This devotional is designed around Jesus’ answer to a simple request from His disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1). In addition to the model prayer Jesus gave, Scripture consistently encourages us to pray with unshakable belief and to listen intently so we might hear the heart of God. He wants us to pray in ways that anchor our trust in His assurances, knowing that He is always true to His Word.
Only then will we pray in ways that abandon ourselves and our cares to God’s loving goodness and divine purpose. What is that purpose? It’s to reconcile all things to Himself in Christ so that His New Creation will be As Above, So Below.
“As Above, So Below is not simply poetic language. It is a lived theology.”
Pastor Bo Stern Brady
Read Psalm 103:1-14
He made known His ways to Moses… Ps. 103:7
God first introduces Himself as the one, true Creator of all that is, then later as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He reveals Himself further to Moses as Israel’s redeemer during the Exodus. But in his final words to the people of Israel, Moses offers a more intimate revelation of God as the Father of His people (Deut 32:6).
Jesus builds on this revelation, demonstrating the Father’s deep love for us. Within the security of this relationship, with a perfect Father, we draw near to God in prayer, even during our most trying difficulties (Psalm 34:17-18). And we can be certain that we’ll be graciously received by Him as His beloved children.
Prayer for today: Ask to know the Father this way, and to be known by Him as He truly is, revealed intimately in Jesus.
Read Ephesians 1:3-9, 2:4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing…” Eph. 1:3
What is Heaven if not the place where God reigns uncontested? And God’s reign is always characterized by a spreading goodness. It’s the nature of His realm to export its good, spiritual riches to those who belong to God in Christ.
In fact, God’s generosity is a crucial aspect of His reign, as Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us. The King of Heaven offers us incomparable spiritual riches in Christ. To put it simply, if Jesus is yours and you are His, you have the best of Heaven. The richness of God’s realm is Jesus, in and of Himself.
Prayer for today: Express your thankfulness for God’s many blessings in Christ, and the beauty of living within the goodness of heaven’s riches.
Read Isaiah 6:2-4, Exodus 34:5-6
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Is. 6:3
Hallowed is a fancy word for “holy.” We often associate holiness with a lack of sinful behaviors, which isn’t wrong, but that’s not even the half of it. Holiness is a uniquely attractive perfection of God’s character. His impressiveness and grandeur. The Scriptures speak of the beautiful splendor of His holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29), a quality that’s meant to inspire worship from God’s people.
Even better, the beauty of God’s holiness is revealed chiefly through His love. Nothing is more unique to God’s being than His love, as we’re reminded in 1 John 4:7-8. There is no more impressive bond of affection, nothing more singular, set apart, or “holy,” if you will, than God’s life-changing love for you.
Prayer for today: Ask God to capture your heart with the beauty of His holiness, and may we all be transformed by His holy love.
Read Isaiah 57:15
“For this is what the high and exalted One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in
a high and holy place,…’” Is. 57:15
In ancient times, a person’s name indicated their impressive significance, their character. It wasn’t a reflection of fashion. So, when Jesus prays that God’s name be holy, He is praising His Father’s exalted status.
Cosmologists say the observable universe is 93 billion light-years wide. That’s mind-boggling, but it pales in comparison to the distance between God and us created by His unique name, His greatness. Yet, there is one thing sure to collapse that gulf. As Isaiah reminds us, humility attracts God. He runs to the humble (Luke 15:17-20). Humility is also one of Jesus’ most impressive qualities (Phil. 2:5-8). Even better, it’s ours for the asking.
Prayer for today: Offer praise to our glorious God, the One whose name is “high and exalted,” but who bends toward humble hearts.
Read Mark 1:14-15
“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe…’” Mark 1:5
In Mark 1:38, Jesus makes it clear that preaching the arrival of the Kingdom was central to His mission. In addition to announcing its presence, Jesus was keen to see the Kingdom manifest among His people (Matthew 5:1-16).
The obvious question is: what then is the Kingdom? Dallas Willard holds that it is: “the range of God’s effective will; where what God wants done is done.” Okay, what does God want done? Clearly, one of God’s priorities is that we love Him and love our neighbors with heartfelt fervor (Matthew 22:36-40). Is it really that simple? If so, why not avoid complicating what God has made obvious?
