The Unity and Division of Truth: A Meditation on Luke 12

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? 

I tell you, Nay; but rather division

Jesus concludes His section of teaching recorded in the 12th chapter of Luke's Gospel with startling words, not least of which are those regarding fire, judgment, and division.  In our time and place these words may seem very unsettling, as I imagine they were to the people who heard Jesus speak them in ancient Palestine.  In our Christmas hymns we often rehearse the glorious words of the Angels at Jesus' birth, which include bidding of peace, joy, and celebration.  How can Jesus then say that He has come not to bring peace, but division, and to set even the members of families against each other?  How is it that the young child Jesus we celebrate as so tender and mild, can now speak of fire and judgment?

Jesus' Advent and Incarnation are indeed joyous events for us, but we must not forget why they occur-- they lead to the Cross, the grave, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Jesus' return on the Last Day.  What unites all these events, be it their rejoicing or their mourning, their reconciliation or their judgment, is Jesus Himself-- not because Jesus simply did or will do the things He said He would, but because He is the very bedrock and essence of Truth.  He says what He does, and accomplishes what he promises, because He cannot divide the Truth of who He is as God Almighty, eternally begotten Son of the Father, from the Truth which He speaks as the very Word of God made flesh.  As St. John records Jesus' teaching in his Gospel, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only path by which anyone may be reconciled to the Father and given the blessing of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is the Word of Truth which caused the universe to leap into existence, life to erupt on our world, and created man to hear His Word and live by it.  When mankind fell from that Word, they chose the insanity of death and division over community and life.  They rejected Jesus who is the Word of Law which thundered in the Garden, the Deluge, at Babel, Mt. Sinai, and Mt. Carmel, calling all mankind to repentance for their grievous evil, and bringing judgment down upon the world for refusing to do so.  Yet He is also the Word of Gospel which promised to forgive and have mercy on all who would repent and trust in Him, from the beginning of our time in this world until its end-- a Gospel which in the Old Testament age looked forward to His Vicarious Atonement made upon His Holy Cross, and which those in the New Testament Church age look back upon until His final return.  Down through all the ages of our world, Jesus has always been and shall always be the Eternal Word of Truth which gives existence to all things:  life and fellowship to those who live by Him, and judgment with division to those who reject Him.

This is the division and judgment Jesus speaks of in these darker chapters of Holy Writ.  Because He is Truth, He cannot deny Himself.  He cannot delude Himself like we do, propping up illusions and false systems of thought that attempt to justify our evil which we pursue against our neighbors and our God.  No matter what trappings of human prestige we use to decorate them, Jesus cannot be made to bend to our violations of His Law or Gospel.  As Truth itself, Jesus is not subject to human legislators, governments, or academies; He is not beholden to our self identifications against the Natural Law He wrote into our very existence, and no lie of man can overturn His eternal Truth anymore than a thing created can overturn the principles of its own creation.  Because of this, no lie or delusion of sinful man can endure in His presence, and the judgment which falls upon those who rebel against Him is written in the physics, biology, and chemistry which He used to bring them into being.  Jesus' presence in Palestine nearly 2000 years ago was the imminent presence of eternal Truth among sinful people, and His presence brought with it judgment of their evil, together with the natural division which must occur between those who would receive His Word and those who would reject Him.  Ultimately, this rejection and separation which evil demands against the Truth of God is given its place in the eternal confines of Hell-- a prison to confine all those who would continue forever in their delusions and rebellion against Truth, where they might never again persecute or torment those who live abide in the Truth.

