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What is something you need to hear over and over again?

Parents repeat things to their children because they’re important. Teachers review lessons because we forget. Even as adults, we set reminders on our phones because knowing something once doesn’t mean we’ll remember it when we need it.

Psalm 136 repeats the same words twenty-six times:

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

After every single statement about what God has done, the people respond with that same refrain.

God created the heavens.

His steadfast love endures forever.

He rescued Israel from Egypt.

His steadfast love endures forever.

He led His people through the wilderness.

His steadfast love endures forever.

He remembered them when they were brought low.

His steadfast love endures forever.

Twenty-six times might seem excessive. We understood the point after the first few, right?

But perhaps that’s exactly why the repetition is there.

We forget.

When life is going well, God’s love can seem obvious. Yet, even then, we can forget it’s coming from God. But when something goes wrong, a prayer isn’t answered the way we hoped, someone we love suffers, or we make a mess of things through our own sin, suddenly, what seemed so certain doesn’t feel certain anymore.

So God gives His people a refrain to come back to.

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Notice that the psalm doesn’t base God’s love on our circumstances or our faithfulness. It looks at what God has done.

That’s where Christians look too. We look to Jesus. We look to the cross.

If you ever wonder whether God loves you, you don’t have to search your feelings for the answer. How well you think your life is going isn’t a good measure either. You don’t even have to ask whether you’ve been a good enough Christian lately.

Look at Jesus.

God sent His Son for sinners. Jesus took our guilt upon Himself and suffered the judgment we deserved. Then, He rose from the dead, defeating death and securing eternal life for everyone who trusts in Him.

That’s what God’s steadfast love looks like.

There will be days when you feel close to God and days when you don’t. There will be days filled with joy and others filled with disappointment. Your circumstances will change.

Your circumstances and emotions will change. God’s promise does not.

Maybe that’s why we need to hear it twenty-six times.

His steadfast love endures forever.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your steadfast love that never comes to an end. When my circumstances or feelings cause me to doubt Your love, turn my eyes again to Jesus and the cross. Help me remember all that You have done for me and trust Your promises in every season of life.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

What are you carrying today?

Some burdens are invisible.

You can go to work, make dinner, have a conversation, and carry on with your normal routine while your mind is somewhere else entirely.

• A problem at work keeps running through your thoughts.
• You’re waiting for test results.
• You’re worried about one of your children.
• You’re looking at the bills and wondering how everything will work out.

No one else may see it, but you feel the weight. Proverbs understands that feeling:

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down.”

That’s a remarkably accurate description. Anxiety can feel heavy. Even when nothing has actually happened yet, the possibilities of what might happen can begin to weigh on us as though we’re carrying tomorrow’s troubles today. They exhaust you and wear you down.

Proverbs doesn’t offer a complicated solution. It simply says,

“but a good word makes him glad.”

Sometimes that good word comes through another person. Maybe a friend reminds you that you’re not facing this alone or someone who has been through something similar tells you there is a way forward. Maybe your spouse notices that something is bothering you and speaks a word of encouragement.

Don’t underestimate what a good word can do.

But for the Christian, there is an even more dependable place to hear one.

God speaks.

When anxiety tells you that everything depends on you, God’s Word reminds you that your heavenly Father knows what you need. When fear tells you that you are alone, Christ says,

“I am with you always.”

God doesn’t merely tell you to cheer up. He gives you something objective and certain: He tells you He loves you, cares for you, walks with you, and Christ died for your sins so you are forgiven and right with Him.

Those aren’t positive thoughts we use to talk ourselves out of worrying. They are promises from Someone outside of us, spoken by the God who cannot lie. We cling to them by faith.

I wish that meant every anxious feeling immediately disappears. Some may, but our minds have a way of focusing on the negative and wallowing in anxiety. Nor does it mean that the thing we were anxious about will go away. The medical results still have to come. The difficult conversation still needs to happen. The financial problem may still be there tomorrow morning.

But you don’t carry those things without a word from God. In fact, you don’t have to carry them at all. You can lay them down. You can rest knowing that God has you, He knows what you need, and He will bring you through it.

You can also ask for His peace. God’s peace is not like man’s concept of peace. His peace is beyond our understanding and greater than any situation.

Also, remember that sometimes you may be the person God uses to bring a good word to someone else.

Pay attention today. Someone around you may be carrying a burden you cannot see. A thoughtful phone call, a few minutes of listening, or a simple reminder of God’s faithfulness may mean far more than you realize.

Anxiety weighs the heart down.

