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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 of Love

God, my Father, may I love you in all things and above all things. May I reach the joy which you have prepared for me in Heaven. Nothing is good that is against your will, and all that is good comes from your hand.

Place in my heart a desire to please you and fill my mind with thoughts of your Love, so that I may grow in your wisdom and enjoy your peace.

Beliefnet 8/1/2014

For Those Who Suffer

God of time and of eternity, in your hands you hold the souls of the righteous, and in your heart there is room for all people; shine forth upon all who are tried in the furnace of suffering and illness, and especially on those for whom I pray today; in your grace and mercy may we know that you watch over us; bring us at the last to abide with you in love; I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thanks to God for Coming to Us

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. I bless and thank you for finding me, Lord; may I never more take a breath without a heart filled with your Spirit .

based on The Confessions of St. Augustine

Meditation

[Created things kept me from God.]

Dedication

I  dedicate this day to you, mighty God. I pray that your Spirit will lift me up this day, and that your face may shine upon me all the day long, that I might do your will and lead a new life in Christ, reborn in the Spirit.

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 19:17 (NKJV)

Exodus 13:3-10, 14 (ESV)

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.

You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.

For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.’”

Notes on the Scripture

This mostly repetitive set of instructions is the end of a distinct part of Exodus. If it were a play, the first three scenes of Act 1 might be: 1) Israel's enslavement, 2) God's call to Moses, and 3) The ten plagues and Passover.

As we discussed earlier, God very pointedly institutes the Feast of Passover before a single Jew has set foot out of his house to leave Egypt. He absolutely demands that it be kept, every year, for all time. Those who do not keep it will not be Jews in the eyes of God; they will be separated from the congregation of Hebrews.

Notice that in paragraph 3, a Jewish parent is not to tell a child, "this is what God did for Israel" or "this is what God did for our parents" or even "did for us". The sentence is: "It is because of what the Lord did for me . . . ."

The relationship of God and man begins and ends with a single person: me. In between, huge masses, societies and nations may be involved simply because of the mechanics of spreading and keeping God's word. Jesus himself chose twelve disciples (as Yahweh chose twelve tribes) and, while still alive, sent them out in pairs. (Matthew 10) But every man and woman's relationship with God is individual. And a parent is to teach a child directly. As pertains to a Jew, the parent must tell the child once a year, directly and specifically, exactly what God did and that he did it, not for some group of people in the distant past, but for me, and by implication, for you.

he tendency of every child is to believe only the world he sees. As far as we are concerned, the world began when we were about four years old and our memory developed. We must develop the understanding that Moses and Yahweh — and, clearly, we are talking about Jesus here, as well — did what they did for me.

The very emphatic language and repetition about the Passover alerts us as to how important God considers this commandment: Teach the child the truth. Teach him or her directly, one to one. Read him the Scripture and make him understand, as clearly as if it is tattooed on his hand or forehead, that it is a letter addressed to him.

This is a duty given by God before the ten commandments and it is stated in the strongest possible terms. Teaching the children about God is an important part of Christian life, as much as charitable giving, prayer and praise, and it is always worth thinking about whether we might seek out an opportunity to make a contribution of some sort.

Daily Inspiration

“The Importance of Mercy”

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