Everything Happens for a Reason
I have a confession to make. Spiritual cliches are one of my pet peeves. While I could rattle off a number of cliches that drive me crazy, there is one that stands above the rest. It’s the phrase, “Everything happens for a reason.” That phrase is like nails down a chalkboard for me because it’s often used as a way to minimize pain. It makes God the author of all sorts of evil that is outside of his character. And because it simply isn’t true in the way the phrase is often used.
Where does the idea “Everything happens for a reason” come from? I think in part it comes from stories in the Scripture where God uses painful situations for his glory and good. I think of the phrase Joseph uttered at the end of Genesis. He said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Gen. 50:20) It’s true that God did use Joseph getting sold into slavery to preserve the nation of Israel, but the story is intended to be read as descriptive, not prescriptive. There are thousands of people sold into slavery every day and very few of them ever end up saving a whole nation. Therefore, what God did through Joseph would not directly apply to them.
The phrase is also loosely based on the biblical truth that Paul stated in his letter to the Romans. He wrote, “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) However, if we read what Paul is saying, he’s claiming that not everything that happens is originally good - if it were, God wouldn’t need to work it for good. To untangle Paul’s statement from our common cliche, it might be better said that “God makes reason out of all things.” Rather than attributing evil things that happen to God, it might be more biblical to look for God amid the evil to see the way he is working for good even in the hard and painful things.
There is truth to the statement that “Everything happens for a reason,” but not in the way we normally mean it. Everything does happen for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that God has given human and spiritual beings freedom. (Gen 3) Sometimes the reason is that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Pt. 5:8) Sometimes the reason is that we live in a sinful and broken world. (Rom. 8:19-21) Sometimes the reason is that we and others make bad decisions that don’t align with the way of Jesus. While everything might happen for a reason, God doesn’t always design or cause the reason. Many times he works despite the reason for his purposes.
For full disclosure, I should tell you that I am writing this devotion from a hospital room. We are on day three of waiting to see what’s going on with my daughter’s health.* When my daughter was in writhing pain Monday night, I didn’t say to her, “Everything happens for a reason.” I prayed for her and asked our Father, whom we call Yahweh Rapha, to heal her body. While God rarely causes sickness, I do believe God meets us in a special way when we’re suffering. So, we are on the lookout for ways Jesus might make meaning and good out of something that is not; and we are asking that his will be done in this hospital room as it is in heaven.
Today, pray God’s will be done in your life, and then look for ways that he invites you to follow him as he answers that prayer.
Pastor Ryan Paulson
*Note: While our daughter was in the hospital when today’s devotional was written, we want you to know that Avery is home and doing well now. Thank you so much for your concern and prayers. It is deeply felt and much appreciated.
Heaven on Earth
For my birthday in 1987, I received the first cassette of my very own—Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven on Earth. While there were a lot of good songs on that album, I listened to Heaven is a Place on Earth over and over again. (My poor parents!) I knew exactly how long to hit the rewind button to get it back to the beginning. And it’s back to the beginning that each one of our hearts longs to go as we have an innate desire to see things as they should be. Indeed “he has put eternity into man's heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Our eternity is meant to be spent in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Heaven is the place where all things are as they should be under the rule and reign of God. Scripture tells us that it is a place where there is no illness, no darkness and no striving. Instead, it is a place of beauty, wholeness and abundance. With the world around us scarred by the impact of the Fall and our lives touched by it each and every day, we can yearn so badly to get there and just endure to the end of our lives with this promise of hope at the finish line.
But we are still in the race. From the very beginning, God desired a partnership with mankind and this partnership remains in place as we are each called to be models and bearers of Kingdom here on earth by participating in things that are the Father’s will. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us of this, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). His Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, becomes visible through the embodiment of His will here on earth carried out by those whose hearts are led by and yielded to the Holy Spirit to “act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8). And when this happens…”Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth. They say Heaven, love comes first. We’ll make Heaven a place on Earth. Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth.”
Jessica Klootwyk
Group & Women’s Discipleship Director
Your. Kingdom. Come.
Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
What comes to mind when you hear the word Kingdom? The Kingdom of Great Britain with all its royalty? Or a fictional kingdom as in the Lord of the Rings novels or King Arthur and Camelot?
A kingdom is defined as a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or queen. When a king or queen rules, we call that a monarchy, a government in which a single person is sovereign.
