Freedom

Do your work in six days and rest on the seventh day... ~ Exodus 34:21a (CEV)

God paid a great price for you. So don’t become slaves of anyone else. ~ 1 Corinthians 7:23 (CEV)

KEY IDEA:

God wants us to be free from enslavement to unending work and people who want to control us for their own gain.

PRAYER:

Thank you, Lord, for setting us free. You have freed us from never-ending work and from control freaks. But I don't do enough to actually rest and celebrate that freedom. Working without rest makes me feel important. Please free my mind from that drivenness. Help me to see what is really important to you and the world as you are re-establishing it. I'm going to honor you by celebrating sabbath -- your gift of freedom. Amen.

God comforts

The Third Sunday after Epiphany

As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you... ~ Isaiah 66:13a (CEB)

God our Father loves us. He is kind and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (CEV)

KEY IDEA:

God comforts his children so that they will have hope and live lives defined by that hope.

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you for putting your arm around me when I feel stressed. Forgive me for pulling away to pout about my problems. Hold me tightly so that my squirming simply reminds me that you are in control. I'm not going to worry. Amen.

The Lord offers peace

But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Don’t be afraid! You won’t die.”

So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it “The Lord makes peace.” ~ Judges 6:23-24a (CEB)

Jesus says: "I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn’t like the peace that this world can give. So don’t be worried or afraid." ~ John 14:27 (CEV)

KEY IDEA:

The Lord offers his peace to calm our anxieties.

PRAYER:

Lord,

THANKS: Thank you for being concerned about me and the things which cause me to be anxious.

REGRETS: I confess that I feel too much anxiety. I know that you offer peace. But I still choose to get stressed over all the problems.

INTERCESSION: Help me to experience your peace today. There are so many things which are stressful. I need some relief.

PURPOSE: I'm going to trust Jesus not just for salvation -- but also for peace. I'm planning that his peace will become so much a part of who I am that I'll be transformed into a peacemaker.

Amen.

Getting more

Better to be poor and fear the Lord than to be rich and in trouble. ~ Proverbs 15:16 (GNB)

Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! ~ Luke 12:24 (NLT)

KEY IDEA:

God cares for the faithful poor.

PRAYER:

Lord, it is so tempting to think that if I had more I would be better off. We pour so much energy into trying to get more for ourselves and our families. Free me from that pointless cycle. Help me to relax in the knowledge that no matter what happens you are going to take care of me. I thank you for your care. Amen.