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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.

For Joy Among the Children of God

Heavenly Father, you take no pleasure in wickedness and evil has no place in your kingdom; the boastful will not stand in your sight. You hate all the workers of evil. You destroy those who lie and defraud; you abhor the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

Bless me that I will not be among them, for I would come into your house in the multitude of your mercy. In fear of you and in the hope of mercy, I worship you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness. Make Your way straight before my face. Let all those rejoice who put their trust in you; let them shout for joy, because you defend them; those who love your name, grant them mercy and joy.

And evermore let your word spread throughout the world, and make me your servant in this task. In Christ's name, I pray,

For Those in Need of Strength

I  pray, Lord, for all who will need strength and courage in the day ahead: For those who face danger. For those who risk themselves for others. For those who must make an important decision today. For people who are seriously ill. For those facing persecution or torture. I ask you, Lord, to give them the power of your Spirit,

Meditation

[We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. ]

Blessing

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this day and evermore.

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.

An Angel Painter by Marc Chagall, ca. 1927.

Thinking about Tomorrow

Exodus 16:22-30 (ESV)

Bread from Heaven [3]

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers [two omers = one gallon] each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”

So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

So the people rested on the seventh day.

Notes on the Scripture

For those who have not actually read Exodus before, the lengthy section on gathering of manna and the early imposition of Sabbath laws comes as a surprise. The Hebrews immediately discover that the manna goes bad after one day. Although God has promised to send it daily, they still try to rely on their own skills; they gather extra to store up just in case, one supposes, God changes His mind. They do not trust Him fully.

Then, having established firmly to the Hebrews that manna is a gift from Him, God advances their training to the next level. Having learned to gather one day's food each day, now they must learn that they must gather two day's provision on Friday and that the manna will keep for a day, for God intends that the Sabbath be kept as a holy day.

One would think that they would be happy for a day of rest. Life is grueling in the desert. One would anticipate nothing nicer than a chance to lie around the tent all day, worshipping, talking, singing — anything but working. But no; some of them have to go out and try to gather manna. So, they get another lesson: there is none.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?'" This rhetorical question actually has an answer; for neither the Jews, as a people, nor Christians, as a church, would ever keep God's laws as an entirety. Those who really tried — such as the Catholic Church, the Puritans, the Pharisees — have inevitably broken down into politics, ungodly superstition and physical coercion.

But the greatest difficulty has always been sheer disobedience, the triumph of self-will and earthly appetite over life in the Spirit.

Christ showed us that if there is work that must be done on the Sabbath, one may do it without offending God. But His examples were work that could not wait a day: pulling an ox out of a ditch, healing a sick man. He did not, by His own assertion, come to abolish the Law, and His infringement on the Pharisees' rules for the Sabbath was not an open invitation to ignore the fourth commandment.

God loves us and would not have given us the Sabbath law if it were not beneficial to us. Yet, very few Christians or Jews keep the Sabbath (or technically, in the case of most Christians, the Sunday "Sabbath", which almost all scholars agree fulfills the fourth commandment). It is an issue worth considering and, perhaps, modifying our lives a bit. If we believe in God, then we must trust that following the commandment will ultimately have beneficial consequences.

Daily Inspiration

“And I shall be pure . . .”

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