Prayer for today: Contend for God’s Kingdom to be more fully realized in our lives and community, so that we would “…believe the good news” (Mark 1:15) and live in ways that reflect the Kingdom’s glory.
Read Daniel 7:13-14
“…before me was one like a son of man,…” Dan. 7:13
Daniel warns us about a cascade of painfully dominant earthly kingdoms (Dan. 7:1-10). Still, his vision finally rests on One “like a son of man” who will come “with the clouds of Heaven” to establish an eternal Kingdom for God’s holy people (Daniel 7:17-18).
One of Jesus’ favorite terms for Himself was the Son of Man. Whenever he said those words, it was like Him holding up a red, blinking neon sign, saying, “I’ve come! I’m finally here, bringing my eternal Kingdom with me.” You see, there is no Kingdom without the coming of the King. When Jesus prays that the Kingdom would come, that it is, in fact, here, He’s invoking the everlasting dominion of the Son of Man.
He’s announcing His reign.
Prayer for today: Invite Jesus to capture your heart with the thrilling arrival of His Kingdom reign.
Read John 4:25-34
“‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me…’” John 4:34
Depending on body mass and fat reserves, the average human can survive 30—60 days without food, perhaps a bit more. We have to eat if we’re going to live. Jesus’ disciples knew this, so they urged their exhausted rabbi to take some nourishment after His conversation with the Woman at the Well. However, Jesus’ reply throws them. The food He eats is God’s will. In fact, the aroma of His Father’s will stirs a deep hunger in the Son. Obedience satisfies the Lord like a fine meal washed down with a cool drink. Doing God’s will wasn’t a burden. For Jesus, it was freshly baked bread.
The Scriptures speak of God’s good and perfect will (Rom 12:1-2), but we often struggle to understand exactly what that is for us. What if we shifted focus and simply asked God to make us hungry for it?
Prayer for today: Ask the Lord to cultivate a strong, consistent appetite in you for His will.
Read Psalm 40:6-10
“I delight to do Your will,…”
The Scriptures consistently use the language of beauty, joy, and delight when referring to God’s Word. And His Word reveals His expressed will. Consider the verses above and more from Psalm 119: “…I delight in your commands because I love them.” Or, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” The writer repeatedly affirms the desirability of doing God’s will as revealed in His Word. However, the writer also acknowledges that doing God’s will may involve suffering and difficulty.
So, which is it? A delight or insufferable duty? As with many things in life, it is both. The duty is obvious. But we experience the delight when, having done His will, God says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Prayer for today: Ask God to reveal how doing His will is delightful, and express His pleasure in you. (Zeph 3:17).
Read Colossians 1:15-20
“…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven…”
Our sermon series title is As Above, So Below. It’s a poetic rendering of a key feature we find in Jesus’ prayer: the union of Heaven and earth. It reminds us that our earthly home was always intended to be a reflection of Heaven, delightfully in sync with God’s reign. However, a cursory glance at any news stream shows us this simply isn’t so. Fortunately, Ephesians 1:10 reminds us that God’s ambition is “…to bring unity to all things in Heaven and on earth under Christ… when the times reach their fulfillment…”
That is our certain future, where we see aspirational prayer become experiential reality. There is a future we contend for together where “on earth” really will be “as in Heaven.”
Prayer for today: Implore the Spirit to align us, and our world, with Jesus’ reconciling work.
Read Revelation 21:1-5
“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth…”
God has promised us that he will make all things new and good again. It will not be a simple remodel of Creation, but something wholly unique and magnificent, “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” God’s will, done on earth as in Heaven, could not be more plain. It’s about new creation.
An obscure prophet gives us a poetic taste of this newness: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). It will still be earth, but recast as a glorious new world in perfect alignment, and inseparable union, with Heaven. What might a sure hope like that do to encourage us if we grabbed hold of it with both hands?
Prayer for today: Give thanks for a persistent hope rooted in God’s assured future, and may it bring you joy, even in the face of discouragement.
Read Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry…”
Day 10’s future hope is, well, future. Hebrews 11:13-16 makes it clear that those who live inside this hope may pass from our world without ever seeing it arrive. In the meantime, we all still have daily needs: food, shelter, safety, and love. So, a simple, unholy math is often at work: need + fear = worry, which is why the words of Jesus are so necessary for us.