Jesus’ hearers in Matthew 6 knew about kingdoms firsthand—historically the Kingdom of David divided into 2 kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel and Judah and both went on to be conquered by the Kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon. “Kingdom” meant power, rule, and authority.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus speaks of a kingdom, the power, rule and authority of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. He repeatedly illustrates what the Kingdom of God is like—comparing it to a mustard seed or an expensive pearl or a wedding banquet at different times. But as Americans, who fought a war against being controlled by another kingdom, we bristle at the thought of an outside power telling us what to do.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Your Kingdom Come”, we can deduce there are other Kingdom options.
I have great allegiance to and great affection for another kingdom—-the kingdom of ME.
When Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, Seek first the kingdom of God… he is well aware that another kingdom is vying for our loyalty. There’s another kingdom I can seek first. And every day I wake, I must choose between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of ME.
Truth be told, the kingdom of me is pretty awesome. I get to rule. It’s all about me! It likes what I like, it hates what I hate, it primarily functions to agree with my desires, my emotions, my feelings and habits. The kingdom of me is easy and comfortable because it always wants to do what I want to do.
There will always be the temptation to choose MY kingdom and ignore the Kingdom of God.
When I pray, “Your Kingdom come” to the God of the universe, the ruler of all creation,—I’m saying yes to your Kingdom Lord, and no to my kingdom. I’m saying, Father, you rule better than I rule, your agenda and purposes matter more than mine do.
Father….Your Kingdom come
God, what I truly want is to see your rule, your power and your authority manifest over the whole of creation, and in every way, over my life today.
Amen
Donielle Winter
Kingdom is…
From obscurity to fame with one big break. Landing a starring role in a successful film propels an actor to a career of financial success, influence, and fame. Stardom is bestowed by fans and followers.
Stardom, boredom, martyrdom, freedom, wisdom, and kingdom. Words ending with -dom- indicate a condition (state of being) or a domain one has jurisdiction over. Freedom is the state of being free. Boredom is being bored. Martyrdom is the suffering and death for one’s belief, the condition of being a martyr. Kingdom is the state or condition of being ruled over unless you happen to be the king, then the kingdom is your domain; all you rule and the condition of being king.
When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, the example he gives elevates God’s name and then pronounces his kingdom rule on earth. “hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,” Matt 6:9,10. God’s kingdom is important to Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all show Jesus beginning his public teaching ministry by referring to the kingdom.
Matt 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Luke 4:43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent.”
God is King. He reigns. Jesus says the kingdom came near when he arrived on the scene. He is the good news as king and ruler. But too many do not honor his name or recognize that they are under his authority. Like disgruntled or former fans, they let others elevate him, but they do not acknowledge his kingdom over them. Pray that his rule will be recognized and respected. May his kingdom come close to every heart!
Pastor John Riley
Subliminal Truth and the Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13
As far back as I can remember and probably before that, my dear father would come to each of us at bedtime, kneel by our beds, and pray the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm. He did this
three times every night because he prayed with me and my two siblings individually. After a while, we would say it out loud with him and this continued for many years, probably until we were going to bed after he did.
Every time we went on a family vacation after we were all seated in
the car, as we drove off, the whole family recited both of those prayers!
(and we still do to this day).
Did we understand what the prayers meant? No, not then. But what we were learning was that this was very important to our earthly father; it said a great deal about who he was as our dad.
He wanted us to receive deep foundational truth. There was a special sense of comfort, trust, and protection in praying those prayers. They were subliminally placing in our deepest
beings who our heavenly Father is, His purpose for our lives how He takes care of us, that He wants us to talk with Him, that sin needs to be dealt with, that He forgives us and so much more.
In the early church, it was the practice for believers to say the Lord’s Prayer morning and evening. Why did they do that? Because Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray . . .” Matthew 6:9.
As I grew in my faith and relationship with God, these truths expanded and deepened as I understood more clearly what was being prayed for. The Holy Spirit pulled out what was subliminal and affirmed it as core truth. Those core truths have led me through valleys as well as mountaintops! I am so grateful to God for giving me the father I had here on earth. Perhaps we should consider how to implement this practice in our own families today.
Ponder: What are you subliminally teaching those around you?
Someone once approached a teacher and asked her how to cultivate a
deeper prayer life. “Say the Lord’s Prayer,” she replied, “but take an hour to say it.” (NIV Spiritual Formation Bible p. 1287)
Francie Overstreet
A Discipline or a Delight?
