When I pray for others, I am focused on what is best at this moment in time. Jesus is focused on what is best for all eternity. What I see as urgent looks very different to him.
Revelation 22:13 (NIV)
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.
What do I really want? The quick fix, or the eternal good?
“Time spent in prayer is never wasted.”
Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)
French Catholic theologian and poet
300 years, and every bit as true.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 (NASB)
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven–
God hung the sun, moon and stars in the heavens to mark off time. He appointed the seasons. He makes time for every event.
And silly us, we complain that his timing is all wrong. 
Which phrase best describes you?
Have you noticed that Creation was half over when God created time?
Genesis 1:14-19 (NIV)
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years” . . . And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Let us thank God for time.
“God’s truth judges created things out of love,
and Satan’s truth judges them out of envy and hatred.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
Truth and love on God’s side. That sounds right.
Ephesians 4:14-15 (KJV)
That we . . . speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
Just because something is true doesn’t it should be spoken.
May our speech be filled with truthful but loving words:
Philippians 4:8
. . . whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.
It’s the grown-up, Christ-like way to tell the truth.
The Bible speaks of hearts of stone and flesh:
Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Your heart pumps life-sustaining blood to every cell in your body. The stonier your heart, the weaker the pump, the less life to the cells. You starve, cell by cell.
Every time I harden my heart, O God, I cut off your life-flow. I don’t want to suffocate slowly. I want to live abundantly! Give me a heart of flesh. 
February is Heart Month. What are you doing to keep your heart healthy?
FORGIVE?
“Studies have shown that bitter, angry people have higher blood pressure and heart rate and are more likely to die of heart disease and other illnesses.”
(read the article here)
We routinely pray, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. It is good for our souls, we know. Forgiveness is good for our bodies, too.
This Bible verse should be the kick-off to every debate:
1 Peter 2:1 (ESV)
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Wouldn’t it be great if a buzzer cut off the speakers whenever words of malice, deceit or hypocrisy passed over their lips?
Come to think of it, I could use a buzzer like that myself.
