“Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.  And He said to her, “What do you desire?” She said to Him, “Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left” (Matthew 20:20-21).

This world teaches us to get ahead, look for the highest position and seek greater status.  God needs none of these things.  We need none of these things.  God has made you to be humble.  Be whom the Lord has made you to be.  Pride is what took down the devil and pride is what rules this age.  Be content with your circumstances and seek to do what is pleasing to the Lord.  In all things, serve Him.

Holy Spirit, You know the struggle that is within me.  I seek to get ahead and be someone others look up to.  I want positions that others look at and think me better than I am.  Take this away from me so that I may learn humility and be guided to become what You are making of me.  Guide me in the way of becoming like Jesus so that I seek the righteousness You give and live the life You have given me to live.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your patience and guidance.  You have taught all of us how life is to be lived.  Let me accept what You would have me do and be content with where I am in this world.  Lead me to love You above all things and not fall for the temptation of being someone that is neither fruitful, nor helpful to Your kingdom or to me.  Guide me in living the life You have given me and teach me to be faithful.  Amen.

“As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the road He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and they will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify, and on the third day He will be raised up” (Matthew 20:17-19).

How would you receive this news?  We like happy, exciting news of glory and the coming kingdom.  We do not like hearing the cost of it.  Jesus has come to redeem those who will come into His presence.  He paid the price for our sake none of us could even begin to imagine.  He does what needs to be done.  Never forget that you were purchased for a great price.  Jesus died for our sin, for our salvation.

Almighty God, Your goodness and mercy are unsurpassed.  It is hard to fathom the price You willingly paid for our sake.  We like to focus upon the good things and often forget that You have redeemed us from a world that is bent upon hell.  Help Your faithful to never forget the price You have paid so that we, steeped in sin, but saved by Your grace,  may be presented before You without spot or blemish.

Lord Jesus, You speak to us words that are hard to bear.  You have born our iniquity that we might be freed from the recompense of sin.  So lead all who call upon Your name to humbly submit to You as the One who saves.  Guide me this day to humbly go where You send me and do what You give me to do.  Amen.

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’  So the last shall be first, and the first, last” (Matthew 20:15-16).

Is not God just when He does what He does with what is His?  The world cries, “Not fair.”  But what is fairness?  Is that not a way of segregating people according to our view of things?  We each receive what we receive.  There are always complexities behind everything.  Be led by the One who created all things.  Trust in His leadership and be thankful for all that He has given you.

Lord, whether I receive much or little, it is all in Your hands.  You have given me the hope of eternal life with You.  This world is difficult and hard to figure out.  Help me to live into the life You have given me and do what You give me to do.  Lead me in Your goodness and mercy to humbly walk in the way of salvation and trust that You are perfectly just.  In Your kindness, lift me up to give grace as I have received grace.

Thank You Lord Jesus for telling us beforehand the way things are.  In Your goodness, lead me to have a thankful heart and remove any covetousness that is in me.  Help me to live each day rejoicing in the goodness You give.  Teach me to reach out beyond myself so that I may humbly walk in Your presence and learn from You how to live life as I prepare for eternity with You.  Amen.

“But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you” (Matthew 20:13-14).

Some will receive more and some less.  All who believe are given the right to become children of God, but we are not all the same.  Our world yells for equity, but that is a worldly lie.  We deserve death but are given life through Christ.  That is not equity.  But we are all equal in the Lord’s eyes.  He loves each one of us.  Do not look at things the way the world does but see things the way our Lord has created them to be.

Lord, I am filled with the pollution of this age.  Help me to move away from how the world thinks and put on Your mind.  Open my eyes to see and, to the ability You give me, understand things as they truly are.  Guide me in Your goodness and mercy to live into the life You have given me.  Guide me always in Your way so that I may live according to Your word and not according to this world’s ideas.

Lord Jesus, You have laid out principles that are easy to understand, but hard to grasp.  Moment by moment, guide me so that I do not slip into the way of the world.  Lead me to be thankful for all that You have given me and for the position You have granted for me to live.  Help me to be obedient for love’s sake so that I willingly do the things You give me to do.  Guide me always in Your love by the abundance of Your grace which I need.  Amen.

“And so when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.  When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat’” (Matthew 20:10-12).

No matter how faithful you are, or how long you have been working for the Lord, the reward is the same.  Through faith by grace, we receive eternal life with the Lord.  The Lord’s kingdom is not a competitive race as is this age.  All are equally loved by our Lord.  It is difficult to get out of the mind-set of getting ahead by competition and into the necessity of learning how to love all others sacrificially as you are loved.

Lord, no matter the burdens I believe I am carrying, You have carried the greatest portion.  What is all that I do, compared to all that You have done.  Guide me in the way You would have me go and turn my heart from the ways of this world to see that in the unity of Your Trinity, You call each of us to do what we can.  It does not matter how much or how long.  The privilege is being in You and a part of Your kingdom.

Lord Jesus, You know how this world tugs at me so that I see things as greater and lesser, more and less.  Help me to have a new way of looking at things so that I see these things the way You do — quality rather than quantity.  Keep me faithful to You and simply learn how to be obedient.  Guide me in the way You know I need to go this day and let me seek to humbly be faithful to all that You give me to do.  Amen.

“Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’  When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius” (Matthew 20:8-9).

Each will receive the gift of life from the Lord.  Why does covetousness come in, and we want more because we think we did more?  Our Lord gave His life for us.  What more can we ask that would compare with that?  The life we are offered is not a repeat of this age, but eternal life in the Lord.  Come into His kingdom and be thankful that you are included.  Rejoice in the salvation He has given both to you and other believers.

Lord, I work hard in this world, but I am too often unwilling to work in the vineyard into which You have invited me.  Guide me away from the pride of this world to see things from Your viewpoint.  Lead me to rejoice that I have been given salvation.  Help me to live being thankful for what I have been given and to be like Jesus in all that I think, say, and do.  Show me the way of the cross.

Lord Jesus, You have told us that in this age, we will suffer for Your name’s sake.  Let me joyfully enter the work of the Father’s kingdom and do what You give me to do.  Guide me in the goodness and mercy You have given me so that I rejoice in whatever portion You give me.  Help me to live in such a way that I willingly work where You give me work to do and hold no envy for what others may do.  Amen.

“And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace;  and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ And so they went.  Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’  They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too’” (Matthew 20:3-7).

The Lord does not tire of inviting people to come into His vineyard.  Some come early and some come late.  The Father desires that none would perish.  So long as it is day, there is work to be done.  The harvest – the people who are hell-bound – are many and those who will reach out and share the Gospel are few.  Working in the Lord’s kingdom is a privilege.  Are you willing to come into the Lord’s labor?

Lord, You know I have heard this message over and over.  You know that doing what You want me to do on a personal level is often all I am willing to do.  Raise me up and shake off my attitude so that I have compassion upon others as You have had compassion upon me.  Let me see that there is much work that needs to be done in Your vineyard and to go in and work diligently where You place me.

Lord, our retirement-attitude mentality prepares us to relax and play.  You tell us there is work to be done.  Guide me away from the foolishness of this age to live into the reality of all that You are preparing.  Lead me in Your goodness and mercy so that I may humbly walk in the way You will have me go, doing what You give me to do, thankful that I have been included in your plan of salvation.  Amen.  

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:1-2).

Will you come in and work in the vineyard?  We each have the invitation to come into God’s reign and live and work there.  Many do not want to work.  Some do not want what God offers.  The wage is eternal life.  Eternal life with the Lord.  We all have the invitation to come and work in the Lord’s kingdom.  We know what we are given in exchange.  Will you live the life to which you have been invited?

Lord, You know my heart and there are those times when I grumble and do not understand that You have invited me out of the way of this world and into the way of everlasting life.  Lead my heart, O Lord, so that I willingly enter the work of the kingdom.  We are all paid the same, so let me not worry about that.  We each will have different jobs, so let me not grumble about that.

Holy Spirit, keep my mind in check and help me to have a pure and clean heart.  That is, a mind that sees things as they are and rejoices that Your work is being done in me.  May I learn from You to be grateful for Your kingdom having come to me so that I share Your kingdom with others.  Lead me, Lord, in the way You know I need to go today and help me to be a willing worker in the Father’s vineyard.  Amen.

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms on account of my name, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:29-30).

We need to get it out of our heads that this is a territorial answer.  Everything belongs to the Lord.  If we begin to see this relationally, we see that our Lord is telling us that we are a part of His kingdom when we walk in His grace.  We each have our unique part.  Be led by faith in what the Lord is doing and not by seeing things the way this world is doing things.  Our Lord’s kingdom is forever, good, pure, and true.

Lord, help me to get beyond myself and see things through Your eyes.  I am barely able to begin to comprehend what You are creating, but I see a reflection of it with each faithful person who lives by faith in this world.  Guide me out of wrong thinking to trust You above all things.  You are creating what You are creating, and You have invited me to be with You forever.  Let that guide me in all that I do.

Lead me, Holy Spirit, into the kind of thinking that is fitting for the Kingdom of Heaven.  You know the things that are getting in the way of me thinking with purity.  Guide me in the upward call of faith so that I focus upon what You would have me focus upon and leave behind what needs to be left behind.  Through all things, teach me how to love as You love so that I may focus upon loving my neighbor.  Amen.

Then Peter responded and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”  And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:27-28).

Do not take this as a service and reward statement.  Some do.  We serve the Lord and just being in the kingdom is a great enough gift.  The Lord is teaching us the principle that we are to serve one another.  As our Lord has served us, so also, we ought to serve one another.  To be an arbiter is not as we think of ruling.  It is to be a peacemaker and one who protects relationships.  Our Lord invites us to do the same.

Lord, You know that I see things in a worldly, sinful way.  I think of ruling and power, but You have demonstrated first grace and mercy and then caring for others.  I think of what I can gain, but You gave all You had away.  I think of others looking up to me, but You have taught us that we are to love God above all things.  Lord, help me to understand the truth of what You are teaching me.

Holy Spirit, You know where there are those places in my heart that are still steeped in pride and covetousness.  Teach me the things I need to know.  Help me to see things the way You have created them to be.  Guide me along the path of becoming so that I do not impose any earthly things upon what You are doing in me.  Help me to see and understand the abundance of grace and mercy that I need.  Amen.