PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday: Luke 12:13-21 What kind of inheritance do you want?

Time to Reflect: The Revlon heirs are once again fighting over the money. How timely is this passage! Death is the future of all of us. The Resurrection and life eternal will not benefit from any accumulated money.

Moving through the day: Meditate on your priorities: How much of your time and energy is spent on things that will effectively perish with you? What kind of inheritance will you be leaving your family? Something perishable or something eternal?

Scripture:

 13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

 16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

 21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

 

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Colossians 3:1-11 Things to get out of your life

Time to reflect: I tend to prefer positive approaches to life and to strive for better things rather than avoid bad behaviors and attitudes. However, this unbalanced approach can leave some harmful things active in our life. So maybe the lists in 5 & 8 and the supporting arguments around them are worth considering.

Moving through the day: What of these items are active in your life? Pray about removing or at least minimizing them.

Scripture:

 1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

 

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 107:1-9,43 A Psalm of thanksgiving and praise

Time to reflect: Great imagery

Moving through the day: What are the “desert wastes” you have wandered in and been saved from? Are you in a desert waste now? Are you appealing to God?

Scripture:

 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.

 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
       those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

 3 those he gathered from the lands,
       from east and west, from north and south. [a]

 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
       finding no way to a city where they could settle.

 5 They were hungry and thirsty,
       and their lives ebbed away.

 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
       and he delivered them from their distress.

 7 He led them by a straight way
       to a city where they could settle.

 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
       and his wonderful deeds for men,

 9 for he satisfies the thirsty
       and fills the hungry with good things.

 

 

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Hosea 11:1-11 Like a mother

Time to Reflect: A clear an poignant analogy any parent can relate to: God is like the mother who loved and raised her child only to have the child become rebellious and defiant.

Moving Through the Day: To what extent are you still the child of God being guided and nurtured and to what extent are you the rebellious teenager?

Scripture:

God's Love for Israel

 1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him,
       and out of Egypt I called my son.

 2 But the more I [a] called Israel,
       the further they went from me. [b]
       They sacrificed to the Baals
       and they burned incense to images.

 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
       taking them by the arms;
       but they did not realize
       it was I who healed them.

 4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
       with ties of love;
       I lifted the yoke from their neck
       and bent down to feed them.

 5 "Will they not return to Egypt
       and will not Assyria rule over them
       because they refuse to repent?

 6 Swords will flash in their cities,
       will destroy the bars of their gates
       and put an end to their plans.

 7 My people are determined to turn from me.
       Even if they call to the Most High,
       he will by no means exalt them.

 8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim?
       How can I hand you over, Israel?
       How can I treat you like Admah?
       How can I make you like Zeboiim?
       My heart is changed within me;
       all my compassion is aroused.

 9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,
       nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
       For I am God, and not man—
       the Holy One among you.
       I will not come in wrath. [c]

 10 They will follow the LORD;
       he will roar like a lion.
       When he roars,
       his children will come trembling from the west.

 11 They will come trembling
       like birds from Egypt,
       like doves from Assyria.
       I will settle them in their homes,"
       declares the LORD.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 49:1-12 Can't buy me love

Time to reflect: It is amazingly hard for humans to accept that they can't buy God's love and salvation – not with wealth or good deeds. The price is too high. But God's love is given, freely. God's love is a gift not a purchase.

Moving through the Day: Thank God that you don't have to earn God's love, but that you have it anyway.

Scripture:

 1 Hear this, all you peoples;
       listen, all who live in this world,

 2 both low and high,
       rich and poor alike:

 3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
       the utterance from my heart will give understanding.

 4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
       with the harp I will expound my riddle:

 5 Why should I fear when evil days come,
       when wicked deceivers surround me-

 6 those who trust in their wealth
       and boast of their great riches?

 7 No man can redeem the life of another
       or give to God a ransom for him-

 8 the ransom for a life is costly,
       no payment is ever enough-

 9 that he should live on forever
       and not see decay.

 10 For all can see that wise men die;
       the foolish and the senseless alike perish
       and leave their wealth to others.

 11 Their tombs will remain their houses [a] forever,
       their dwellings for endless generations,
       though they had [b] named lands after themselves.

 12 But man, despite his riches, does not endure;
       he is [c] like the beasts that perish.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14 Vanity of vanities

Time to reflect: The Hebrew word underlying “vanity” is a wisp of smoke, totally unsubstantial. Ecclesiastes is full of harsh, discouraging words about life. Many discouraged people actually find it comforting because they can relate to these words: “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Ecclesiastes, however, needs to be coupled with the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is not wisdom or anything else “under the sun” that saves us or makes like worthwhile, but rather the salvation afforded by Christ. This salvation, then, makes life worth living and our toils of value.

Moving through the day: Meditate on the difference of living a life that ends in the grave and a life that is leading toward the general resurrection.

Scripture:

 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
       says the Teacher.
       "Utterly meaningless!
       Everything is meaningless."

 12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 66:16-20 What has God done for you?

Time to reflect: If someone was to challenge you and ask, “What has God done for you?” How would you answer? Are you sure you are attributing to God some of the things God has done for you?

Scripture:

16 Come and listen, all you who fear God;
       let me tell you what he has done for me.

 17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
       his praise was on my tongue.

 18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
       the Lord would not have listened;

 19 but God has surely listened
       and heard my voice in prayer.

 20 Praise be to God,
       who has not rejected my prayer
       or withheld his love from me!