GOD SIDES WITH HIS PEOPLE

JEREMIAH 1:19 (CEB)
They will attack you, but they won’t defeat you, because I am with you and will rescue you, declares the LORD.

JOHN 17:9 (MSG)
I pray for them.
I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.

SUMMARY SENTENCE
God sides with his people.

DAILY FODDER
What advantage do you have with Jesus praying for you?

PRAYER
Defender God, I can relax knowing you are looking out for me. You intervene as necessary. Forgive my unnecessary anxiety over the threats that the world poses. Help me to keep things in perspective and to look to you as my sole defender. I'm relieved to know that you are on my side; so I'm going to stay on your side. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

GOOD NEWS FOR ALL!

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

NAHUM 1:15 (MSG)
Look! Striding across the mountains—
a messenger bringing the latest good news: peace!

EPHESIANS 2:17 (ABP)
So when the Messiah arrived he delivered his good news message. "Peace has come — peace for distant-from-God non-Jews and peace for the Jews, who are already close to God."

SUMMARY SENTENCE
God's message of peace, as delivered by Christ Jesus, is good news for everyone who will receive it as such.

DAILY FODDER
How did the good news of Jesus arrive in your life?

PRAYER
God of good news, we live in a world that thrives on bad news and violence. I'm so grateful that you sent Jesus to disrupt sin, death, and the way the world functions. Forgive us for being so slow to embrace him and his ways. We give him a lot of good intentions and lip service; but we don't really allow the good news of peace and reconciliation to deeply permeate our being. Drive your good news deep into our souls so that we, too, can live and share the good news with all. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

AUTONOMOUS LIVING

JEREMIAH 2:19 (ABP)
Your own sins will come back and bite you. You've shamed yourselves by rejecting me, your GOD, thinking you can act with impunity.

LUKE 15:14-15 (NLT)
About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.

SUMMARY SENTENCE
Sometimes our sense of entitlment is the source of our own downfall. 

DAILY FODDER
How did the prodigal son in Luke 15 act with entitlment? 

PRAYER
Generous God, you have provided all that we need. But I'm hell bent on autonomous living with as little input from you as I can get away with. I can see, though, that autonomy is fundamentally flawed and doesn't work. Receive me back and help me to stick close to you. I celebrate your grace, in Jesus' name. Amen!

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

NEW CREATION

ISAIAH 65:17 (MSG)
Pay close attention now:
I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain
are things of the past, to be forgotten.

REVELATION 21:1 (NLT)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.

SUMMARY SENTENCE
God is in the process of recreating everything, ushering in an existence defined by the peace of Christ.

DAILY FODDER
How attached are you to the old ways, the old world, the old pains? Even though the new heaven and the new earth aren't yet fully here, our calling as witnesses of Christ (and what he's up to) is to live now according to the economy of the coming world. So, we are driven by hope, peace, and God's love.

PRAYER
Creator God, I'm grateful that you haven't given up on us and our messed up world. You're ushering in a new creation. I confess that I'm having trouble letting go of the old ways. My ego is too big for the new world and it wants to be in control. Help me to let go and to embrace Christ more fully, so that I can ride with him into the new creation. If anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.