Day 25: Galations 5:16-26

it’s entitled “walk by the Spirit”.  i realize paul didn’t title this section when he wrote it, but it still sums up the passage so perfectly.  and really, it’s the instruction my Guide has for me.  i’ve been trudging a path to righteousness and have fallen flat in the mire over and over.  “walk by the Spirit” doesn’t mean “walk next to the Spirit”.  i can see where that mistake could be made.  in fact, i’ve been making that mistake for most of my life.  you see, if i walk next to the Spirit, i’m constantly reminded of the right way to go.  this is great!  however, i’m still the one walking.  it is my own strength that pushes me over the terrain.  and my eyes wander like a young puppy exploring left and right of the safe path.  this is why i’m covered in mud.  no, i firmly believe “walk by the Spirit” translates to “walk powered by the Spirit”.  in other words, if the Spirit isn’t moving you, don’t move.  if i truly walk by the Spirit in this way, i depend on His strength, navigation, and decision-making.  how could i ever be tired if i never use my own energy?  how could i ever be distracted if i never use my eyes for navigation?  how could i ever be wrong when the Spirit is always right?  we’re not called to follow the movement of the Spirit like little ducklings straggling behind.  we’re called to be the movement of the Spirit.  and the only way to do that is to be completely consumed and controlled by the Spirit.

/prayer/  i am not in charge of my body.  my brain is not in charge.  my hormones are not in charge.  my stomach is not in charge.  i surrender my body to its Maker.  only the Maker knows His creation’s true purpose.  o God, pour Your Spirit into me.  may You always overflow from me.  i no longer move, because i am dead.  i no longer breathe, because i am dead.  i no longer think, because i am dead.  Your Spirit is my life.  Your Spirit moves me.  Your Spirit gives me breathe.  Your Spirit gives me thought.  i am dead.  i am put to rest.  only Your Spirit lives.  /selah/

paul’s opening statement in this passage is “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  paul knows how to shock and awe.  that’s a pretty bold statement.  almost like Jesus when He said “go and sin no more”.  is it even possible to never sin again?  according to the Scriptures, yes.  so how do we do that?  paul says the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.  in all reality, the concept is very simple.  clearly sin can be defined as giving into the desires of the flesh.  so, then, the opposite must be true.  sinlessness is giving into the desires of the Spirit.  paul then lists the works of the flesh (which might as well be a description of my life) and the fruits of the Spirit.  growing up, i always strove to show the characteristics in the latter list.  the big issue with that method is the same story of sin itself.  i might be able to obtain a life that shows one or two Spirit fruits, but that is the best i can do.  but when my only task in all of life is to die and let the Spirit live, then the best i can do is now the best He can do.  paul didn’t write the fruits of the Spirit as a to-do list for us to check off.  that’s no different than the law!  he wrote them as a gauge to check ourselves.  they are the evidence that the Spirit is living instead of us.  if i don’t show love, i haven’t died.  if i don’t exhibit joy, i haven’t died.  if i’m not patient, i haven’t died.  the same is true for all of them.  it’s plain and simple.  that is how the Spirit acts.  our goal has never been to act like the Spirit, but rather to be the actions of the Spirit.  paul closes by saying “if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  i would say it like this:  if we profess our faith in the Spirit, then we must follow through with that faith and die so the Spirit my live in us and we may be His actions.

/prayer/ my God, pour on me Your forgiveness.  too long have i been a zombie in this world.  i decided a long time ago to crucify myself, but my flesh still wakes up and moves me.  help me to die completely.  i long to live by Your Spirit.  from now on, You can make the decisions.  i’m just along for the ride.  and i praise You for that privilege.  i know You don’t need me for Your work.  You can do it alone.  i am honored to be Your servant.  be my Life, o God, and be my Path.  /amen/

