Getting over a cold or flu takes a few days. Still groggy, I ease off the couch as my energy returns. But not so for one who encountered Jesus in her time of illness:

Jesus left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.

Simon Peter’s mother-in-law burned with fever. The worried family turned to the healer in their midst and asked for help. Jesus spoke to the fever and told it to leave—the Creator manipulating creation. Did the viruses causing her illness suddenly collapse? Or a surge of white blood cells charge into the valley of death?

Regardless, Jesus transformed this woman. She rose filled with energy and purpose, restored to full health thanks to his voice.

Which makes me wonder, who around me needs this type of comment from Jesus? Who suffers from a high fever brought on by the sins of the world, or the temptations of the flesh, or the desires of the self? Who’s burning up?

Pause for a moment and ask the Holy Spirit. I did and a person immediately popped to mind. I don’t know what type of healing lies in the future, but I do know that only Jesus cures a fever of the soul. Pray for his transforming voice in the life of someone you know today.

Luke 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by James

I don’t often put the two together—wrestling and praying. When I watch collegiate wrestling, prayer never springs to mind. But consider Paul’s metaphor (Paul seemed quite a fan of sports—he mentioned wrestling, running and boxing in his letters), and the exertion required to win a wrestling match overwhelms my feeble efforts at prayer.

Paul commended one of his colleagues as a champion of prayer: Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

To wrestle in prayer like a champion on the mat takes dedication. A good wrestler knows his opponent and exerts all his energy to overcome and win. You don’t want to get into a fight with a wrestler. They know ways of making you bend until you scream. Which is an odd thought when it comes to prayer.

But if our battle is not against flesh and blood, but spiritual forms of evil in the heavenly realms, then it’s appropriate to make them scream. The match is to the death. Wrestle in prayer so that those followers of Jesus around you stand firm, mature and confident. Our enemy hopes to pin us to the ground. Prayer allows us to slip his grasp.

This week I’m in Italy with a group of professors and fellow ministers. Before, during and after our conversations with students, we wrestle in prayer. The need to pray is more obvious when I’m in the midst of such a trip. But the necessity never goes away.

If you would, go to the mat for those of us in Italy this week. As Epaphras grappled for the followers of Jesus in Colossae, let us struggle for those who consider following Jesus. May they understand the mystery of Christ in new and compelling ways, and may we help them get there with our prayers.

Colossians 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Nathan Dumlao

Generally I’m not a very good pray-er. Easily distracted, my mind veers off into all sorts of (seemingly) interesting directions. But I understand the need for prayer. This week I especially resonate with Paul’s call for prayer:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

Paul underscored the value of prayer. Prayer draws upon the power of God, pulling his magnificence into our experience. Prayer pushes us closer to the Lord and to each other. It’s hard to stay angry with someone for very long when you start praying for them.

I need prayer and I need to pray. This week I’m in Italy with a group of professors and fellow ministers, speaking to Italian students at various universities. If you would, please pray for doors to swing open as we proclaim the mystery of Christ. Ask that we make the most of this opportunity, and that we speak words of grace seasoned with the Holy Spirit.

It’s humbling to realize that we are discussing the good news in Italy, where Paul and Peter and others did the same two thousand years ago. But every generation needs to hear afresh, and students find the wisdom of professors compelling. Join us in praying that seeds of faith find good Italian soil in which to sprout.

Colossians 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Jonathan Körner

Recently a few lines from the Bible stopped me cold. How does this ancient book describe our modern world so accurately? Notice David’s prayer, which sounds like a fresh description of today’s social media mobs:

Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the plots of evildoers. They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent; they shoot suddenly, without fear.

Those who’ve been around awhile know how people with sharpened tongues end up. David understood the experience as well:

But God will shoot them with his arrows; they will suddenly be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.

Men and women who live by spiteful, merciless words die by them as well. I’m reminded of the French Revolution, where once the guillotining of anti-revolutionaries started, even the founders lost their heads in the frenzy. The mob never stops until it consumes itself.

David rejected the mob for the Lord. His pronouncement of hope extends from ancient days to you and me today:

All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!

Nothing good emerges from the madness of crowds. Social media mobs provide little of value, but coalesce only to challenge and destroy. Ponder instead the works of the Lord. Turn to him for refuge when cruel words fly. Speak aloud of his good works, because the rest of our world needs to understand them as well.

Psalm 64 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Possessed Photography