PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday: Luke 9:51-62 Excuses, excuses

Time to Reflect: Jesus didn't just call the familiar 12 but many others. We have some of their excuses here. Verse 60 isn't as harsh as it sounds. In ancient custom, the oldest child was expected to hang around until both parents were dead, buried and properly mourned. So the person wasn't asking for a few days but potentially years. Jesus would have been long gone by the time this person was ready to serve.

Moving through the day: What excuses do you give for not following sacrificially?

Scripture:

Samaritan Opposition

 51As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them[a]?" 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56and[b] they went to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

 57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

 58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

 59He said to another man, "Follow me."
      But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

 60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

 61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

 62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Galatians 5:1,13-15 A paradoxical freedom

Time to reflect: Because we have been freed from our sin, condemnation, and obligation to be perfect, we are called to use our freedom to serve God and others. In fact, if we are not willing to serve God and others then we really haven't accepted the freedom offered us – we're still trying to do it all ourselves and are therefore limited. Resisting God restricts us more than serving God.

Moving through the day: What are you free to do for others today?

Scripture:

Galatians 5

Freedom in Christ

 1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 77:1-2,11-20 When God seems absent

Time to reflect: Sometimes it seems as if God is not around at all. At such times it is good to think about to times when God seemed very real and very helpful.

Moving through the day: Think of 5 times in your life when you felt God helped you out in some way.

Scripture:

Psalm 77

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

 1 I cried out to God for help;
       I cried out to God to hear me.

 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
       at night I stretched out untiring hands
       and my soul refused to be comforted.

Psalm 77:11-20

Listen to this passage

 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
       yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

 12 I will meditate on all your works
       and consider all your mighty deeds.

 13 Your ways, O God, are holy.
       What god is so great as our God?

 14 You are the God who performs miracles;
       you display your power among the peoples.

 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
       the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
       Selah

 16 The waters saw you, O God,
       the waters saw you and writhed;
       the very depths were convulsed.

 17 The clouds poured down water,
       the skies resounded with thunder;
       your arrows flashed back and forth.

 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
       your lightning lit up the world;
       the earth trembled and quaked.

 19 Your path led through the sea,
       your way through the mighty waters,
       though your footprints were not seen.

 20 You led your people like a flock
       by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 

 

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: 2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Time to Reflect: “Chariot” theology was a major line of speculation in Rabbinic Judaism, sometimes bordering on the bizarre. Baseline, it was thought by many that when God had to travel, he did so by a heavenly chariot. This is a little to primitive for most of us, but if we allegorize it we can make it meaningful. God was directly involved in the lives of Elijah and Elisha, with Elisha taking over for his master.

Moving Through the Day: Remember a time when God seemed very real to you – almost present.

Scripture:  

2 Kings 2

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

 1 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel."
      But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

2 Kings 2:6-14

Listen to this passage

 6 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan."
      And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.

 7 Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"
      "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.

 10 "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not."

 11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

 13 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 16 Who is your God?

Time to reflect: Each of us has false idols that are appealing to us and to which we may sometimes or often “bow down to” figuratively.

Moving through the Day: What are your false idols? Use verse 5 as a pledge to God.

Scripture:

1 Keep me safe, O God,
       for in you I take refuge.

 2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
       apart from you I have no good thing."

 3 As for the saints who are in the land,
       they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. [b]

 4 The sorrows of those will increase
       who run after other gods.
       I will not pour out their libations of blood
       or take up their names on my lips.

 5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
       you have made my lot secure.

 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
       surely I have a delightful inheritance.

 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
       even at night my heart instructs me.

 8 I have set the LORD always before me.
       Because he is at my right hand,
       I will not be shaken.

 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
       my body also will rest secure,

 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, [c]
       nor will you let your Holy One [d] see decay.

 11 You have made [e] known to me the path of life;
       you will fill me with joy in your presence,
       with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: 1 Kings 19:15-21 Israel past and present

Time to reflect:As we watch modern Israel try to establish a religiously and ethnically pure Jewish state, at all costs we all must struggle with both the wisdom and the rightness of such actions. Jehu's purge of Israel, as bloody as it was, was not successful and just perpetuated violence.

Moving through the day: Pray for a better way for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. The current approaches are not working.

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:15-21

 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

The Call of Elisha

 19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you."
      "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"

 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Isaiah 65:1-9 “Hello, are you listening?”

Time to reflect:The ancient society was ignoring the real God, involved in other concerns and issues and being drawn to more exciting and interesting religious practice. God had every right to walk away from Israel. But didn't, at least not entirely.

Moving through the day: How about our society, are we doing the same thing? How about you personally?

Scripture:

Isaiah 65

Judgment and Salvation

 1 "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
       I was found by those who did not seek me.
       To a nation that did not call on my name,
       I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'

 2 All day long I have held out my hands
       to an obstinate people,
       who walk in ways not good,
       pursuing their own imaginations-

 3 a people who continually provoke me
       to my very face,
       offering sacrifices in gardens
       and burning incense on altars of brick;

 4 who sit among the graves
       and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
       who eat the flesh of pigs,
       and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;

 5 who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me,
       for I am too sacred for you!'
       Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
       a fire that keeps burning all day.

 6 "See, it stands written before me:
       I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
       I will pay it back into their laps-

 7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers,"
       says the LORD.
       "Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
       and defied me on the hills,
       I will measure into their laps
       the full payment for their former deeds."

 8 This is what the LORD says:
       "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
       and men say, 'Don't destroy it,
       there is yet some good in it,'
       so will I do in behalf of my servants;
       I will not destroy them all.

 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
       and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
       my chosen people will inherit them,
       and there will my servants live.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson:   1 Corinthians 2:1-5 It isn't rocket science

Time to reflect: We often work so hard at explaining the Gospel and making it relevant, and to explain away the difficulties and inconveniences that we obscure the message. Every once in awhile we need to do as Paul did and get back to the core message: “... nothing … except Jesus Christ, and him crucified....”

Moving through the day: Pray about this core message.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 2

 1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.