A Prayer for the Anxious.

 O dear Heavenly Father, we come to you on bended knee with aching heart and quivering limbs to ask for your comfort. The worries and uncertainties that come with this broken world could easily overwhelm us if we did not know that you, O Heavenly Father, know everything, and everything has to go through your approval. You know the outcome of every day, and not only the outcome of every day, but also the outcome of every one of your children. You alone know the future, and in that we take great comfort, because if you know and approve of what is to come, then we can know our worries are in vain, for we have a loving Father that is standing by and over us, and he knows the count of the very hairs on our head. Therefore teach us, O Lord, that we take no thought for tomorrow, but that we rest in your care today, and this very moment. We can also take great comfort in knowing that tomorrow you will be there as well, for you are not only the God of yesterday and today, you are also the God of tomorrow, your all knowing and all gracious love knows no boundaries nor time. Are we not more than the lilies of the field whom you care for? Are we not more than the fowls of the air? Teach us to be like them in contentment and without worry under your watch and care. 

Teach us also to bring our every worry and concern to you, O Father, in prayer and supplication with thankfulness, knowing that you will hear our every word, spoken and unspoken, and our every burden and ache of heart. Teach us that you will deliver us from evil and preserve us for your heavenly kingdom, to you be glory for ever and ever. Teach us also to be still and know that you are Lord. 

And may your peace which passeth all understanding keep our hearts and minds through your only Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Prayer for Rain.

 Our dear Father in heaven, we come to you in this time of great dryness to ask for your blessing upon the land. Bless this parched and dry ground with rain and dew from the heavens that the earth may bring forth her fruit and thereby sustain both man and animal. We look to the heavens everyday, but the heavens seem locked. The grass and the crops shrivel more everyday, the dugouts and bodies of water dry up, the scorching sun and the hot dry winds wring out even more precious moisture from this stressed land. 

As we look upon all this we cannot help but begin to think, Are you sending this state of dryness upon the land, O Lord, so that we can compare it to the state of our heart? Is a look upon this dry and parched land a look inside our own heart?

O Father, when you withhold rain from the heavens but for a little while, we groan and protest, and feel unfairly treated, but how many times do we withhold praise from you, because we think we have no time to praise or worship in our busy lives. The dead cannot praise or worship or give you thanks, they are silent. It is our turn now. We who are alive, to praise you and declare your faithfulness, and in that, dear Father we fall far short. 

But we admit our shortcomings and daily failings, treat us not as we deserve, or we should shrivel up and blow away in the lightest breeze, but bless us instead with blessings from above. And if it is not in your divine will to send us rain, send us the wisdom, courage, and hope to face whatever lies ahead and let not go of our outstretched hand, guide us and lead us, for we know that no matter how bleak a situation looks you will safely lead us through, and provide such an outcome that we will say, O why did we doubt, It all worked out so much better than we could have hoped for. Strengthen our faith, O Father, grant us grace as we go forward with you as our hope and guide, our Saviour and Redeemer. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Coronavirus Christmas

 The whole world stands and quakes in fear. In fear of a virus called Covid-19. This is not only an immensely contagious virus, but it can also be deadly. Therefore, all steps must be taken to prevent infection. We have to watch vigilantly because every human being alive is a potential carrier. Measures are mandated by law to limit contact. Public health orders restrict gatherings at private residences and allows critical retailers to only sell essential items.

Hospitals are locked down so tight it’s impossible to go see a loved one, unless death is holding that loved one by one hand, and then, maybe access is granted, or maybe not. 

Old people are especially vulnerable, therefore Assisted Living Centers and Old Folks housing is locked down, effectively keeping the loneliest lonely. 

People are strongly urged to stay locked in their homes, and must let in no one, not even known and trusted contacts like relatives and friends. This will protect them against possible infection. Neighbours peeking out from behind curtains are called to call out rule-breaking neighbours, thereby slowing the spread. Monetary fines will be handed out, and already have. 

Grocery and daily needs shopping is preferred to be done online, or by store drive-by pickup, effectively limiting dreaded human contact. For the braver souls who wish to get out of the confines of their home to shop it is possible, but only essential stores are open, and only for deemed essentials as defined by the government. 

Personal protective equipment such as masks or face-shields are mandatory as is the disinfecting of hands as you walk through the doors of a store, bottles of germ killer are waiting on a table. 

Direction of travel is loudly and clearly marked on the floor to prevent possible passing persons along the aisles. One way traffic only, the way you came in is not the way you go out. Different doors for different directions. Limits such as human density per square footage of store is strictly enforced. Store workers armed with disinfectants are instructed to spray surfaces touched by human hands. Product handling is on an agreed upon ‘you touch, you buy’. 

