Thoughtful Words From the Bible Come in Threes: By the Way column in the Medicine Hat New on July 4th

A while ago I stared writing down three word phrases that lit up for me when I read my Bible. Why three words? They are easy to remember and mull over for a day. They are a useful “triplet trigger” for prayers. Our God is Three Persons.

Here they are in the order I noticed them:

IN THOSE DAYS (Joel 2.29): we are all in the process of becoming for Jesus. Those days come for every generation. They are here and they are yet to come.

LISTEN TO HIM (Mk 9.70): open the ears of our hearts. It’s hard to listen if we never stop talking.

BUT JESUS ONLY (Mk 9.8): it’s all about Jesus. Get to know The Shepherd’s voice. Beware the counterfeits.

A BEAUTIFUL THING (Mk 14.6): anything done for Jesus.

RESTORE US AGAIN (Ps 85.4): and again, and again.

BUT IF NOT (Dan 3.18): even if You don’t give me that for which I ask. I will not give up or turn away from You.

I BELIEVED, THEREFORE (2 Cor 4.13): I became more than I ever thought I could be  for Jesus.

AND BE THANKFUL (Col 3.15): in all circumstances.

WHATEVER YOU DO (Col 3.17): make it an act of worship for Jesus, all of it.

PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES (1 Peter 2.9): of our LORD and Saviour in word and deed.

A FRAGRANT OFFERING (Eph 5.2): is all of the above when we do it for Jesus.

FIVE SMOOTH STONES (1 Sam 17.40): with which to get the job done for Jesus. We all need to choose them carefully, just as David did.

WIDEN YOUR HEARTS (2 Cor 6.13): to let the generosity and grace of Jesus flow through us.

Soon after I started my list of threes, I came across a piece by Allan Dobras on the VirtueOnLine website entitled “The Three Most Important Words.” In his musing on what is happening to Easter and Christianity in America he wonders what are the most important words ever spoken to humankind. He first suggests IN THE BEGINNING, followed by COME, LORD JESUS, and then IT IS FINISHED!—all profound and evocative statements worthy of reflection and prayer—but the most important, he suggests, is HE IS RISEN.

May the people I love who don’t know that, come to know it. May those who do know it, be empowered by it and live it out in all the above.

Alleluia! Amen.

Renounce, Bear and Go: Three Word Bible Prayer

A challenging three words in my A Guide to Prayer reading from Luke 14 this morning:

Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (v33)

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (v27)

If I want to be His disciple I must renounce, bear and go.

A Three Word Prayer from the Bible

Widen my heart.

Widen our hearts.

Widen their hearts.

So we are less likely to be restricted by our own affections.

From today's epistle: 2 Cor 6.12 and 13.

Another Three Words and Eternal Life

Three Words

My post-before-last started what I thought might become a little Bible "triads" series—three word phrases that pique my devotional and intercessory interest. Imagine my surprise when yesterday I found a piece by Allan Dobras over at VirtueOnLine entitled "The Three Most Important Words." In his musing on what is happening to Easter and Christianity in America he wonders what are the most important words ever spoken to humankind. He first suggests "In the beginning," might be a contender, and "Come Lord Jesus," but then there's "It is finished!"—all profound and evocative statements worthy of reflection and prayer—but the most important, he suggests, is "He is Risen."

A Bible Three Word prayer point for today:

that all the people I love would come to know that He is Risen if they haven't yet realized that fact and those that know it, can be faithful and fruitful witnesses of it.

Read "The Three Most Important Words" here.

St Clive (S. Lewis) on Eternal Life

There will come a time when every culture, every institution, every nation, the human race, all biological life, is extinct, and every one of us is still alive.

This from The Weight of Glory in my Readings for Reflection in A Guide to Prayer.

In one of his books, Dallas Willard asks, "Have you ever thought about what you'll be doing in ten thousand years?" I guess it depends on whether or not Alan Dobras' three most important words are true, and whether or not one believes it.

He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!

His Excellencies to Proclaim: a Bible Triad

1 Peter 2.1-10 this morning. Sabbath on a Saturday this week. These three words lit up in verse 9:

proclaim the excellencies

What I was chosen, made a royal priest and part of a holy nation to do. Whose excellencies? The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What are His excellencies?

His steadfast love which endures forever. I exist in it. Because of it I know I am never alone, that there is always Someone who holds me in His heart.

His grace. I like James Ryle's definition of grace: the empowering prescence of God which enables me to be who He created me to be and to do what He created me to do.

His mercy. I have been set free from so many snares and the consequences of so many sinful and foolish things done and left undone.

All of which have been perfectly and beautifully expressed in His Excellency, King Jesus, who is the radiance of His glory, the exact imprint of His nature and who upholds the universe by the word of His power (Heb 1.3).

What other excellencies might I proclaim? Jude, and our more than 40 years together. Our children, Kate and Anth; our grandchildren, Emily, Samantha, Levi and Seth; that Kate and Anth have both chosen to follow Jesus and are both doing that with intelligence and grace.

On another level, but still excellencies that delight me, all God-made and provided: good coffee and my Bible in the early morning (especially when the windows can be open and I can hear the warblers commenting on the day in the back yard), beaches (sunshine, salt on your skin, the sound of the surf), mountains (the smell of the spruce, the way the air seems to crackle in the higher elevations, the colour of the new leaves in contrast with the darkness of the evergreens), open prairie (I can almost see Regina from my living room window), Jude's garden (and her very non-linear approach to it), driving through new country, the sound of a hand-made guitar.

Excellencies, indeed.

With this post I'm beginning a bit of a series (not necessarily every day, mind, every now and then) on what I'm calling "bible triads;" three-word phrases that have lit up for me in my reading over the last few months that can be prayed or obeyed.