296 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.

Prayer for the Morning

Heavenly Lord, you have brought me to the beginning of a new day. As the world is renewed fresh and clean, so I ask you to renew my heart with your strength and purpose. Forgive me the errors of yesterday and bless me to walk closer in your way today. This is the day I begin my life anew; shine through me so that every person I meet may feel your presence in my soul. Take my hand, precious Lord, for I cannot make it by myself. Through Christ I pray and live,

Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Christ Jesus, before ascending into heaven, You promised to send the Holy Spirit to Your apostles and disciples. Grant that the same Spirit may perfect in my life the work of Your grace and love. and that I may bear my cross with You and, with courage, overcome the obstacles that interfere with my salvation; Teach me to be Your faithful disciple and animate me in every way with Your Spirit.

Prayer of Surrender

All to Jesus, I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live.

Benediction

Now, oh Lord, I pray that you may lift up the light of your countenance upon me, and give me peace; in my going out and in my coming in; in my sitting down and my rising up; in my work and in my play; in my joy and in my sorrow, in my laughter and in my tears; until that day comes which is without dawn and without dark.

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 4:18-19

1 Corinthians 12:4-13

The Gifts of the Spirit

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are brought by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Notes on the Scripture

In several of the passages this past week, we have looked at the Holy Spirit as the source of our knowledge of God, the internal gift of the Spirit. Today's passage emphasizes the role of the Spirit in our lives, especially the ways in which we contribute to Christ's church.

Our functions are often given to us, or we feel as if we stumble upon them; we might see a need and fill it. Or we might have a talent or knowledge which is needed. This is slightly different from the American dream, which teaches us that in the world of commerce we should set goals with our mind and that we can be anything we want to be, and so on. We see a poor or dirty person and at least a part of us sees a person who could improve himself if he would just try. And it may or may not be true.

But although service to Christ is similar in many ways, there are also differences. In fact, some of the people with the greatest callings live in a manner that would appall us. When we see others who are not achieving everything in this life that we think they could — in our pitifully small wisdom — it is always good to consider the life of John the Baptist, or St. Francis of Assisi, or someone similar. For there have been many people who, for their love of God became less or lived lives more lowly than they would have, if they had more ambition to succeed in the material world.

Current Memory Verse     Remember the Bible

Print Today’s Devotion