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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 to Be Close to God

Mighty Lord, I come before you today to thank You for all the blessings that You have given me. Many times my life is so full of busy work that I neglect my relationship with You, and for that I am deeply sorry. I know that You never neglect me, for if You did my very life would cease to be. Continue to pull me to Yourself, guide me in my journey, and hold me close in Your bosom until the day I come home to be with You forever. Be with me now as I gather together with this online community, in Your name, that I and all who pray with me may feel your presence among us. In Jesus precious name I pray.

adapted from unk. source by Mason Barge 5/16/2015

Prayer of Praise

In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, mighty Lord, for I know you will answer me.

Among all men, and the gods of their imagination, and the works of their hands, there is none like You, O Lord; nor are there any works like those you have made. Our great thoughts are pitiful shadows of your wisdom, and our great machines are foolish beside the immensity of your universe.

All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name; for you are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

Mason Barge 8/14/2015

Benediction

Oh Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”; I pray that I and your whole church, the body of all faithful people, will know your peace, and live in harmony and unity, one with another, in accordance with your wishes. This I pray to you, who lives and reigns forever.

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.

David the Psalmist, Grace Lutheran Church, Jersey City, New Jersey (US)

Psalm 89:19-23 (NKJV)

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NLT) (abridged)

The Anointing of David

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

Notes on the Scripture

avid was a real person, someone in his own right, with his own character and history. It would be a mistake to see him as completely allegorical. Still, a Christian cannot help but see David, to some degree, as a prototype of Jesus. They are from the same tiny town, Bethlehem. David is, literally, a shepherd whose call comes while he is tending some very real sheep. His occupation foretells the mission and purpose of Christ, whom the Bible itself often likens to a “shepherd” of men.

David is chosen and anointed by God Himself, for His own purposes. Throughout these books of the Bible, one sees time and again that God loves David, often inexplicably. There is no why. God has no duty to explain Himself to us, and in this regard, He does not. We must accept it without explanation: God loved David.

But again, David pretells Jesus, for David is the youngest and humblest of Jesse’s boys. (If you just wondered about Jesse’s girl, join the club. With apologies to Rick Springfield.) And remember, God has already told us, in Isaiah 11:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked . . . .

(In case you wondered why the elders of Bethlehem come “trembling” to Samuel, asking him if he came in peace: Remember, just in the preceding chapter, Samuel personally hacked King Agag to pieces. 1 Sam. 15:32-33.)

Daily Inspiration

“ A God to be Desired ”

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