He says that we need not worry about any of our daily requirements, and reassures us that: “…your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” As good food banishes hunger, the reliable promises of Jesus, received in faith, calm our fears and still our worries. So much so that we may live uncommonly generous lives, remarkably satisfied in all circumstances.
Prayer for today: Ask the Father to provide your daily needs. No more. No less. So that you may live generously and free from worry.
Read Ezekiel 16:3-15
“…and your beauty became his.”
Those who heard Jesus utter the words “our daily bread” would have immediately thought of the Exodus, God’s rescue of His people from Egypt, complete with a daily ration of bread in the Wilderness. They would also remember the grumbling because Israel was not happy as they grew tired of their daily manna. They wanted more, different…better! God’s love for them, expressed through His daily provision, had become unappetizing.
God still cared for His rebellious people, but their rejection broke His heart, as we read in the Ezekiel passage above. God, the jilted husband, mourns Israel’s desire for other gods and what they presumably offered. His people had no appetite for His “bread.” It had grown stale. Ezekiel’s tale reminds us that seeking God with heartfelt, daily dependence is about our desire for His love more than our need of His benefits.
Prayer for today: Ask God to fill your heart with grateful love for His daily provision.
Read: Psalm 32:1-7
“You…surround me with songs of deliverance.”
David writes about the blessings of forgiveness as if God is singing deliverance over us. Imagine asking for forgiveness, expecting merely to be excused from sin’s punishment and getting instead a full-throated anthem, a song written just for you. Imagine forgiveness feeling like Heaven had burst, emptying its reservoir of goodwill upon you. David understands that this kind of boundless mercy is God’s heartbeat, and Psalm 32 is a sweet commentary on Jesus’ simple prayer.
The freedom and joy of forgiveness always invite our sincere repentance. David goes on to say that the forgiven are “blessed,” which means they walk in a way that brings deep, God-sourced well-being. So, why not make a daily habit of seeking this blessing?
Prayer for today: Ask Jesus to lead you each day by His Spirit into God’s inexhaustible forgiveness.
Read Leviticus 25:8-13
“…everyone is to return to their own property.”
Have you ever experienced how the weight of debt can rob you of peace, whether student loans, credit cards, or the more invasive moral and spiritual debts of ruined relationships? When God instituted the Year of Jubilee for Israel, He may have had this in mind. It arrived every 50 years on the heels of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Jubilee was a giant economic reset, one that prevented exploitation. However, the more significant provision was that everyone got to return to their own property. In other words, their own inheritance within God’s Promised Land, restoring legacy and purpose.
When the debt we carry in our souls is forgiven, we return to our inheritance. For us, this isn’t a plot of ground, but the restoration of Jesus’ shalom.
Prayer for today: Ask God to take the burden of your debts from you, restoring His peace. Nothing broken. Nothing missing.
Read Luke 7:36-50
“…whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
It’s fascinating how Jesus frames this prayer, “…as we also have forgiven.” Our experience of God’s gracious forgiveness — not its offer, but the extent to which we experience its beauty and restoration — depends on our having shared that same life-giving miracle with others who offend us.
Let that sink in. Forgiveness is not a commodity. It’s a relational reality. It happens within the love shared by the forgiver and the one in need of forgiveness. It marks the measure of that love. At present, we will oscillate between those two roles, alternately forgiving and being forgiven as we share the gift of pardon among ourselves. Could it be that this practice is supposed to make us really, really good at loving one another? Or perhaps, it’s a barometer of our love.
Prayer for today: Ask God to mold B4 into the kind of community that shares love-born forgiveness with joy and regularity.
Read: Colossians 3:12-15
“Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
About 100 million Americans owe some type of medical debt. 14,000,000 owe $1,000 or more. Three million owe more than $10,000. Studies point to medical debt as a leading cause of bankruptcy. Debt can crush the one who owes. Forgiveness is freedom.
However, who makes the creditors whole when there’s that much at stake? Now, imagine we’re not talking about medical debt. What if we’re talking about the emotional, relational, and spiritual kind? The question still applies. There’s a real, human cost to forgiving the kind of debt where someone takes a chunk out of your heart. How can you be generous when all you have in hand is loss? Please know that God can make you whole. He can even make you generous. And then, maybe you can find it in your heart to cancel another’s debt.
Prayer for today: Ask God for His inexhaustible love and grace to make you whole so that you might offer the riches of forgiveness to other debtors.
