Saving your family from your hard heart

Verse for the week: “Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the watchman stays awake in vain.” Psalm 127  

Prayer for the week: O Lord, do not keep silent. Speak to deliver our families from the peril of our vain building. Hallow your name among us that our households may be set on the solid rock who is Christ and built up by your strong word for us; through the same Jesus Christ, your Son , our Lord. Amen.  

Bible reading for the day: Mark 10.2-9 (note: The Pharisees are trying to test Jesus with a carnal, superficial question about divorce. Jesus sees right through their – and our – little games and cuts to the heart of the matter.)
 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” ⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹ What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”  

Prayer (based on the TRIP* method): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for creating us male and female, two distinct compliments… binary… and for uniting husband and wife as one flesh in marriage. Keep on cutting through all of our little games, our attempts at self-justification… so that my spouse, my family, and the whole neighborhood may be delivered from my hard heartedness into your perfect kingdom… where you live and reign, not I; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.  

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MimsQtU-ccQ  

“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s 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)  

benediction: The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.  (Philippians 4.7)  

 

*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.