Praying with Jesus

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day six)

This week, I stumbled upon this profound quotation from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together:

“The Psalms are the prayer book of Jesus in the truest sense of the word…Because Christ prays the prayer of the Psalms with the individual and the congregation before the heavenly throne of God, or rather because those who pray the Psalms are joining in with the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayers reach the ears of God. Christ has become their intercessor.”

That claim is both comforting and revolutionary. It means that when we open the Psalms, we are not simply reading ancient religious poetry; we are stepping into the living prayer life of Jesus Himself.

We often read the Psalms looking for references to Christ, and rightly so. But Bonhoeffer pushes us further. The Psalms are not merely predictions about Jesus; they are the very words Jesus took on His lips.

He prayed them in the synagogue.
He sang them with His disciples.
He cried them from the cross.

So when we pray the Psalms today, we are not praying alone. We are praying with Christ.

This transforms how we think about prayer. Prayer is not first about finding the right words or reaching a certain emotional state. It is about participation, being drawn into the Son’s relationship with the Father.

 

Prompts

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day five) Did you notice the shift (progression) of the pronouns in Psalm 66? Beginning as general (they, them) moving to corporate (us, our, we), and concluding as personal (I, my, me). Same faithfulness and power. Same attention and kindness. Same wisdom and character. How do you see God working in the world?  How do you see God working in our church?  How do you see God working in your heart and life?  Maybe the prompt is for us to be constantly looking and listening for God’s activity and work in the world. Maybe the prompt is to learn and trust the unchanging nature and character of God. And maybe the prompt is to pray, sing, and celebrate that this grand and glorious God gives His affection and attention to each of us (me). “This is MY story this is MY song, Praising MY savior all the day long.”  Tell Him. Praise Him.

Words for Worship

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day four)

The Psalms teach us how to worship and how to pray. They free us to pray in ways we aren’t used to, and they give language to emotions that are hard to put into words. When we pray the words of the Psalms, we’re using prayers of old to express ourselves to God, and we find they are just as relevant and poignant now as they were then.

In Psalm 66, we find a prayer that follows the journey of the Israelites, centering on the event of the Exodus. In the Exodus, we see that an all-powerful God is willing to hear the cries of his people and intervene on their behalf. The Psalmist recognizes that God allowed them to experience hardship, but it was a hardship that refined them as God’s people. They reflect on that refinement with joy because it ultimately led them to a place of abundance.

Though we didn’t experience the Exodus firsthand, these words still lead us to worship. When have you experienced God intervening on your behalf? When have you experienced a challenging time of God refining you, allowing you to go through hard things? How did that refinement make you more Christlike? How has God led you into abundance? As we reflect on these things, we’ll find that we come to the same conclusion as the Psalmist: we should make God’s praise glorious.

Come and See What God Has Done

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day three)

5 Come and see what God has done; he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

The story of God is meant to be shared. Here, the Psalmist sets the example of inviting others in closer to know and experience the goodness of God. These words are a reminder to us that God’s people, both then and now, are the bringers of His light into this dark world so that others may come and see that the Lord is good. His message is not for us to keep it to ourselves, but to eagerly share what we know to be the wonderful thing it is to know Jesus as our savior.

Our story (no matter how grand or insignificant in our own eyes) is meant to be shared because it points to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. You were important enough to God for Him to send Jesus to take your sin punishment. Your family members, friends, the stranger you meet on the street, the checker at the grocery store, the parent you talk to at school functions were all important enough to God for Jesus to die for them. How can we not share the awesome thing God has done for us?

Share your testimony. Share how God has saved you and transformed you. Share how He makes an impact in your life. Share the awesome deeds of your Father in Heaven so that others might know Him, too.

Who in your life this week are you going to invite closer to see what God has done?

