PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 Our Different gifts

 

Time to reflect: We are all different and have different things to contribute to God's realm.

Moving through the day: What gifts do you have? Are you using them to God's glory?

Scripture:

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 Our Different gifts

 

Time to reflect: We are all different and have different things to contribute to God's realm.

Moving through the day: What gifts do you have? Are you using them to God's glory?

Scripture:

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture lesson: Acts 2:1-21 Pentecost

 

Time to reflect: The story of Pentecost and the beginning of the sermon. Recognize that the Apostles were not speaking in tongues but everyone was hearing in ears – everyone understood in their own language. Thus we see that the Holy Spirit wants the message to be in the common languages of the people.

Moving Throughout the day:What “church language” needs to be translated into the languages of the people outside the church? How do we do this?

Scripture:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

Peter Addresses the Crowd

 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
 " 'In the last days, God says,
      I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
   Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
      your young men will see visions,
      your old men will dream dreams.
 Even on my servants, both men and women,
      I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
      and they will prophesy.
 I will show wonders in the heaven above
      and signs on the earth below,
      blood and fire and billows of smoke.
 The sun will be turned to darkness
      and the moon to blood
      before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
 And everyone who calls
      on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Numbers 11:24-30 We want to be in control

Time to reflect: Sometimes God's Holy Spirit breaks out where we don't expect it to or want it to. But Moses' advice is good. Sometimes we need to listen to the inconvenient prophet.

Moving through the day: Think about some messages from God that are/were unexpected and not a part of the plan.

Scripture:

So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.

 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' aide since youth, spoke up and said, "Moses, my lord, stop them!"

  But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Communion

 

Time to reflect: Here are the words of the communion service.

Moving through the day: Take time to think through each phrase of this passage, including verse 26.

Scripture:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Jeremiah 2:12-13 Two evils

Time to reflect: The two evils are 1) forgetting God and 2) chasing after other gods. Jeremiah equates chasing after other gods with trying to get water from a broken water source that provides no water.

Moving through the day: Meditate on what “broken cisterns” we try to get satisfaction from in place of God

Scripture:

Be appalled at this, O heavens,
       and shudder with great horror,"
       declares the LORD.

 "My people have committed two sins:
       They have forsaken me,
       the spring of living water,
       and have dug their own cisterns,
       broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b return to dust

 

Time to reflect: These verses reflect the ancient idea that God created the universe and must sustain each element of the universe at all times.

 

Moving Through The Day: Meditate on the idea that God cares enough about you to consciously keep you alive.

How many are your works, O LORD!
       In wisdom you made them all;
       the earth is full of your creatures.

  There is the sea, vast and spacious,
       teeming with creatures beyond number—
       living things both large and small.

 There the ships go to and fro,
       and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

  These all look to you
       to give them their food at the proper time.

  When you give it to them,
       they gather it up;
       when you open your hand,
       they are satisfied with good things.

  When you hide your face,
       they are terrified;
       when you take away their breath,
       they die and return to the dust.

  When you send your Spirit,
       they are created,
       and you renew the face of the earth.

  May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
       may the LORD rejoice in his works-

  he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
       who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

  I will sing to the LORD all my life;
       I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

  May my meditation be pleasing to him,
       as I rejoice in the LORD.

But may sinners vanish from the earth
       and the wicked be no more.
       Praise the LORD, O my soul.
       Praise the LORD.