PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

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

Monday

Scripture lesson: Mark 11:1-11 The Irony of Palm Sunday

Time to reflect: More and more the church is recognizing and accepting the irony of Palm Sunday: They were expecting and greeting a King and Savior but when he arrived he didn't look or act like one so they rejected him finally, but in reality he was a king and messiah beyond their wildest imagination. They greeting Jesus with “Hosanna in the highest heaven” then proceeded to call for his execution. Jesus accepted their accolades while knowing what was coming. Despite the big deal of the procession, by the time he gets to the Temple it is too late to do anything, so he just goes back to his apartment.

Moving Through The Day: Think of a time when a “religious high” clouded your vision or interfered with your ongoing faithfulness. (Too often the result of a Evangelical experience of being “born again” results in a feeling of being duped by emotion or a desire to be reborn again and again, looking for the religious adrenaline of these experiences). Differentiate such experiences with times when a religious experience instead moved you toward ongoing faithfulness and strength of faith. What was the difference between the two experiences?

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'

 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
   "Hosanna!"
   "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
   "Hosanna in the highest!"

 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

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

Sunday

Scripture lesson: John 12:20-33 A seed

Time to reflect: The old, seemingly irreverent, slang term for burying, “being planted,” is actually a good, Biblical term. We can't “grow” into our resurrected form until we've been “planted,” like a seed. The second paragraph emphasizes that Jesus, and therefore us have things that we must do on earth. We don't commit suicide in order to be planted for that is cutting short our opportunity to serve God. It is therefore not fulfilling God's plan for us. But we need not fear death. Better things await.

Moving through the day: Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for the coming resurrection for your loved ones and for you.

Scripture:

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

 Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"

   Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

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

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Hebrews 5:5-10 Melchizedek?

Time to reflect: Melchizedek comes from a story in Genesis 14:17-20. Hebrews is using this story to connect Jesus, by analogy to a “high priest” of Jerusalem (Salem) that is totally outside all the Jewish power struggles, lineages, political groups. Jesus wasn't just another contender to the high priest position, but was out of the clear blue, like Melchizdek. The old rules don't apply to Jesus.

Moving through the day: In what ways does society try to box Jesus in by making him fit some model that really doesn't apply? (just a) teacher? (just a) social activist? (just a) wise person? (just a) ....

Scripture:

So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
   "You are my Son;
      today I have become your Father."And he says in another place,
   "You are a priest forever,
      in the order of Melchizedek."

 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

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

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 119:9-16 discipline

Time to reflect: This begins with words that mean a lot to me and my work with young people, but the advise given in this Psalm applies to all of us. We are all in need to a self-imposed discipline that comes from our reading and study of the Bible.

Moving Throughout the day: Meditate on what parts of your life need to be adjusted to be in line with God's will.

 Scripture:

How can a young man keep his way pure?
       By living according to your word.

  I seek you with all my heart;
       do not let me stray from your commands.

  I have hidden your word in my heart
       that I might not sin against you.

  Praise be to you, O LORD;
       teach me your decrees.

  With my lips I recount
       all the laws that come from your mouth.

  I rejoice in following your statutes
       as one rejoices in great riches.

 I meditate on your precepts
       and consider your ways.

  I delight in your decrees;
       I will not neglect your word.

PrayerBits for Thursday

PrayerBits

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

Thursday

Scripture lesson: Jeremiah 31:31-34 The new covenant

Time to reflect: Jesus became the final and best example of this new covenant. In this new covenant our responsibility is to have God on our hearts.

Moving through the day: Try a simple silent prayer which is devoid of asking, thanking, praising, instructing God or looking for answers. Just focus on being in the presence of God for a few moments.

Scripture:

"The time is coming," declares the LORD,
       "when I will make a new covenant
       with the house of Israel
       and with the house of Judah.

  It will not be like the covenant
       I made with their forefathers
       when I took them by the hand
       to lead them out of Egypt,
       because they broke my covenant,
       though I was a husband to them, "
       declares the LORD.

  "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
       after that time," declares the LORD.
       "I will put my law in their minds
       and write it on their hearts.
       I will be their God,
       and they will be my people.

  No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
       or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
       because they will all know me,
       from the least of them to the greatest,"
       declares the LORD.
       "For I will forgive their wickedness
       and will remember their sins no more."

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

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

Wednesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 51:1-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord”

Time to reflect: The gist of this lovely poem is that we cannot overcome sin by ourselves – it is too ingrained. But God can cleanse us.

Moving through the day: Pray a prayer of confession followed by a conscious “Assurance of Pardon” that reminds you that you are saved.

 Scripture:

Have mercy on me, O God,
       according to your unfailing love;
       according to your great compassion
       blot out my transgressions.

 Wash away all my iniquity
       and cleanse me from my sin.

  For I know my transgressions,
       and my sin is always before me.

  Against you, you only, have I sinned
       and done what is evil in your sight,
       so that you are proved right when you speak
       and justified when you judge.

 Surely I was sinful at birth,
       sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

  Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
       you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
       wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

  Let me hear joy and gladness;
       let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

  Hide your face from my sins
       and blot out all my iniquity.

  Create in me a pure heart, O God,
       and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

  Do not cast me from your presence
       or take your Holy Spirit from me.

  Restore to me the joy of your salvation
       and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

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

Pardon the interruption in PrayerBits last week. A computer upgrade blocked them from going out

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Hebrews 8:1-12 A new high priest

Time to reflect: Much of Hebrews is a little esoteric for us, but it argues that the old ways, an earthly temple, priest, worship and the indirect relationship with God have been replaced with something better – a heavenly “priest” and the ability to worship God anywhere and anytime. And, being God, we do not have to have an intercessor to approach God.

Moving through the day: Do we sometimes take on the old ways? Viewing worship as being fixed in time and place? An earthly temple that is sacred? Do we view the minister as an intercessor and somehow holier than others?

The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said
   "The time is coming, declares the Lord,
      when I will make a new covenant
   with the house of Israel
      and with the house of Judah.
 It will not be like the covenant
      I made with their forefathers
   when I took them by the hand
      to lead them out of Egypt,
   because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
      and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
      after that time, declares the Lord.
   I will put my laws in their minds
      and write them on their hearts.
   I will be their God,
      and they will be my people.
 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
      or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'
   because they will all know me,
      from the least of them to the greatest.
 For I will forgive their wickedness
      and will remember their sins no more."