In spite of that division which evil impudently demands in the presence of Truth lest they be resolved and reconciled with their Creator, there is also an unbreakable unity and joy among those who are reconciled to Truth.  Standing humbly in Faith and Repentance before Jesus' Law and Gospel, they receive His grace by faith through the work of His Holy Spirit in His Word and Sacraments.  Theirs is a unity born not of their own doings or working, but of Jesus' Word and Work.  Their confidence is not found in themselves, but in the unassailable Truth that Jesus has paid their price which justice demands by the Law through the shedding of His own most holy blood, and spoken His irrevocable Word of forgiveness, life, and salvation to them by His holy Gospel.  He has washed them by His Word in Holy Baptism, fed them by His Word in His Holy Supper, and restored them every time they fall and return in repentance by His Word in Holy Absolution.  His Word blesses their marriages and families, confirms their confession of the faith, calls and sanctifies some to the Office of the holy ministry, hears their prayers and anoints them in their sickness.  His Word and Spirit creates the community of faith which lives by grace through faith in Him, establishing the one holy Church which will endure forever, in this world and the next.  His Word raises up dead sinners to new lives as saints, marked by their new gifts of living faith, hope, and love.

This unity is something every person born from above by Jesus' Word and Spirit is given freely by grace, and cannot create on their own.  We do not build it through human organizations, bureaucracies, or denominational structures; it is not built by governments more or less pious, nor can it be shattered by them.  This is a unity which is found in Jesus Himself-- created by Him, sustained by Him, and secured by Him forever through His Eternal Word.  Because Jesus cannot be separated from His Word, we know also that His people cannot be separated from Him or from each other so long as they abide in Him.  They find their unity together through Jesus and His Word, experiencing their unity across time and space at every Baptism and every Supper, until we each press into that eternity where our fellowship together and with our Lord is perfected.

Where does Jesus and His Truth find you today?  Has His Law shined upon you to reveal your rebellions, your selfishness, your pride?  Let His Word do its work upon you, to bring you to a true knowledge of yourself as fallen, broken, and in desperate need of His redemption.  Has His Gospel poured over you with the promise of His forgiveness and life?  Let His Word and Spirit create faith in your heart to trust the truth of Him who is Truth, that you might rise up to live a new life in His eternal fellowship.  Whoever you are and wherever His Word finds you today, let it bring you out of the division and judgment of your own personal evil, and into the blessed company of all His Prophets and Apostles, Saints and Martyrs, and all His holy Angels, where His Truth binds His people and all His restored creation together in perfect love forever.  Hear Him.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.

The Faithful Steward: A Meditation on Luke 12

Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou

this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said,

Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his

lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them

their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is

that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make

him ruler over all that he hath.

But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

And shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens,

and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that

servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him,

and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder,

and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself,

neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,

shall be beaten with few stripes.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:

and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

In this middle section of Luke 12, Jesus is teaching His disciples about the futility of worry about earthly things, and instead the enduring significance of heavenly things.  While the Gentiles (those who do not know God as their providential and saving Father) often spend their time in pursuit of wealth, power, food, shelter, and the prolongation of their lives, Jesus reminds His disciples that these are not things they need to worry about.  Since God is our good and gracious Father, and knows we need all the things attendant to life in this world, we should not worry about them—but rather trust that God will give to us what we need, when we need it.  On the flip side, our anxiety about such things is poorly spent and accomplishes little to nothing.  Jesus makes plain that if by our worrying we cannot add to the height of our stature or change the color of our hair (dying grey hair brown is not changing it—just painting it), why would we bother worrying about the weightier things of life, when we already know by faith in the Word of God, that God desires to give us all the good things He knows we need?

Moving past the mundane things of daily life, Jesus presses His disciples to consider deeper, more transcendent things.  Rather than the vanities which tend to overwhelm our senses, He tells them to seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and to be watchful for His return at any moment.  Jesus teaches His disciples that their lives should not be marked with anxiety for the passing things of mortal life, but rather marked by the pursuit of heavenly things which endure for eternal life.  And lest His hearers take His admonishment as purely an intellectual or abstract exercise, He puts the fine point on His imminent return, and the honest concern His disciples should have about how Jesus will find them when He comes.

At first reading, this could easily take a person from the minor of worry of chasing earthly things, to the absolute panic of chasing heavenly things.  Who among us is actually ready for Jesus to return at this very moment?  What if He comes in the middle of that foul TV show you’re so enamored of, or while you’re indulging in that filthy internet content?  What if He came and found you in the midst of pursuing debauchery at your favorite night club, or in the arms of your next fornication?  What if he came and found you drunk and carousing, rioting in the streets, destroying private property, gossiping about your neighbor, or being lazy in your work?  The terror or worrying about Jesus finding you in the midst of any of your sins would be enough to incapacitate almost anyone of honest reflection.

