Wednesday July 20, 2022

Today is Wednesday, July 20 and we are exploring Ephesians chapter four.

As a new day dawns, I prioritize the most important activity of the entire day – time with my Heavenly Father. I seek to abide in his loving presence and receive his wise counsel.

Pause and Pray

Blessed Lord, I am here to spend time with you. I set aside my cares and concerns, quiet my endless stream of thoughts, breathe deeply and focus on your divine presence and steadfast love. Amen.

In the morning I draw near to the Lord and seek his guidance and counsel with the words of Psalm 25.

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

Pause and Pray

Right thinking is the key to right behavior. Believers are to be continually transformed with a renewed mind and an honorable attitude. Yesterday, Paul encouraged us to put off our old self and put on our new self. Today, he gets more specific. We are to put off dishonesty and anger and put on truth and love. Truth is the foundation for our new life in Jesus Christ. Truth is first of all a quality that belongs to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God is truth and God wants truth to develop in us. We must seek it, speak it, walk in it, live by it and worship in it – and then the truth will set us free (John 8:32). Anger is the root to all kinds of evil and should not be allowed to linger in our spirits or fester in our hearts.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:25-27

Christians are called to live lives of honesty and integrity, being careful to communicate truthfully and accurately. I must be attentive to the thoughts I think and the words I say – whether I am speaking in conversation, texting a message, sending an email or posting on social media. I ask, am I being completely truthful with myself and others? Am I honest? I must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to my neighbor. Everyone gets angry sometimes, but Paul warns me “in my anger do not sin”. As the day comes to an end and the sun sets on my anger, it festers into an ugly bitterness and opens the door for evil to enter providing outlets for my anger that could potentially cause harm.

Ask: As I look back over the last twenty-four hours, have I been completely honest in every interaction – thought, word and deed? When have I let the “sun go down” on my anger and what was the result?

Pause and Pray

Blessed Lord, teach me how to walk through this life as your disciple. Reveal the places of my dishonesty and convict me to be utterly truthful in every circumstance. Expose the anger in my heart and any remnants of bitterness in my soul. I ask you to remove anger like a surgeon removes a deadly tumor and set me free to love and forgive others from the heart. I read the words from Ephesians again and listen for the message you have for me.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:25-27

Ask: What image, word or phrase stands out to me when I slowly read this passage? What is God trying to say to me through these words of scripture?

Pause and Pray

I consider what God is saying to me today through these words of sacred scripture. I list the instances and places of dishonesty and untruthfulness in my life – big and small. How might God want me to correct places of falsehood and deceit and replace them with honesty and truth? How might I be lying to myself and covering up the truth? Who am I angry with? Have I brought that person before God in my heart and earnestly prayed for them? How might God want to help me let go of anger and free my heart of bitterness? How might my duplicity and/or hot temper provide the devil a foothold in my life?

Pause and Pray

Come, Lord Jesus, I invite you to shine a searchlight in the darkest corners of my heart. Expose the dishonesty that litters the underbelly of my mind. Reveal the anger that festers and smolders, waiting to erupt, deteriorating the walls of my soul. Cleanse me clean and fill me with your truth, love, joy and peace. Amen.

These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this, declares the Lord. Zechariah 8:16-17

I leave this time of prayer walking in the light of truth, seeking to love and forgive others from the heart in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen