Devotion
Where Do You Need Healing?
Frances Taylor
We all need healing, but are we "blind" to where we need healing the most? Bartimeus in today's gospel knew what needed healing and who he needed to go to in order to obtain healing. Physical needs, such as Batimaeus' blindness, are obvious, but spiritual, emotional or psychological healing can be hidden even from ourselves. Those whose specialty includes marketing or advertising are well aware of this and use this to create a need for their products in us. Sometimes it is hard to see what we really need – or hard to admit it. Are we still carrying pain from a betrayal, a loss, an unfulfilled need buried so deeply that we are afraid to open the wound? Are we suffering from an addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling or our phones? We are told there is a new "condition" called FOMO, the fear of missing out of something. These addictions can take away from our families and even our ability to hold down a job, Doctors know that wounds sometimes need to be opened in order for healing to occur. Jesus is the Doctor who knows were our deepest wounds are found and is waiting for us to come to him in order that they may be healed. Bartimaeus knew this. We need to have the faith in Jesus to bring our wounds to the light and love of his healing power, but first we need to have the courage to face them. Let's take advantage of every opportunity to ask for healing. Jesus is waiting.
Prayer
Gracious God, open my eyes to the areas of my life where I need healing. I ask you to light the dark spots in me so that I may see more clearly the things that I need to change. I come to you, Lord, in the firm belief that you want me to be healed, and ask you to do it. 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.