For the clergy, it should be doubly terrifying.  Not only does Jesus warn His disciples about orienting their lives toward His Kingdom rather than fallen sinful passions, He specifically warned those who serve His people in His stead, that their fate could be horrible should He find them unfaithful.  Jesus is clear that His disciples are commissioned to give His people their food in due season—which He would reveal is His Word and Sacraments, the divine Means of Grace which He established so that His Holy Spirit would work faith, repentance, forgiveness, life, and salvation to all who hear and believe.  Blessed, He said, are those pastors who He finds so doing when He comes.  However, he breaks up His unfaithful clergy into three distinct categories:  the ignorant, the negligent, and the abusive.  In Jesus’ words, the ignorant clergy who unwittingly do things worthy of stripes, or punishment, will receive severe yet lesser scourging; those who know better and are still delinquent in providing His people the gifts of His Word and Sacraments will be beaten with many stripes, since to whom much is given, much shall be required; and those who use their clerical office to tyrannically abuse and afflict Jesus’ people rather than care for them, Jesus will cut asunder and cast into hell with all the unbelievers who repudiated Him and His Gospel.  If you are clergy in the Church of the Living God, this should pierce you to your core—if Jesus were to return today, would He find you acting out your ignorance, negligence, or abuse in the Holy Office He ordained you into for the care of His people?

The truth of Jesus’ words of Law here are unavoidable, but they are probably deeper than you already imagine.  Whether you are of the laity or the clergy, do you really think Jesus is unaware of your misdeeds between the time He ascended into heaven, and the time He returns?  Do you really think that in His omnipotence and omnipresence, He is not always present with you, closer to you than your own soul, and witness in full to every dark thought, word, and deed—things done, and things left undone—that have ever occurred in the entirety of your life, or shall yet come to and through you until your life in this world is over?  Do you really think that Jesus, who is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, is not just as imminent to you at this very moment as He will be at the hour of your death, or in the Last Day of His final Judgment?  If you are honest with yourself, you will embrace the truth:  you and your sin, all your failures to live up to God’s Righteousness and the Kingdom of His Eternal Son, are known in every detail by the God who is always all knowing, all powerful, and ever present.  There is no escaping the just requirements of God’s holy Law, because there is no escaping our holy God.

So where does the Christian find peace, in the midst of this terrible knowledge?  In the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone.  Only in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection do we find the forgiveness of our grievous sins, and of being ourselves grievous sinners.  Only in Jesus do we find the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation given freely by His grace to all who will repent and believe His Word of Life.  Only in Jesus is the wrath of God satisfied against each and every penitent sinner, so that those who abide in Jesus’ grace by faith in Him and His Word, abide also in His life and His Kingdom forever.  Only in Jesus is the comfort, peace, security, and confidence to know God as our loving and merciful Father, who gives to us freely of His Holy Spirit that we might rise up in a new and eternal life.  Only in Jesus’ Gospel is the satisfaction of Jesus’ Law.

What does this mean to us?  For the unbeliever who stands under the just condemnation of God’s Law for all the evil of your heart and your hands—turn from your vain pursuits, believe His Gospel of redemption, and live forever by His Spirit working through His Word.  For the Christian who has forgotten that not only will Jesus come for you one day, but that He has never left you nor forsaken you, even though you have allowed your life to be consumed by sinful endeavors rather than the pursuit of His Kingdom—turn from your vain pursuits, believe His Gospel of redemption, and live by His Spirit working through His Word.  For clergy who have misused Christ’s Office of the Holy Ministry through ignorance, negligence, or abuse—turn from your vain pursuits, believe His Gospel of redemption, and live by His Spirit working through His Word.  For unbeliever and believer, for laity and clergy, and for sinners of every type and kind, the gracious message of Jesus to you is always the same:  Repent.  Believe. Live.

