Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship: March 27-April 2, 2011
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation
During Lent and the first few days of Eastertide, Your COMPASS will cite portions of the 2011 LENTEN DEVOTIONS, a guide published by the Worship and Music Committee of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita Falls, Texas.
Saturday, April 2, 2011 WORSHIP
Compass:
Psalm 95:6 ‘O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.’
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker….
Map:
Many of us ‘go to church’ each Sunday to worship. The first words we hear from the pulpit are known as the Call to Worship. We sing, we pray, give our offering, hear God’s word read and preached and think we have worshiped God. Worship is not a matter of time or place or form. Worship should be our response to what God has done for us. This includes love for Him and for others, thanksgiving for His mercy and grace, reverence and humility, and obedience and dedication to his will. ~ Allene Baughn (1905-1991)
Journey:
Prayer: Our Father, we worship and praise You for Your great love for us. Teach us that our worship is what we do before Thee and others, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tomorrow: FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT
Friday, April 1, 2011 LEARNING TO PRAY
Compass:
Psalm 118:24 ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Map:
What a beautiful April day. I open my eyes — I thank God! He has given me one more day of life and I am grateful. He has a definite purpose for this day he has given me, and it is my task to find what he would have me do to bring about his purpose…. ~ Virginia Herzfeld (1914-2006)
Journey:
Our Father and our God! In Thine infinite wisdom and power, please show us Thy purpose for us today. Guide us to that one of Your children who needs a helping hand or a word of encouragement and cheer. Work through us to bring about Your Kingdom on this earth…. Through Christ. Amen.
Tomorrow: WORSHIP
Thursday, March 31, 2011 RESPONDING TO THE RISEN LORD
…Although I know we cannot have the resurrection without first the death, I still respond more viscerally to the risen Lord. And isn’t it easier to understand the resurrection when we observe Easter during the season of the year in which renewal and rebirth are so apparent? …So too in our hearts, if we simply accept it, we can feel the renewal of our spiritual selves. Our sins and shortcomings don’t magically disappear, but their hold is broken. We can see evidences of God’s grace around us, we feel it inside us. ‘In the rustling grass I hear him pass. He speaks to me everywhere.’ ~ Sue Crosnoe
Tomorrow: LEARNING TO PRAY
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 WHEN I SAY, ‘I AM A CHRISTIAN’
When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not shouting, ‘I’ve been saved!’
I’m whispering, ‘I get lost! That’s why I chose this way.’
When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t speak with human pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble, needing God’s help to be my guide.
When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on.
~ Lines from a poem by Carol Wimmer (submitted by Susan Osoinach)
Tomorrow: RESPONDING TO THE RISEN LORD
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 GENEROUS
Compass:
Matthew 10:8 ‘…Freely you have received, freely give.’
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Map:
God has lavished countless gifts on each of us. How blessed we are…. In return, we pray for…that same spirit of generosity toward others.
Journey:
Prayer: Father…, grant us a generous spirit toward all your children…. Amen.
Tomorrow: WHEN I SAY, ‘I AM A CHRISTIAN.’
Monday, March 28, 2011 QUESTIONS
Compass:
Luke 10:25 ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’
‘On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”’
Map:
We are much involved with questions about things that matter a good deal today but will be forgotten by this time tomorrow — the immediate wheres and whens and hows that face us daily at home and at work — but at the same time we tend to lose track of the questions about things that matter always — life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose, and value. ~ Frederick Buechner
Journey:
A Prayer: Jesus, forgive the countless times I have avoided hearing the questions you ask me in your Word. Help me this Lent to hear the questions and to respond to them.
Tomorrow: GENEROUS
Sunday, March 27, 2011 AN INVITATION TO WORSHIP GOD
Compass:
Psalm 95 ‘Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD!’
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
“They shall never enter my rest.”
Map:
As you prepare for worship today, prepare your heart and mind. Sing for joy! Shout to the Rock of our salvation, come with thanksgiving in your heart…. And ‘today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts.’
Journey:
Prayer: O God, you are a great God. You made everything. We kneel before you, our Maker…. Bless us as we worship you this day. Amen.
Tomorrow: QUESTIONS
Photo Credit: Desert and Dunes, Venezuela by Edgar Barany
