Dear God, please change ______'s attitude! :-)

Ezra 5, 6
Psalm 138
Luke 16

Some "brief" thoughts on Luke... I really liked the scripture in Luke today. It's part of the New Testament that I read and wonder if I've ever read it before. I know I've read Luke, but somehow this chapter was pretty new to me. The parable of the shrewd manager confused me. But I looked it up in our trusty Barclay Study Bible and found that I kinda like it. Barclay says that verse 8 reminds us that it's sad when people are putting more time and effort into their worldly activities than they are their Christianity and their church. If only Christians were putting as much effort into Christianity as non-Christians are putting into gaining the money and comfort of this world. Barclay also says that verses 9-11 remind us that the way we use our material possessions is important and our stewardship here determines what we will be given in heaven.

I also liked the story of the rich man and Lazarus. It's one of those stories that seems to be calling us into a way of life that very few people are living. If you have plenty, and there is someone in need, you shouldn't just ignore them, because that is a sin. Hmm... I think many many people here in the United States have plenty. And of course many people across the world are in need. Does that really mean we are meant to reduce our "wealth" to the minimum we need to live and give away the rest? Should we all be moving into some sort of minimal concrete block style houses, selling all our stuff and giving most of our income? I've mentioned this kind of thing a lot. I struggle with it a lot. I think it's the kind of thing that's not necessarily for everyone, it just depends on what God calls you to do in your life. And I know he's calling me to do more than I am now, probably not to the extreme of giving everything away and living in a shack, but somewhere in between. Guess I should get moving on that... always have an excuse for why I'm putting it off. Anyway, on to my real journal entry...

SOAP - Dear God, please change _______'s attitude! :-)

Scripture
Ezra 6:22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Observation
God changed the attitude of the king in order that the goal of rebuilding the temple could be completed. The people were very very thankful and celebrated the blessing God had given them.

Application
I'm not sure this scripture stood out for the right reasons but the idea of God changing someones attitude is really appealing to me. Of course I constantly need help with my own attitude, but that is a different scenario. Here we have people working for the Lord and a king that is potentially holding up progress. God changes his attitude. It's just interesting to think about. Makes me want to pray for God to change the attitude's of people during times when I feel like they are being a road block to good work that is being done. I guess it's ok to pray for God to change someone's attitude. It would benefit the work being done, and benefit the person too. Perhaps they'd realize the change, realize that God is working in their life, see the good results and begin to seek God. There is no area of my life that stands out right now where I think someones attitude needs to change, but there has been in the past. Of course I'm sure this whole "changing attitudes" thing requires a change in me too. I've seen God work in this area a lot in my life already. I've been amazed how much difference it can make to have a good attitude at work. Anyway, I'm really not sure what I've learned here, but I do find something appealing in reading scripture saying that God changed someone's attitude.

Prayer
Dear Lord, this scripture is kind of intriguing to me. Lord I pray that you'd help me put the pieces together and figure out how you want it to apply to my life. Lord it's really exciting to be reading and learning from scripture every day. Thank you for this Bible study, for this church and for the people involved. It's all a GREAT blessing. Amen.