PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday: Luke 11:1-4 The Lord's Prayer Lite

Time to Reflect: This is the Lord's prayer but it is a different version than the one we normally say which is in Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus taught for several years and like any preacher undoubtedly reused but adjusted old material in new settings.

Moving through the day: Compare the two and consider the value of phrases added/omitted

Scripture:

 1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

 2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
   " 'Father,
   hallowed be your name,
   your kingdom come.
 3Give us each day our daily bread.
 4Forgive us our sins,
      for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
   And lead us not into temptation. "

 

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Colossians 2:6-15 philosophy and empty deceit

Time to reflect: I am thoroughly convinced that we humans can talk ourselves into anything. We enjoy heady rethinking of everything and we are easily enticed with “new” and different ideas (they rarely are new, just repackaged for a new era). One of the things Christianity has going for it as opposed to many other religious, anti-religions and philosophies is that it is rooted in time and space. Jesus existed and lived in a particular era and yet his effect transcends time and space. This is no flash in the pan philosophy but a religion that works in every era, people and culture. It is important for us to hold onto the basics of Christianity (we can still get our kicks arguing over the fine points, however).

Moving through the day: Are there “philosophy and empty deceit” ideas that have been intriguing to you lately? Reevaluate these to see if they are rooted in the reality of Jesus the Christ.

Scripture:

6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d]

 

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 84 A beautiful, meaningful Psalm

Time to reflect: Read slowly and rhythmically to make it musical.

Moving through the day: Would you rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than sit in the (wealthy) mansions of the wicked?

Scripture:

Psalm 52

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
       O LORD Almighty!

 2 My soul yearns, even faints,
       for the courts of the LORD;
       my heart and my flesh cry out
       for the living God.

 3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
       and the swallow a nest for herself,
       where she may have her young—
       a place near your altar,
       O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
       they are ever praising you.
       Selah

 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
       who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
       they make it a place of springs;
       the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]

 7 They go from strength to strength,
       till each appears before God in Zion.

 8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
       listen to me, O God of Jacob.
       Selah

 9 Look upon our shield, [c] O God;
       look with favor on your anointed one.

 10 Better is one day in your courts
       than a thousand elsewhere;
       I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
       than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
       the LORD bestows favor and honor;
       no good thing does he withhold
       from those whose walk is blameless.

 

 

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Hosea 1:2-10 How to get a people's attention

Time to Reflect: [Scholars debate long and hard about whether this is purely symbolic or real action with symbolic meaning. I tend toward the latter.] Think of the impact on our people if a family registered their children at school and sport's teams and called them in from play with the names My Lai [for the U.S., this is equivalent to Jezreel], No Pity, Not My People?

Moving Through the Day: Mere words do not always convey enough. Pray that Lo-ammi (not my people) doesn't apply to us.

Scripture:

 2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

 4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."

 6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, [a] for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."

 8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, [b] for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

 10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

 

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 10:12-18 Break the arm of the wicked...

Time to reflect: This phrase is not literal, “the arm” was a Hebrew expression for power and might. The Psalmist is calling for a reversal of fortune for the oppressed and the oppressor. This reversal of fortune has occurred again and again, but it never seems to come when we want it.

Moving through the Day: If there was a reversal of fortune in our society, where would you end up?

Scripture:

 12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
       Do not forget the helpless.

 13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
       Why does he say to himself,
       "He won't call me to account"?

 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
       you consider it to take it in hand.
       The victim commits himself to you;
       you are the helper of the fatherless.

 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
       call him to account for his wickedness
       that would not be found out.

 16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
       the nations will perish from his land.

 17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
       you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
       in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Genesis 18:20-32 Sodom and Gomorrah

Time to reflect: The “sin” of Sodom and Gomorrah was a violent inhospitality (It was not proposed homosexual relations threatened but rather that they wanted to brutally violate the outsiders). The point of the current passage is that God does not destroy on a whim. If there had been just a fraction, a remnant of caring people they would all have been spared.

Moving through the day: Are you a part of the fraction that is keeping your people from being destroyed?

Scripture:

 20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. [a] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare [b] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge [c] of all the earth do right?"

 26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

 27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
      "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."

 29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
      He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."

 30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
      He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

 31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
      He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."

 32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
      He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Mark 11:12-14,20-24 An annoyed Jesus?

Time to reflect: The idea that Jesus was mad at a tree because it didn't have fruit, even though it wasn't the right season, and then cursing the tree is disturbing to most people. If he wanted food and to perform a miracle, why not just make it grow fruit while he waited? We can not know what is not written, so regardless of what Jesus' intent or feelings, the reason it is in the Bible is to teach us with an attention getting story. The teaching starts in verse 22. Can we really move mountains? None of us will ever have that much faith, but whatever level of faith we do have is a powerful tool for the glory of God.

Moving through the day: Pray to God about some of your needs and wishes. Let God help you sort out valid and worthwhile requests. Reword so that the prayer requests are appropriate: e.g. not that grandpa will live forever, but that, God willing, grandpa will not suffer greatly.

Scripture:

Mark 11:12-14

Jesus Clears the Temple

 12The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.

Mark 11:20-24

The Withered Fig Tree

 20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

 22"Have[a] faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.