Microchurch Minute
When you pray, are you approaching in reverence before the Creator of the universe, falling in full surrender at His feet in persistent desperation? Or is your prayer life an underutilized tool tucked away in your bag of faith?
When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, His instructions looked nothing like the lavish, performative prayers the religious leaders of the day put on display. Prayer is a gift from God, an invitation into direct relationship with our Heavenly Father. Through prayer, we draw near to Him. We ask Him for forgiveness, because we need His mercy anew each day. And as an extension of that mercy, we ask Him to make us capable of forgiving those around us.
God is a good Father. He encourages us to come to Him. He delights in giving good gifts to His children. But we are also called to align the desires of our hearts with His will. This is where many people can get tangled in prosperity gospel thinking. I can beg God for a mansion every day of my life, but if that desire is not aligned with His purpose for me, it likely will not come to pass.
Our prayers are to include a request for our daily bread, provision for today, while trusting that He will also provide for tomorrow. I recently heard someone say, “God has not forgotten the recipe for manna.” What a thought.
When the Israelites wandered through the wilderness after leaving Egypt, God did not abandon them to starve. Instead, He fed them with the bread of Heaven. I can’t wait to taste that one day. There was never too little, nor too much that it spoiled. In His perfect wisdom and provision, each family received exactly what they needed for that day.
In the parable of the neighbor at midnight, the man was not asking for abundance, but simply enough bread to properly host his guest. He knocked, pleaded, and persisted until the neighbor finally rose to help him. And if a sinful, broken man will eventually respond to persistent pleading, how much more willingly will our Heavenly Father provide what we truly need?
I dare say God delights in our persistence because it exposes our dependence on Him. It reminds us that we need more than what we can provide for ourselves.
God designed us for relationship with Him, and prayer is the most intimate relationship many of us will know on this side of heaven. Invite Him into the deepest parts of your soul, where He holds you as His precious child. Through the Holy Spirit alive within you, recognize His will and participate in bringing His Kingdom here on earth.
As we ask for His will to be revealed, we can move forward confidently, trusting in His protection from the enemy and knowing that He sees every yearning of our hearts.
Microchurch Minute
Do you ever feel like you’re running out of forgiveness? That thorn in your side of a human being, if they mess up one more time then that’s it – they aren’t worth forgiving anymore! I don’t know about you, but I’m incredibly thankful that I serve a God who offers forgiveness for the sinful nature I could never fix on my own.
In this parable, we see the master summon a servant who owes him *a kagillion* dollars, an insane amount of money that no one could ever realistically repay.
Acknowledging that the servant would remain indebted forever, the master declares that he will sell the servant, his family, and all his belongings as punishment. In anguish, the servant falls before him, begging for mercy and promising to repay everything. But, the master does one better, he completely the debt.
Can you image the relief the servant must have felt? He surely knew that he didn’t deserve to have his debt erased. Yet, it was erased and he was able to walk away a free man, with a free family. He must have felt like he was floating on clouds beneath the peace that forgiveness brings.
Which makes the hypocrisy that follows almost unbelievable. That same servant goes and finds a man who was in debt to him, for a relatively small (by comparison) amount, and immediately begin attacking him over the debt that is owed. This debtor also begs for patience and mercy. But, instead of responding in grace, the first servant replies by having his lesser debtor thrown into prison.
What arrogance! To be fully forgiven of a debt you cannot possibly repay, yet still hold another person hostage over what they owe you. What gives us rights as mere humans to think this way? That is the mindset of fallen mankind. We were not placed here to sit as judges over others. We are called to be living reflections of Christ, examples of His mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
Sure enough, the master was alerted to these actions. In anger, he called back the hypocritical servant and condemned the heartless actions. The man was handed over to be tortured, a sobering picture of the eternal suffering awaiting those apart from saving grace.
