children!
The whole world has fallen under
the power of the evil one,
but we know the Son of God has come
and given you
and me an understanding of Who
is True.

And through His Son, Christ Jesus,
we are in God, Who is True,
Who is life everlasting!

O Child of God, keep yourself
from believing any untrue word
or idolizing anyone but our Lord.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of 1 John 5:13-21

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Update from the Apostle John

Okay. Here’s how we can know
we’re of the Truth.

Here’s how we can be sure
our hearts are pure and surely
in God’s presence:

Our hearts torment us
when we feel guilty. Why?

We’re in God –
the Almighty God, Who is far above us
and greater than our hearts or anything
our hearts might try to hide.

Beloved, if our own selves
do not accuse us, then great!
Celebrate!

And come before God
with confidence,
ready to receive whatever we ask,
knowing we obey the LORD
and follow God’s good plan.

For the plan of God
commands us to believe
in the Anointed Name of Jesus,

and God commands us to believe
in the love shown by Christ –
love that must be shown by us
to one another.

So, let’s do it and live!

Let’s stay with God, living
in the LORD Who gives us
Christ as our home and Who
gives you and me to be
the earthed home of Christ Jesus.


©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today’s Bible reading in 1 John 3:19-24

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Daniel prays for mercy

Background:

After the Hebrew people had been taken captive in Babylon (ancient Babel and modern-day Iraq), King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream that kept him awake at night. In hope of sleep the king called magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him the meaning of this dream, but no one could. Instead, the not-so-wise men admitted that no one on earth could possibly do what the king asked. No one could possibly reveal the meaning of the dream except gods, who do not lower themselves to live on earth. This made the king so angry, however, that he ordered every supposedly wise person in the kingdom to be put to death!

When Daniel (known to the king by his Babylonian name Belteshazzar) heard of this predicament, he asked the king to give him a little time for the meaning of the dream to become clear. Then, hurrying home, he explained the situation to his Hebrew friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, also known by their Babylonian names of Hananiah, Mishal, and Azarish. Daniel urged his friends to plead for mercy from the God of heaven, so they would not be condemned to die nor would the wise men of Babylon.


Then during the night, the mystery was revealed. During the night, a vision came to Daniel. During the night, Daniel prayed to the God of heaven, praised the God of heaven, and said:

Praise be to the Name of God for ever and ever
for wisdom and power belong only to Him.

God alone can change times and seasons.
God alone can depose and raise up leaders and kings.
God alone can give wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.

The God of Heaven reveals deep things
and knows what hides in the darkness,
for with God alone, all light dwells.

And so I thank You and praise You,
O God of my ancestors
for You have given me wisdom and power
and made known to me what we have asked
for You alone know the dream of kings.

Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had selected to slay the wise men of Babylon, and said, “Do not kill the wisdom of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will decipher his dream.”

So Arioch took Daniel to the king and said, “I found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell what dreams mean.”

“Belteshazzar,” the king said, “Are you able to tell what came in my dream. Are you able to tell and interpret?”

Daniel replied, “No wise man, no enchanter, no magician, no diviner can explain the mystery the king has seen, but God in heaven reveals mysteries."

Dreams and visions came to your mind as you lay in your bed, and these dreams and visions show days ahead – days in a mystery revealed now to me, not from my wisdom, but my God, the Revealer of Mysteries, Who wants you to know what will happen, Who wants you to know God of heaven, Who wants you to understand what turns and turns and awakens your mind.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today’s Bible reading from Daniel 2:17-30


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Jesus prays for us

Prayer-a-phrase of Jesus' last prayer on earth:

Father,
I Am coming to You now!

Until now,
I’ve been telling My followers many things
so they might have My joy.

I have given them Your word,
but the world detests them
because they do not belong
to anyone but You.

I’m not asking You
to take My followers out of this world,
but I pray for You to protect them from
the evil one.

My followers do not belong
to worldliness anymore than I do.

Oh, Father, make them holy
by Your truth!

As You have sent Me into the world,
I now send them.

Let My sacrifice count as theirs –
the ones made holy by Your truth,
sanctified by My prayers.


© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased of today’s Bible reading from John 17:13-19

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Christ our Passover: the lasting sacrifice

Christ our Lasting Sacrifice
by Mary Harwell Sayler

I have come to do Your Will, O God
for the blood of animals cannot take away
sin forever.
Short-lived sacrifices, short-term offerings
do not cover sin forever,
and so You have prepared for Me
a Body
ready to be sacrificed –
the First to Last –
ready to do Your Will.

I have come to do Your Will, O God
as Holy Scriptures said I would
for You can no longer tolerate
temporary fixes:
interim sacrifices, itinerant offerings, burnt
offerings, sin offerings once accorded by Law.

You Will, O God, I have come to do to
fulfill the first way and establish the second
to sanctify All by offering
Myself –
the Body of Christ
arising – First and Last –
to do Your Will, O God.
I have come to do Your Will.



© Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved; prayer-a-phrase poem from today’s Bible reading in Hebrews 10:4-10

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Singing a Psalm on Easter week

Thank You, God!

Give thanks to the LORD
and call on God’s Name.
Tell about God’s work
for all people!

Sing to the LORD!
Sing praises to our God.
Tell of God’s wonderful works.

Let your glory be in the Holy Name.
Let your heart in the LORD rejoice.

Seek the LORD and find strength.
Let the LORD look at you
as you look at the LORD.

Oh, remember!
Remember all God has done.
Remember the wonders God created.
Remember and recall what
the Word of God says.

Oh, children of God,
you are chosen!
The LORD our God chooses you!

The LORD our God wants
what’s right for you
and all the world,
for God – our God remembers
the promises made to you
and to the people of God yet to come.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased from today’s Bible reading in Psalm 105:1-8

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He is Risen!

After the Resurrection, Christ appeared to many people throughout Jerusalem and Galilee, and even then some did not believe, but Thomas did. Only a few days beforehand, the apostle had been willing to die for Christ, but he doubted the Resurrection until he saw for himself the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side. The Believing Thomas then exclaimed and proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas
by Mary Harwell Sayler

Why did you doubt
the real live blood that sprouted
from Christ's side and bloomed
in the room where you gathered –

a bouquet of wine
poured behind
closed doors?

Could you not see the pores
opened, aching for you, always
to be, not beside yourself,
but Him?

His side lay bare to let you in,
so enter now. Come round His side
and worship Him again.


© 2013 Mary Sayler, all rights reserved. “Thomas” originally saw print in a 1998 issue of Central FL Episcopalian.

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