Your heart is a cesspool

...here is your rescue.

Verse for the week:  “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.” I Cor 6.19-20

Prayer for the week: O Lord, teach us how to pray. Direct our lives toward our neighbor and unto everlasting salvation, that, surrounded by all the changes and uncertainties of life, we may be defended by your gracious and ready help in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  (adapted from Lutheran Book of Worship, Minister’s Desk edition, p.113.)

Bible reading for the day:  Matthew 15.19-20a

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person.

Prayer (based on TRIP** method):  Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for this truth that Jesus speaks and for his rescue of me from the cesspool of my old heart. Stop my ears from listening to the evil thoughts of my own heart. Each day create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me… that I may delight in you rather than in the evil that would spring from my heart and defile me and my neighbor. I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic which gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-UmemwpAvA (regrettably, most recordings of this American folk hymn, including this recording, omit verse two, perhaps because the proud self hates to confess it’s sin: “When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down Beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.”)

The Ninth Commandment

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not plot to take our neighbors’ possessions, inheritance, or home, or obtain them through deceptive means, but assist and serve our neighbors in keeping what is theirs.  (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther, ©Reclaim Resources, Sola Publishing, 2011)

Benediction:  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21) 

*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.