Put simply, we are commanded to forgive. This realistically for a moment – the last time someone sinned against you and chose to come forward admitting their wrongs and asking for forgiveness. Did you weigh whether they deserved forgiveness? Did you feel justified in withholding grace because of the hurt they caused?
Your judgement and thinking is not above God’s. Your determination of guilt is not above His. Your pride is what whispers, “I know God may forgive you, but I don’t have to.” But who are we to withhold mercy when we ourselves survive by mercy alone?
You do not know better than God, and you will never be a more righteous judge than He is. Challenge that pride the moment it rises up within you.
God allow me to set aside my pride and accept that You are the one true Judge over others. Who am I to not extend even an ounce of the merciful grace that You have offered to a sinner like me? Lord, today I pray that you soften my heart to grant forgiveness when it is asked. Help me to establish healthy boundaries to guard against future offenses, while simultaneously forgiving as You have commanded. Show me what radical forgiveness looks like.
Microchurch Minute
Jesus shares the story of two men who went to the temple to pray, yet their prayers could not have been more different. The Pharisee stands proudly, thanking God for all that he is not, all that he is better than and all that he has accomplished and done of his own free will. is prayer is very “I” focused and fixates on the lie of comparison to others that he feels better than. “Thank You, God, that I am not like other men… especially that tax collector.”
Meanwhile, the tax collector stands at a distance with his head low, not even feeling worthy enough to lift his eyes toward Heaven. Beating his chest, he cries out for mercy, acknowledging that he is a sinner in need of forgiveness.
Our Heavenly Father delights in humility. He already knows our sinful nature, yet He willingly extends forgiveness to the repentant heart. The Pharisee likely appeared righteous compared to the people around him. By worldly standards, he probably looked like a stand-up guy. But compared to the perfection of Jesus Christ? He, too, fell painfully short.
How often do we catch ourselves doing the same? We boast about our spiritual “resumes” with great pride.
”I go to church on Sundays.”
”I volunteer in this outreach program.”
”I read my bible four days this week.”
”I give to the poor.”
Is there anything wrong with these? Absolutely not! But are you doing them out of a love for God or to elevate ourselves in the eyes of others? When you are praying, is your intimate time with the Lord focused on Him, or does your conversation contain a whole lot of “I, me, myself”?
It takes deep intimacy with the Lord to recognize this posture in ourselves and begin surrendering our prayers to God’s will, God’s strength, and God’s voice instead of our own. We are meant to come before the Father with our flaws exposed, not hidden behind spiritual performance. God I know that I am unworthy, I recognize that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness.
What would you not put on your spiritual resume? Is it your temper? Maybe you have a spirit of unforgiveness. Some of us chase after control and the idea of surrendering that control to God’s plan sounds terrifying. Possibly life is just handing you a lot right now and you are having a difficult time hiding your annoyance.
Whatever you are hiding today, bring it before the Lord. (Spoiler: He already knows.) God welcomes a repentant heart. There is no fear of shame or condemnation when we live transparently before our Maker.
The Pharisee left the temple full of pride, leaving little room for God’s grace. But the tax collector positioned himself to receive it. Who was ultimately filled that day?
Microchurch Minute
The prodigal son, chances are you’ve been one too, even if only for a season. The one who wanders off and aims to gain fulfillment in life through lavish and wasteful expenditures, rebelling against the Father. He practically wished his father dead when he went to demand his inheritance early. But here’s the thing, the father didn’t refuse it. Often times we fall into the same trap, requesting the gifts from God without wanting the relationship – yikes. The lure of earthly pleasure tempted the son away, but like sin always does, it drastically underdelivered on its promise of a life well lived.
The son sinks so low as to take a job feeding pigs, just begging for slop from the animal’s feeding trough. But, in a moment of clarity and humility, he remembers that his father’s hired workers are treated better than he is currently living. Ashamed and broken, he begins the journey home, fully aware of the kezazah he could face upon returning. You see, as tradition dictates, the whole community had the right to cut-off and disown such a shameful young man who had so irresponsibly lost his family’s money among the gentiles. Like a shattered clay pot, broken beyond repair, his relationship ties within the community were lost forever.
