Devotion
Detach yourself
David Jacobs
I watched a great movie called Force Majeure the other night. It is a Swedish movie about a family that goes on a ski vacation. The trip is going well until they are eating lunch one day. The ski resort uses explosives to create small, controlled avalanches so that there are no big avalanches, and when they are eating one day, one of the avalanches comes a little too close to the restaurant and seems like it will crush them. In that moment of panic, the mother in the family grabs her children and the father...grabs his iPhone.
In this era of capitalism, consumption and materialism rule supreme. We are taught to constantly want in a manner that is unhealthy not only in preserving our resources on Earth, but also in matter of the soul! This passage says to "Love not the world". It is not a suggestion to not appreciate God's creation. It is a commandment to not get attached to the superficial and fleeting love of worldly delights. With the amount of options available in our times, we can see how society has changed. We can all witness this becoming a larger problem not just for society but also as individuals. As Jesus remarked, we may see that Love of the Lord is the only true route to salvation. Regardless of what a man owns or collects, what he truly owns are the things that he can sacrifice.
Prayer
Blessed Father, I have been weak more times than I could mention. I pray today that you will strengthen the bond between us and help me distance myself from earthly temptations. I ask that you will light my path so that I can see that it is your love, and only your love, that is worth clinging to. Free me from this vicious cycle of consumption, the allure of greed, the temptation of lust and gluttony, and help me manage my pride to give all of what I have, all of what I am, to you. I pray all of this in your name. 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.
Devotion
Satan Has Been Defeated
Frances Taylor
Salvation and power have come with Christ and Satan has been defeated. Sin and death have been conquered by the actions of one man, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, both human and divine who came into the world to bring the Good News of salvation by living, dying and rising for us. As Christians we claim to believe this but our actions sometimes deny it. Unfortunately, people seem to resurrect Satan all the time. We allow him to lead us away from God, forgetting the way to the Father that is love, and giving in to Satan's path of hatred, anger, pride, lust, chaos and destruction.
Satan, of course, doesn't present these as bad things, he makes them seem attractive. He presents sin as goods to be desired, as things to make us happy or give us pleasure. It can be hard to stay on the path that leads to God when the world seems to be crowding us and pushing us off of it. How easy it is to forget the sacrifice that bought our freedom! Which of us ...
Morning Prayer
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Inspiration
It is right for us to defer to others and to rejoice with others when they have cause to rejoice over some blessing in their life, instead of sorrowing before them over some problem in our life. It is right also to weep with those who weep, showing compassion and feeling for them in their grief instead of "dancing joyfully before those who mourn" as if insensitive to their sorrow.
Prayer
Give me a discerning spirit, Lord, to know when to rejoice and when to weep. Let me show concern for others and their situation and life events instead of just focusing only on my own. Let me show true compassion and genuine joy in the right way and time to others. Amen.