Kingdom Generosity 2.0

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day two)

Come and see the works of God,
Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. v. 5

We have spent the past six weeks talking about stewardship in our series called Kingdom Generosity. I was struck as I re-read the text for today in light of that study. Much of our study was how we were to shepherd the resources given to us. This passage helped me remember that we are generous because God is generous. He has literally given everything to us – including, and, especially, Jesus. What a joy, then, to have the privilege to point people to God’s goodness. Our task is to tell others “Look how awesome God is!” Not a bad assignment.

Monday Re:Vlog – 2/23/26

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day one)

Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Executive Pastor Scott Lane, and Minister Megan Langan walk us through Psalm 66:1-20 in our New Re:Verse Series: “Psalms – Voicing our Faith.”

Our apologies for the audio. We are working to correct the technical difficulties for next week.

Laziness

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day seven)

You wicked, lazy slave. 

The sin was laziness. The Master was not upset because the slave came back with no interest. The Master was not upset because the slave was dishonest. The Master was upset because the slave did not even try. He was not even that afraid of his Master. If he was, he would have put it in the bank instead of burying it in a field. The slave was afraid of failure.

As we gathered around the cross on Wednesday night in a time of confession and repentance, we were given a repentance sheet (one Pastor Chris encourages us to use often). At the top of the deadly sin list stands a word we do not talk about often in Baptist life. Acedia: spiritual or mental sloth; apathy.

The sin is laziness. Especially when it comes to stewardship, we can easily become lazy in our giving, we can become lazy in our serving, and we can become lazy in our learning. We can do it all with excuses and rationalizations, but the truth is, our laziness shows we were never really afraid of the Master, we are afraid of failure. Take a risk. Give it a try. See what happens when you take your talents and put them in a position to be used and multiplied.

Kingdom Servants

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day six)

The servants had a singular purpose: to extend and preserve the household’s legacy. It wasn’t a side project or optional task; it was their primary calling. The story challenges our tendency to treat the Kingdom like a hobby, something we add to an already full life.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33, “seek first the kingdom,” remind us that stewardship is about priority, not just participation. And it’s not only about money. Time, relationships, gifts, and opportunities are all part of what God entrusts to us.

Stewardship isn’t something Christians occasionally do; it’s part of who we are. To follow Jesus is to live with open hands, recognizing that every part of life belongs to Him and can be invested for His purposes.

Living for “Well Done”

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day five)

“Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23)

Those are the words every believer longs to hear from Jesus.

In the Gospel of Matthew 24–25, Jesus teaches about His return. Instead of giving dates, He gives parables. The message is clear: live ready. Live faithful.

In the Parable of the Talents, the master entrusts his servants with resources and then departs. When he returns, he looks for faithfulness. The issue isn’t how much they were given—it’s what they did with it.

This parable isn’t ultimately about productivity. It’s about love. The faithful servants trusted and loved their master. The unfaithful servant withdrew in fear and did nothing.

We don’t serve out of guilt. Guilt is not the voice of the Spirit. We serve out of joy. Jesus invites us into His work—sowing, reaping, praying for laborers—because “the harvest is plentiful” (Matthew 9:37–38).

And we don’t do this alone. The Kingdom is a community project. We labor side by side, strengthening one another as we finish the mission God has entrusted to us.

Jesus has gone away.

He will return.

May we be found faithful.

Invest

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day four)

This parable is part of a series of teachings that Jesus gives his disciples before making his final journey to the cross. He gives this teaching on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city of Jerusalem, where he would soon be put to death. In this series of teachings, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death, resurrection, and ultimate return.

Through the analogy of investing, Jesus is encouraging his disciples to maximize the life they’ve been given in order to advance God’s Kingdom. He instructs them not to sit on their hands, hide away in fear, or ignore the world around them while they await his return. They are to invest what they’ve been given – their intimate walk with Jesus, their knowledge of God’s Kingdom, their time, their resources and connections, their money, and everything around them – into the Kingdom of God. Any investment into the Kingdom will reap a generous return.

God has given to each of us generously and uniquely. Take stock of what God has given you (no matter who you are, it will be a long list). How can you use these things to invest in the Kingdom of God?