Whispers of Truth

Recently, after a friend asked me about it, I purchased and have been reading through (and praying through) Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer: with scripture-expressions, proper to be used under each head . Yes, it is archaic; yes, it is awkward to read, especially out loud as prayers; yes, even its subtitle is offensive to this world in which we live (much less its content true to the Bible and politically incorrect); however, praying through this book has been teaching me valuable lessons. While I’ve known that scripture can be/may be/should be prayed, I confess that in the past, I have done it very little. Even thinking about praying using the words of the scripture seemed awkward. This has been my loss. I find that there is little more comforting than knowing that my prayer is uncorrupted because I am using His words. My will is easy to far too easy to pray, but sometimes knowing what to pray and how to pray it is hard for my human flesh to grasp. His Spirit speaks through His Wo

For several years while teaching, I had my seniors write letters to themselves to about the things they wished they had known when they started high school. There was nothing original in this idea, but it was inspired by the song “Dear Younger Me” by Mercy Me. Each year when I gave this assignment, my seniors would start off scoffing the idea, and some never took it seriously, but the ones who did found they had already learned much during their four-year journey through high school, and they extended this wisdom to others because they took it seriously.  Today while reading chapter three of Proverbs, I came across the title, “Guidance for the Young,” and thought of that exercise. Almost immediately I did a little scoffing myself and thought of how many times I’ve read this chapter before. Then I really read it and ingested it, and found myself in need of writing a letter to future me, lest I forget what I have already learned and need chastening again later. Dear Older Me, Just i

In my morning reading, I find myself in a section of 1 Chronicles and Psalms, as the Chronological Study Bible places Psalm 2 (penned by David ) with Solomon’s ascension to the throne. We have already studied Psalm 2 in our Wednesday night sessions at church this year, but as usual, the Word of God is alive and applies the scriptures I read to my heart on a daily basis. Hebrews 4:12 reminds me of this: “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (NASB). Psalm 2:10-12 speaks not only to kings to be wise as they judge the earth but also to the rest of mankind, to me as both kings and ordinary people will stand before the throne of God.  Verses 11-12 particularly spoke to my heart today: “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way when His wrath i