Daily Devotion for September 24, 2010
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.
In shady, green pastures, so rich and so sweet,
God leads His dear children along;
Where the water’s cool flow bathes the weary one’s feet,
God leads His dear children along.
Refrain:
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.
Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along;
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.
Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose,
God leads His dear children along;
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes,
God leads His dear children along.
Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.
Music and Lyrics by George A. Young, 1903
Prayer to Live for God's Glory
O God, lover of Your people, help me this day to live entirely to Your glory. Let me be deaf to unmerited criticism and the praise of men. Nothing can hurt my new-born inner self, it cannot be smitten or die; nothing can mar the dominion of Your Spirit within me; it is enough to have Your approval and that of my conscience.
Keep me humble, dependent, supremely joyful, as calm and quiet as a dependent child, yet earnest and active. I wish not so much to do as to be, and I long to be like Jesus; if You make me right, I shall be right; Lord, I belong to You, make me worthy of Yourself.
Prayer for Strength
Holy Lord God, I truly want to carry your truth into the world as you have commanded us to do, and to live every moment of my life in your Holy Spirit. But sometimes I feel weak and discouraged, like it is too much for me.
Let me always remember your words, that we should put on your armor and be strong, not in our own power, but in the strength of your might. Help me to stop calling on my own power and learn to call upon the power of your Spirit, that dwells always within me and loves me, and waits only to be called. For I am weak, but your strength knows no limit, and it is mine to have in your service. Embolden and empower me to fight evil wherever I may find it, and to tell the world of your grace in Christ Jesus.
Meditation
[Try thinking not “is it right or wrong” but “does it honor God?”]
Benediction
May the God of peace, who declared victory over death by the resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ, make me perfect in every thought and act through His grace, that my life might be pleasing in His sight and that I might share the perfect peace that is only possible through Him, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Satan’s Tactics
1. Curiosity
2. Excitement
3. Ignore our Conscience
4. Compromise
5. Make a choice
6. Forget the past
7. Rationalize and excuse it
8. Reinterpret Scripture
9. Argue because we have a guilty conscience.
John 14:25-31 (ESV)
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit [Part 2]
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Notes on the Scripture
n yesterday’s Scripture, Jesus promised that he would not leave his followers alone “like orphans.” He would send a Helper. Today, he calls the Helper that will come “the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus also taught that this Helper would be a manifestation of himself. In days gone by (as late as the 1970s), the Holy Spirit was called the “Holy Ghost” in many churches. This was changed, largely because the word “ghost” is just too creepy for some people; a ghost is something that most people react to in a negative way. Ghosts are scary.
Something was lost, however, in the change. Jesus (with the Father) sent the Holy Spirit to his believers, at least in part, as the remaining but invisible spirit of himself. In a sense, to understand the Holy Spirit, you can picture Jesus’ ghost roaming the earth. But this is not a ghost who haunts or scares. This is Christ himself, who loves us more than we have ever been loved. It is a ghost whose only purpose is to help us and save us, to give us life.