For many people, especially early in their spiritual journey, prayer is sorta like eating your vegetables—it doesn't sound fun. It doesn’t taste great but you know it's good for you. It’s the thing that you do, if you’re a “good Christian”. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “spiritual disciplines” and prayer is typically at the top of the list. But when we think of prayer this way it becomes a duty. It falls immediately into the category of things we know we ought to do instead of things we truly want to do.
As the disciples lived with Jesus 24/7 and observed their Messiah praying, they must have seen something different. For Jesus, prayer was not a discipline or a duty. Prayer was a delight.
Prayer wasn’t steamed broccoli, it was more like an ice cream sundae.
Luke 5 tells us that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. In Luke chapter 6 Jesus spent the whole night praying to God! In Luke 9 Jesus prayed with his disciples on a mountain and he was literally transformed in prayer—the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Jesus prayed differently. Jesus prioritized prayer, he went out of his way to make sure he spent time with his Father in prayer. For the Son of God, prayer was a delight. It was time spent with the one who knew him best and loved him most. Prayer was the chance to connect with a perfect God and Father who had a perfect plan of redemption that would bring Jesus and the whole world perfect peace.
If you struggle to pray, you are not alone. We are living through one of the most challenging times in human history to pray. Our smartphones alone intrude massively on opportunities to pray. Our busy lives full of distractions, our attention divided between numerous demands, our advances in technology, while amazing, can all contribute to not praying. Why ask God when Google answers faster?
And yet, author John Mark Comer says, “Prayer is the portal to life with God”. In the gospel of John 10:10 Jesus says that he came that we may have life and have life to the full! Life with God is life to the full, it’s the kind of life that we all are designed to desire deep within our bones. Prayer is the doorway in. What we really want, what we really need is more of Him. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When I delight in spending time with God in prayer, my heart shifts and my desires align with what my perfect Father who loves me most, wants for me.
God, may prayer time with you be a delight.
Donielle Winter
It’s Communal!
“Our Father….” (Mt 6:9)
Praying is a great reminder that our relationship with God is not only personal, but that it’s also communal. As we examine the Lord's Prayer it’s impossible not to notice that it was given to the followers of Jesus in the plural voice. This can only mean that as we pray we do so in communion with millions of believers, over the centuries and around the world, who long for God’s kingdom to be established here on earth.
When we pray “Our Father” we join a concert of unselfish praying voices who passionately embrace the Father’s desire of reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ. Moreover, everytime we pray “Our Father” we take the opportunity to join in fellowship with our family in Christ to adore, encourage, intercede for one another, and to engage in spiritual warfare as a unit.
As you can see, the Lord’s prayer is not an individualistic prayer but a corporate prayer. Certainly, the Lord’s Prayer can be used and applied in our personal conversations with our Father, but we must keep in mind that it’s meant to teach us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. The Lord’s prayer reminds us that we belong to the Body of Christ, the Church.
For that reason when we pray we don’t do it only on our behalf, but on behalf of the family of God, saying: “Our Father in heaven, please give us our daily bread. Our Father in heaven, please forgive us our debts. Our Father in heaven, please lead us not into temptation. And, Our Father in heaven, please deliver us from the evil one.”
As children of our heavenly Father we’ll do good in memorizing, repeating, and using the Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer, but let’s not forget to live it out as the people of God, for we are in this together.
Pastor Esteban Tapia
Secret Places
Matthew 6:6– But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.
For a short time as a young teenager, my sisters and I lived with our grandparents out in the country with the closest neighbor a mile and a half away. I loved it! My favorite thing to do was climb the hills behind the house, cross the creek, and watch for deer, or take paper and pen with me to write my thoughts. I loved the woods, the earthy smells, the quiet sounds, but most of all the aloneness. I could talk to God or just appreciate his amazing creation and sometimes even get lost and have to find my way home. Like David in Psalm 131, I could say, “I’ve calmed and quieted myself” after time by myself in my secret place.
I love the picture in Mark 1:35 of Jesus getting up very early in the morning while it was still dark, leaving the house, and going off to a solitary place where he prayed. Does this mean Jesus never wants us to pray out loud or with others? No, he often prayed so others would hear, and praying with other believers encourages and comforts us.
