Insightful Musings on the New Testament
by
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67

Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.

Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray is following, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010.

|  Daily Reading Guide  |  2010 Devotion Archives  |
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25 June 10
            Dear special people…
            Lots done already today…lots more to do.  I’ve had 3 loads of logs delivered, among other things.  I guess we still have more work to do.  So we’re a lot better off than some around here who don’t have work.
            Have a blessed rest of the day.
                                                          Love, Dad/Ray
 
25 June 2010
Passage: Luke 22:39-65
Focus: “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  Luke 22:40.
            Rather than Jesus prescribing a prayer request that says, “Lord, help me not to fall to temptation,” I think He is prescribing a principle of Christian victory that could be paraphrased this way: “Maintain prayer (close personal relationship with God) as a preventive measure against failure due to temptation.”
            Allow me to extract a phrase out of verse 44: “…being in anguish, he prayed…”  That too can be made into a standard to live by.  Temptation has the subtle deceptive influence to draw us away from a close relationship with our Lord.  Typically temptation causes us to pray less.  But this standard directs us to pray more.  So the practical rule could go this way: “WHEN FACING ANGUISH, PRAY.”
            Psalm 19:14 is a great prayer to pray and principle to pursue: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer.”  I would argue that you and I can hardly go very far off course in the direction of temptation and evil while sincerely praying this kind of prayer.
            Peter is presented in this reading as a great example of this principle.  He had to be an emotional basket case by the time he followed the procession into the courtyard of the High Priest where Jesus was held under arrest.  Talk about anguish!  Jesus had just rebuked him for getting out his sword with the intent of taking on the whole mob.  But now…what does he do?  I’ll guarantee he wasn’t doing much praying.  So it was easy to “fall into temptation.”  He fell three times.  Then the rooster crowed.  But, thank God, he didn’t stay there.  He finally did the right thing and went out and cried…and prayed.
 
            “When you feel you are free from temptation, be most on your guard.”