Words of Comfort
May the LORD give strength to
his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! (Ps. 29:11 ESV)
Prayer of Confession
O Lord, my God, I thank you for
bringing this day to its close. I thank you for giving rest to body and soul.
Your hand has been over me, guarding me and preserving me.
Forgive my feeble faith and all
the wrong I have done this day, and help me to forgive all who have wronged me.
Grant that I may sleep in peace
beneath your care, and defend me from the temptations of darkness. Into your
hands I commend my loved ones, I commend this household, I commend my body and
soul. O God, your holy name be praised. Amen.[1]
Catechism Reflections
The First Commandment
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God
above all things.
We’ve been talking about the
gods we should not worship, but who is this God that we are to fear, love, and
trust above all things?
He is the Creator of all things;
the one who, in the beginning said, “Let there be …” and there was. He is the
one who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not
exist. (Rom 4:17) He says of himself, “I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people
may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none
besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create
darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all
these things.”
He is good and gracious. He
keeps his promises. He says, “I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”
(Ezekiel 17:24 & 36:36)
He is eternal spirit and does
not change. He says, “I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of
Jacob, are not consumed.”
He is omnipotent, omniscient,
and omnipresent. That is; he is all powerful, all knowing, and present
everywhere. As it says in Psalm 139, “O Lord, You have searched me and know me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”
He is holy and just. And he is
love. And we have received that love through Jesus who died and rose again. God
so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whoever believes in
Him may not perish but have everlasting life. He is love, and we love God,
because he first loved us.
Questions for Meditation
What does this reading teach
you?
What does this reading lead you
to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or
attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to
have a richer impact on your life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
“And forgive us our trespasses
and we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Heavenly Father, do not look at
our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the
things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that You would
give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing
but punishment. But you have given Your Son, our Savior, Jesus to bear our sins
in His body on the cross and given us forgiveness for His sake. For Jesus’ sake
help us to sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
Amen.
Verse of Benediction
To the King of the ages,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
(1 Tim. 1:17 ESV)
[1] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Prisoner for God, from Doberstein,
John, The Minister’s Prayer Book,
Fortress Press, 1986, p. 36
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