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Lent Devotions
Lent Devotions |
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Posted: 08 Mar 2014 06:41 AM PST Read: 1 Samuel 3:4-10 Speak, for your servant is listening. (v. 10 NRSV) The word for prayer in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, means to open oneself to God. In prayer I enter a relationship in which I am attentive to God, listening as well as speaking. If I truly want to pray I need to do some listening to what God is saying to me. Reading the Bible is a way of doing that. I ask God, “What is it that you want to say to me?” As I approach the Bible with that request I am attentive to a word or phrase that seems to carry something that demands my attention. I am not trying to comprehend all that is said in the text. I am paying attention to a word that resonates in me. When I receive that word I spend some time asking, “What does this mean for me? What am I being told? How does this apply to my life?” Then I form my words of response. It may be in thanksgiving for what I have heard. It may be a petition for help in following what is indicated. Finally, I let the word I have received sink deep into my heart. I give some time of silence to this. Then I can take that word with me for the day. Listening prayer isn’t easy, just richly rewarding. –David Muyskens Prayer: Help us, Triune God, to listen attentively to your word for us. Amen. Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/. |
Lent Devotions
Lent Devotions |
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March 8: Abraham’s Prayer for Mercy Posted: 07 Mar 2014 05:56 AM PST Read: Genesis 18:23b-33 Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? . . . Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? (vv. 23, 25 ESV) Abraham pleaded with God to have mercy on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was worried about the innocent people who lived there. In this conversational prayer, Abraham was also concerned about God’s character and reputation. Abraham was convinced that it was not worthy of God to sweep away the righteous with the wicked. His prayer was based on his faith in God, the true God of justice and goodness and mercy. Abraham’s persistence was heard and answered by the Lord. He agreed to Abraham’s final request that Sodom and Gomorrah be spared if ten righteous people were found there. Long ago, our brother in the faith, John Calvin, remarked about this story, “It often happens that God, out of regard to a few, deals gently with the whole people.” The sad ending to this story is that not even ten righteous people were found in the cities, and so they were utterly destroyed. Yet Abraham’s prayer for God’s mercy is an important model for us as we learn to pray for the people of the world. –Leanne Van Dyk Prayer: God of mercy, help us never to forget the needs of people that are in danger. Give us the persistence of Abraham to pray for their safety. Amen.
Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.
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Lent Devotional
Posted: 06 Mar 2014 05:52 AM PST
Read: 1 John 4:16-21
We love because he first loved us. (v. 19 ESV)
Every relationship with God begins with divine initiative. God speaks first, we reply in prayer. God loves us first, we respond in turn with our love of God. In prayer we listen to God, speak to God, and spend time receiving the love of God and returning that love.
When my friend speaks to me I will listen attentively and then make a verbal response to let my friend know that I have heard what was said. When my friend shows love for me, I return that love. Our relationship grows through the interchange. So our relationship with God grows as we pray.
Even a cry to God for help in an emergency is actually not done on our initiative. The inclination to make an appeal itself comes from God, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Every inclination to turn to God is the result of God’s work in us. Our desire to communicate with God is in response to the gifts of love we have been given.
Every prayer we offer is in fact authored by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit within us leads us to respond to God with words, and sometimes with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26). –David Muyskens
Prayer: Dear God, you have given us your love in Jesus Christ. May our thoughts, words, and actions say, “We love you too.” Amen.
Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.
Lent Devotions
Posted: 05 Mar 2014 06:54 AM PST
Read: Luke 4:1-13
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. (v. 13 NRSV)
Ever notice how sin has a way of sounding so reasonable, so plausible? The devil cloaks himself in the guise that is most appealing to our most vulnerable points. To the student he comes as an easy grade. To the business person he comes as easy money. To the spouse unfulfilled in marriage he comes as an easy affair. To the Christian he comes as the self-satisfied voice of the Pharisee, saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11). And to Jesus, he comes as the enticing possibility that he, Jesus, does not have to suffer and die.
Jesus withstands the wilderness temptations. But the battle is not over. The devil doesn’t quit; he merely “departed from him until an opportune time.” Jesus came out of the wilderness, but the wilderness never came out of him. Again and again, Jesus would hear the voice of temptation whispering seductively, urging him to sidestep the cross.
We win a battle against temptation, and we think it’s over. It’s not. The devil awaits an “opportune time” to pay another visit when he can appeal to our injured pride, our fragile self-esteem, our anger at being passed over. Stay vigilant. Jesus triumphed over temptation. So can we. Lord, give us strength! –Lou Lotz
Prayer: Lord, give me strength today.
Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals
Join us for Ash Wednesday Service, March 5th at 5:30pm
Ash Wednesday marks the first day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days prior to Easter.
The biblical witness is found in the opening epic of the human story: “you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). In the tenth century the use of ashes was employed in visibly reminding worshippers of their mortality as they began their Lenten “watch by the cross.”
This first day of Lent reminds us that two things are involved in genuine repentance: “the dying of the old self and the coming to life of the new.” The way to Easter is the way of the cross. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3). New life with Christ involves a daily surrendering of the old life. The first step of this Lenten journey invites us to acknowledge our mortality and our sinfulness by the imposition of ashes.