Day 24: Dust Off

sometimes the road is tough and you can’t continue on.  sometimes you have to stop at a place to discover what is there or serve in some way.  but usually, with me, it starts with distraction, then leads ever so carefully to forgetfulness until i ultimately make the conscious decision to ignore.  such has been my journey as of late.  sure i could blame it all on major life changes or being uprooted away from a computer.  but the truth is that i’ve stared at the link to this page over and over and chosen to ignore it.  as can be expected, my negligence has strained my relationship with my Guide.  there are times i can’t even hear Him shout!  the result has been devastating.  when i’m apart from my Guide, not only do i make grave mistakes that wreck who i am, but worse, who others are.  i drag people down with me.  when i’m away from the road to that city called righteousness, i find myself useless to this world.  i cannot benefit this earth if i try to do things contrary to my purpose.  and my purpose can only be obtained on the road.  so why do i stray?  what makes me leave?  i’ve done it before.  i know all the causes.  i know all the consequences.  yet i do it again and again!  the pain is just not worth it.  the disappointment is just not worth it.  the lasting effects are just not worth it.  if it weren’t for my caring brothers and sisters, i’d still be there.  the first step is to turn back toward my Guide.  and now that i can see Him, i know where to run.  i must stand up and dust off.  my life can’t continue being worthless.  i know my calling.  i know my purpose.  it is my job to seek ways to fulfill that life.  my Guide will take care of everything else.  He will lead me to opportunities and instruct me through my trials.  but it is my task to fulfill His will.

i want to thank those who kept me accountable to my journey.  without you, i’d lose my Guide.  and without Him, i’d lose my life.

/prayer/  forgive me, Father.  i don’t know why i ignore You.  You’ve never forgotten me.  i’m always on Your mind.  God, help me to be Your servant.  be my LORD.  /amen/

Day 23: Acts 7

today i jump right in to stephen’s response to the charges against him.  he gives a rather lengthy history lesson of the nation of israel.  at each major section in time, he makes sure to point out the stubbornness of the people and their persecution of their prophets.  he ends with this bold statement starting in verse 51: “you stiff-necked people! your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.  you are just like your ancestors: you always resist the Holy Spirit! was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?  they even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.  and now you have betrayed and murdered Him–you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”  as you can imagine the officials were rather unhappy with stephen’s lecture and started to show it.  then stephen encountered a phrase that has become one of my favorites in the book of Acts.  he became “full of the Holy Spirit”.  to me, this is much more than just occasionally relying on the Spirit to give you wisdom or healing.  stephen was overwhelmed by the Spirit!  so much so that he saw the sky open up and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing next to Him!  i think it’s safe to say he was overwhelmed by the Spirt.  of course the officials didn’t want to here this either, so they blocked out stephen’s voice by yelling and clapping their hands over their ears.  then they dragged stephen to the street and stoned him.  but even in the end stephen was righteous.  he asked God to forgive their sin and to take his spirit.  here saul (paul) in first introduced as a young man.  he’s standing there holding eveyone’s coats as they stone stephen and giving his approval of the incident.

i think there are plenty of lessons in this passage even though most of it is a history lesson.  how often are we the sauls in this story?  we see something wrong happening, but we don’t do anything about it.  now here, saul approved of stephen’s execution, but what if he didn’t?  what if he was just a bystander taking people’s coats?  sometimes i’m that guy.  sometimes i see the problems in this world and even have an opportunity to stand against it.  but instead, i just stand to the side and hold people’s coats.  i make it easier for injustice to continue by being passive.  how often are we the officials in this story?  we see our way of life challenged, and we don’t want to accept that we’re wrong.  and when the Holy Spirit tries speaking to us, we drown Him out with noise.  if the noise of this world isn’t loud enough, we start to make our own noise to help.  and if yelling doesn’t work, we cover our ears!  oh how many times i’ve been guilty of covering my ears to drown out the Spirit!  and then we drag the voice of reason into the street and kill it brutally.  now the Spirit’s voice might pop up again somewhere else and try to speak to us again.  but how many times have we ruined a relationship because a friend was speaking on behalf of the Spirit?  but instead of listening, we cover our ears, drag them to the street, and destroy our relationship so that we don’t have to face our own faults.  may we strive to be the stephens in this story!  may we stand our ground and speak truth.  may we rebuke evil.  may we be bold.  may we be “full of the Holy Spirit”!  may we be nothing more than a vessel to house the Spirit, a voice to speak for the Spirit, and the hands to serve by the Spirit.  even in the end, our focus should be others, not ourselves.  forgiveness to the end.

