PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday

Scripture lesson: Mark 6:30-34,53-56 Feeding the 5000 (and many more)

Time to reflect: There have been a lot of ingenious explanations about how Jesus did this, but all such explanations are beside the point. The ancients didn't care how it happened, and we are distracted by such questions. The things of importance are the religious, not scientific, issues: The crowd's adoration, Jesus' compassion, the Disciple's cluelessness, the fact that Jesus took care of their bodily needs while also attending to their spiritual needs.

Moving through the day: Are there other “beside the point” questions that keep you from focusing on the real issues?

Scripture:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Ephesians 2:11-22 Christ is the Savior of all

Time to reflect: Anti-Semitism should be impossible if one is familiar with Scripture... But the good news is that whether one is Jewish or not is irrelevant. God has united us through Christ.

Moving through the day: People keep wanting to create “in groups” and “out groups.” This doesn't seem to be God's will. Who are your “out groups?”

Scripture:

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 89:20-37 A promise is a promise

Time to reflect: This is an insight into the nature of God. No matter how badly David's descendants behave, God will never completely allow them to be destroyed, because of God's promise to perpetuate David's line. This is a faithfulness that is hard to understand, but is assuring because God has made promises to us also.

Moving Throughout the day: Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for God's faithfulness.

Scripture

I have found David my servant;
       with my sacred oil I have anointed him.

My hand will sustain him;
       surely my arm will strengthen him.

  No enemy will subject him to tribute;
       no wicked man will oppress him.

  I will crush his foes before him
       and strike down his adversaries.

  My faithful love will be with him,
       and through my name his horn will be exalted.

 I will set his hand over the sea,
       his right hand over the rivers.

 He will call out to me, 'You are my Father,
       my God, the Rock my Savior.'

  I will also appoint him my firstborn,
       the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
       28 I will maintain my love to him forever,
       and my covenant with him will never fail.

  I will establish his line forever,
       his throne as long as the heavens endure.

  "If his sons forsake my law
       and do not follow my statutes,

  if they violate my decrees
       and fail to keep my commands,

  I will punish their sin with the rod,
       their iniquity with flogging;

  but I will not take my love from him,
       nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

 I will not violate my covenant
       or alter what my lips have uttered.

 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
       and I will not lie to David-

  that his line will continue forever
       and his throne endure before me like the sun;

 it will be established forever like the moon,
       the faithful witness in the sky."
       Selah

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a King David promised a “house”

Time to reflect: God does a lot of punning in this passage. In the end, he appreciates David's offer, but God was more interested in David's royal lineage (“house”). The Temple will be built by David's son Solomon. Little did David know that a distant descendant would be the Messiah.

Moving through the day: Is it reading too much into the passage to think that God was suggesting that serving God in the real world was more important than classy worship?

Scripture:

After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

 Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you."

  That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:

  "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" '

  "Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
       " 'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Proverbs 15:30 “Good News refreshes the body”

Time to reflect: Like so many proverbs, this would make a good needlepoint. Something to think about: Does the Good News of the Gospel mean enough to us to refresh us? Is it still Good New to us?

Moving through the day: Pray that the joy of salvation refresh and renew you for the week.

Scripture:

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart,
       and good news gives health to the bones.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 65:1-5 Praise God

Time to reflect: It is basic to the Judeo-Christian religion that God is loving and gracious and full of mercy. This Psalm, along with so many other Old Testament passages give lie to the old saw that “The Old Testament is a testament of Law and the New Testament is a testament of Love.” Both have both.

Moving through the day:Pray a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God.

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;
       to you our vows will be fulfilled.

  O you who hear prayer,
       to you all men will come.

  When we were overwhelmed by sins,
       you forgave our transgressions.

 Blessed are those you choose
       and bring near to live in your courts!
       We are filled with the good things of your house,
       of your holy temple.

  You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
       O God our Savior,
       the hope of all the ends of the earth
       and of the farthest seas,