Devotion
Repent and Believe the Good News
Frances Taylor
We have heard these words many times as they were said to us while ashes were placed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesdays over the years as a sign of repentance. What is the "Good News?"
For Noah, it meant that God had made a promise to never allow floods to destroy the earth. For Abraham, it was a promise that he would become the father of a great nation and that he would be a blessing for his people. For Moses, the Ten Commandments were the sign of a new covenant with the people as they formed a nation. Throughout the Old Testament, God made covenants with the people and with Jesus, those covenants came to fulfillment.
For us, the Good News is that Jesus has come to save us through his life, death and resurrection. When we come to a true, conscious belief in this truth, our lives must change. We see the need to repent, to examine our lives, take stock and see what we can do to be better witnesses of Christ. Lent is the time the church year gives us for this process. Jesus' words at the Last Supper tell us that his blood is the blood of this New Covenant. In the understanding of those who lived in the time of Jesus, covenants were more than just a contract or promise, as anyone who broke a covenant was subject to death. And yet God never demanded our death – or Abraham's or Noah's, or Moses' – if we or they broke the covenant. However, we are called to do our part. As we continue our Lenten journey, may we all reexamine our commitment to Christ, truly believe the Good News and let our actions follow.
Prayer
Father, forgive me for me sins. Let this season of Lent help me to truly repent, to work to correct my faults and become more the person God created me to be. 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.