/prayer/  LORD, show me how to be a stephen for You.  don’t let me drown You out any longer.  don’t let me be passive any longer.  make me full of the Holy Spirit!  /amen/

Day 22: Acts 6

it’s remarkable how much i’ve done while gaining so little ground.  life and circumstances have just seemed to jump up all around me and demand my undivided attention.  and then when my energy is exhausted, i turn to more life-draining activities to “relax”.  i’ve grown perpetually tired by simply treading in circles.  all the while, my Guide is ready and willing to help me continue on, yet i have dug a trench with my footsteps.  fortunately my Guide’s reach is unparalleled, and i am faithful He can retrieve me.  the only thing in question is my willingness to hold tightly to His grip.

luke writes of a great lesson to those in ministry and the Church as a whole.  he gives us an account of the first structured hierarchy in the early Church.  the poor and widowed were being neglected, but the apostles were at capacity doing what they had been called to do.  it’s not that they couldn’t make time for the poor and widowed or that they didn’t want to.  but rather, their calling was to teach the Gospel.  and their time was filled by that calling.  so they appointed seven men to take over the responsibility of caring for people.  this tells me a few things.  first, as a minister, you can’t do it all.  you’re not supposed to!  we are to do what we are called to do.  Jesus talked about the Church being the Body of Christ with all of the parts functioning together, responsible for their own task.  well the apostles recognized this and acted accordingly.  also with that point, the church cannot expect its ministers to do everything on their own.  some roles need to be in the hands of staff members so the ministry can grow and flourish through full-time care.  other roles need to be filled by volunteers using the gifts the Spirit gives them to keep a ministry sustained.  second, the apostles recognized the need and moved to fill that need.  they were filling the need of the people to be taught the Gospel, but they couldn’t fill the need of caring for people.  so they did what was necessary to fill the need.  i think all too often we put together tasks in the church based on habits or good ideas and not always based on need.  instead of thinking of a ministry that would be really great to have, we should be seeing the needs of our community and making a ministry to fill that need.  as a minister, it is my duty to evaluate the tasks i perform and the ministries i support to make sure that i am meeting a need.  we do not have the resources to devote to fluff.

unfortunately, being in God’s will isn’t always the most pleasant place on earth.  sometimes it gets you in trouble with certain people.  such was the case with stephen.  luke tells us that stephen was “a man full of God’s grace and power”.  but, of course, there was opposition.  when they tried to argue with stephen, they could not match his Spirit-given wisdom.  what i like here is that there is no denial about the source of stephen’s wisdom.  luke doesn’t say that stephen was a smart guy and knew a lot more than those other guys.  he says that because stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, he was able to speak with great wisdom to knock down any argument against him.  so of course when the opposition couldn’t win a fair fight, they lied about him and gave him bad press in order to bring him before officials.  even when facing the judges, stephen wasn’t phased.  he still relied fully on the Spirit.  luke says that the officials “saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”  now personally, i think that would be enough for me to dismiss this guy as being completely ok, but i wasn’t there.  in the next passage stephen speaks to the officials.  but for now my lesson is clearly to take note of how Spirit-filled stephen was.  he spoke truth, performed miracles, won arguments, and stood before a threatening council with boldness and confidence because he was fueled by the greatest Power.

/prayer/  LORD, i ask that You fill me with Your Spirit.  i ask that Your presence be made known in my life.  show me how to live my life boldly for You.  teach me my place in the Body and allow me to perform my tasks with great ability.  /amen/

Day 21: Acts 5

this study of the early Church has brought to my attention some very important principles that have really started to form my philosophies of the Church and what we do as it.  it has certainly been a great learning tool for my own development as a church leader.  today, i suspect, will be no exception.

