Daily Devotion – Friday March 16th
Reminder- Dare this week: I Dare you to Memorize Scripture Verses: Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 29:11
Theme: God calls us to Go Change Our World
Suggested Opening prayer
Thank you God that you still call your children to “go”…to be your special agents in this world. Help me believe right now that you still call your children. You still expect them to follow. Call me to something great today and give me the desire and ability to take the step you have for me. Amen.
Read: .
A. Genesis 12:1-7 (NIV)
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspringI will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
B. From Henri J. M. Nouwen
O Lord, who else or what else can I desire but you? You are my Lord, Lord of my heart, mind, and soul. You know me through and through. In and through you everything that is finds its origin and goal. You embrace all that exists and care for it with divine love and compassion. Why, then, do I keep expecting happiness and satisfaction outside of you? Why do I keep relating to you as one of my many relationships, instead of my only relationship, in which all other ones are grounded? Why do I keep looking for popularity, respect from others, success, acclaim and sensual pleasures? Why, Lord, is it so hard for me to surrender myself totally to you?
Help me, O Lord, to let my old self die, to let die the thousand big and small ways in which I am still building up my false self and trying to cling to my false desires. Let me be reborn in you and see through you the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, and thought can become a hymn of praise to you.
I need your loving grace to travel on this hard road that leads to the death of my old self and to a new life in and for you. I know and trust that this is the road to freedom.
Lord, dispel my mistrust and help me become a trusting friend. Amen.
Reflect: silent and written
Reflect upon the heavy cost of the call of God upon Abram (Abraham), his wife Sarai and his entire clan. Why did Abram obey the call and leave his homeland in pursuit of God’s promise?
What has been the cost over time to you and your family for obeying God’s call? Abram held the promises God had made to him very tightly. What promises do you cling to?
Respond:
What response do you have to give God today after these readings and your reflection time?
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