In case you travel up the wrong aisle or have your mask inadvertently slip, you will be almost instantly reprimanded by your vigilant on-guard and concerned shopper neighbour. No slips-ups are overlooked, however slight. This is one bad virus and we must be held accountable. We are all in this together and it’s only if we all work together that we will exterminate this evil. To help with this extermination, information is vital and at our fingertips. Statistics and Big Data is our friend, keeping us on the leading edge of knowledge on this flu, especially the number of new daily infections and death tallies. We also wait breathlessly for the latest insights provided by leading doctors and specialists in their field. 

Strict restrictions restrict the number of people allowed at gatherings such as weddings and funerals, be they conducted inside or outside. Football stadiums stand empty except for the players on the field and the cameras recording them. So are Basketball courts and Hockey Arenas. But to feed the hungry souls, the games must go on.

Non-essential services are outright banned such as hair salons and barbers. Gambling casinos and churches are treated alike, with ‘Closed’ signs hanging on their respective doors.

But all is not lost, there is hope. Hope that in some laboratory somewhere an anti-viral vaccine will be born that will cure us of this threat.  A threat that has shut the world down tighter than at any time in history. The hope will be that this vaccine will be safe, and that it will not only protect us now, but make us immune forever. We rely on this vaccine to not only save us, but also our future generations, and on this cure we hope and pray. 

But wait, we are not in the clear, because there’s word of another virus on the loose. A virus schemed up back in the dawn of ages by the most evil schemer of all. This extremely contagious and all-encompassing evil virus knows no boundaries and is by far the deadliest ever recorded. It will infect all, and kill all, with a kill ratio of 100%. It carries a death sentence to not only your body, but your soul as well. 

But wait, for this virus exists a cure! This anti-dote was by no means cheap or easy to make, as it required the very life blood of the Provider. He laid down his life that you may live. This story starts on Christmas Day in Bethlehem. 

Prayer for Healing

O dear Lord and great Physician, we come to you in prayer in these troubled times with humble heart and anxious minds. 

We know not what lies before us with this Coronavirus plague, therefore we come before your throne and plea for mercy. Show us your great love and care, O Creator of all things. 

We humble ourselves before you and confess our many shortcomings. We are not worthy of your tender loving kindness towards us, for we do not live like you want your people to live. 

We are selfish and prideful, who more often worship money and self than we worship you, O great Lord. We find ourselves too often striving after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and for our pride of life. 

It seems one day slips into the next, one week disappears into the next, then months, then years. 

We confess we have fallen greatly and have failed to grow closer to you, our Holy Father. Therefore we come to you with bended knee and beg forgiveness. Heal us from our sicknesses of sins as you healed all manners of sickness and diseases when you became flesh and walked amongst us on the earth. 

We confess we are a sick and ailing people that have strayed far from the fold. Bring us closer to thee O great Shepherd, feed and water us from thy everlasting springs and the green hills of thy steadfast love. Only then, when we are back in your fold and under your gracious hand, will your countenance shine warmly upon us, and your ear will hear our cry. 

Wash our muddied souls with the pureness of the innocent blood of thy beloved Son, and feed our starving spirits with thy daily bread. Keep us, that we stray not out of your love and care.

Look down upon us with thy great mercy. Give us strength and courage, give us insight and love. Help us be a light to the world in these troubled times, and them see our love for you, Heavenly Father, let them see how we walk in total trust as children of the Light. Let them hear us praise you, that your name might be glorified. Let the world understand that we thy people view this world and life not as an end to our means, but as a time and place where we can worship you, and show your love to all. A time and place where we can testify and shout out to all the world how great and gracious a God we serve. A God so full of love and compassion that he gave his only begotten Son that he might die for what we should have died for, who endured a most humiliating, gruesome and lonesome death, that we might live. You, O Lord, who spared not the life of your Son in the great love you have for us lowly sinners, look down upon us with compassion and mercy in this time and hear our prayers.

This we pray in the name of thy most precious and loving Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 Amen.  

High Places - in our time.

Reading Kings in the Old Testament there are many mentions of ‘High places’.

These ‘high places’ of old consisted of idols or special places on elevated ground that people worshipped or otherwise payed homage to, and got temporary satisfaction apart from God. These high places competed for and even replaced the worship that should have been reserved for the God of Israel. The high place at Dan was built when Israel was divided into the northern and southern kingdom. The northern kingdom worshipped the golden calf at Dan instead of making the trek to worship at the temple at Jerusalem. 

There was even a high place placed on one side of the gates in Jerusalem that people payed notice as they passed through. 

Although the Israelites were commanded  to utterly destroy the high places, most of them Kings kept them and even built them up. The only two that take them down were Kings Hezekiah and Josiah. 

