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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.
Amen.
Prayer for the Evening
Heavenly Father, I thank you this day for all that I have. Even if I have problems with my health, I am alive today. If I have money problems, I have eaten today. I have clothes to wear, a roof to protect me, a bed to sleep in, and air to breathe.
Let me never take for granted these gifts of life, oh Lord, but always remember that they come from you; without you, no man could make the sun shine or the tree bear its fruit. I give you thanks for all that I have had this day, remembering always who made me and who keeps me. In the name of Christ I pray,
Amen.
Confession
Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, for I am a humble and miserable sinner. [At this point, pause to remember specific sins you have committed during the day and speak or think them.] I renounce all of these sins, heavenly Father, and repent of them, and I promise to make every effort not to repeat them.
Have mercy on me, I pray; pardon me for these offences and any I might have omitted from forgetfulness or ignorance; in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I pray for forgiveness. And I pray that your Holy Spirit may dwell with me in the coming day, to comfort me, to give me strength against temptation, and to guide me into the path of righteousness.
Amen.
Prayer for Enthusiasm
Holy God, I have spent many hours trying to do Your will, but sometimes I do not feel the excitement and freshness I once felt in my prayers, in my charitable work, in my giving, in my Bible study—in all the ways I try to serve and please you in my life. Let me not become weary in doing Your work. I pray for Your Holy Spirit to grant me a sense of enthusiasm, lest I be led astray and into sin by boredom and unconcern. “Thy will be done” in all things and in every way.
Amen.
Mason Barge 4/2018
Meditation
“I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” (Psalm 131:1)
Benediction
May the love of the Father, the tenderness of the Son, and the presence of the Spirit, gladden our hearts
and bring peace to our souls, this day and all days,
Amen.
Mason Barge 2/2024
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.
A wonderful song and show by Casting Crowns. “Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin, would look on me with love and watch me rise again?”
Scripture
Easter Day (poem)
Remember what a martyr said
On the rude tablet overhead —
“I was born sickly, poor and mean,
A slave: no misery could screen
The holders of the pearl of price
From Cæsar’s envy; therefore twice
fought with beasts, and three times saw
My children suffer by his law —
At last my own release was earned:
I was some time in being burned,
But at the close a Hand came through
The fire above my head, and drew
My soul to Christ, whom now I see.
Sergius, a brother, writes for me
This testimony on the wall —
For me, I have forgot it all.”
From Easter-Day by Robert Browning.
See “Today in Daily Prayer,” at the bottom of the page, for an explanation of this poem.
Matthew 5:10-12 (ESV)
The Beatitudes [8]
lessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Notes on the Scripture
Most scholars count eight beatitudes, even though there are nine statements beginning with “Blessed are . . .” If they are looking for eight pithy one-sentence teachings, they omit verses 11-12; or, as we have done, they count these three sentences as one teaching.
Few people reading this page are in danger of severe persecution. We will not be covered in pitch and used as human torches in Nero's garden, simply because we are Christians. But Western society is currently turning noticeably anti-Christian, and we can expect to be reviled, and listen to people “utter all kinds of evil” against us falsely on Christ's account.
Our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents did not have to suffer this, for Western society in the 19th and 20th centuries had a Christian norm. Many people would pretend to be Christians even though they had not given themselves to Christ; they would even participate in worship half-heartedly, for it was expected. It raised one's status. It was good for business.
But now, we see a winnowing away of the chaff. Society has grabbed onto a new norm, and outspoken hostility to the worshippers of Christ is a growth industry. We are increasingly reviled. If you have not been exposed to the current evil falsehood, that is rapidly becoming the accepted wisdom of the Western atheist, “Christians” are now held by many to be responsible for more wars and murders than any other force in history.
Both Paul and Peter teach us great lessons about how we must react. We should take it patiently, and show how much the Christian, under the consciousness of innocence, can bear. “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . . .” (1 Peter 3:13-17)
Paul provides detailed guidance in 2 Timothy 2:14-26. “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” (2 Timothy 2:24)
But the final word, and the greatest comfort, come from Christ himself. We will read Christ's great teachings on forgiveness in the next few weeks. But the first lesson is that we should find joy in whatever we might suffer.
“Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
I draw a fair amount of direct hostility, being a Christian writer — and especially on the internet, which allows for direct response so easily. All Christians see both actions and words that must cause us direct pain. By God's design, however, we have Christ going before us: villified, whipped, and crucified for nothing more than bringing a message of peace, love, and the need for godliness in the human heart. And so we must find joy in our comparatively slight pain, if and when it occurs, remembering that when all is said and done, God himself will reward us.
Caritas (Christian Love), by Abbott Handerson Thayer, ca. 1895.
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Today in Daily Prayer
Discussion of “Easter Day (poem)”
These old poems are wonderful but sometimes it is difficult to understand exactly what they are saying!
The first and last verses set the scene. We are reading a sign high on a wall somewhere, written in rough letters, possibly just scrawled on a board. It was made by someone named Sergius, about a Christian martyr (who is not named).
In the second verse, we learn that the martyr was born a slave and was dirt-poor. Yet even in his wretched poverty, Caesar was jealous of him, because he had a “pearl of price” — faith in Christ, eternal salvation. But Caesar is so enraged that he kills three of the slave’s children. And he throws the slave to the lions twice — yet the slave survives both times.
Finally, in the third verse, we learn that the slave was released, only to be arrested again later and burned to death. But at his last moment, he sees a Hand come down through the fire to bring his soul to Christ.
The last line, where we learn that Sergius has written the plaque, tells us that the martyr has “forgot it all.” He is at perfect peace, his terrible ordeal and death utterly forgotten in the bliss of Christ’s love in heaven.
Memory Verse
Matthew 5:40: If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
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