God knows how noisy and chaotic our lives have gotten. We rarely sit still and when we do we are either being entertained by the television or are being bombarded with images, ideas, and notifications on the little screen of our cell phone that never leaves our side. Hence he tells us to go to a secret place and shut the door, where we can be still and focus on him alone without distractions. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Mark Batterson said in his book Whisper, “God often speaks loudest when we’re quietest.”
So, we have the responsibility to find a place where we won’t be interrupted, take our bible, maybe a journal and just be still. Talk to him but listen for that still small voice, that whisper–that thought or idea that could only come from him. Have you experienced it? It makes you want more, but it requires something of us. It might require getting up earlier to spend time alone with him in prayer and scripture or sacrificing something in your day for that time. That doesn’t mean we can’t talk to him while driving, cleaning the house, or at any other time, but there is a difference when we go to a secret place or shut the door and seek him with all of our hearts. I know my heart soars when my adult children call or grandkids, so I can only imagine how my Abba Father feels when I seek him and want to listen to his voice. Lord, help us make choices that bring us closer to you and delight your heart. Amen.
Deb Hill
A Bad Habit that Sounds Prayerful
People talk to pets, or small children, using a different voice than they use in their normal life. Not everyone does this with animals, but it is difficult to avoid talking to babies without switching to the “I’m talking to a baby right now voice.” This is especially true for folks who are not around babies much.
This seems to happen to some of us when talking to God too. It's not the “talking to a baby voice,” but there is a common style of prayer that is different from the way people normally speak. When talking to God, a person’s voice might not vocally change the way it does with a pet or baby, but the words change. More and more, people pray and add “God” or “Lord” or “Lord God” into sentences where commas or periods normally go. A person praying the Lord’s Prayer this way today might read like this:
Our Father in Heaven, God,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, Lord,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, Lord, our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, Lord,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not, Lord God, into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
There’s never been a class, seminar, or sermon that instructs people to pray this way, nor has there been one to teach people to talk differently to babies. People just pick it up and it seems like the right thing to do. Maybe it feels spiritual or feels natural, to change the way one speaks because the person one is speaking to is vastly different than at normal times. Before he introduced the Lord’s prayer, Jesus said this:
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matt 6:7-8
Adding extra words to prayers doesn’t make them better, and people don’t need to add God’s name or title every few phrases to honor, connect with, or speak to him. Consider how you pray. Do you use your regular voice or do you add a kind of false spirituality to your prayers that are only empty words heaped up?
Pastor John Riley
Teach Us to Pray
In Matthew’s Gospel, the “Lord’s Prayer,” is taught right in the middle of what has been called “The Sermon on the Mount.” In this context, Jesus is talking to a large crowd of people. However, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus taught a very similar prayer just to his disciples after this interaction in Luke 11:1…
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” - Luke 11:1
I have a bunch of thoughts about this! Where was the certain place that Jesus prayed? If we knew, wouldn’t everyone go there to pray? How long did they watch him pray? That must have been a little awkward. What did they see in the way that Jesus prayed that made them want to imitate him? I find it very comforting to know that they too were a bit confused by prayer… they didn’t know if they were doing it right and they just wanted Jesus to show them. I can relate to that feeling. But, notice what they want. They want Jesus to teach them “just as John taught his disciples.” That is interesting! Unfortunately, we don't have a record of how John taught his disciples to pray, but we do know that it was common for Rabbis to teach specific prayers to their disciples. These prayers were meant to be memorized and repeated word for word by the disciples. A disciple’s virtue was measured by how well he could recite the rabbi’s prayers from memory, with the same cadence, and tone as the Rabbi. This is because typically Rabbis taught their disciples what to pray… not how to pray.
Jesus was different. He did not teach a formula just to be memorized and repeated. He doesn’t suggest that there is anything magic in the words that he uses. Instead, he is teaching us how to pray.
We can be confident of this because Jesus doesn’t repeat the same words in the two times that he teaches us the prayer. The prayers in Luke 11 and Matthew 6 are different, and that is good news! They are very similar, but they are not exact. This means that Jesus used this prayer as a template, not as a formula.
I’m guessing that many of you have memorized the Lord’s Prayer… it is one of the most commonly known passages in the Bible. That is a good thing, but instead of just praying the prayer as it is, try praying it like a template. Instead of saying, “Our Father, hallowed by your name…” What would you say? Put it in your words. Maybe we too can learn how to pray… not just what to pray.
Josh Rose
Discipleship Pastor
