PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Romans 4:13-25 “Hoping against Hope he believed...”

Time to reflect: This is sometimes referred to as the “leap of Faith” Not knowing for sure, but willing to take the risk to believe.

Moving through the day: “Pray 'Lord, I believe, help me with my unbelief'”

Scripture:

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 33:1-12 The Creator God

 

Time to reflect: It is easy in our society to replace reverence for God with scientific explanations. But the two are not mutually exclusive. If we view God as behind and the designer of the the processes we describe with Science, we can't help but marvel.

Moving Throughout the day: Write a short poem praising God but using modern scientific language in describing what God has done.

Scripture:

Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
       it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

  Praise the LORD with the harp;
       make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

 Sing to him a new song;
       play skillfully, and shout for joy.

  For the word of the LORD is right and true;
       he is faithful in all he does.

  The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
       the earth is full of his unfailing love.

  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
       their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars ;
       he puts the deep into storehouses.

  Let all the earth fear the LORD;
       let all the people of the world revere him.

 For he spoke, and it came to be;
       he commanded, and it stood firm.

  The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
       he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

  But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
       the purposes of his heart through all generations.

  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
       the people he chose for his inheritance.

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Genesis 12:1-9

Time to reflect: To what an unbelievable extent God has carried out the promises to Abraham. But Abraham could have not believed and accepted the promises, since the sacrifices were significant. As the Apostle Paul put it, it was Abraham's faithfulness not his deeds that brought about the fulfillment.

Moving through the day: Pray for faithfulness to God even when the prospects are scary.

Scripture:

  The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

  "I will make you into a great nation
       and I will bless you;
       I will make your name great,
       and you will be a blessing.

  I will bless those who bless you,
       and whoever curses you I will curse;
       and all peoples on earth
       will be blessed through you."

  So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

  Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

  From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Hosea 6:4-6

 

Time to reflect: How constant is your faithfulness? Is it like the morning mist or dew?

Moving through the day: Pledge yourself for the day to stop each hour through the day to say a quick prayer to God.

Scripture:

"What can I do with you, Ephraim?
       What can I do with you, Judah?
       Your love is like the morning mist,
       like the early dew that disappears.

  Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
       I killed you with the words of my mouth;
       my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.

  For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
       and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 50:7-17 Thanksgiving

Time to reflect: The recurring theme in Scriptures that it is attitude not ritual that matters.

Moving through the day: This passage calls for thanksgiving. Stop to give thanks to God.

Scripture:

^RS Psalm 50:7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. ⁸ Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. ⁹ I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds. ¹⁰ For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. ¹² "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine. ¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. ¹⁵ Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Proverbs 2:1-11 Listen to Wisdom

 

Time to reflect: We all naturally think we are naturally wise. We feel like we can rely on our own intelligence and instincts. But this passage (and surely experience) teaches us that we gain wisdom (not just learning but wisdom) by work and by listening to outside voices, especially God's.

Moving through the day: Pledge yourself for the day to stop before every significant decision and think about what God's wisdom might suggest in the situation.

Scripture:

My heart is steadfast, O God;
       I will sing and make music with all my soul.

  Awake, harp and lyre!
       I will awaken the dawn.

  I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
       I will sing of you among the peoples.

  For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
       your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Proverbs 1:20-23 Wisdom

Time to reflect: Proverbs often uses a personification of Wisdom as a woman, but a woman ignored by all the stupid people. Those rejecting wisdom are put into three categories: those who like things simple, the cynical and those who hate knowledge. In our society, where do you see these three reactions?

Moving through the day: Meditate on which of these three reactions you tend toward. Pray for God's wisdom and the ability and willingness to grasp it.

Scripture:

Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
       she raises her voice in the public squares;

  at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
       in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:

  "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
       How long will mockers delight in mockery
       and fools hate knowledge?

If you had responded to my rebuke,
       I would have poured out my heart to you
       and made my thoughts known to you.