Devotion
Living According to the Will of God
Frances Taylor
I may have mentioned it before, and will probably do so again, but I don't worry about the end of the World! There's no promise that this will happen before my time on earth is up. So what does this passage say to me?
For me it means that I need to live each day doing the will of God as best I can because I don't know when I will die. There was a famous Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, who wrote a prayer that I have always loved because it gives me hope. In it he writes that he tries to do God's will even though he's not always sure what that is, but he believes, as I do, that the desire to do God's will pleases God. We can't always be sure that we're on the right path given the choices we must make each day, but we can ask God's guidance each day to help us not stray far from his plan.
We do get a hint of how to keep to God's will from this passage – don't give in to sins of the flesh! Our society keeps telling us that if it feels good, we should do it! Then we are surprised at the increase in the presence of depression, feelings of guilt and a lack of self-respect. God made us, he knows what makes us happy, and following his commandments, trying to do his will, is the way to happiness in this world as well as in the next.
Prayer
Lord, show me the path you have chosen for me that I may do your will and be happy in this world and celebrate with you in the world to come. 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.
