Tag: Rev. Dr. Ken Crawford

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
– Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV)

I get to choose which sources of information I feed my mind. But this privilege and freedom is also a responsibility. God longs to bless me, but that blessing remains dormant until my heart delights in knowing and doing his will.

Wondrous Creator, just as you fashioned such a beautiful world and put me together in my mother’s womb, I also ask that you create in me a desire to know your truth and an insight in how to live that truth. I know your Holy Spirit is in me to help me in this journey, but I want so much to please you and bless you because of all the ways you have blessed me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
– John 17:17 (NIV)

God’s promises, God’s Scripture, and God’s clearest message of all, his Son, are truth. But only the last of these is truth, grace, deliverer, friend, Lord, Savior, brother, Redeemer…

Father God, give me a holy passion to know your truth and live it in both word and deed. Make my life a reflection of your Word, who both proclaimed and lived your truth. In the name of Jesus, your ultimate Word, I pray. Amen.

The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.
– Psalm 25:14-15 (NIV)

Where does true deliverance come from? Only from God. Deliverance is found in God through deep reverential respect for his holiness and might, through living in covenant relationship with him, and through maintaining our focus on him. Any other roads to deliverance are false and ultimately prove themselves to be a snare. Like the tight rope walker whose eyes are not on the ground or the surroundings, but on the rope in front of him where he will walk, so too our eyes must be on the Lord. Only by looking to him will he lead us to safety.

Precious Father, you have done so much to save me. You who are so holy and righteous, have reached down to take my hand when I was a sinner and in rebellion to your love. Teach me your ways. Correct the wrongs in my life. Guide me into the ways of your truth. I want to not only be saved from my sin, but from days of uselessness and frustration. Make me a vessel that can be used to honor you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
–  Psalm 19:14

God does so much for us. He is the Strength and Promise that undergirds our lives. He is the One who has saved us from sin and death. Our worship comes from our gratitude for what he has done, recognition of who he is, and anticipation of what he is going to do. But worship can never be compartmentalized to just fit into church places or quiet times. Worship involves every aspect of life. That is why it is so important for us to tune the words of our mouths and the motives of our hearts to God’s will and work. Then private worship, whether alone in quiet or in a group with Christians, becomes the tuning time for our hearts and lives so that our public worship, our lives lived out in the world, will play the song of God to a world who has not yet heard his tune.

Holy and Almighty God, I want this day to be a day of worship and honor to you. May my life praise you: not just in thought, not just in words, but also in action. In the name Jesus I pray. Amen.

How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.
2 Samuel 7:22 (NIV)

“I am Yahweh, who saved you out of Egypt. You must never have any other god, but me!” The Lord God Almighty at the beginning of the Ten Commandments reminded us of this central, seminal, and consummate truth. What else is there to say?

Holy, Righteous, and Only Living God, I hold you in the highest place in my heart. Forgive me when I do not hold you in the highest place in my life. Empower me with your Holy Spirit to give up all the little things that distract my allegiance to you and interfere with you being the Supreme and Sovereign God in my day to day life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
– Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Don’t be molded by the world. Wow, isn’t that a tough one to obey. It’s a reminder that what we think is one of the places of greatest spiritual warfare. Sloppy thinking is more than sloppy, it’s dangerous because we are fed messages constantly that distort God’s truth and holy values. But rather than being incensed by the world acting like the world, let’s be transformed by renewing our minds and doing what Paul said he did — take every thought, every word, captive for Christ. We often think a tithe is giving ten percent of our money, but an even more vital tithe is giving ten percent of our totally undivided thought time to the things of God!

O Lord, please guard my soul from pride, my heart from callousness, and my mind from too much focus on unimportant things and not enough on your things. Teach me in my heart what it means to be about my Father’s business, especially in the world of my thoughts! In the name of Jesus, my greatest example of one who knew and lived your will, I pray. Amen.

It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
– Deuteronomy 13:4 (NIV)

So many people want us to follow their lead and obey their voice. Only God alone has proved himself faithful and loving through the ages. In his might he is to be revered. But rather than seeing reverence as a “church thing,” we are reminded by Moses it is a “life thing.” We are to obey and keep his commandments, we are to serve him and depend upon him in our daily lives. Rather than silence in the assembly, reverence is action to his glory!

Holy and Righteous Father, help me take my worship outside the church building into my day to day life as I try to live what I sing, practice what I say, and pursue what I pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort…
– Philippians 3:3 NLT

Our identity as God’s children is defined by the presence of the Holy Spirit as we worship, not by our race or by a physical mark on our body. Those who have the Spirit are the children of God (John 3:3-7). We rely on the work of Christ and don’t rely on our human attempts at significance. Christ poured the Spirit on us when we were saved by grace (Titus 3:3-7). The Holy Spirit is the mark of our identity (Rom. 8:9). The Work of the Spirit makes us a part of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). The gift of the Holy Spirit is our gateway to authentic worship (John 4:22-23). The presence of the Holy Spirit makes us the dwelling place of God, a holy temple in which God lives through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The presence of the Holy Spirit defines our lives in Christ and is crucial to our identity and worship! Rather than our lives and worship being tied down by all sorts of detailed rules about worship like we find in the Torah and other hard and fast rules of human order, we are set free by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Father in heaven, please forgive me when I try to define my significance in any other source other than your gracious love for me, your Son’s sacrifice for my sins, and the work of the Holy Spirit in my day-to-day life. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
– Psalm 86:6-7

Sometimes there are no immediate answers. We have prayed and cried and tried and gone sleepless and mourned and shouted. Still there are no answers. The days roll by in an agonizing parade of pain. Still there are no answers we can identify. What do we do? We go to the Psalms. We let them raise up our heart’s cry. We are honest with the God of the entire universe and yet we can still anticipate mercy from him. We are convinced that in our troubles, he will not only hear us, but he will also care about what is happening in our lives.

Almighty God, the only true Healer of disease and Mender of broken hearts, please hear the cry today of those I love who are in such desperate situations. May your will be done in every one of their lives with tenderness, grace, and a sense of your presence. And Lord, please be near me, and help me see your answer to my prayers. Forever yours in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Then [John] saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.
– Revelation 5:6 NLT

God’s presence is made available in all places on earth through the Holy Spirit. If we pause and think of the magnitude of this simple statement, we are dumbfounded. Gather in the implications of this thought: God’s presence is available everywhere to everyone — it’s available for billions of people, over millions of square miles, and across an incredible diversity of races, cultures, peoples, and nations. In realizing our insignificant size in the whole of the universe, we are dumbstruck by a realization of God’s indescribable vastness and also his most loving intentions demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus. Every part of the earth is the habitation of the Holy One through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came and gave himself so that we could be invited into fellowship with God and with each other through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We should be awed, amazed, and appreciative of being so sacrificially loved and wanted by the Creator of the universe!

Almighty God — whom I know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — forgive me for the times I forget just how big you are and yet how much you love me. In a universe so vast, you love me personally. In sending Jesus, you have loved me at great cost to yourself. As your child through new birth, I know you love me by living in me through your Spirit. Thank you. Praise you. I can never repay you, but I can adore you. In Jesus’ name, I praise and thank you even though you are far beyond my ability to comprehend. Amen.