Monday, January 6, 2020

Strengthened by Grace Devotional: 1/6/20


Prayer for Monday: God, who has proven Your love for mankind by sending us Jesus Christ our Lord, and has illumined our human life by the radiance of His presence, I give You thanks for this Your greatest gift.

For my Lord's days upon earth
For the record of His deeds of love
For the words He spoke for my guidance and help
For His obedience unto death
For His triumph over death
For the presence of His Spirit with me now
I thank You, God.

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I commit all my ways to You. I turn over my soul to Your keeping. I pledge my life to Your service. May this day be for me a day of obedience and of charity, a day of happiness and of peace. May all my walk and conversation be appropriate to the gospel of Christ. Amen.

Scripture Reading for Monday: Genesis 19-21

Scripture Reflection for Monday: Today's journey in God's word visits Genesis 19-21.

In Genesis 19, we see Lot shows us the bitterness of backsliding. Peter tells us that he was a righteous man, but he took one step after another into worldliness. In the end, he lost his wealth, his wife, the purity of his children, his mental health, and his own dignity—and nearly lost his life. When the world promises to please us with sin, how can we use the history of Lot and his wife to reject the world’s pleasures?

In Genesis 20, we see that the Lord remains faithful despite the weak faith of believers. God could have come in judgment against Abraham’s sin and failure to trust God fully, but instead, He came in grace. God’s promises cannot fail, for they do not depend upon man’s unstable will but upon God’s eternal will. Trust in the Lord; do not let the fear of man rule you.

In Genesis 21, we see that the Lord is faithful. Keep trusting Him even if waiting stretches from days into decades. Though we may have to wait a lifetime, He will keep His promises. If men often keep the solemn oaths of their covenants, surely the Lord will keep His covenant forever. How can God’s covenant faithfulness help us in life’s daily callings?

Daily Teaching (Catechism) for Monday:

(8.7) In his work of mediation, Christ acts according to both natures, by each nature doing what is appropriate to itself. Even so, because of the unity of the person, that which is appropriate to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person under the designation of the other nature (John 3:13; Acts 20:28).

May God help you to grow in Christ today,