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LENT — Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Verse for the Week:

“the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mt 20:28

Greetings

photo of Pastor Paul and friend There is one who knows your hunger better than you…and he knows what you truly need. Here he comes to free ya feed ya.

Morning Prayer:

photo of stained-glass window “Lord God, heavenly Father, in your Son you have given the world a pioneer of salvation and made him the true and eternal priest and mediator of his people. Grant that we may hold fast to him in love, learn obedience in his discipleship, and so be brought into the heavenly sanctuary through him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”1

Bible reading for the day —
Joshua 5:9-12

⁹ The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. ¹⁰While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. ¹²The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

Prayer**

photo of young man lifting arms to the heavens Gracious and almighty Father, you provide just exactly what we need when we need it: sometimes it’s manna in this wilderness; sometimes you establish us and feed us crops. Best of all, you know we would starve to death without Jesus so you feed us on him. Thank you! Still we can be hard-hearted and our appetites wander and disgrace us. Repent me and your church of a core hunger that looks anywhere other than to Jesus to be fed. Day by day Lord, create our appetite and satisfy it with the one who is the bread of life: your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name I pray, amen.

Hymn or ditty of the day:

follow this link to a beloved, classic hymn that connect with today’s conversation with the Lord: here.

Benediction:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. Amen.
II Thess. 2:16-17

1 K.B. Ritter, Gebete fur das Jahr der Kirche, 2nd edition (Kassel: Johannes Stauda-Verlag, 1948), p. 114.

* There are many patterns for devotions. This pattern has been followed by God’s people for centuries.

**The TRIP 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.

*** "Regret" is actually a very solid word, means deep sorrow, sorrow that makes one weep (the root word is “to weep”). Regrettably, I believe that Americans today have lost this sense of the word and for the most part – though not always – they use the word casually. To "repent" is to be turned around by God.