Daily Devotion for June 18, 2018
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Prayer to Live with Jesus
Dearest Jesus, work another miracle, a prodigy of grace. Make my soul a beautiful, living Tabernacle where You will ever dwell. Let me never leave You alone, but remind me to return hundreds of times in the day and have a word with You.
A Prayer in Darkness of the Mind
This much, O heaven — if I should brood or rave,
Pity me not; but let the world be fed,
Yea, in my madness if I strike me dead,
Heed you the grass that grows upon my grave.
If I dare snarl between this sun and sod,
Whimper and clamour; give me grace to own,
In sun and rain and fruit in season shown,
The shining silence of the mercy of God.
Thank God the stars are set beyond my power,
If I must travail in a night of wrath,
Thank God my tears will never vex a moth,
Nor any curse of mine cut down a flower.
Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
Meditation
[Most people spend their lives trying to gain power of different sorts, yet Chesterton’s prayer thanks God that he does not have more of it. How has God blessed me by not giving me all the power I have wanted in my life?]
Dedication
All through this day, O Lord, by the power of your quickening Spirit, let me touch the lives of others for good, whether through the word I speak, the prayer I speak, or the life I live.
(Additional prayers may be found at Prayers for All Occasions.)
God be with you 'til we meet again.
Psalm 1:1-2 (NKJV)
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
John 6:15-21 (NLT)
Jesus Walks on Water
Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.
But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
Notes on the Scripture
he first sentence is a transition from the feeding of the 5,000. The people who witnessed it became understandably excited; they were ready to proclaim Jesus the King of Israel, which would have started a political revolution, at the least against Herod and most likely against Rome. This is exactly the kind of “savior” whom the Jews were anticipating. (And, it seems, a great many Christians have not realized that they are exactly like the Jews of Roman Judea, expecting salvation to come from their government!)
But as we know, Jesus had other plans entirely. He did not plan to rule on earth. Just the opposite: he planned to live and die as a humble commoner. He would never raise a sword against the Romans or the ruling parties of Judea. Instead, he would die like a criminal for an unjust accusation.
Christ's walking on water is one of the iconic moments of his life. Every Western atheist knows about it. I imagine walking on water comes in second only to “St. Peter at the Pearly Gates” as a setup for jokes with religious characters.
It is probably a good exercise to ask yourself whether you actually believe that Christ, literally and physically, crossed the open water of Lake Tiberius (another name for the Sea of Galilee) during a fierce storm. Whatever you think about it, it is a good starting point for someone to meditate on his or her beliefs about Christ and salvation. Christ tells his disciples, “Do not be afraid.” And neither should we be afraid to believe, literally, in the miracles of Christ.
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