Today is Monday, May 8, 2017.
Hypostatize ~ to treat or regard (a concept, idea, etc.) as a distinct substance or reality.
Today is No Socks Day. Unfortunately, I don’t think I could get away with that today. I didn’t wear any socks yesterday or Saturday, can that count?
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
Psalm 71:8
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
Psalm 71:17
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalm 118:23
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 15:26-27
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah.
that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Psalm 67
Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be, world without end. Alleluia. Amen.
The Gloria
(From Living the Message)
Eugene H. Peterson continues on the topic of suffering. He makes note of the last verse of Lamentations, which says, unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. (Lamentations 5:22)
It seems very blunt. But also note that this is an expression of prayer, what Peterson calls “the most personal of relationships.” And, indeed, it is. When I am praying, I am the closest to God, because I am involved in intimated conversation with him. I am not just reading off a grocery list of prayer requests. I am pouring out my heart to him.
“Prayer is suffering’s best result. In prayer, God’s anger is neither sentimentally glossed nor cynically debunked, but seized as a lever to pry open the doors of redemption.” The sufferer “does not ask God to think well of him or her, but asks that God will enact redemption.”
Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees.
2 Corinthians 12:7 (The Message)
Father, when I find myself suffering, even for the simplest of reasons, draw me closer to you in prayer. When I find myself celebrating, no matter what the occasion, draw me closer to you in prayer. May I find myself in the state of “the most personal of relationships” constantly throughout the day. Help me to “pray without ceasing.”
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Grace and peace, friends.
Spaces of Beauty, Grace, Prayer, and Mercy 