Meditations

Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are eliminated, you will see it. Psalm 37:34

“When the moral tone in society is low, our faith needs to be strong and accompanied by loving generosity with others. We should continue to learn how to have a good rapport with everyone, including those who do not understand us. Our heart should continue to expand to include others who hold different social and political views from our own. Whether we are dealing with highly educated individuals or with people who are barely literate, we need to have a friendly disposition which comes from dealing with God intimately in daily prayer. Such an attitude of affection is perfectly compatible with great fortitude in speaking out in support of the teachings of the church.

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 213.

Waiting and loving generosity go hand in hand.

When we wait on the Lord and take a posture of loving generosity, it strengthens our witness. David, the psalmist, puts it rightly in saying that you “inherit the land” when you wait on the Lord and keep His way.

Also notice that the wicked, those who don’t keep His way, will be eliminated.

Then when you read today’s post from Fernandez, you get a modern vision of what it looks like to inherit the land. This takes time for God to work things out so our focus is waiting with strong faith and loving generosity.

Want help to grow spiritually along these lines? Download WAITING as a free 30-day devotional for Advent here.

It offers fresh insights from a variety of Bible characters to help us make the most of waiting opportunities. And it will help strengthen your fortitude to live out your faith.

And I have arrived safely in the Caribbean for two weeks of program work in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana. Preaching this morning and speaking tonight. Appreciate your prayers.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11

“There is another reason to persevere in prayer: the more we petition Christ the more our friendship with God matures. In human affairs, when it is necessary to ask a powerful person a favor, we seek a bond of union and an opportune moment, perhaps when the one approached is in a good mood before making our request. With the Lord, however, we find him ever ready to hear us. We have every reason to approach our Father God with confidence, no matter at what hour of the day. Nothing should be able to diminish our faith in God’s almighty power.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 200.

Our Father in heaven stands “ever ready” and eager to give us good gifts. And these gifts are not for us alone but for all those with whom we serve. And He loves it when we ask for and make gifts to others demonstrating His generosity to us.

Today I pray for God’s blessing on GTP program work over the next 13 days in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana. We are launching another peer accountability group, CCEFA (Caribbean Council for Ethical and Financial Accountability).

This marks an historic moment for the region. I am asking God to raise up good gifts for CCEFA: givers, prayer partners, volunteer accreditors, country representatives, and churches and ministries to pursue accreditation.

Pray with me for this. And should you desire to support work in this region, GTP is praying God supplies $10,000 for “PAG matching funds for CCEFA (Caribbean)” to help CCEFA activate operations. Click here to designate your gift.

And I am praying that each person reading this will persevere in prayer for whatever you need or whatever those around you need knowing that your cries for help do not fall on deaf ears but on a loving Father in heaven who stands ever ready to come to our aid.

Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1

“Since we are in need of a great deal of assistance in order to advance, we join constant petition to our continual thanksgiving. Although the Lord grants us many graces without our asking for them, He permits other graces to come to us in proportion to the fervor of our prayer. Since we do not know the measure of petition, His unfathomable providence expects from us, it is necessary to keep praying with intensity.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 200.

Adding constant petition to our continual thanksgiving is good advice from Fernandez that follows the instructions of Jesus to always pray and not lose heart.

The additional comment that our Lord “permits other graces to come to us in proportion to the fervour of our prayer” adds depth to the parable.

In plain terms, the more we persist and persevere in prayer, the greater the probability that God will hear and act from His unfathomable providence.

Do we live like we believe this. And notice how generosity comes into view. Let us pray for God’s blessings on those around us and anyone we serve with fervor.

This is the kind of generosity anyone can practice: offer continual thanksgiving with constant petition for our own needs and the needs of others.

“Father, I give you thanks that you have heard me.” John 11:41b

“We have a great deal to be thankful for and still stand in great need. Expressing gratitude and asking for specific graces are two ways we can daily pray to God our Father. In the first place we need to recognize the gifts the Lord has given us. We will not learn how to love if we are not grateful… We find Christ in the Gospels constantly giving thanks to God. And He is our Model. When raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus exclaims: Father I give you thanks that you have heard me. On the occasion of another miracle, Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, distributed them and the fishes to those who were reclining. At the institution of the eucharist (meaning “thanksgiving”), the Lord gave thanks before blessing the bread and wine.”