So my thought is this, if they had these high places for many generations and God was obviously displeased, why did the Israelites display such a casual attitude towards them and what can we learn from them? 

I’m sure there are many high places set up in our lives today that we have come used or accustomed to, much like those that existed in ancient Israel. 

Places, things or idols that temporarily satisfy us along the way and hinder us from finding God. 

 There are also many other high places. Think of escapism through the news, novels and movies. And music, especially music. It seems the whole world has to have the constant barrage of music in their ears. Music is praise in itself and if not directed to God, worships whatever the songwriter had in mind.

If our heart is the temple of the most high God, then high places can be anything that competes with God for time, attention or worship in that temple.

I challenge you to think what the high places are in our life and time. What satisfies us that keeps us from searching ultimate satisfaction  in God?

Harden Not Your Heart.

To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Hebrews 4:7
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Why should I confess and repent of a certain sin if I know I will do it again, isn’t that hypocrisy? 

We have all either made this argument or heard it made.

The main problem with this argument is that it assumes at least two things. It assumes we have a lot of years left to change our habits and/or it assumes that it is our self in charge of our salvation and we can pick and choose when to repent, most preferably the day or hour before we die.

 But the reality of the situation is this, we never stay the same person as we are now. The daily decisions we make and the consequences of those decisions changes who we are as a person, for better or for worse.

If we willfully choose the path of sin we automatically begin to harden our heart. The rooster that crows in our heart today may not be there in the future. In fact, if we harden our heart to resist the cries of the Holy Spirit we may just be so successful that we may never hear that Spirit again. We may also be so hardened that we don’t even care, or we may think because we don’t hear the cries of the Holy Spirit anymore that all is well with us. We may even believe God knows we are just poor humans and sinful in nature therefore He will overlook our transgressions and by his Grace pull us into his kingdom. But Psalm 50 has some different words for us. 

These things you have done,
 and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one like yourself.

But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
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Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Hebrews 4:7

What is Man?

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:4

To help us with this question let’s look to the Bible itself. 

The Bible is the unique Word of God. It features 66 books written by ~40 different authors, encompassing many different styles and genres, and spanning over 1500 years.

 These writers came from different countries and wrote in different languages, yet they all come together clearly and coherently in an extraordinary book called The Holy Bible. From the broad beginnings of time and the universe, to mankind with all his struggles, and then sharply focusing down to the person of Jesus. 

These writers of history and prophecy ranged from poets to philosophers, from war heroes to humble fishermen, from kings to the prophets that warned them; each author retaining his individuality and voice. 

It’s interesting that the God of the universe would choose to have His story told this way. This tells us that the God in whose image we are made, celebrates our individual uniqueness. He works not over and around us but through us. How incredible this is to know, that each and every individual is special, and loved in an unique and personal way. It’s astounding when we realize how much worth God embeds in us from the moment we are molded in our mother’s womb.

Knowing this makes life so much more personal and meaningful. We have a God that does not love us superficially, but intrinsically and intimately, on scale that is equal to the vastness of the universe.

 Yet, we who inhabit earth, made in His image, hold the balance of power. We can thwart His Fatherly Love and decide to spend eternity away from the very Creator that gave us the unique will and right to choose.

Yes, we are wonderfully and fearfully made, each individual so unique and special, and we can feel deep in our hearts that we are destined for something much greater than what we experience in our daily life. Let us choose wisely, my friends. 

Baptism and Marriage. Part Six.

The Concept. 

The concept of Baptism is quite strange. We make a lifetime commitment to the divine Creator and invite him into our heart so he can dwell there. We ask him to be a very part of our being, our thoughts and actions. We ask him to walk with us through life’s biggest challenges and fears, and then finally through the dark vale of death itself. 

That sounds like a deal no one would refuse. But many of us do. One reason is we would not feel comfortable having God with us when we visit certain places or do certain things.

Another reason can be that we have the wrong idea of God, we envision him as non-personal and aloof. We think that after our death God will examine our lives and makes a judgement on whether we deserve heaven or hell. Almost as if the sole requirement of our getting to heaven is having our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds.

I don’t believe God works that way. I think we can look at the concept of marriage here to illustrate the point. When we marry our spouse we may think we know each other, but in all reality we know very little. We make a huge leap of faith that we will live happily ever after. We think our whirlwind love will always be there in it’s burning intensity, but we find something different, something much deeper and substantial. We find a love that delights in giving, rather than taking, and one that flourishes in times of sickness, hurt and need, instead of only anticipated happy times.

