PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday

Scripture lesson: John 20:1-18 Easter

Time to reflect: Why we are “Christians”

Moving through the day: Try to find a time today to read this passage out loud.

Scripture:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

 Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

   "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
      Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
      She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 43

Time to reflect: Humans often get discouraged and defeated, as expressed in the beginning of this Psalm. We can all relate to it from time to time. However, some people get stuck in this negative frame of mind. They only see the bad, never the good, only see the failures, not the successes. One of the amazing aspects of so many of the Psalms of Lament that before the end of the Psalm they can throw off their despair and depression and praise God.

Moving through the day: Today, try focusing on recognizing the good and positive that comes your way. At the end of the day, how do you feel?

Scripture:

Vindicate me, O God,
       and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
       rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

 You are God my stronghold.
       Why have you rejected me?
       Why must I go about mourning,
       oppressed by the enemy?

  Send forth your light and your truth,
       let them guide me;
       let them bring me to your holy mountain,
       to the place where you dwell.

  Then will I go to the altar of God,
       to God, my joy and my delight.
       I will praise you with the harp,
       O God, my God.

  Why are you downcast, O my soul?
       Why so disturbed within me?
       Put your hope in God,
       for I will yet praise him,
       my Savior and my God.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 22 A Psalm of Lament used by Jesus

Time to reflect: This Psalm of Lament is for anyone who is suffering. Jesus himself drew comfort and solace from it.

Moving Throughout the day: For Good Friday, read it slowly picturing Jesus on the cross reciting this Psalm.

 Scripture:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from saving me,
       so far from the words of my groaning?

  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
       by night, and am not silent.

  Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
       you are the praise of Israel.

  In you our fathers put their trust;
       they trusted and you delivered them.

  They cried to you and were saved;
       in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

  But I am a worm and not a man,
       scorned by men and despised by the people.

  All who see me mock me;
       they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

  "He trusts in the LORD;
       let the LORD rescue him.
       Let him deliver him,
       since he delights in him."

  Yet you brought me out of the womb;
       you made me trust in you
       even at my mother's breast.

  From birth I was cast upon you;
       from my mother's womb you have been my God.

  Do not be far from me,
       for trouble is near
       and there is no one to help.

 12 Many bulls surround me;
       strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

  Roaring lions tearing their prey
       open their mouths wide against me.

  I am poured out like water,
       and all my bones are out of joint.
       My heart has turned to wax;
       it has melted away within me.

  My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
       and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
       you lay me in the dust of death.

  Dogs have surrounded me;
       a band of evil men has encircled me,
       they have pierced my hands and my feet.

  I can count all my bones;
       people stare and gloat over me.

 They divide my garments among them
       and cast lots for my clothing.

  But you, O LORD, be not far off;
       O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

  Deliver my life from the sword,
       my precious life from the power of the dogs.

  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
       save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

  I will declare your name to my brothers;
       in the congregation I will praise you.

  You who fear the LORD, praise him!
       All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
       Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

 For he has not despised or disdained
       the suffering of the afflicted one;
       he has not hidden his face from him
       but has listened to his cry for help.

  From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
       before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.

 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
       they who seek the LORD will praise him—
       may your hearts live forever!

  All the ends of the earth
       will remember and turn to the LORD,
       and all the families of the nations
       will bow down before him,

 for dominion belongs to the LORD
       and he rules over the nations.

  All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
       all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
       those who cannot keep themselves alive.

 Posterity will serve him;
       future generations will be told about the Lord.

  They will proclaim his righteousness
       to a people yet unborn—
       for he has done it.

.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 71:1-14 The Rock

Time to reflect: Various people are referred to as “the rock of Gibraltar” because the are so emotionally strong, trustworthy and calm in a crisis. This Psalm is saying that God is so strong, trustworthy and consistent that it makes the most rock-like person we know seem like a pile of sand.

Moving through the day: Think about how strong and faithful God was throughout the Biblical record – to the Israelites and to the Early Church. Think about how trustworthy God has been throughout history and in your own life.

 Scripture:

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

  Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
       turn your ear to me and save me.

  Be my rock of refuge,
       to which I can always go;
       give the command to save me,
       for you are my rock and my fortress.

 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
       from the grasp of evil and cruel men.

  For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
       my confidence since my youth.

  From birth I have relied on you;
       you brought me forth from my mother's womb.
       I will ever praise you.

  I have become like a portent to many,
       but you are my strong refuge.

  My mouth is filled with your praise,
       declaring your splendor all day long.

  Do not cast me away when I am old;
       do not forsake me when my strength is gone.

  For my enemies speak against me;
       those who wait to kill me conspire together.

 They say, "God has forsaken him;
       pursue him and seize him,
       for no one will rescue him."

  Be not far from me, O God;
       come quickly, O my God, to help me.

  May my accusers perish in shame;
       may those who want to harm me
       be covered with scorn and disgrace.

  But as for me, I will always have hope;
       I will praise you more and more.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Hebrews 9:11-15 How blemished is blemished?

Time to reflect: There was a whole industry to provide the Jerusalem Temple animals for sacrifice that did not have any obvious defects. A defective sacrificial animal was considered to be an insult to God and therefore ineffective in obtaining forgiveness from God. What then of a sacrifice of the perfect one – Jesus? Hebrews is making the point that this is the only truly unblemished, truly effective sacrifice that cleanses us all.

Moving through the day: Meditate on the idea that Jesus' perfection is able absorb ALL the sin of the world.

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 36:5-11 “Steadfast Love”

Time to reflect: This passage keeps using a word that has no direct English equivalent to the Hebrew original. The word's base meaning is “covenant loyalty” but implies someone, in this case God, being faithful in a relationship beyond what is necessary or required, faithful even when the other party has been unfaithful.

Moving Through The Day: Give a prayer of thanksgiving that God has this kind of extreme faithful caring toward us.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
       your faithfulness to the skies.

  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
       your justice like the great deep.
       O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

  How priceless is your unfailing love!
       Both high and low among men
       find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

  They feast on the abundance of your house;
       you give them drink from your river of delights.

  For with you is the fountain of life;
       in your light we see light.

  Continue your love to those who know you,
       your righteousness to the upright in heart.

May the foot of the proud not come against me,
       nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.