Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Strengthened by Grace Devotional: 1/14/20


Prayer for Tuesday: Heavenly Father, grant me today a heart like the heart of Jesus Christ, a heart more ready to minister than to be ministered unto, a heart moved by compassion towards the weak and the oppressed, a heart set upon the coming of Your kingdom in the world, a heart that sees people who need You. Grant, Father, that Your lovingkindness will cause my heart to be less calloused. Make me sensitive to the needs of others. If I have problems today that would make me cold towards others, let me not brood upon my own sorrows, as if I alone in the world were suffering, but rather let me busy myself in the compassionate service of all who need my help. Thus let the power of my Lord Christ be strong within me and His peace invade my Spirit. Amen.

Scripture Reading for Tuesday: Genesis 40-41

Scripture Reflection for Tuesday: Today's journey "Through the Bible" visits Genesis 40-41.

In Genesis 40, we see that painful circumstances in our lives may drag on for years. Sometimes, we must endure great disappointments when our hopes get raised only to be dashed to the ground. We must wait on the Lord. Nothing is more difficult than waiting, but nothing is more profitable for our souls. By grace, waiting cultivates faith, prayer, submission, and humility; it prepares us for greater fruitfulness in the future. Above all, it focuses our hope not on earthly things or relationships, but upon the Lord Himself. Have you, too, learned to wait actively, prayerfully, and expectantly on God?

In Genesis 41, we see that God glorifies Himself by exalting His humbled servants. Christ suffered from His people’s envy and false accusations. He went down into humiliation, even an accursed death on the cross. But just as Joseph’s enslavement and imprisonment prepared for his service as Pharaoh’s vizier, so Christ’s suffering for our sins laid the foundation for His exaltation as the living Savior reigning at God’s right hand. Let us praise the wisdom of God for the strange yet necessary humiliation of His Son, for without it no one would ever be saved.

Daily Teaching (Catechism) for Tuesday:

(9.4) When God converts sinners and transforms them into the state of grace, he frees them from their natural bondage to sin and by his grace alone enables them to will and to do freely what is spiritually good. Yet because of their remaining corruption, they do not perfectly nor exclusively will what is good but also will what is evil (Colossians 1:13; John 8:36; Philippians 2:13; Romans 7:15, 18, 19, 21, 23).

May God help you to grow in Christ today,