2 Timothy 2:14-19

1 Passage: 2 Timothy 2:14-19

1 Verse: Verse 14. Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

1 Prayer: Father, it sounds so strange coming from You -- You who have given us Your truth by revelation in words. And yet it is a solemn charge not to wrangle about words. Remind me of this charge when I am faced with those who seem to twist and abuse and misread Your words. Argument may prove useless, and sometimes even were I to win the argument it may lead to the ruin of those who listen. So help me to look past the words to the heart -- much like You do -- and help me to love Your people beyond words -- through my actions and attitudes.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Timothy 2:24-26

Titus 3:8-11

1 Passage: Titus 3:8-11

1 Verse: Verse 9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

1 Prayer: Father, this advice would be so much easier to follow if only we knew which controversies are foolish and which aren't. Nevertheless, Lord, please protect us from our own dogmatizing. Please save us from strife and disputes that are worthless and unprofitable. There must be a worthwhile and profitable way to address disagreements. Please teach us what that is. Help us to continually build one another up and not tear one another down, even as we find ourselves having different views about various controversial things. You transcend them all and love covers a multitude of wrongs. Help me to love as You love.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Timothy 2:14-19

1 Corinthians 14:26-33

1 Passage: 1 Corinthians 14:26-33

1 Verse: Verse 26b Let all things be done for edification.

1 Prayer: Father, You alone know all the things I will do today. I have only the faintest idea of what the future holds for me - even in the next few minutes. Who will I meet? What obstacle encounter? What blessing receive or ignore? I pray that no matter what happens, in whatever I will do today, I will do everything for the purpose of building others up, not tearing them down or building myself up. Show me when I am doing or saying or thinking things that are harmful to others and give me Your grace to change them so that instead I encourage and support and edify.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Titus 3:8-11

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

1 Passage: 1 Corinthians 8:1-3

1 Verse: Verse 1b Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

1 Prayer: Father, please help me today to be loving in my actions and words. I do not want to puff myself up or tear others down. I want to build others up in love. Please give me the right words to say and the wisdom to speak or not speak as the opportunity allows. Help me to make the most of every opportunity. Remind me that if I think I know anything, that I do not yet know as I ought to know. Teach me to know as I ought to know -- with humility, honesty, faith and trust in You. Please help me to be gracious to those I meet who suppose that they know. Remind me that they too see only dimly and in part, despite whatever claims they might make for themselves or against me. Only You, Father, see all things clearly and fully.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Corinthians 14:26-33

Proverbs 30:2-4

1 Passage: Proverbs 30:2-4

1 Verse: Verse 3 Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

1 Prayer: Father, forgive my arrogance in thinking I have You all figured out. Forgive me for boxing You into my limited ideas about who You are and how You work. Expand my understanding so that I can recognize that my way of thinking about You is not be the only way of thinking about You. You are so much bigger than all our judgments about You. And I thank You for not cutting us off because of our ignorance, even though You may discipline us for our arrogance. Help me to be a good disciple and student of the humility of Jesus.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Psalm 136:1-9

1 Passage: Psalm 136:1-9

1 Verse: Verse 4. To Him who alone does great wonders, for His lovingkindness is everlasting;

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for everything You have done, are doing and will do. Wonderful doesn't even begin to describe all Your works. And the most amazing of them all is that You love me, too. Thank You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 30:2-4

Psalm 139:13-16

1 Passage: Psalm 139:13-16

1 Verse: Verse 13. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father for being intimately acquainted with all of me. I don't even understand my own inward parts, yet You have made them to be as they are. Help me not to fret over what goes on inside the hidden and secret depths of my heart. Even those dark mysteries I trust to You. Thank You for being big enough to know all of me so well. As I learn more of You, help me to bring the meditations of my heart and mind to align with Your truth.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 136:1-9

Psalm 19:1-6

1 Passage: Psalm 19:1-6

1 Verse: Verse 2. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father for the daily rhythms of day and night -- darkness and light, coolness and heat, activity and rest. Forgive me for not paying better attention to the wise ways You have ordered the world. Help me become better in tune with You, not just in physical time and space, but in my heart and mind and Spirit. Allow me to hear the sound of Your glory and know the truth of Your love in the things You have made and the way You sustain us all.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 139:13-16

Colossians 1:15-17

1 Passage: Colossians 1:15-17

1 Verse: Verse 17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

1 Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Maker and Sustainer of all things. Without You, this world would not exist at all. And the same goes for me. Hold me together today, all of me -- my physical body, my soul, my mind, my heart, my spirit. All are in danger of falling apart if it weren't for You and Your love. Lead me deeper into love with You. Recreate me by Your Spirit. Renew my heart and my mind. Strengthen my body. Give light to my eyes. Enlighten me. And help me encourage the same in others.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 19:1-6