The way we find this love is we let go of old ingrained selfish habits and cultivate new caring ones, ones that consider the needs and feelings of our loved one. Once we start bettering and are conscious of our love and commitment deepening, we try harder. As we do this, our relationship comes ever closer and closer to what God had originally intended for marriage: two people becoming one flesh

This kind of love is obviously not present at the time of marriage. This is a love that has been tested and purified by the refining ovens of life. A love that comes out of the remains of its first fiery burst, and then slowly but surely turns into the love of understanding and appreciating of our life’s partner. 

The same holds true for baptism. We know very little about God till we start a relationship with him. As He reveals himself more and more we begin to understand his love. This causes us to love him more, causing him to reveal himself more. It’s an ever deepening cycle of trust and love and understanding. God accepts us fully when we enter a relationship with him, and the judgmental image that we have of God as we were growing up turns into a image of Love, a God that only has our best interests in mind. 

To sum things up, we don’t live out our life with the one we love and then at the end decide if we are worthy and then propose marriage. That would make no sense at all. It works this way, we take the leap of faith, marry, and then gradually mold into one flesh.

The same concept applies to Baptism. When we get baptized and accept Jesus as our personal saviour our name is entered into the Book of Life.  Then, as we learn more about Jesus and His love for us, our understanding and love for Him grows. 

But here’s the disclaimer. Baptism without faithfulness, through hardheartedness, totally voids the contract. Not that this is God’s will, but ours.

P.S. When I started this blog on Baptism and Marriage I had no idea that it would go beyond the first instalment. As I started writing and thinking the similarities became so obvious that each begged the next post. To help us understand the concept of Baptism it helps to look at the institution of Marriage. The clues and practical experiences are all there. 

Thank you for being on this journey with me.

Louie Vetter

Baptism and Marriage. Part Five.

Forgiveness.

In marriage, if one partner strays and worships false gods, or in the language of marriage, worships someone or something other than the wedding partner, great harm and complete loss of trust occurs. 

Both marriage partners need to sit down and evaluate where this is going. Is there a use continuing this commitment? Will there be forgiveness, even if the offending partner is truly remorseful that the offence took place? 

God suggests there is. In fact, in the story of Hosea he commands his prophet to marry a prostitute. To take her home and marry her. To clean her up and clothe her. To marry on trust, and if the trust is broken, to start all over again. That would be so hard for us to do, but such is the love of God. He will beg and plead and do everything in his power to make us love Him. If only we will set aside our idols and objects of worship and come and follow Him, He will wash us and make us pure again and white as the falling snow.

But His love also respects us. If we stiffneckedly refuse Him and continue walking the path of our own choosing and worship the objects we desire, He will let us. He loves us too much to put us into bondage in order to prevent us from carrying out our ways.

And in marriage we can relate. We can love our partner with the deepest love possible, but if our spouse were to stray, there is nothing we can do except to unconditionally forgive, and then beg and plead and hope that our love would repent and return to its first love. And if reconciliation is not to be, we have to respect that wish as well.

Baptism and Marriage, Part Four.

Faithfulness. 

Human nature is so that the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence.

 Imagine this scenario, we get married but still harbour memories from previous acquaintances or new people we meet. Or even worse, if we’d have pictures or gifts from these acquaintances on display on the walls or placed around our home. 

Now imagine if one were to go and pursue these lusts to their logical end with an adulterous act. The hurt and harm that would inflict on a marriage would be so immense that it would take severe repentance and authentic remorse to even begin to build the former trust. 

The wrongdoing of this straying or drifting is so starkly clear and obvious in marriage, and is no less important in our baptism, even though we tend to think God is so loving and understanding that will overlook spiritual adultery. Remember, Jesus said that even looking at a woman lustfully is already committing adultery in our heart. 

With these scenarios we can clearly see and feel the significance of the first two commandments.

The first, “You shall have no other Gods before me.”

And the second, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness..., You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.

Baptism and Marriage. Part Three.

I think we can all agree that marriage and the marriage vows are sacred and holy, and carry a commitment to love, cherish, and obey one another.

When we think of sacredness and holiness we often think of a church or temple. 

Think of how we conduct ourself when we enter into one of those buildings. We speak in a softer tone of voice, we won’t speak certain words or talk of certain topics. We act in a more respectable and responsible way than we normally would. We are kinder, gentler and more considerate to the people around us. Now imagine if our body is a temple to the living God, and guess what, it is! Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? 

Well, if we think of this way, that changes things a little bit. And so it should. For if we don’t treat our body as a temple, chances are that the Holy Spirit won’t like the atmosphere we produce and very predictably, will move out. And without the presence of the Holy Spirit influencing us, our temple will turn into a house of shame rather quickly and our baptism is desacralized.

 As with baptism so with marriage, when we treat our vows with anything less than sacredness, we may soon start to find ourself estranged from the one we promised to love, cherish and obey.