Devotion
They Came to Believe
Frances Taylor
Jesus' time is getting close and the Jews who wished to kill him were getting closer but he wasn't quite ready, so he went back to the beginning. In Jesus' day, people didn't travel as far as they do today so many if not most of the people that Jesus would have encountered as he returned to the area where John had baptized, would have remembered John as well as his prophesy concerning Jesus and would have heard of him with his teaching and healing. Now they could decide for themselves if John had been right. This passage tells us that they did understand that John had spoken the truth and they came to believe. We don't have this gift of seeing and experiencing Jesus in the flesh, but we have come to believe. Have you ever thought of thanking those who brought you to believe? None of us gets there on our own. Someone must have told you about Jesus, and others must have nurtured that faith, helped you in times of doubt and brought you to the point where you could accept Jesus as your Savior. These are important people in your life and we should be grateful for them. For me, it started with my grandmother, then my parents who witnessed their faith to me. It continued with the many people of faith through the years who were there to answer questions, challenge me and helped me grow in my knowledge and love of Jesus. Who do you need to thank?
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for putting all these wonderful people in my life. Let me be able to thank them by helping to bring others to you. 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.
