Devotion
We are the chosen generation
David Jacobs
We live in uncertain times: many would say that today, a new 'dark age' has befallen much of the world. War, pollution, disease...there is so much darkness that it can be easy to not notice the light. However, is today any darker than the days of Sodom and Gomorrah? Did the light of salvation not shine divinely now as it did at that time? It was not God changing how brightly the light shined, no. It was the inhabitants that chose to ignore and be blind to it.
Today, there are challenges to ones faith everywhere, just as it was with Lot: sex, drugs, violence...any type of sin that you can imagine seems to be commonplace in the society that we are currently living. There are times I wonder whether it is responsible to have a child in today's era, forgetting how the light of the Lord never ceases to shine. The choice is mine. The choice is yours. For those who are fortunate enough to know and have chosen to accept Christ, we may consider ourselves chosen by God. We have a responsibility to shine forth in the darkness, as a new nation of light, not limited by geography and distance, but instead brought together by faith.
Prayer
Lord God Almighty, help me realize how lucky I am, to be warmed and bask in your eternal light. Grant me the strength to shine brightly as an example to others, so that with my word and deed I may help spread your light, especially at the darkest hours. Lord I humbly ask that you use me as a vessel for others, so that they may see you as I do. Please, my God, use me so that I can show others that we are chosen to shine, and together we can change the darkness to light. I pray all of this in your holy name, Amen.
Devotion
His Loving Kindness Endures Forever
Frances Taylor
Psalm 136 is a list of all the wonders that God had done for the Israelites from creation through the deliverance from Egypt and into the land promised to them, providing them with all that they need. I challenge you to write a psalm listing all the things that God has done for you using the same format. Several years ago, I did this myself and it was a wonderful reminder of all that God had done for me. "I give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his mercy endures forever; he has provided me with a family that loved me, his mercy endures forever; he hears me when I call to him, his mercy endures forever; when I was in trouble he rescued me, his mercy endures forever." I listed all the gifts he has given me and continues to give me and I thanked him for all the times that I was in pain and he healed me, and the times when I needed to be rescued. I'm sure if you take up my challenge and compose your own psalm, you will discover ...
Morning Prayer
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Inspiration
To reject the truths taught in God's Word, spoken by his prophets and apostles and by Jesus Christ his Son, is a grave offense. In the days when Hebrews was written, there were still true prophets in the Church, speaking from God. Today, we have his written Word as our "prophet. " If a preacher preaches truly according to the Book, we are in a grave sin if we reject it.
Prayer
Help me, O Lord, to discern when your Word is being taught correctly and when it is not. Teach me to embrace your truths and love them. Help me to walk in them and meditate on them. Let me not sin in rejecting the plain teachings of the Bible. Amen.
Night Prayer
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Inspiration
Sin rules our lives until we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. When we invite Him into our lives, our old sinful heart dies, and God creates within us a new one, where sin no longer rules our life; God does! Our thoughts and actions begin to change because we no longer desire a sinful lifestyle. We joyfully devote our lives to serving Him and inviting others to understand His promise of salvation.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we are sinners born again and recreated to live according to Your will. We are grateful for Your love and the peace we experience by abolishing our old sinful self. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
