PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday

Scripture lesson: John 11:32-44 “Why weren't you here?'

I'd like to focus on the human aspects of this dramatic story: Clearly Jesus was vary close to the siblings, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Mary's comment to Jesus in verse 32 was an accusation and complaint. “If you are such a good friend, why did it take you so long to get here. Now it is too late for you to heal him, and my brother is dead and buried.” Jesus kept breaking down through all the emotional turmoil. Jesus is greatly relieved (vs 41) when things turned out the way he wanted.

Moving through the day: Remember a time when you felt the strong emotions Jesus felt in this story. Where was God at that time? What was your relationship with God at that time? Were you more like angry Mary or practical Martha or more like confident Jesus?

Scripture:

John 11:32-44

32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ 37But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ 40Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Revelation 21:1-6a The End Time

Time to reflect: For believers, the “End Time” is not scary, but hope filled. At long last we shall all be with our God and with each other. It will be a glorious situation that cannot actually be described in human language, we can only give images.

Moving through the day: The timing of the End Time is unknown and unknowable and cannot be rushed or brought about by humans. It is simply there awaiting us. It gives us hope and comfort in this interim time between Christ and the End Time. Say a prayer of thanksgiving for what is yet to come.

Scripture:

Revelation 21:1-6a

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home* of God is among mortals.
He will dwell* with them;
they will be his peoples,*
and God himself will be with them;*
4he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ 6Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 24 Lift up your heads, O gates!

Time to reflect: This is commonly understood to be a song sung by pilgrims approaching the Temple in Jerusalem. The “Who shall ascend” part is listing the basic requirements for entering the Temple – they need to be Kosher, inside and out. But the focus of the Psalm is who God is and God's relationship with the Temple. One other comment, the English word “glory” is very pale compared to the Hebrew. The Hebrew word has a sense of grandeur beyond human imagination and and a physical component that transcends the universe.

Moving Throughout the day: We no longer have a Temple, nor do we think of God as being confined to a particular space. Try to picture a transcendent, glorious but hidden God giving humans just a glimpse of this grandeur.

Scripture

Psalm 24

Entrance into the Temple

Of David. A Psalm.
1The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
   the world, and those who live in it;
2for he has founded it on the seas,
   and established it on the rivers.

3Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
   And who shall stand in his holy place?
4Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
   who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
   and do not swear deceitfully.
5They will receive blessing from the Lord,
   and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6Such is the company of those who seek him,
   who seek the face of the God of Jacob.*
          Selah

7Lift up your heads, O gates!
   and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
   that the King of glory may come in.
8Who is the King of glory?
   The Lord, strong and mighty,
   the Lord, mighty in battle.
9Lift up your heads, O gates!
   and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
   that the King of glory may come in.
10Who is this King of glory?
   The Lord of hosts,
   he is the King of glory.
          Selah

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Isaiah 25:6-9 “on that day”

Time to reflect:

Although we do not take this literally, the picture painted here of God's redemption of “all peoples” at the end of time is a glorious one. This passage is one to cling to in times of trouble.

Moving through the day: Visually picture representatives from “all nations” and “all people” not just our own. Picture the most dejected or suffering of these nations and people and picture God comforting all.

Scripture:

Isaiah 25:6-9

6On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
7And he will destroy on this mountain
   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
   the sheet that is spread over all nations;
8he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
   for the Lord has spoken.
9It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Hebrews 9:11-14 The ultimate sacrifice

Scripture lesson: Jesus' sacrifice eliminated all lesser sacrificial practices. The cleansing, purification of humanity occurred in an once and for all finality through Jesus. Even though the concept of “sacrifice” is foreign to us (because of its being ended) this passage gives us an inkling as to why it was no longer needed.

Time to reflect: Meditate on the phrase “purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!”

Scripture:

Hebrews 9:11-14

11 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,* then through the greater and perfect* tent* (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 12he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit* offered himself without blemish to God, purify our* conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Ruth 1:1-18 What's the big deal here?

Time to reflect:

Ruth and Orpah were not bound by Israelite rules, sensibilities or God. Naomi had a religious crisis: by Hebrew Law it was her duty to provide a male child for her husband, but her husband and their sons were all dead. Naomi was beyond childbearing age and the daughter-in-laws would not feel any obligation to go with Naomi to find the nearest male relative to father a son in the name of Elimelech's family. It looked like Naomi was going to fail in her obligation to her husband and to her God. Ruth, however, voluntarily decided to abandon her family, gods, and traditions, to save her mother-in-law. This is an extraordinary act of faith and faithfulness. The rest of the story is the story of their working to fulfill this obligation. The end result was the extension of Elimelech's line, including King David and Jesus. Who knew that this frantic, taking-care-of-business decision would have such long ranging and important implications?

Moving through the day: Think of a time when you did something that wasn't required, but was simply the right thing to do. Are there similar choices in front of you now?

Ruth 1:1-18

Ruth

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. 2The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4These took Moabite wives; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons or her husband.

Naomi and Her Moabite Daughters-in-Law

6 Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had had consideration for his people and given them food. 7So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. 8But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10They said to her, ‘No, we will return with you to your people.’ 11But Naomi said, ‘Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.’ 14Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 So she said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ 16But Ruth said,
‘Do not press me to leave you
   or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
   where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
   and your God my God.
17Where you die, I will die—
   there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
   and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!’
18When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Deuteronomy 13:4 God alone

Time to reflect: One of the most basic tenets of our faith is that our loyalty should be to God alone. If God is our first priority, the next highest priority is about 100^th place.

Moving Through The Day:One of the most basic tenets of our faith is that our loyalty should be to God alone. If God is our first priority, the next highest priority is about 100^th place.

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 13:4

4The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.

PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday

Scripture lesson: Mark 10:46-52 “Don't bother him!”

Jesus' followers were always trying to keep people from bothering Jesus. Even though he would sometimes get overwhelmed, Jesus wanted to be bothered! He was not too good or too important or too busy to help people in need.

Moving through the day: How busy, important or good are you? Are there “beggars” like Bartimaeus you need to be helping?

Scripture:

Mark 10:46-52

The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 49Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher,* let me see again.’ 52Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.