While the Law of God rightly points out our failings and our just judgment, the Christian finds hope and peace in knowing that Jesus did not come to destroy us, but to save us.  We who are sinners, hopeless to save ourselves, have a King who sacrifices Himself so that we might not perish, but live forever with Him in His Kingdom as His beloved and forgiven children.  We will never find peace in the Law, nor in the sins which the Law rightly condemns.  But we will always find peace, grace, mercy, love and compassion in the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for sinners just like us, who are called by His Eternal Word to live in a constant state of faith and repentance—a continuous turning from evil, and trusting in the forgiveness of God for Jesus’ sake.  Jesus lays out before you this day His Law and His Gospel, which reveal the paths of death and life.  Choose life, that you might live forever by grace through faith in Jesus.  Amen.

Set Your Mind on Things Above: A Meditation on Colossians 3

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,

where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,

then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

For this week, the focus of our readings (Ecclesiastes 1-2, Luke 12, and Colossians 3) invites us to ponder what is permanent versus what is transitory—what is temporal, versus what is eternal.  Fallen as we are in this broken world, our eyes have difficulty seeing things as they really are, and our minds have difficulty keeping our priorities straight.  From King Solomon writing 3000 years ago, to Christ and His Apostle Paul teaching 2000 years ago, and the myriad of Church Fathers, Saints, and Martyrs across our history confessing Christ’s Word in their own times and places, we hear repeatedly that there actually is a difference between what endures for the present and what endures for eternity.  As people with eternal destinies yet living in a fallen temporal world, it would behoove us to listen to what God has to say about these things, rather than relying solely on our own darkened intellect and suspect sensibilities.

The first delusion we need to unshackle ourselves from, is that we are temporary beings.  The sophistic lies of Materialists and Evolutionists have become so pervasive in our day, that far too many people believe they are only blips on the cosmic scene—here today, gone tomorrow.  They cannot see their lives as having extension beyond the physical world around them and their ability to interact with it, and so they conclude that when a person’s body dies, that’s the end of their story.  After all, from a Materialist point of view, dead bodies don’t climb out of graves, or reconstitute themselves from incinerators.  This temporal perspective breeds a kind of Utilitarianism or Hedonism, living one’s life in pursuit of efficiency or pleasure, relative only to what is seen and experienced in the physical world.  The unfortunate consequence to such thinking is that people turn themselves and others into means to their own gratification, be it their greed, lust, ambition, pleasure, or happiness.  People without an eternal perspective lose the sense not only of their own dignity, but of the dignity of others; for if today we live and tomorrow we die, why not eat, drink, and be merry?  If all that awaits each person upon their death is the darkness of oblivion, why not use our temporal power or influence to take everything we can for these few fleeting moments of life we’ve mysteriously and  inexplicably been given?

God, our Maker and Redeemer, tells us something different about ourselves.  While it is true that we have been created to experience time and dwell in a material universe, we also were created as spiritual beings which never really die.  Due to our collective Fall into sin, each person’s spirit will eventually be separated from their physical body in a kind of death, but every one of those people continues to exist.  God tells us that someday He will resurrect the whole creation—the whole physical universe—putting it back together in such a way that spirit and flesh will never be separated again, and that sin and death will never plague it for eternity.  When that occurs, all those people who have lived and died across all of human history will be resurrected with the whole of creation, and given their place in the world to come.  Those who have lived by grace through faith in Christ will rise again to dwell in the blessedness of Christ’s Eternal Kingdom, and those who have repudiated God will rise again to eternal condemnation in the fiery prison of hell.  In that Last Day, each person will find the fulfillment of God’s Word to them and their response to His Word, as the eternity of their existence shall be established forever.  Regardless of the delusions we buy into or the philosophies we pursue, the truth remains that we are created to be eternal beings, and we will retain an eternal relationship with the only infinite, eternal, and almighty God:  either living in His grace by faith in His Gospel, or condemned in our evil by the justice of His law, forever.

