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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 for This Day

Holy God, I pray in the name of Christ that you will this day increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wanderings, & direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments.

Make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber. But daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life.

Bless my family, friends & kindred; unite us all in praising & glorifying thee in all our works begun, continued, and ended, when we shall come to make our last account before thee blessed Saviour, who hath taught us thus to pray, our Father.

~ from a prayer of George Washington

For Understanding Truth

Lord God, let me not put my trust in the words of men, for their minds are weak and their tongues are tainted by the world; but let me test everything having to do with faith against our only true teacher, Jesus Christ, and the true Word of God that was inspired through the Holy Spirit.

~ Mason Barge 2014

For Those Who Protect Us

Almighty God, I commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women who put themselves in danger for our protection. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

by Mason Barge

Meditation

“Here's what you need to keep in mind. You no longer have yesterday. You do not yet have tomorrow. You have only today. This is the day the Lord has made. Live in it.”

~ Max Lucado

Closing Praise

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.

Office of Prime, Western Breviary 9/4/2014

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.

Proverbs 20:6 (NKJV)

Exodus 17:8-13 (ESV)

Israel Defeats Amalek [1]

hen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Exodus Map - Hammond   Exodus Map 2

Notes on the Scripture

Verses 1-7 described Moses leading the Israelites into the deep desert and, at the point where thirst became a survival issue, striking a rock to bring forth a gushing spring of water. In today’s verses, the fledgling Hebrew army must fight its first real battle — and we see young Joshua, who will become the first “judge” of Israel, begin a promising military career.

Moses (by Tissot)

Amalek had been the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12), and his descendants had become a tribe of Bedouin-like bandits, camel-riding desert dwellers who lived by robbing traders and disappearing into the hostile vastness of Sinai. The Amalekites were surely far fewer in number, but superior in skill, experience, aggression and armament. They likely sent scouts to give the Hebrews the choice of surrendering their livestock and valuables without a fight; whatever the reason, the Hebrews have a days’ warning before the attack.

We meet Joshua (Yehoshua, “Yahweh is salvation”) for the first time, a vigorous young man clearly marked for military command. Moses gives him total military control; we can safely assume that there is much unwritten about Joshua’s previous life for such a young man to be given such extraordinary responsibility.

We also meet Hur. Hur will simply disappear from the narrative of Exodus (long before the Israelites enter Canaan), so most Christians have never heard of him, but he is a much more prominent figure in Judaism. Joshua, of course, will become the great general of the Hebrew army in its earliest days, when it first enters the promised land.

The direct symbolism of Moses’ staff is impossible to miss. Israel will triumph against the Amalekites as long as the symbol of God is kept above Moses’ head, and Israel will triumph over all of her enemies as long as God is held in importance above all men. But God demands that Moses — an old man — perform the excruciating physical task of holding a heavy staff over his head for hours. To succeed, Moses needs the help of the priesthood, represented by Aaron, and the government, represented by Hur.

Victory O Lord!, by John Everett Millais (ca. 1871), depicts Aaron and Hur supporting Moses, during the battle against the Amalekites in Exodus 17.

Daily Inspiration

“The Flood”

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