Devotion
I Delight To Do Your Will
Frances Taylor
When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In this psalm, we pray that we delight to do God's will. I wonder if we really mean what we pray, or if we just say the words. First, we need to think about what God's will really is. When we read the Scriptures we see certain themes – justice, peace, and especially, love. These themes run through the Old Testament as well as the New. We are told to take care of the poor, the most vulnerable in our society. We are asked to remember that we were once strangers in the lands we now occupy. We are told to treat others the way we want to be treated, to forgive. These are not easy tasks and sometimes we do not "delight" in doing them. We want justice but not if it interferes with our comfort. We want peace, but our speech is often lo ...
Prayer
Lord, you are my help, do not delay! Amen.
Devotion
From Death to New Life
Frances Taylor
How many of us have cried out with Martha and Mary, "Lord, if you had been there, my brother – sister, mother, father, child, friend – would not have died?" Today's reading lets us know that Jesus was and is there when a loved one dies, and is ready to call him or her out to new life. Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Just in case we still had doubts about the possibility of resurrection, Jesus clearly shows that all is possible. Lazarus, of course, no longer walks the earth, so he must have died again and been buried again, and this time, he awakened into eternal life, not his earthly one. And so, all of us who have been baptized into the death of Christ have been promised that we, too, would awaken into eternal life.
Mother Teresa once said that since she had died with Christ in baptism, she had nothing to fear. This gave her the courage to walk amid the streets of Calcutta helping the poor, the sick and the dying. What holds ...
Morning Prayer
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Inspiration
If we have worries that seem to press in upon us and crush us, if we are fearful about the future, or if we wonder sometimes if God really cares, this verse should be a great comfort to us. We can leave all our cares in the hands of Him who always loves us and is always looking out for our welfare.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you taught us the folly of worry when you walked among men. You showed us that if God cares for even a sparrow, He will surely take care of His children. We know that the future is in your hands and that those hands are the very ones you gave to be nailed to a cross in order to save us. We trust you with all of our cares and concerns and will not show distrust of you by worrying. Amen.
