To the Rescue for Us Wretches

Verse for the week: “Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!”  Psalm 143.1

Prayer for the week: Almighty and merciful Father, thank you for burying us with Christ by baptism into the death of our will, in order that, just as He was raised from the dead by you, we too might walk in newness of life; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Romans 7.21-25  (Writing in 56 AD, roughly 1,200 years after the time of the Judges, the Apostle Paul states the truth of our unrighteousness and God’s righteousness for us in Christ crucified.)

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Prayer for the week: Gracious and almighty Father, there is a body of death hanging from my neck and you know it. Thank you for sending Christ to my rescue! He is my Champion in the battle that my members wage against your law… so, fight on dear Christ! …otherwise I am left with the wretch that I am. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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=Rgwq7f2FpNk&ab_channel=First-PlymouthChurchLincolnNebraska%28FirstPVideos%29  

“Thy will be done…”

What does this mean?  The good and gracious will of God is indeed done without our prayer; but we ask in this petition that it may be done also among us.

When does this happen?  God’s will is done when he hinders and defeats every evil scheme and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful self, which would prevent us from keeping his name holy and would oppose the coming of his kingdom.

And his will is done when he strengthens our faith and keeps us firm in his Word as long as we live. This is his gracious and good will. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the Lord!   Psalm 106.48

 

*This is now our congregation’s 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.