Devotion
A debt we can never fully repay
David Jacobs
I am not too fond of the feeling of owing people anything, be it money or even a favor. I always do my best to pay people back right away, because I feel guilty of taking something from someone and not being able to pay them back. I do not particularly appreciate owing people so much that I will not ask when I need help, even though my friends and family would certainly help me with no hesitation. Worst of all, I sometimes do not ask God for help, because I feel that I owe Him most of all.
Taking on debt and feeling indebted makes me feel helpless. "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8) In these verses, a widow comes to Elisha with creditors coming and no money to pay them. The widow asks Elisha for assistance, and Elisha asks God. All that she had was a jar of oil, and Elisha tells her to ask her neighbors for jars as well. She did, and the jars became filled by God, and she could feed her family and pay her debt.
Sometimes asking for help is the hardest part. We may feel unworthy; we may be embarrassed; we may feel ashamed at being unable not to know what to do. Everybody needs help sometimes, and our friends, family, neighbors, and God are all willing and able to help. "Ask, and it shall be given unto you." It is easier said than done, but once done, it seems so easy.
Prayer
Precious Lord, forgive me for not asking for your help when I need it. Forgive me for pushing you away when I should have pulled you closer. Help me to be more open with you and those closest to me so that they can help me when I need it and I can say they will be more willing to come to me for help. Lord, I am forever indebted to you. We are all indebted to you, for your son, Jesus Christ, has paid the debt for our sins. In his holy name, I pray. Amen.
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.
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 ...