Adapted from the RCA.org website
Easter Sunday: Lent Devotion Day 47
Read: John 19:28-30; 20:1-31 Day 47
The Resurrection and the Life
It is finished. (19:30)
He is risen! Christ the Lord is risen today! This is the pinnacle of the Christian faith, the crux on which all things turn. Our God is not dead; he does not lie in a tomb. He is alive now and forever. In his resurrection he broke the chains of death that we may live forever more.
As Jesus breathed his last on Good Friday, he spoke the words “It is finished,” and indeed his work is finished. Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all, and the forgiveness of sins is sealed in his blood. He truly is the resurrection and the life; in him we have the promise of everlasting life.
Although Jesus’ earthly work is finished, God’s work here is not done. “It is finished” foreshadows the “It is done!” found in Revelation 21. We believe not only in the resurrection of Christ but also of the return of Christ. We wait eagerly for the day of Christ’s return, the day when God sets all things right and our salvation will be fully realized. We will stand at the throne of God with believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation proclaiming together, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10)
—Jonathon VanderWall
Prayer:
Lent Devotions: Day 46
The True Vine
Day 46
Read: Luke 23:44-49
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. (v. 46)
During this last week we have remembered and reflected on the words of Christ in his last hours on earth. After all he had been through, his final words were words of trust: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” Yesterday we noted he quoted Psalm 22 on the cross, today we see he also quotes Psalm 31:5. In contrast to the anguish of Psalm 22, these final words are words of hope, trust and faith, and it is to that hope, trust and faith that we also are called.
We’ve seen him in a number of different ways this week. He is the good shepherd, the bread of life, living water and the light of the world. He forgives those who torture and kill him and he offers mercy to a criminal crucified next to him. Salvation is found in him–he is the source of life.
“I am the vine,” he says, “you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
As this week draws to a close, take a moment to reflect on all the things Jesus is to you and thank him. Let us renew our commitment to him and also say, “Into your hands I commend my spirit,” for it is very true that apart from him we can do nothing. –Jonathon VanderWall
Prayer: Help us to abide in you each and every day. We do commit ourselves afresh to you.
Lent Devotions: Day 45
The Light of the World
Read: Mark 15:33-41
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (v. 34)
Darkness covered the entire land. An earthquake shook the ground, and Jesus cried out in a loud voice the first words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This was the darkest moment of Jesus’ sojourn on earth, and he gave an utter cry from empty blackness. Scholars debate what exactly happened at this moment. Did the Father actually turn away from Jesus, or did it just feel like the Father had turned away? Was all hope lost?
There are times in our lives when it seems like all hope is lost. Though we will never understand the feeling of the weight of the world’s sin on us, we do experience times of emptiness, darkness, even hopelessness. In these times we often echo the words of Jesus, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Today we remember the death of our Lord and Savior, but we never fully forget that we do not worship a God who was defeated by death. “I am the light of the world,” Jesus said. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). We worship the living God, the light of the world, who has conquered death and darkness and who walks beside us always. –Jonathon VanderWall
Prayer: Jesus, help us to remember that you are always with us, no matter how dark life may seem.
Lent Devotions: Day 44
The Bread and the Cup
Read: John 6:25-59; 19:28-29
I am thirsty. (19:28)
On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.” He did the same with a cup, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). With these words he instituted the Lord’s Supper, which is traditionally commemorated around the world tonight. We eat the bread and remember that Jesus’ body was broken for us. We drink from the cup and remember Jesus’ blood was shed for us.
All of these actions give definition to what he had earlier said in John 6. In that passage there is much arguing among the Jews and among the disciples–Jesus’ words about never being hungry or thirsty again must have sounded unusual. Yet we know he is the living water of which we can drink and never be thirsty and that he is the bread of life of which we eat and are satisfied.
A day after instituting this supper, as he hung on the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” As John tells us, this was to fulfill the scriptures. Jesus thirsted so we no longer would. As we come to the table and remember Jesus’ death, we know that in him and through him we will never thirst or hunger again. –Jonathon VanderWall
Prayer: Jesus, you suffered so that we don’t have to; you died that we may live. Thank you for your sacrifice.
Lent Devotions: Day 43
Mockery or Mercy
Read: Luke 23:39-43
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. (v. 43)
There are two possible reactions to Jesus, and these reactions are personified in the two criminals crucified alongside of him. One mocked him, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (v. 39) The other criminal simply asked for mercy.
I am aware that I have embodied both responses to Jesus in my life. One of the subtle ways I mock Jesus is to live my life on my own terms, trying to be the best student, Christian, son, and brother I can be. I try to impress God with my efforts. Yet I am painfully aware of how often I fall short of God’s glory. My only recourse is to stop trying to justify myself and ask Jesus to save me.
Neither criminal maintained his innocence in the face of death, and like them we are all sinners that deserve punishment. The scriptures are clear and our experience testifies that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The great news of the gospel is that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
So which do you choose? Mockery or mercy? Jesus suffered and was crucified on our behalf. He offers paradise to those who ask. –Jonathon VanderWall
Prayer: Thank you Lord for sending your Son. Help me to live every day in your salvation.
St Croix Reformed Church 
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