139 people in our community are currently praying with you.

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.

Martin Luther's Prayer for Morning

I give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected me through the night from all danger and harm. I ask you to preserve and keep me, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all my thoughts, words, and deeds I may serve and please you. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all that is mine. Let your holy angels have charge of me, that the wicked one have no power over me.

Prayer for Peace

I thank you, Master and Lover of mankind, King of the ages and giver of all good things, for destroying the dividing wall of enmity and granting peace to those who seek your mercy. I appeal to you to awaken the longing for a peaceful life in all those who are filled with hatred for their neighbors, thinking especially of those at war or preparing for war.

Grant peace to your servants. Implant in them the fear of you and confirm in them love one for another. Extinguish every dispute and banish all temptations to disagreement. For you are our peace and to you we ascribe glory: to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages.

I pray, Lord our God, for all those who suffer from acts of war. I pray for your peace and your mercy in the midst of the great suffering that people are now inflicting on each other. Accept the prayers of your Church, so that by your goodness peace may return to all peoples. Hear us and have mercy on us.

Irish Blessing

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

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.

1 John 3:1-3 (ESV)

The World Does Not Know Us

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Notes on the Scripture

John again references the first chapter of his gospel here, in talking about why the world does not "know" those who follow Christ. The Gospel of John says, "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:5, and then, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. . . But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1:9-10)

Here he makes the reference to the children of God more personal; the people who first read this epistle — or, more accurately, heard it, for most people could not read, and epistles would be read aloud to congregations — these original listeners were named, personally, as the "sons of God" mentioned in the Gospel.

God had finally built a kingdom on earth, through the disciples of Christ, but it is invisible to those who refuse to see it. Imagine the church as a sort of colony, say Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Our King is far away and we do not see him, but (unlike the Kings of England!) He is perfect. Perfect in justice, perfect in His love for us. He sent his son, the prince, to establish the colony, but the people killed the prince. But the prince's visit gave us knowledge of the King's true wishes for us.

Unlike Plymouth, however, we are surrounded by people of our own culture. They simply do not comprehend God or Christ and so they cannot comprehend us. They are blind. They live their lives unable to see the truth, obeying their corrupt local rulers and their own instincts out of ignorance that they are, by their own choices, going to die. And they refuse to be cured. They are so attached to their own selfishness that they cannot conceive of what we can share with them.

But we know that our colony will not be isolated forever. Our King will come to pass harsh judgment: Death to those who have forsaken Him, but mercy and a gift wonderful beyond imagination, to all who have lived in belief and hope of His return.

Current Memory Verse     Remember the Bible

Print Today’s Devotion