Thirty Days of Change

The Scriptures below are 30 days of reflection I and others entered into just after the 2020 election. At that time, Christians were quite divided over questions like whether President Trump was a Cyrus sent of God or a man of lawlessness deceiving the very elect. We were divided over whether it was victorious Christian freedom to boldly gather together to worship maskless or whether Christ would have us quarantine and mask to protect others and ourselves.

I felt led to enter a 30 day period from November 10 to December 9, asking God to show me if I was headed in the wrong direction on anything. It was completely open-ended. Others joined me as well. I was also heavily reading C.S. Lewis during that period for a webinar. Below are the verses from those 30 days below. As I commented on Facebook today, "I can't say as yet that God has shown me a particular trajectory to change. C. S. Lewis has been tugging at me in some places. We'll see."

Since this post will stand for as long as Blogger and the internet, I welcome you, perhaps even my future self, to use these verses for thirty days of reflection in your life, when you have ever so small a question about whether God is calling you to change.

1. I know we are all praying, but I want to invite all my Christian friends to thirty very particular days of prayer with me. It's a prayer for God to show me if I'm wrong on anything. But we really have to mean it. It can't be a "but, wink, we know we're right."

I once prayed this in college, never expecting God to change my mind. But he did. Would you pray this special prayer with me with an open heart? I will too.

"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise." Psalm 51:15

2. "I have other sheep who are not of this fold." John 10:16

I don't believe that the huge variety of denominations comes because Wesleyans are spiritual and everyone else isn't. Our hearts can be one, yet all of our heads are surely wrong on something in relation to God, the Bible, or how to live.

Lord, show me where my "wrongness" is harmful to myself or others.

3. "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalms 25:5

A quote from C. S. Lewis: "Tirian had never dreamed that one of the results of an Ape's setting up a false Aslan would be to stop people from believing in the real one." C.S. Lewis, The Final Battle

4. "Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'" Acts 9:3-4 Lord, are there ways in which our zeal is hurting the gospel?

A quote from C. S. Lewis: "We keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V. We do not know who are the major and who the minor characters. The Author knows." C.S. Lewis, "The World's Last Night"

5. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

6. "When you turn to the right or to the left, your ears shall hear a [redirecting] voice behind you, saying, 'This is the path to walk in.'" Isaiah 30:21

7. "Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another." Romans 14:13

8. "The Lord came and stood there, calling as before, 'Samuel! Samuel!' And Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'" 1 Sam. 3:10

9. "Then David’s anger was greatly kindled... He said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die...' Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!'" 2 Sam. 12:5, 7

10. "Then the other man said to him, 'I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.' But he was deceiving him." 1 Kings 13:18

Lord, help me not to be deceived by that which falsely claims to come from you.

11. "But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to govern us.' Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.'" 1 Samuel 8:6‭-‬7

Lord, don't give us our way when it is not your way.

12. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let that person ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you." James 1:5

13. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, But only one thing is necessary." Luke 10:41-42

14. "Cain was very angry, and the look on his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?'" Gen. 4:5-7

Lord, help me not to be upset when I find out I am wrong.

15. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will straighten your paths." Prov. 3:5-6

16. "When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was stupid and ignorant... Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will receive me with honor." Ps. 73:21-24

17. Thanksgiving. By God's grace on this Thanksgiving may we "enter his gates with thanksgiving" in our hearts. May we "enter his courts with praise." May we say, "this is the day that the LORD has made." Let us rejoice, for he has made us glad.

It grieves my heart today to hear of so many who are sick or dying with COVID right now. The most recent is former General Superintendent Earl Wilson and his son-in-law, Wayne Derr's mother. Praying in earnest for his daughter Colleen, her husband Wayne, and their families right now.

Thankful for today's life and health. Thankful for a snapshot of life and health for so many still among family and friends.

18. "I will keep my eyes always on the Lord; with him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Ps. 16:8

19. "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." Psalm 119:18

20. "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know... Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:3, 6

21. "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ... Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" Matthew 25:37, 44

22. "When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision criticized him, saying, 'Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?' ... When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, 'Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.'" Acts 11:2-3, 18

23. Leave these men alone. If this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, because then you would be fighting against God. Acts 5:38-39

24. "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness." 2 Cor. 11:14-15

25. "Even though you intended to do harm... God intended it for good, in order to preserve a people." Genesis 50:20

I also read this quote from C.S. Lewis that day, ""It is waking that understands sleep and not sleep that understands waking." CS Lewis, Perelandra"

26. "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me" your understanding. Gen 22:12

This was a day when the COVID pandemic was particularly heavy on me because family members were diagnosed. I also posted this comment that day: "Lord, we pray for all those who are wrestling with COVID right now. We ask for your mercy and grace on us. We are but creatures of dust, yet you are mindful of us. You pay attention to us. You love us despite our silliness and proneness to wander. Thank you for vaccines. Please protect us until then. In your mercy, please hear our prayer."

27. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

28. "Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish." 1 Corinthians 2:6

29. "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3-4

30. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree in which the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." Matthew 13:31-32 

Thirty days ago we started a season of asking God to change our minds on anything where we might be headed in the wrong direction. In college, the seeds of change took months. If you have taken this path, I hope you've found either peace or a "holy disquiet" as well. Like the mustard seed, may God grow some great trees in our lives in the days ahead!