luke starts this passage with a story on the same topic of the communal sharing he had just mentioned.  he tells the story of a husband and wife that sold their land and gave some of that money to the Church, an act in itself that is perfectly fine.  however they chose to be secretive about the portion they kept and, in doing so, lied to the Church and, ultimately, to God saying that they had brought the full amount to the Church.  peter rebuked them by stating that the land was theirs already and any money earned from its sale is theirs.  they had no reason to lie, but they did so to deceive God.  the Holy Spirit saw fit to punish them by instant death.  i think this story is often used as warning to people that don’t tithe.  while i think tithing is a very clear commandment, i don’t think that’s the reason luke included this narrative.  peter didn’t rebuke them because they didn’t give all of the money to the Church.  nor did he mention that it wasn’t enough to be a tithe.  in fact, he made it quite clear that it was their decision to use the money how they saw fit.  now of course i believe that ultimately everything we have is God’s, and i don’t think peter would dispute that.  i just think in this instance peter was making a point that the couple’s disobedience was not in the amount of their offering, but rather how they offered it.  they offered it as a complete and total surrendering when in reality it was only a partial gift.  i think the true lesson here is how we offer ourselves to God as His servants.  i see people that volunteer at a church once a year and claim they are fully surrendered to God.  i don’t buy it.  God doesn’t either.  i see people that “don’t have time” to contribute to their spiritual growth.  i don’t buy it.  God doesn’t either.  i see people that volunteer every other day and contribute large sums of money to the church and say with a hardened heart and stubborn habits that they serve God as a total sacrifice.  i don’t buy it.  God doesn’t either.  now i am totally guilty of all of these and more, so i dare not point a finger, but the lesson is clear.  you can’t actually deceive God.  it’s not possible.  but in trying to do so, you seek a mortal punishment.  do i think God will strike you dead if you lie to Him?  probably not.  He could.  but i doubt He will.  i think the couple in Acts 5 was an example.  i think God was drawing the line quite clearly, leaving no room for confusion.  the fact that we are punished with less is just an example of His mercy.  the point is, God takes our personal sacrifices very seriously.

luke goes on to give account of the Church’s growth and the apostles’ public teaching in jerusalem.  he talks about the high public esteem of the apostles.  the local people had nothing but praise of them.  the apostles continued to perform healing miracles on the people, showing the power of Jesus.  of course this made the priests and officials angry so they arrested the apostles and called for the elders to question them.  in the night, the apostles were released from jail by an angel who told them to continue teaching.  when the elders sent for the apostles, they weren’t in jail, but were discovered teaching in the temple courts.  so the guards brought the apostles to the elders.  the elders asked the apostles why they were disobeying the order to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.  the apostles boldy proclaimed that they couldn’t stop obeying God in order to start obeying man.  they said a little bit more that continued to make the elders furious.  but before they could go off the deep end, one elder dismisses the apostles briefly and tells the elders that it wouldn’t be wise to kill them.  he brings up other instances of relious factions that had spawned in the past.  each time their leader was killed, the followers rioted before dispersing.  each of these instances had a much smaller number of followers than the apostles, so a riot from them would be devastating.  then he says something very wise:  if the apostles’ teachings are from man, they’ll die away in time; if they’re from God, they’ll be unstoppable.  as the elders agreed, they resolved only to flog the apostles and tell them once more to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.  and here’s where it gets really interesting.  having been verbally abused and physically beaten for teaching the Gospel, the apostles rejoice!  they were thrilled because (verse 41) “they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”  that’s right.  “worthy of suffering disgrace”.  i have seen the impact of 12 men that had that point of view about teaching the Gospel.  imagine the impact of the millions of believers today having that viewpoint!  they had been persecuted before and in response asked God to allow them to speak more boldly.  and as a result, they are persecuted even worse.  their response this time is rejoicing!  clearly these men had experienced the Gospel first hand.  they knew their mission, and they knew their destination.  everything in between was not of issue.  oh to be a bold messenger like that.

/prayer/  LORD, i again ask that you make me a bold messenger for You.  God, i ask that when i face resistance and even persecution that i realize they are merely signs of being obedient to my mission.  may i rejoice and praise You for counting me worthy of Your mission.  forever be my Guide and my Refuge.  /amen/

Day 20: Acts 4

the last few days have been crazy.  filled with distraction.  i know my Guide is right next to me, but i often forget.  my eyes seem to wander away.  circumstance just leaps in front of me and begs that i spend my time there.  but i know in order to survive on this road i must heed my Guide and follow Him closely.

