Dec 16, 2025 – Center
In his sermon on Sunday, Pastor Chris Hodges spoke about what we center on in the manger and how it relates to the way we live our lives and what we focus on. Summarizing the message won’t do it justice; so, here’s the link to watch for yourself, if you so choose.
https://churchofthehighlands.com/media/12-14-2025
Prevail 350 – 2 John 1:18 – “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.” Larson writes, “Scripture charges us time and again to guard what has been entrusted to us. John encourages us to be diligent about our faith journey so that we will receive our full reward. The translation above reads, ‘…what we have worked so hard to achieve,’ whereas others read, ‘what you have worked so hard to achieve.’ This passage shows how intermingled our lives really are. You’ve invested in other believers and they’ve invested in you…. Not only does God reward you for the investments you make in others, for acts of faith, and for prayers of intercession, He rewards you for guarding all that He’s sewn into you for His kingdom’s sake. Remember the parable of the soils?[see Matthew 13]. Sometimes the Word lands on shallow, distracted, or unguarded hearts and the enemy snatches it away before it has a chance to sprout. That’s a loss for the Kingdom, and that’s on us. If the devil can’t have your soul, he’ll do everything he can to destroy your influence and rob you of your future reward. May your relationship with Jesus be your highest aim and top priority.”
Streams – Cowman shares from Charles H. Spurgeon’s writings, “There is no doubt that it is by praying that we learn to pray, and that the more we pray, the better our prayers will be. People who pray in spurts are never likely to attain to the kind of prayer described in the scriptures as ‘powerful and effective’ (James 5:16).”
I enjoyed participating in Young Life when I was in high school [apologies if this is a repeat]. Early on, I wanted to get more out of it than just the fun group gatherings; so, I went to my first Bible study, on a rainy Saturday morning. Shortly after we were all settled around the room, the leader looked at me and asked, “Lyn, would you start us off in prayer?” Me? A first-timer? Are you allowed to ask me that? Do you want me to actually come back? Or even stay? I had been to church youth retreats with breakout sessions, but they were mostly listen and contribute gatherings, not put-on-the-spot-right-off-the-bat encounters. Gulp…ok…..so here’s pretty much what I prayed, “Dear Lord, [long pause] thank You for this beautiful day. [long pause] And [short pause] thank You for this beautiful day. Amen.” Do I need to remind you that it was raining? As the years have gone by, in telling this story I always add that rainy days can be beautiful, and necessary, too!
After that, I decided I never wanted to feel unprepared and reluctant like that again; so, I began praying about praying and trying to tell myself that I didn’t have to be eloquent. I didn’t want to be put in the position of having to think of what my answer would be to, “Would you start us off in prayer?” It didn’t come fast or easy, but it has come as I’ve listened to and learned from other pray-ers who easily respond to the call. I still get that gulp feeling when asked, but I’m better about not giving it any residence in my mind. And, I decided that I wanted my children to not face the gulp moments; so, I started them out young, praying in the car on the way to school and at meals, eventually even in front of family and friends. We’d have to ask them how they feel about it; but, suffice to say, even though they smile and hesitate slightly (I guess that’s the gulp), they always deliver.
Cowman continues with Spurgeon’s writings, which speak to my ponderings yesterday about answered prayer, “Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must work to obtain it. We should never even imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully for Sodom if he had not communed with God throughout the previous years of his life…. If a person believes he can become powerful in prayer without making a commitment to it, he is living under a great delusion. The prayer of Elijah, which stopped the rain from heaven and later opened heaven’s floodgates, was only one example of a long series of his mighty pleadings with God. Oh, if only we Christians would remember that perseverance in prayer is necessary for it to be effective and victorious! The great intercessors, who are seldom mentioned in connection with the heroes of matters of the faith, were nevertheless the greatest benefactors of the church. Yet their becoming the channels of the blessings of mercy to others was only made possible by their abiding at the mercy seat of God.”
I hadn’t read the whole devotion when I started telling about my prayer life; so, I was so surprised when I read pray to pray (like I’d written at the start of the Streams entry) in Spurgeon’s last line, “Remember we must pray to pray, and continue in prayer so our prayers may continue.” The God whispers we hear and heed (in our writing and speaking and living) can be such blessings no matter how big or small.
JC – “I am speaking in the depths of your being. Be still, so that you can hear My voice. I speak in the language of Love; My words fill you with Life and Peace, Joy and hope. I desire to talk with all of My children, but many are too busy to listen…. Living close to Me requires making Me your First Love – your highest priority…. I am also blessed when you make Me first in your life.”
Power – Colossians 2:5 – “For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.” This devotion not only speaks to what seems to be a theme of prayer and centering today, but also to the different endeavors I’ve undertaken throughout my life. I’ve pursued them wholeheartedly with research and reach outs, but most of them just simply die on the vine so to speak. I have a pile of good ideas and intentions; but, I find myself marveling at how doors seem to just open for some people and here I sit.
Joyce seems to speak to that today, “Many people feel able and qualified to do a particular thing, and yet they live frustrated lives because the right doors don’t ever seem to open for them to do that particular thing. Their opportunities never come. Why? I believe many people are ‘able but not stable.’ God has given people abilities, but they may not have made the effort to mature and develop a stable character. God must be able to trust us, and other people must be able to depend on us.” I was voted “Most Dependable” in high school. Does that count?! I sincerely ask, in Jesus’ name, for You to make me responsive and ready for what is next….
Utmost – Ephesians 6:13, 18 – “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God….praying always….” Chambers writes, “You have to wrestle against the things that prevent you from getting to God, and you wrestle in prayer for other souls; but never say that you wrestle with God in prayer, it is scripturally untrue. If you do wrestle with God, you will be crippled all the rest of your life. If, when God comes in some way you do not want, you take hold of him as Jacob did and wrestle with him, you compel him to put you out of joint…. be one who wrestles before God with things, becoming more than conqueror through Him…. Prayer is only effective when there is completeness….” This makes me think that that is one great reason to ask for prayer covering from others because if we are not complete and stable and mature in our walk, certainly someone in the prayer chain is. And, no matter our completeness individually, when we pray together, I believe we bring a form of completeness to the petitions.
Chambers continues, “Always distinguish between God’s order and His permissive will, i.e., His providential purpose towards us. God’s order is unchangeable; His permissive will is that with which we must wrestle before him. It is our reaction to the passive will of God that enables us to get at His order. ‘All things work together for good to them that love God’ – to those who remain true to God’s order, to His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the means whereby His sons and daughters are to be manifested. We are not to be like jelly-fish saying – ‘It’s the Lord’s will.’ We have not to put up a fight before God, not to wrestle with God, but to wrestle before God with things. Beware of squatting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of His strength.”
