PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Sunday

Scripture lesson: John 14:1-14 How we come to the Father

 

Time to reflect: To quibble about a detail in a large and powerful passage, in verse 7, the simple preposition often translated as “through” is better translated as “by means of” which more clearly gives the understanding that it is the act of Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection that people are saved.

Moving through the day: What are your thoughts and images about “Heaven” and the afterlife? Is the metaphor of the mansion with many rooms sufficient for you? Would you use a different metaphor?

 

Scripture:

 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus the Way to the Father

 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Saturday

Scripture lesson: 1 Peter 2:2-10 A Royal Priesthood

 

Time to reflect: The Priesthood is not some specialized subgroup, but all the church – all the chosen people. We would not be a people at all except for the the common element of our being chosen by God.

Moving through the day: If you are chosen and a priest, how are well are you fulfilling these responsibilities? Pray for strength and guidance.

Scripture:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
   "See, I lay a stone in Zion,
      a chosen and precious cornerstone,
   and the one who trusts in him
      will never be put to shame."Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
   "The stone the builders rejected
      has become the capstone,and,
   "A stone that causes men to stumble
      and a rock that makes them fall."They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Friday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 31:1-5,15-16 Rock and Salvation

 

Time to reflect: What makes martyrs able to stand up under suffering? A true confidence in God and God's presence.

Moving Throughout the day: Get calm and comfortable, then picture being on a solid mountain on a beautiful day looking down on all the turmoil and stress of your life.

Scripture:

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
       let me never be put to shame;
       deliver me in your righteousness.

  Turn your ear to me,
       come quickly to my rescue;
       be my rock of refuge,
       a strong fortress to save me.

 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
       for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Free me from the trap that is set for me,
       for you are my refuge.

Into your hands I commit my spirit;
       redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

My times are in your hands;
       deliver me from my enemies
       and from those who pursue me.

  Let your face shine on your servant;
       save me in your unfailing love.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Amos 7:7-9 That awful plumb-line

 

Time to reflect: Where his peers saw a simple plumb-line, Amos saw a metaphor. How straight and true are we? Do we (as a people or as individuals) need to be torn down and rebuilt like a badly made wall?

Moving through the day: Meditate on what parts of your life need to be rebuilt.

 

Scripture:

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"
      "A plumb line," I replied.
      Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
       and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
       with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 119:41-48 “I find my delight in your rules”

Time to reflect: Do we find God's rules and expectations a burden or a source of guilt or do we find them wise and wonderful and a joy to carry out?

Moving through the day: After giving thanks for the gifts of Grace and Salvation, think about how you view God's expectations.

Scripture:

May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD,
       your salvation according to your promise;

 then I will answer the one who taunts me,
       for I trust in your word.

Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth,
       for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law,
       for ever and ever.

  I will walk about in freedom,
       for I have sought out your precepts.

  I will speak of your statutes before kings
       and will not be put to shame,

  for I delight in your commands
       because I love them.

I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love,
       and I meditate on your decrees.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Monday

Scripture lesson: Proverbs 8:22-31 Wisdom

 

Time to reflect: This is a description of the creation of Wisdom. Although just a metaphor, we, as the ancients, think of wisdom in concrete and personal terms. The point of this passage, however is that God's wisdom was at work in the creation of the universe. It is a sensible, understandable universe not chaos and randomness (as some people then and now seem to think).

 

Moving Through The Day: Take a moment to marvel over how amazing this universe is. Thank God for trustworthy creation.

 "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,
       before his deeds of old;

 I was appointed from eternity,
       from the beginning, before the world began.

  When there were no oceans, I was given birth,
       when there were no springs abounding with water;

  before the mountains were settled in place,
       before the hills, I was given birth,

  before he made the earth or its fields
       or any of the dust of the world.

  I was there when he set the heavens in place,
       when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

 when he established the clouds above
       and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

  when he gave the sea its boundary
       so the waters would not overstep his command,
       and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

  Then I was the craftsman at his side.
       I was filled with delight day after day,
       rejoicing always in his presence,

rejoicing in his whole world
       and delighting in mankind.