Teresa of Avila in The Life of St. Teresa of Ávila 10. 3, as cited with supplemental comments by Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 196-197.

What a profound idea. That we take time to express gratitude while also asking for graces.

Each of us has so much to be thankful for, and yet, we still stand in great need. Every day we have huge needs. And notice the example of Jesus.

For Him thanksgiving is bigger than turkey, football, parades, and pumpkin pie.

He gives thanks that the Father hears Him, that the Father provides for the people, and that the Father supplies the bread and wine, which implies the sacrifice for sins of humanity.

Let us pause today, at least in USA, from our labor and convene with loved ones.

And let us express our gratitude to God for hearing us, providing for our needs, and supplying the sacrifice for our sins. And let us also ask for special graces.

We need Him right now, today, as much or more than ever.

Father, we give thanks you that you hear and love us. Grant us special graces. Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to live, give, serve, and love generously. Make it so, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:5-6

“Our entire life is a gift we have received from God through no merit of our own. For this reason our habitual disposition of thanksgiving to God should overflow in acts of thanksgiving throughout the day.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 198.

As we approach Thanksgiving in USA, we picture a table full of food.

David, the psalmist, tells us that even thought everything might be crazy all around us, God takes care of us. He provides everything we need and then some. Our cup overflow.

The word picture of a cup points to personal provision. To overflow implies resources for others.

As Thanksgiving draws near, think of how overflow could become part of your “habitual disposition” on a regular basis. Are there people or ministries you could bless regularly?

At GTP we are praying for monthly givers. We have 45 and are praying for 55 more by 31 December 2024.

Why set up monthly giving to GTP? No other ministry is strengthening stewards and setting up accountability structures for local generosity to flow in nations. As this metric shows stability, it motivates foundations to give us major gifts.

Would you pray with us that 55 people will take this step from their overflow?

Set up your monthly giving here. And, we got a matching so if you set up your monthly giving, GTP gets an extra $100 per person, up to new monthly givers.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Psalm 103:1-2

“We need to be continually thankful to the Lord for the benefits we have received during the past year. Some we are aware of, but, perhaps even more valuable benefits have come to use without our recognition of them. These graces include rescue from dangers of body and soul, the making of new friends who will play a part in our salvation, and even apparent setbacks like sickness or professional failure. We should enjoy great peace, since we should know that God will draw abundant fruit from circumstances and events that present themselves as unwelcome and are seemingly counterproductive. We later understand these very occasions to be divine caresses.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 198.

As I approach Thanksgiving, this reading hit home for me because I got word just yesterday of the departure of a staff member at GTP. She announced that she feels led to pursue God’s calling with another ministry.

My first response was sadness because she will be missed. Then, thanks to this reading, I saw this news as a blessing filled with possibility and promise. God will guide us to the next person who will fill her role and teach us new things.

As we approach Thanksgiving, pause to ponder your current situation and past year. Do so with thanksgiving for all God’s benefits and ones you may never be aware of. I am learning that disappointments are actually, as Fernandez put it, divine caresses.

And take time today to read Psalm 103 to prepare your heart, at least in USA, for a week focused on giving thanks.

Then [Jesus] said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38

“Many around here are not Christians simply because no one is available to teach them how to practice their faith. I have often had the desire to visit the universities in Europe, especially one in Paris, and shout like a madman so as to provoke those who have more knowledge than charity: many souls may be excluded from heaven on account of your negligence.”

Francis Xaiver (1506-1552) in Letters and Writings of St. Francis Xavier, ed. by F. Zubillaga (Madrid: 1953).

This post aims to send a message to those who have more knowledge than charity.

I live in USA where many people love to watch football. The stadium on game day provides a fitting picture for today’s lesson. Many sit in the stands with a love of the game but never take the field to play.

Get out of the stands. Get into the game. Put your knowledge to work with charity.

In the case of Francis, he traveled and ministered in India and China. He saw so many souls needing encouragement and support, and possibly headed to a Christ-less eternity.

I am asking for God to activate workers in the stands to participate in some way.

They may not go to the mission field, but with technology, voluntary service, and generosity, they can play a part in international Christian work with GTP or some other group.

Think about this as we approach Thanksgiving in USA this week.

Wherever we are in the world, consider how you may match the knowledge you with charity to make an eternal impact in the lives of others in the name of Jesus Christ.