But before the son can even reach the village, the father sees him approaching. In an act of undignified compassion, he hikes up his robes and runs to embrace his son, covering him before condemnation can reach him. And it doesn’t stop there, the father clothes him in honor, restores him, and throws a celebration for his return.
Have you ever felt like the son returning home? Maybe after a season of choices the world says should define you forever. Condemned. Cast out. Too far gone. But the moment you lay down the facade of worldly fulfillment and recognize your need for the Father, He runs toward you. God eagerly welcomes His children home with abundant mercy, grace, and joy.
Or do you identify more with the older brother? He hears the celebration and discovers it’s for the very brother who disgraced the family. What?! He had stayed. Obeyed. Worked faithfully beside his father all along. Why should there be rejoicing over someone so undeserving? But the father pleads with him too: “Your brother was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Do you join in heaven’s celebration when a sinner returns home to the Father? Or do you find yourself lost in a self-righteous battle of comparisons over your spiritual accomplishments versus theirs? You’ve been a Christian longer. You didn’t sin quite like they did. Maybe somewhere along the way, you’ve decided they deserve judgment more than grace.
The younger brother broke the rules in pursuit of self-pleasure. The older brother kept the rules in an attempt to control the Father. Yet both sons were lost in different ways.
One was lost in rebellion. The other was lost in self-righteousness. And the beautiful truth of the gospel is that the Father pursued both. So whichever brother you identify with today, come home to the Father. He is still ready to meet repentance with mercy and celebration.
Microchurch Minute
“I worked harder than that guy, I’ll get more than him for sure!” Worldly logic at it’s finest. Not to say that hard work is bad, God delights in diligent work ethic, but here comes Jesus with the parable of the workers in the vineyard flipping logic on it’s head again!
A landowner goes out to hire workers first thing in the morning, they agreed to a days’ wage and get going. But the same owner goes out to recruit more workers just a few hours later, and again after that, another time in the afternoon, and finally just one hour before end of day – all the while agreeing to pay “what is fair”. Come the end of the day, he lines up all of the hired help and pays them each a full days wage. Imagine the feeling of frustration that arose over the workers who had been hard at work all day long! Hadn’t they put in more hours, more effort, more sweat than the latecomers?
Surely they deserved more, they had earned it, hadn’t they?
But here is the radical truth of grace in the gospel, God offers salvation by grace to all who believe, from the one who began as a toddler rolling around on the Sunday school rug to the thief hanging on the cross. It’s not the length of your faith that saves you, but the grace of the One who sets you free.
Verse 16 reminds us “so the last will be first and the first will be last”. But how arrogant my earthly mind transitions into a posture of comparison. Did you notice how later workers gladly went to work in agreement to receive whatever the landowner decided was right. See, the landowner represents God. He pursues all people relentlessly, refusing to leave even the least behind. Think of the remaining workers at the end of the day, they would likely go home with no pay and no way to feed their families that day, a disgrace. But God, He never stopped pursuing, inviting them in. As believers, we are blessed to know that we are in the vineyard working for the most just and fair landowner, our Lord and Savior!
Has your joy in serving the King been replaced by comparison with those who came after you? Gratitude quickly dies when comparison convinces us someone else worked less for the same reward. Time for a change in mindset. We are children of the king, heirs of His gracious generosity. Christianity is not an employee contract built on earned wages. Far from it! We should be rejoicing when the lost sheep returns home, make heaven crowded, enthusiastically share in the good and gracious giftings of your Maker. Stop relating to God in a transactional manner, He is not your genie to grant wishes or a vending machine to dish out what you’ve selected. On the contrary, He is a loving Father generously pouring out gifts onto all of His children. Rejoice in what God has given you, then celebrate what He gives others too. After all, at the end of the day it all belongs to God anyway, we are simply here to steward what He has allotted to us.