it’s times like this that i realize what an example the leaders of the early Church set for us.  peter and john continued to teach after they healed the paralyzed man.  but they were seized by the high priests.  even though they were held in jail overnight, the words they taught brought the number of believers to 5000.  that’s a pretty big church!  when questioned by the council of priests and officials, peter didn’t waver once.  he let the Spirit talk through him to preach to the high priests.  seeing that all the people were praising God for these men, the council knew they couldn’t punish them, so they warned them not to speak in the name of Jesus again and released them.  peter and john made no promises.  in fact, they said that they couldn’t help but teach in the name of Jesus, so they would continue to do so.  there are many times i wish i had such a courage.  the few times i’ve let the Spirit take over my words were far from this level of danger.  the risk is always there, sure, but peter and john stood before people that could have them killed!  i know the feeling of having the word of God come out of me, but i’ve never felt the courage they must have.  i think too often the Church is willing to fight small battles, but i fear too few of us have truly given our full lives to God.  if we had, we wouldn’t be so afraid of the larger battles.  i see a world filled with suffering, much caused by evil men.  i see very few willing to stand face to face with evil, because evil is often manifested with killing.  i think it’s time for the Church to wage total war on evil.  by any means necessary.  the war starts in ourselves.  we can’t allow evil to take us out little by little in our daily battles.  if we succeed in ourselves, we’ll be strong and stable to face the enemy elsewhere.  but ultimately, we must seek out the injustice in this world full of courage because our God cannot lose!  and it is He who sends us out.

peter and john went back to the Church to tell them what had happened.  immediately, their response was prayer.  why do we overlook that power so often?  why is prayer thought of as the “least we can do”?  this is silly.  peter and john lead the Church in the most powerful thing they could do–prayer.  i love the phrase they used in verse 29.  “now, LORD, consider their threats and enable Your servants to speak Your word with great boldness.”  so to recapitulate, two men were speaking boldly, they were then threatened for doing so, then their response was a prayer to enable them to speak boldly.  i don’t think this was redundancy at all!  peter and john knew that their flesh would naturally be afraid of the threats.  but they couldn’t give in.  they had to continue speaking boldly.  so that’s exactly what they asked God to do in their lives.  they let the LORD take care of the threats.  when i see a barricade in my way, my first reaction is to think of all the ways it could be removed.  when i find out i can’t do anything about it, then i ask God to move it.  then i wait for Him to move it before i continue on my road.  it sounds logical, but it’s not God’s way.  i think this passage reminds me that God has commanded me to travel along this journey.  it is my only task to do just that.  if there’s a barricade in the road, i need to pass that problem onto God and just keep walking.  if He wants me to move it, He’ll tell me and show me how.  if He wants me to run into it, He won’t move it and my obedience in continuing to move will cause me to run into it.  but for me to assume it’s my problem and ask God to do something that isn’t part of His plan will only lead to more problems.  in trusting God, it may turn out that the barrier wasn’t meant for me anyway, and i can just walk through it.  but only if i continue to move as God has commanded me.

luke goes on to tell of the great community the Church had in its beginnings.  it showed a true sense of equality and loving care.  the Church shared all their possessions.  and many times some would sell their fields and give the money to the apostles for distribution.  and that way, nobody had need.  everyone was cared for.  i think many people would regard this kind of living as communism.  and in the strict meaning of the word, it is!  but i’m often reminded what i’ve learned over and over in my history classes.  communism is a great idea on paper, but it never works out in practice because of greed and corruption.  what i find interesting is the record, here, of a peaceful community living out the same principles of communism without greedy and corrupt leaders.  i think it’s because the leaders were held accountable by Christ, Himself.  the apostles made decisions based on their history in ministry with Jesus and based on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  their purpose was not to govern over these people, but to teach them and to serve them.  i don’t think this is a lesson on government policy (although it could teach volumes on that).  rather, i think this is a lesson to the modern Church.  we have grown so very large compared to the early Church.  but we look so very different.  the economic range in the global Church is staggering.  there are some places where the Church is starving and poor.  why?  how are they supposed to be serving the hungry and poor when they are those people?  what ever happened to our sense of community?  why do we seem to let our governments draw the boundaries that divide our Church?  why is there an american church and an african church and a european church?  why do we let capitalism, interfere with our sense of duty to our own?  we are citizens of a higher Kingdom.  it doesn’t grant dual citizenship.  we are to submit to the laws of  our residence, but not to live like its citizens.  our customs and culture say we are to share amongst ourselves.  not just those nearby, but the Kingdom as a whole.  as one Kingdom with all needs met, then we can care for those around us.  but we must help our brothers elsewhere be able to do the same.