Acts 17:24-29

1 Passage: Acts 17:24-29

1 Verse: Verse 28. ". . . for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'"

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for being the absolute context in which we live our lives. You surround us completely, sustaining us by the power of Your word. Help me to be mindful today of Your nearness at all times, in all places. Remind me that my existence depends on You, but not merely existence only, but abundant life comes from You. You treat us all as dearly loved children. When I interact with others today, may I remember that we also are all Your children.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Colossians 1:15-17

Acts 14:15-17

1 Passage: Acts 14:15-17

1 Verse: Verse 17. "[A]nd yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for doing good to all You have made. I have benefited from Your kindness in ways big and small, and for all of them You deserve thanks and honor and praise. Please forgive me for not being satisfied with the good things You give. Help me today to have a heart of gladness and thanksgiving.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Acts 17:24-29

Romans 1:18-20

1 Passage: Romans 1:18-20

1 Verse: Verse 19. "[B]ecause that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them."

1 Prayer: Father, please make evident within me what there is to be known about You. Even though I have received Your righteousness by faith in Christ, I am still susceptible to suppressing the truth through my own ungodly thoughts and unrighteous actions. But despite all that, I desire to know Your truth in my inward being. Please help me to recognize the truth You are making evident within me.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Acts 14:15-17

Back here soon . . . elsewhere for now . . .

I received a phone call the other day, asking about the status of The Four-Ones Forum. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking, but I'm hoping that perhaps others are wondering as well. So here's the update. Our camping trip was great and our computer problem is being managed (though not yet "solved").

So everything is set to begin again, but I'll still be waiting another week for things to return to "normal" at the home office. Look for an actual four-ones post on Sunday 7/8/07.

In the meantime, if you are interested, I am in the middle of a two-week stint writing for the Daily Journal at Barclay Press. It doesn't allow for comments, but you can at least see what I'm thinking about at the moment.

Peace.

TEMPORARY HIATUS

Computer problems and a camping trip will be putting The Four-Ones Forum on hold for a few days or weeks. Please stand by for further updates as to a potential return date. Thank you for your patience.

2 Chronicles 16:9

1 Passage: 2 Chronicles 16:9

1 Verse: Verse 9. "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars."

1 Prayer: Father, I am in desperate need of Your strong support. Please forgive my foolishness and accept my whole heart as completely Yours. I give it to You freely. I do not intend to hold any of it back from You. Yet You know better than I that the heart is deceitful. Please forgive my imperfect offering. I love You, even if not yet so greatly as You love me.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Matthew 6:5-15

1 Passage: Matthew 6:5-15

1 Verse: Verse 8. "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for knowing exactly what I need. I don't seem to know myself well enough to know what to ask for. So I'm grateful that You already know. Please give me what I need to love and serve You and Your people today.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Chronicles 16:9

Matthew 6:1-4

1 Passage: Matthew 6:1-4

1 Verse: Verse 3. "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing"

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for giving the riches of Your grace and love and mercy to us spiritually bankrupt people. You are our example of selfless giving. Please help us to follow. Teach us to be generous, cheerful givers to those who cannot repay. Forgive us for greedily grasping for profit-- in terms of advancing our own agendas or puffing up our pride or polishing our reputations -- in return for doing good and helping others. Show us how we may best give of ourselves to help those most in need.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Matthew 6:5-15

1 Samuel 16:7

1 Passage: 1 Samuel 16:7

1 Verse: Verse 7. But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Prayer: Father, please forgive me for focusing so much more effort on my outward appearance than on the condition of my heart. Forgive me for trying to look good on the outside, while barely keeping it together on the inside. Forgive me also for judging others by outward appearance and not seeing them as You see us all. Please teach me how to see others through Your eyes. Help me to look for the hearts of those around me. And please help me to guard my own heart, rather than just my reputation.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Matthew 6:1-4

Psalm 139:13-18

1 Passage: Psalm 139:13-18

1 Verse: Verse 14. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for creating all things in Your goodness . . . even me -- though my soul knows it not so very well . . . But because I have been made by You, I know that nothing could ever unmake me. So there is no point in trying. Please help me to accept the truth that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And please help me do the same for all other people You have created, who are wonderful works of Yours, who, too, bear Your image.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Samuel 16:7

Psalm 139:7-12

1 Passage: Psalm 139:7-12

1 Verse: Verse 8. If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for always being near. Sometimes I feel as though I've made my bed and now I have to lie in it, and that a major part of that perceived punishment -- the just and natural consequences of my sins -- is Your distance and displeasure. But it isn't so. Even if I sleep around with Satan, You are there. And where You are, there is peace. Thank You for making peace with me through the love of Christ. Please help me to remember Your gracious nearness to me today so that my heart and mind can be steadfast in peace.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 139:13-18