You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 1:6

“The living experience of Christ and of our union with Him is our true reason for hope. Our friendship with the Lord gives zest to our life. We enjoy life with an upright rectitude and are not obliged to censure our joy in any way so as to make it compatible with our faith.”

Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) in “Utopia and the Present” in 30 Days, August-September 1990, 9.

It has been enriching to attend three back to back to back conferences with biblical scholars who have nourished my mind and drawn my heart closer to Christ.

When we take time for such activities, we remind ourselves of the reason for our hope and we add zest to life. It deploys us with great joy.

As people cannot live on food alone but must feed on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, take some time today or this week to feed yourself spiritually.

Do this so your generosity is seasoned with spiritual food that you have enjoyed and cannot help but want to share with others with hope, zest, and joy.

Just as I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, to remain on at Ephesus so that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to useless speculation rather than advance the plan of God, which is by faith, so I urge you now. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:3-5

“Our specific vocation is God’s greatest gift to us. It is the reason for our being created, and is therefore our sure way to happiness. From all eternity the Lord provides each one of us with all the graces necessary to correspond with His will. From the moment the Almighty directly creates each unique and immortal soul, and bestows on this new person a body as well through the cooperation of the parents, He wants something what will have importance in His sight from this gift of life. The greatness of man consists in discerning this will of God and in carrying it out. Each person is called to collaborate with the order of creation and to forward the divine plan of redemption.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 284-285.

On this Saturday, I write to remind everyone to remain faithful in the work God made you to do and in playing the part in the larger story that God made you to play.

That work, your vocation, is God’s gift to you. And you fulfilling your calling is your gift to the world that needs to know the love and generosity of God.

Imagine Timothy learning the part he would play. God wanted him to remain in Ephesus to teach people not to promote a heresy that was the opposite of the plan of God.

Now picture your vocation and mine. We get to do the same thing. We get to be, to remain where God has us and regardless of the local heresies, help people understand God’s plan.

And, like Paul exhorted Timothy, we get to do this with a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. With that posture I delivered a paper yesterday at ETS.

If you want a copy, click here to download it: “Demystifying Gender Issues in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 with Fresh Assistance from Artemis.”

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:1-16

“The virtue of detachment helps us to stay at Jesus’ side as He goes forward on His mission at a fast and steady pace. It is not possible for us to keep up with Him if we have too much baggage. We cannot be left behind on account of a few material possessions that are not worth our excessive concern for them. At times, Jesus issues a personal call at an early age. At others, one’s vocation becomes clear in the course of one’s mature years, when we have only a short distance to go before we arrive in His presence. Such variety in the time the Lord chooses to call each of us is shown in the parable concerning the laborers who go out to work at different times of the day. Whichever our own case may be, we are called to respond with the joy the evangelists express when they recall the circumstances of their own definitive vocation. Jesus is the same now as then: He is the one who invites us to accompany Him on our way.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 266-267.

Today’s Scripture brings a parable in view.

We discover the generosity of the landowner. And we also see the importance of responsiveness whether He calls us at a young age, in adulthood, or in our later years. He invites us to accompany Him.

As I attend ETS, IBR, and SBL, I see emerging scholars like my son-in-law or a doctoral student I am advising, adults that I have known for decades, and more mature workers whose lives have shaped mine.

Each one has a story. Some have labored long for the Lord and others are newer to the journey. Being here and delivering a paper, reminds me to just play my part as a worker.

That’s where the comments from Fernandez fit nicely. He challenges us to jettison any baggage that may hinder our ability to serve Him.

Can you imagine going to work in God’s field and carrying a suitcase or a large sack loaded with all your worldly wealth with you? You would never do that, right?

The key to unlocking this parable linked to having possessions as baggage is in the wage promised by the generous landowner. It implies that Jesus will take care of our daily needs.

He promises a denarius. It’s a day’s wages and all a person needs to live today.

This prompts two questions. Firstly, how long have you been working for the Lord? Have you found Him to faithfully care for your needs? If so, imitate His generosity with your own.

And secondly, what do you have? Do you have too much in your baggage? If so, put it to work, again through generosity, and yet, keep laboring. He will make sure you have a denarius a day.

Please pause. Picture all your worldly wealth in a suitcase that you have to carry to labor in the field for Him every day. If it seems heavy, then you have much to store up in heaven.

You can do this. He’s got you and a denarius for your daily service.