PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Hebrews 11:29-12:2 By faith was he saved....”

Time to reflect: The upshot of this passage is that the Old Testament faithful people are to be commended but they missed the full value of their faithfulness because Christ had not yet come. As said in passing and more explicitly elsewhere, their imperfection was finally taken care of with the coming Jesus the Christ. So we really have an advantage for we know Jesus and don't have to be faithful in a less certain situation. So (this is part of the overall goal of Hebrews) we can be faithful no matter how hard it gets because these “saints” were faithful in much harder situations.

Moving through the day: Pray that the example of all the “saints” that were faithful in such hard situations can become examples for you.

Scripture:

 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

 31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[b]

 32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[c]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

 39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Hebrews 12

God Disciplines His Sons

 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.