Read Hebrews 12:1-3
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus…”
Jesus promises to lead us into all good things (Ps 23, Rev 7:17). But how? Certainly, this involves the Spirit’s work, but as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, we have a role. We keep our eyes on Jesus.
This figure of speech points to a crucial spiritual reality: the importance of attentiveness. Jesus, “the perfecter of our faith,” leads us into a new humanity patterned on His own life (John 13:15). The Lord does so within the bonds of our affection for Him. Why? Because we pay attention to the things we love. If you doubt the power of that, ask a Portland Timbers fan about their team. And so, the common things of the Christian life, reading our Bibles and prayer, yield uncommon power when we lovingly attend to them with our gaze fixed on Jesus.
Prayer for today: Ask the Lord to help you follow Him into the goodness He has for you, and for an attentive gaze fixed on Him.
Read: Psalm 139:1-4, 23-24
“Search me, God, and know my heart…”
Love always has a trajectory as it seeks the object of its affections, whether an early innocent crush, a decades-long marriage, or close friendships; love will find its mark. But what if the arrow’s flight curves? What if the heart can deceive itself? This is where we see wisdom in the humility of David’s request. He didn’t wish to examine himself for fear the curved arrow would appear true to his eye.
If we consider temptation, and even sin, as expressions of wrongly-curved love, then the solution is the always-true love of God, poured into our hearts by the Spirit (Rom 5:5). It alone prevents the fate of C.S. Lewis’ ill-fated, “…ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” May we never be so easily tempted.
Prayer for today: Express trust in Jesus, who can capture your heart and lead you in His love to your life’s truest mark.
Read Psalm 91:1-16
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him…”
Psalm 91 is full of images like fortresses with stout ramparts. It even contains references to the Messiah. However, there’s one defining feature that’s easy to overlook. That is love. God protects those who lovingly long to dwell with Him, who run to Him like a young bird seeking shelter under its mother’s protective wings.
When we’re seeking deliverance, we’re often told to cultivate powerful qualities like discernment or strength. Those are good and worthy of pursuit, but seldom do we contemplate the central role of love in our rescue. We should. Because God is a relational deliverer. Consider what He gave to deliver us from sin and death: His Son, Jesus, who He dearly loves, and along with Him, everything else we could ever need or want (Rom 8:32), including deliverance.
Prayer for today: Praise God for the loving faithfulness of His protective, delivering love.
Read Ephesians 6:10-18
“…our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”
It’s easy to dehumanize our enemies, so they become the evil we’re told to stand against. But Paul’s letter to the Ephesians teaches that this treatment of others must surely be part of “the schemes of the devil.” This uncomfortable truth is tucked into a defining Bible passage about how God delivers us from evil. He provides all we need spiritually to stand strong in His mighty power and resist the Evil One. That’s true, but it can all start to sound like Seal Team Six.
However, when we’re dealing with other people, especially the enemies we’re commanded to love, the best approach is often soft power: grace, tact, patience, and empathy. Not to mention silence and forbearance, as taxing as they can be. These are the under-rated spiritual weapons that convert rather than conquer.
Prayer for today: Thank God that He is always our strong tower (Ps 61:3), and that we don’t need to fear the Evil One as we stand against his works.
Read 1 Chronicles 29:10-13
“Yours, Lord, is the kingdom…”
At the end of this prayer, the gospel writer might have David’s worshipful verses from 1 Chronicles in mind. If so, then King David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), was exalting Israel’s Messiah as its true God and eternal King. And if that is true, then Jesus, who is teaching us to pray this way, is also the God who can bring our prayers to pass! All we can say to that is, “Amen!” Or, rather, “Let it be so!” That’s what “amen” means.
Even better, Jesus weaves our prayers into the tapestry of His New Creation, where He will surely make all things good because “…all the promises of God in Him are ‘Yes,’ and in Him ‘Amen…’” (2 Cor 1:20). He brings these promises their proper completion so that it will always be As Above, So Below.
Prayer for today: Ask Jesus to encourage your faith, and to teach you the wonder and power of “yes and amen” prayer.
On Sunday, January 25th, we invite you to break our community’s season of fasting with pancakes between the 9:00 and 11:00 services. Even if you didn’t fast food, or something else for all 21 days, come and celebrate with us. If you’re a 9:00 person, stick around. If you attend at 11:00, come early!