While God tells us little of the intermediate state of souls between their physical death in this world and their resurrected lives on the Last Day, we know that those whose lives are hidden with Christ by grace through faith remain with Christ until that Day comes, and those who reject Him remain apart from Him until that Day comes.  Whatever the fate of every soul, it is set at the moment of their temporal death, and the relationship they have chosen to maintain with God shall be ratified.  The ancients of the Church used to say, as the tree falls, so it remains—that a soul’s eternal destiny is set as they close their eyes to the physical, temporal realities of this world, and open them to the eternal realities of the spiritual world which was always all around them.

And so, dear Christian, how does this reality impact you?  As you look around you with the eyes of faith to see the world as God’s Word reveals it to you, can you discern between the things which will endure forever, and those things which will eventually all be consumed by fire?  Can you see the vanity which Solomon warned about in the pursuits of wealth, power, and pleasure?  Can you discern the wickedness of using and abusing your neighbor—another eternal soul with an eternal destiny—for your own passing appetites, or gluttonously consuming that which your neighbor needs?  On the contrary, can you see the eternal spiritual realities of virtue, compassion, faith, hope, love, and sacrifice?  Can you see in yourself a penitent pilgrim trying to work out your own salvation in fear and trembling before the Cross of Christ, and through that same Cross see your neighbor’s eternal need for the same forgiveness and reconciliation with God you so desperately need?  Can you see the dignity of eternity written in the life of every person, as each one is an eternal soul for whom Christ has suffered and died?  Can you see yourself and your neighbor in the resurrection of the Last Day, where all the ugliness of self serving evil and the trophies of material pursuits are forever put away, while the good fruits of righteousness, mercy, and truth endure forever?

Lift up your eyes once again, to see the world and yourself as God’s Eternal Word reveals it to you.  Turn from the darkness of dying and condemned pursuits, and set your mind on the everlasting things which are above, where Christ your Savior offers the free gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to you, and all who would repent and believe His Gospel.  Reject the lies of the devil and wicked men, which would take from you your endowed dignity, and the dignity of every human being created in the image of God.  Hear the Word of your Savior remind you once again who you really are, and what He has always called you to be—an eternal heir of His eternal salvation in His eternal Kingdom.  Hear Him.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.

Teach Us to Pray: A Meditation on Luke 11

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place,

when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,

Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

And he said unto them,

Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at

midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me,

and I have nothing to set before him? And he from

within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut,

and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend,

yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;

knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth;

and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:

how much more shall your heavenly Father

give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

There is something very mysterious about prayer. To the outside observer, it seems a one way communication between a person and something or someone else who isn’t really there.  To a skeptic it might seem almost delusional, like the outworking of an inner desire or even schizophrenia, which so badly wants someone to hear their pleas that they make up an imaginary friend—or god—to hear them in their angst.  The Materialist of our age might acknowledge some general medical catharsis which people feel when they pray in times of trouble, perhaps a chemical reaction of dopamine or endorphins which at least provide some physical comfort.  The Scientist might look upon prayer as a dubious pursuit, recognizing that the results of experimentation with prayer can’t be reliably duplicated in the laboratory.  To the unbelieving world, prayer may appear anything from pious poppycock to mental illness to rank fantasy.

Of course, the disciples who were walking with Jesus were not unbelievers.  They had been raised up in the traditions of the Old Testament Prophets, the Word of God given and preserved in the Scriptures, and they knew that their God was both present and attentive to His people’s prayers.  They knew that God both spoke and listened from the beginning of His creation, maintaining a fellowship with His people who abided in His Word by faith.  In addition to their catechesis in the faith of Abraham, Moses, David, and the Prophets, they now found themselves in the presence of the Word of God made flesh—the very God who spoke on Sinai was present with them in the person of Jesus Christ.  From this crucible of faith comes the disciples’ request of Jesus, that He teach them how they ought to pray.

