Morning Prayer
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Inspiration
When we walk in obedience to God, there is a special peace of God that accompanies us. No believer can be undisturbed while walking in disobedience to God. Only when we "trust and obey" can we be truly happy in Jesus Christ.
Prayer
O Giver of true peace, the world seeks peace in their false religions, in the pleasures of this life, in the gratifying of their every desire, however sinful. We know the source of real peace. It comes from you. Help us to walk in your paths, and show us that they are indeed paths of peace. Amen.
Devotion
A Declaration
Frances Taylor
Was Jesus confirming his divinity? Some will say yes and others, I don't know. What I know is that John was writing this long after Jesus death at a time when there were debates going on around this very question. Much of the debate centered on when Jesus became divine, or was he only divine and never really human. By that time, the majority of Christians accepted the doctrine of the Trinity and believed as the Prologue to John's Gospel states, that the Son of God – the Word – existed from all eternity and in the fullness of time, took on flesh through the Virgin Mary and became a man, the man Jesus. This statement of Jesus in this passage was not met well by the Jews as this was considered blasphemy. He was saying he was God and this was going against the commandments. For us, as Christians, the debate really doesn't raise the same questions. But how do we think of Jesus? Do we think that because Mary and Joseph must have told him of his ...
Morning Prayer
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Inspiration
We cannot appreciate the magnitude of God's gift of eternal life until we first understand that the wages of sin is death. Wages are what we "earned, " what we "deserve. " "Death" is not only physical death, here, but spiritual and eternal death. Our sin was an offense to the infinitely holy God, and thus justly deserved eternal punishment. But God's grace, which was greater than all our sin, brings us eternal life instead.
Prayer
Lord, help us to see that your punishment for sin is just and to sense something of the true heinousness of sin. Help us to appreciate more fully how much we were forgiven, and having been forgiven much, to love much. Amen.
Night Prayer
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Inspiration
When we repent and believe, we receive forgiveness for our sins. But this is not a more transaction that leaves us holding a ticket to enter into a future paradise. Instead, this is a promise that we will receive refreshing, renewal, and transformation now. We are changed now, filled by the Spirit, and given a new outlook toward a new hope.
Prayer
Father God, thank You for blotting out my sins, and covering them with the blood of Jesus. I pray that Your Spirit would fill me now so that my soul can know the refreshing joy of Your presence. Make my whole life new, and give me the strength, endurance, and passion to live in Your newness from now until eternity. In Jesus’ name, amen.
