Daily Devotion for June 11, 2021
Prayers
Scripture
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.
This simple folk hymn never fails to move me, and Maureen Hagerty sings it with purity and innocence.
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die,
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all;
But high from God's heaven, a star's light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.
If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God's Angels in heaven to sing,
He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die,
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
Written John Jacob Niles in 1933, based on an Appalachian folk song he heard sung by Annie Morgan in Murphy, North Carolina.
Christ Be With Me
Christ, as a light illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
Prayer of Penitence
Come to me, my God. Call me in. I wander from the sheepfold mindlessly; I am adrift. I love you deeply in my soul, O Mighty God, with all my soul and heart and mind, and I regret this sin of inattention. Forgive me, for you are my only hope. As I commit so many sins, I commit the sin of joylessness and lack of interest. I repent of it, Lord; forgive me, and let me not feel guilt, but instead allow your Spirit fully into my heart, today and forever.
Prayer for Peace
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live together in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Satan wants us to be independent and proud, because then we shrink away from God and depend on ourselves, and Satan is stronger than we are.
Benediction
Into your hands, O Lord, Jesus Christ, my God, I commend my spirit. Bless me and all those who pray in faith of You this day; save us and grant unto us everlasting life.
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.
Judging the Day
“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Galatians 6:7-9 (Daily Prayer Bible)
Patience, Revisited (Galatians #95)
hoever sows by the flesh will reap corruption. But whoever sows by the Spirit will harvest eternal life.
So we should never lose our enthusiasm for doing good or put God to the back of our minds, because if we keep at it, we will reap our reward in good time.
Notes on the Scripture
Sowing is followed by harvesting, but not immediately. There is a delay. The farmer plants his seed and then . . . he waits. For interminable weeks, the plowed ground just sits there, getting muddy in the rain and dusty in the dry sunshine. Yet underneath, slowly and unseen, a miracle is occurring.
Then one day, as if by magic, the soil is covered by little green specks. Yet the farmer has entered another waiting period. If one sits and looks at these tiny plants, it seems that nothing is happening. Our eyes tell us that reality is a field covered with tiny plants. Next week, our eye tells us that reality is a field covered with slightly larger plants; yet they are still nothing but plants.
Our mind, however, knows better. We have been taught, or we have learned from experience, that these green plants will eventually be covered with tomatoes, or stalks of wheat, or ears of corn — the fruit of the farmer. If he has sowed navy beans, he will harvest navy beans, in the fullness of time.
Very roughly speaking, 75% of the people in the first century A.D. were involved in the production of food, compared to less than 1% in the modern world. Many (or perhaps most) of us don’t even know a farmer, unless we happen to live in the country. Yet, the constant Biblical allusions to dirt farming still resonate with us. The cycle of nature is the rhythm of life.
God’s timing, however, is on a longer schedule. Growing tomatoes may involve memory of previous experience, for we can live through the cycle of seasons dozens of times. But we do not live through the cycle of salvation but once; in fact, there is no cycle. We must run on pure faith. God promises us in writing, time after time, that we are sowing spiritual seed and will harvest as we sow.
Except, of course, there is one exception. We have seen the perfect seed of the Holy Spirit produce fruit, and that fruit was perfect: Victory over death, proven to us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will have the same harvest, if we only sow by faith in God rather than by the immediate evidence of our fallible eye.
Paul really hearkens back to the previous chapter, here, for he has already told us that patience is a fruit of the spirit that we can harvest during our life. In a way of speaking, if we are born again and indwelled of the Holy Spirit, God is constantly giving us the seed to sow. As a farmer harvests seed corn, we harvest fruits of the spirit to sow again and again during our lives, that the final harvest may be perfect: Eternal life, lived in the joy of God’s presence.
Comments (4)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the love of god in The Fellowship of the holy spirit be with you always
..and learn from me,verse 29, Matthew 11.What a wonderful promise as I read that verse those words jumped up larger than anything this Friday and everyday will bring to me,wonderful words Jenny ,,Thanks for sharing..
Well stated! Kudos! Thank you!
Thank you for today's inspiration it really helps me to remember to give my daily concerns over to our Lord and savior, no matterms how big or small. Thank you all for this daily prayer site. I really need it.