Jesus obliged them, and gave to them the form of the Lord’s Prayer which has been on the lips of faithful Christians ever since.  It begins with an acknowledgment of who God is, His paternal relationship relationship to His people by grace through faith in Jesus, and the holiness of His Name; it then acknowledges God’s Kingdom and His will (known to His people by His Word) in both heaven and earth.  Only then does Jesus teach His disciples to ask their God for their daily bread which would satisfy their daily needs, the forgiveness of their own sins in the context of having already forgiven those who sinned against them, and the plea for not being led into temptation to evil, but rather to be delivered from the evil one.  Matthew’s Gospel adds a doxology to the end of this prayer which parallels the beginning:  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen. 

After He taught His disciples to pray appropriately, which is what they asked for, He then taught them why they should pray.  Jesus showed His disciples that God was their loving Father for the sake of the Son, and that He was always willing and ready to give the good gifts of His Holy Spirit to His children.  Jesus taught His disciples that God wanted them to pray, wanted them to ask Him for His good gifts, and wanted to give His good gifts to them, all for Jesus’ sake.  Unlike the pagans who thought they had to bargain with their gods to get things out of them, or manipulate their gods through incantations and witchcraft, or appease their gods who were either angry or malevolently inclined toward them, Jesus taught His disciples that the true God already loves and cares for them, and is always ready to give them exactly what they need.  The Father revealed by the Son is a good and gracious King, ever desiring the good and salvation of the people whom He created and loves, and ever ready to pour out the blessings of His Holy Spirit upon them that their lives may be full of His love, mercy, compassion, and joy.  He goes so far as to draw the example from fallen and sinful human fathers, who despite their own evil hearts still are inclined to do good for their children, and to ask rhetorically how much more the all powerful, all loving, all good, and ever present Father is inclined to give His children all the good gifts of His Kingdom.

But of course, only faith can rest in such promises, and only faith can really pray to God our Father, trusting in Him for Jesus’ sake.  Far too often, sinful people are quick to pray for wicked things, for selfish desires, and to bend God to their own will.  When God fails to give them the desires of their darkened hearts, they become angry with God or reject Him altogether.  In their sin and unbelief they think God has failed them by not obeying them, when in fact it is they who have walked away from their good and gracious God.  Jesus never taught His disciples to pray for wealth, or prosperity, or political power, or the satisfaction of their appetites—these kinds of prayers begin with the worship of one’s self, and are not prayers of faith in, through, and under God’s Word.  The kind of prayer Jesus taught His disciples is first and foremost a prayer of faith—one that begins in the revealed knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, acknowledges the sinfulness of the person and the graciousness of their saving Lord, and then rests in the Gospel promise that their Father loves them and will give them everything they need in both this world, and the world to come.

What do the answers to such prayer look like?  They may raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, and work miracles.  They may heal broken hearts, restore broken relationships, and salve burning communities.  They may bring individuals and entire nations to repentance before the Law of God, and to faith in His saving Gospel.  They may pierce the darkness of man’s political machinations with the pure light of His Eternal Word.  And they may be the simple bread upon our tables, the roof over our heads, the work given to our hands, and the strength to meet each day’s duty as it is given to us in our callings.  The answered prayers of faith can take many forms in this fallen world, according to the will of God in any particular moment and place.  But the most remarkable and wonderful answer of the prayer of faith is the gift of His Holy Spirit, which comes to us through His Word and seals us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ unto life everlasting—a gift which gives us the new birth from above by Water and Spirit, and the daily faith and repentance to walk with our Father in the reconciliation of Jesus’ Cross forever.  That holy and most precious gift of eternal life is something that cannot be washed away by flood or burned away by fire; it cannot be taken by criminals or tyrants or persecutors; it cannot be wrenched away by the powers of wicked men or the terrors of demonic hordes.  That great and eternal gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus Christ is the gift we always and only need, and it is the gift our loving Father is most anxious to give to everyone who will repent and believe in Him.

Hear the Word of the Lord coming to teach you to pray this day, and receive the wondrous gift of eternal life your Father has always intended for you through the shed blood of His Son.  Hear Him, believe, and live.  Amen.