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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 for the Morning

Lord, teach me to number my days aright, that I may gain wisdom of heart.

Help me do today the things that matter, not to waste the time I have.

The moments I have are precious, Lord, see that I count them dear. Teach me to number my days aright. Fill me this day with your kindness, that I may be glad and rejoice all the days of my life. Through Christ I pray,

Prayer of Thanks

O Thou whose bounty fills my cup, With every blessing meet! I give Thee thanks for every drop, The bitter and the sweet.

I praise Thee for the desert road, And for the riverside; For all Thy goodness hath bestowed, And all Thy grace denied.

I thank Thee for both smile and frown, And for the gain and loss; I praise Thee for the future crown And for the present cross.

I thank Thee for both wings of love Which stirred my worldly nest; And for the stormy clouds which drove Me, trembling, to Thy breast.

I bless Thee for the glad increase, And for the waning joy; And for this strange, this settled peace Which nothing can destroy.

by Jane Crewdson (1860)

Benediction

Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all.

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 15:5

1 Peter 1:19-21 (ESV)

The Word Made Flesh [2]

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Notes on the Scripture

Another long sentence! This is actually a continuation of the Scripture from yesterday, but once again, we must take the time to read it slowly and throughly in order to get a full measure of meaning from it.

Peter once again reminds us that Christ existed from the beginning of time. We could not, however, find him. He was a "light that shined in darkness", but a light which the darkness could not comprehend. We were living in that darkness and thus, we could comprehend Christ.

So the light took the form of a man, to ensure that we could see him and relate to him, to see what was possible: victory over death. He was made "manifest" — that is, made into something we could see and hear and touch — so that we might really grasp that God exists, and hear God's word, and know God's heart, which is love.

All this He did, so that our faith and hope might be in God. By our nature, our faith and hope are in things of this world: money, pride, status, the satiation of our bodies and our egos. Our nature is to believe what we can see. So God made Himself into someone we could see. He took the eternal fight of good and evil into the visible world. Christ was God bringing the fight into enemy territory, in a sense.

And the purpose of Christ becoming a human being was that our faith and hope would be in God.

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