/prayer/  LORD, please give me courage.  speak through me boldly!  and let nothing hold me back from doing Your will.  surround me with Your people.  and surround us with our mission.  God, i long for the community of Your Kingdom.  i long to come home!  but for the time You have me here, God, i pray that You give me the strength to wage total war on the enemy and total love on the broken.  /amen/

Day 19: Acts 3

when the romans built their road system, they built it rather high.  so it wasn’t easy to just get on the road.  it was more of a short wall.  i feel like my journey is much like that.  like i started out on the road, casually walking along.  but i noticed something just to the side.  i needed a closer look at this distraction, so i hopped off the road.  and it seems to be taking some time to get back past the edge.  gravity seems to be working against me.  it was so easy to jump off the road and land safely to explore, but then so difficult to climb back up.  i feel as if i’ve been walking to the side of the road lately.  as if the road is rougher, and the distractions much more enticing.  today i make another attempt to climb up that steep edge.

luke continues his narrative with peter and john heading to the temple for midday prayer.  on their way, they’re stopped by a paralyzed beggar.  when asked for money, they say they have none, but then heal him in the name of Jesus.  the beggar walks away healed, everyone’s amazed, and everything else you’d expect from such a miracle.  but what i noticed most is the attitude of peter and john.  they saw a beggar, clearly in need of money, most likely because he could not walk, which i imagine most all careers in the day would have required.  i picture two possible scenarios, both in which there is something to be learned.  first is that peter and john do indeed have no money and can’t give the beggar anything.  but instead of pouting because God hasn’t blessed them, they remember that their God is bigger than material possessions and gives His children everything they need.  they realize that the name of Jesus is far greater than a problem of money.  so with their heads in the right place about how God has truely blessed them, they introduce this beggar the power of Jesus Christ.  alternatively, peter and john do have some spending money on them, but they realize this is just a temporary solution to a permanent problem.  they look past the superficial need of money to the reason for that need.  if the man could walk, surely he could make his own money.  then he’d never have to beg again.  that seems like a much better solution.  and again knowing the power they possess by the name of Jesus, they heal the man, which is a far greater fulfillment of his need than money.  it makes me think about what would peter and john do about world hunger or poverty or pandemics?  or what about dirty water sources around the world, ethnic cleansing, or child soldiers?  what would peter and john do about the great injustices in the world today?  and i think more importantly than that, why isn’t the Church doing it?  we have the power of the name of Jesus Christ!  what greater weapon is there?

such a miracle tends to draw a crowd.  and when the healed man hangs around you, you quickly become the center of attention.  of course, peter and john know what to do with this.  healing a man is a great start.  and healing the souls of many more would also be great.  so peter did what he does best–he stood up and preached the Gospel of Jesus.  not for even a second did peter let the crowd believe he healed through his own power.  but rather, he redirected their attention and astonishment to the source of that power, Jesus.  he went on to explain why Jesus has this power.  he didn’t hold back about those people being guilty of crucifying Him, but he also delivered the message with tact, saying they acted in ignorance and that act fulfilled the prophecies.  but that still doesn’t excuse their guilt.  peter urged the crowd to repent and to follow the Messiah.  now peter doesn’t yet get some one-on-one time with the people standing around as he is so rudely interrupted by a group of various officials that don’t particularly care for the Jesus movement.  but that happens in tomorrows lesson.  as for today’s lesson, i see that peter and john don’t waste an opportunity to speak truth.  sometimes that opportunity is with one person who is barely acknowledging you, so he has to be wooed before he desires to hear what you say.  and sometimes that opportunity is with a large crowd of people giving you their undivided attention because of how you wooed the last guy!  either way, we have a message to give.  we have needs to meet.  we have Truth to spread.  every moment of every day is a potential opportunity to speak truth and be used by the power of Jesus.  we cannot let ourselves get in the way of something so great as that.

/prayer/  LORD, open my eyes to the opportunities You give me.  help me to know the best way to use Your power.  i know You equip me fully to do Your will.  help me to see that will and remain focused on it.  be my Guide.  /amen/