Verse for the week:
How great is your goodness, O Lord…which you have done in the sight
of all who put their trust in you. Psalm 31.19
Prayer for the week:
“Merciful God, you resist the proud but give grace to the
humble. Help us to trust you utterly, to
rest our hope and confidence in you, and to serve you with pure hearts; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” (K.B. Ritter, Gebete
fur das jahr der Kirche, 2nd ed. Kassel: Barenreiter Verlag, 1948, p. 193).
Bible reading for the day: Romans 13.7-14
7 Pay to all what is
owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed,
respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
8 Owe no one anything,
except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the
law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not
commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not
covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no
wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know
the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation
is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The
night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let
us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in
sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires.
Prayer (based on
T.R.I.P. method**): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for paying
the debt of my sin and bringing the daytime in Jesus Christ. Thank you! Repent me and my congregation of returning to
our old works of darkness and of failing to pay our neighbor all manner of debt
we owe... especially the profound debt of love for one another. Put us in Jesus and put him on us… so that
instead of making provision to gratify ourselves, we may wake from the darkness
and walk in the new day… in, by, and through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.
Hymn: here’s a
fun little song about the debt Jesus’ paid and the new song that is therefore
now yours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-bwZ_J_EE
“I believe in Jesus
Christ, his only son, our Lord…
What does this
mean?
I believe that Jesus Christ — true God,
begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin
Mary — is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has
freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil, not with silver and gold,
but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He
has done all this in order that I might be his own, live under him in his
kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and
blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns for all
eternity. This is most certainly true! (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther ©Reclaim Resources,
Sola Publishing, 2011)
Benediction: The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the
Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen. II
Cor 13.14
*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
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.
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