Daily Devotion for January 27, 2012
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.
Even though I speak not one word of Russian, I sang in the Yale Russian Chorus for two years just because I loved the music so much (it was quite a task memorizing all the words). This piece, Blagoslovi, dushe moya or "Praise the Lord", by Rachmaninoff, was part of our sacred repertory.
Try playing this in the background as you read and pray.
Prayer for the Morning
Blessed are you, Lord God of my salvation, to you be praise and glory for ever. As once you ransomed your people from Egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land, so now you have delivered me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of your risen Son. May I, the fruit of your new creation, rejoice in this new day you have made, and praise you for your mighty acts. Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For our Enemies
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 the God of patience and consolation grant us to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
Psalm 84:10-11
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
Genesis 13:1-7 (ESV)
The Story of Abraham [4]
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.
And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
Notes on the Scripture
Having survived the famine and all the risks attendant with living in Egypt, Abraham and his nephew Lot return to the place where they had made home after they left Ur of the Chaldeans. They both must have been excellent husbandmen, because they returned with great wealth. And again, the Bible mentions that Abram speaks the "name of the Lord", an act that had enormous significance at the time.
We again see indications of how early Abram lived. Although there are tribes in the area, the land has not yet been fully populated; Abram and Lot simply arrive and claim a large chunk of pasturage, without any apparent conflict. In fact, the only conflict mentioned about land is between the two of them!
The people called Canaanites were simply an early people who were living in the area at the rise of the bronze age; although their existence is well-established and archaeologists have found a number of sites with cultural similarities, and mentions of them were preserved in Egypt, little is known about their language, religion, etc., as they had no writing.
On the other hand, the Bible is the only record of the "Perizzites". Almost certainly, they were one of hundreds of wandering pastoral tribes in a time when the earth had few people and almost no borders. They left no identifiable artifacts.Map of the Middle East at the Time of Abraham
