16-20 September
Read Think Pray
Monday
Read Psalm 51:1-10
Think
The background story to this Psalm is David’s adultery with
Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan confronts
him with his sin and he repents. What is
interesting is that David doesn’t see what he has done wrong until someone
actually tells him.
Pray
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right
spirit within me.
- Psalm 50:10
Tuesday
Read Exodus 32:7-14
Think
So God heard the cries of the Israelites in slavery in
Egypt. He sent Moses to set them free.
Moses led them to freedom and he went up the mountain to receive the ten
commandments from the Lord. This
commandments were the constitution of the new Kingdom. 10 rules to set them
free.
Meanwhile, the people were impatient; they quickly made an
idol for themselves. This kind of
behavior would ultimately lead them back into oppression; this time not by the
Egyptians; but their own oppression.
God decides to end it here; but Moses begs for mercy; and
God relents.
Pray
Lord, you do everything in your power to set me free but I
keep on doing the things that keep me in bondage. Be patient with me I pray.
Amen
Amen
Wednesday
Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Think
In this passage Paul is speaking. Paul who murdered
Christians; who supervised the stoning of St Stephen. He uses himself as an example of what God can
do with even the worst of sinners.
Pray
…the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and
love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy
of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of
whom I am the foremost.
- 1 Timothy 1:14-15
Thursday
Read Luke 15:1-10
Think
Excuse the old language; but in John Wesley’s sermons on the
sermon on the mount he writes:
Let us observe, who it is that is here speaking, that we may
take heed how we hear. It is the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of all…
- John Wesley, Sermon 21
In these parables; God is telling us what God is like. God is like a shepherd who risks himself to
go looking for one lost sheep. God is
like a woman who looks for one lost coin and rejoices when she finds it!
Pray
Lord, sometimes I am so mindful of my own sin that I forget
the extent of your love for me; I forget how you value me. Help me to see myself and others through your
eyes. Amen.
Friday
Read Luke 16:1-13
Think
This is a very confusing parable. The best I can make of it is that it is a
call to practice grace and generosity.
This means forgiving the things that others do; it means being humble;
it means being ‘graceful.’
Pray
Lord, help me to be generous.
