Fathers: God wants your ear... and your mouth

Bible verse for the week: Our Savior Christ Jesus…abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. II Timothy 1.10

Prayer for the week: “Almighty and everlasting God, comfort of the sad and strength to those who suffer: Let the prayers of your children who are in any trouble rise to you.  To everyone in distress grant mercy, grant relief, grant refreshment; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. (Prayer for Those in Affliction, LBW # 223, Minister’s Ed., p.114; Gelasian Sacramentary in Frederick B. Macnutt, The Prayer Manual, p.221). 

Bible reading for the day:  Psalm 78.1-8

¹Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷     so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

prayer(based on the TRIP** method): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for my grandfather, my father and for the host of other Christians whose mouths you open to fill my ears with news of your glorious deeds, the wonders you have done, and your greatest deed: Christ crucified and raised for our forgiveness and salvation. Thank you!  Repent me and all Christian fathers of the stubbornness that rebels against you… for that only mutes our witness and causes our children to be lost. Today and each day, break in and incline our ears to the words of your mouth that we may teach them to our children… so that they set their hope in you; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn:  follow this link to a beloved, new hymn that gives further voice to today’s conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

benediction:    May the God of peace himself grow you in his will entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.  Amen.  I Thess 5.23

*There are many patterns for devotions.  This pattern has been followed by God’s people for centuries.

**The T.R.I.P. approach to prayer is based on the way Martin Luther prayed and taught others to pray.  It was later developed by Walter and Ingrid Trobisch and then adapted by Mount Carmel Ministries (Alexandria, MN www.dailytext.com).  The method is founded on scripture and easy to remember:

T: thanksgiving

                                                          R: regret (repentance)

                                                          I: intercession (asking God to take a specific action)

                                                          P: plan or purpose

Reading a biblical text and then applying this method gives one a sound, simple way to form one’s prayers...not to mention that it helps one learn how to faithfully reflect on God’s Word and talk to God.