Dear God,

As Christians we yield to You. Like David asked long ago, send us a sign of Your favor. Even more so for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in countries that are hostile to the Gospel. I pray the words from Psalm 86 over our lives and look forward seeing their truth lived out through us on this day.

Psalm 86 ~

 ¹⁵ But you, O Lord,
    are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Look down and have mercy on me.
    Give your strength to your servant;
    save me, the son of your servant.
¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor.
    Then those who hate me will be put to shame,
    for you, O Lord, help and comfort me.

He lived a lowly life, rejected by society as a blind beggar. So he became determined to meet Jesus. He couldn’t see Him. He heard He was passing by. Sheer determination caused Him to continue crying out when those around told Him to stop. And then Jesus saw Him. After that His life was forever changed.

Luke 18 ~

³⁵ As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. ³⁶ When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him that Jesus the Nazarene^[a] was going by. ³⁸ So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹ “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him.

But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰ When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”

⁴² And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”

When Jesus told His disciples of the cruel death He must endure He protected them from having to fully take in the harsh reality of what would soon happen to their beloved leader.

That’s how the unfailing love of God works. He buffers us.

Luke 18 ~

³¹ Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. ³² He will be handed over to the Romans,^[a] and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. ³³ They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴ But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.

Dear God, in all Your mercy and grace, revive us today from selfishness and sin.

Psalm 85 ~

1 LORD, you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. 2 You forgave the guilt of your people— yes, you covered all their sins. Interlude 3 You held back your fury. You kept back your blazing anger. 4 Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. 5 Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? 6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? 7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. 8 I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. But let them not return to their foolish ways. 9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, so our land will be filled with his glory.

Jesus cautioned us to not get arrogant about serving God!

Luke 18 ~

⁹ Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: ¹⁰ “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer^[a]: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Every time I read about someone in the Bible who has an exceptional, something rises up in me and says I want that quality in my life. So, in that moment, I asked God for it. All the most desirable qualities found in all the Bible characters I have prayed for in my life for about thirty years when I come across them. God has heard every one of those prayers and will answer them in amazing ways. So, today I am beginning to pray these over my four grown kids and future generations! This is going to be powerful!

Caleb was an old man. He served God wholeheartedly. He was still strong like a young man in his latter years. He was also adventurous and wanted to conquer for himself his part of the Promised Land.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the example of Caleb. Help my family and I and our future generations be like him. Thank you in advance for building in us these great qualities which will help us to be three generations strong in each of our lives (like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) for the sake of the Gospel!

Caleb was

1)as strong as a young man at 85!

2)adventurous and confident enough to go and conquer in his own part of the Promised Land, Hebron.

3)a man who wholeheartedly followed God.

4)faithful to God like Joshua, in his younger years and gave a good report when they first went in to survey the Promised Land. He didn’t yield to peer pressure.

Joshua 14 ~

⁶ A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report,⁸ but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. ⁹ So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’

¹⁰ “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. ¹¹ I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.¹² So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”

¹³ So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. ¹⁴ Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.¹⁵ (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)

Pray these verses over your family.

James 4 ~

 Where do ^[a]wars and fights comefrom among you? Do they not comefrom your desires for 

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Pray these verses over your family.

Proverbs 3 ~

Jesus healed ten lepers. Those who had leprosy in the Bible days were outcasts. They had a skin disease that would take over their body and cause a repulsive appearance and odor.

Only one leper came back to say thanks and give honor for the miracle that had greatly changed his life. He fell at Jesus’ feet and praised Him loudly.

Jesus still heals today and changes lives. Easter is coming next Sunday. On that day, I pray Christians would fall down at the feet of Jesus and praise Him loudly for how He has forgiven us and healed us by overcoming death and Hell.

Luke 17:

¹¹ As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. ¹² As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, ¹³ crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴ He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”^[a] And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

¹⁵ One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” ¹⁶ He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.^[b

When we follow God He promises to bring joy and refreshing peace.

Psalm 84 ~

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

   O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.