A good word can help lift it.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

You know the worries I carry, including the ones I have told no one else about. When anxiety weighs down my heart, turn me toward Your promises and remind me that I am in Your care. Thank You for the people You use to encourage me, and help me notice those around me who need encouragement too. Give me a good word to share with them. Above all, keep me anchored in Your sure Word and in Jesus Christ, who has promised to be with me always.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

The Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Part 1)

When was the last time you saw a baptism?

Water seems like such an ordinary thing. We drink it. We wash with it. It falls from the sky and runs from the faucet.

Yet Jesus takes ordinary water and attaches an extraordinary promise to it.

That is Baptism.

Luther explains that according to the Scriptures Baptism is not just plain water. It is water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word.

Jesus gave that command after His resurrection when He sent His disciples to make disciples of all nations. He told them to do it…

“baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

So Baptism isn’t something Christians invented or just a neat way to initiate people into the church.

Jesus gave baptism to His Church. And He tells us what He does through it.

Sometimes people think of Baptism mainly as something we do for God. We make a public commitment. We show everyone that we have decided to follow Jesus. Baptism becomes our declaration of faith. But Scripture places the emphasis somewhere else.

On God’s action.

In Baptism, God is doing something for us.

In Romans, God tells us that when we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into His death. We are buried with Him and raised with Him to new life.

Think about what that means.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus died on a cross outside Jerusalem. He carried the sins of the world into His death and rose victorious over sin and the grave.

In Baptism, God connects you personally to what Jesus did.

• His death becomes your death.
• His resurrection becomes your life.

That is why the catechism speaks so boldly about Baptism. It gives forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe God’s promise. Or, as Got put it in 1 Peter,

“Baptism…now saves you.” 1 Peter 3:21

Not because water has some magical power, but because God’s Word and promise are there.

This is also why Christians baptize infants. Baptism isn’t primarily our testimony about what we have decided to do for God. It is God’s promise of what He does for us. Babies need the same Savior adults do, and God’s grace is not limited by their ability to understand or explain it.

None of us comes to God because we have figured everything out. He comes to us.

That is the pattern we have seen throughout the catechism.

• The Father created you.
• The Son redeemed you.
• The Holy Spirit called you through the Gospel.
• And in Baptism, God placed His name upon you and joined you to Christ.

So when doubts come, you don’t have to search inside yourself to see whether your faith feels strong enough. Look instead to what God has done.

You are baptized into Christ.

And His promise is stronger than your feelings.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for giving the gift of Baptism and joining me to the death and resurrection of Jesus. When I doubt, turn my eyes away from myself and back to Your promises. Help me to trust the forgiveness, life, and salvation Christ has won for me and that You give through Your Word and Sacraments. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

Have you heard the story of David and Goliath?

David and Goliath may be one of the best-known stories in the Bible. Even people who rarely open a Bible know what a “David versus Goliath” situation means. It is the little guy taking on the giant, the underdog overcoming impossible odds.

That is part of the story, but it isn’t really the point.

When David walks onto the battlefield, he doesn’t give the Israelite army a motivational speech about believing in themselves. He doesn’t tell them that even the smallest person can accomplish great things if he has enough courage.

David’s confidence is somewhere else entirely.

Goliath comes armed with a sword, spear, and javelin. David comes

“in the name of the Lord of hosts.”

Then he explains why he believes the giant will fall:

“The battle is the Lord’s.”

For forty days, Goliath had challenged Israel. Every morning and evening, he came out and mocked them, and every time the Israelites saw him, they were terrified.

Their problem was not that they had misjudged Goliath. He really was dangerous. From a human perspective, Israel had good reason to be afraid. Their problem was that they were looking at Goliath as though he were the biggest reality on the battlefield.

David saw something they had forgotten. Goliath was big, but God was greater.

We can make the same mistake. A problem grows until it fills our entire field of vision. We examine it from every angle, imagine what might happen, and calculate what we can do about it. Eventually, the problem can begin to seem bigger than everything else.

Faith doesn’t require us to pretend our problems are small. It remembers that our problems are not God.

There is also something even greater happening in this story. David is God’s chosen king, stepping forward on behalf of God’s frightened people. While Israel stands helplessly watching, David enters the battle and wins a victory that becomes theirs.

In that way, David gives us a glimpse of the greater Son of David who would come after him.

Jesus faced enemies we could never defeat for ourselves: sin, death, and the devil. He did not stand at a safe distance and tell us how to overcome them. He entered the battle for us. At the cross, it appeared that He had been defeated. Then, on Easter morning, the tomb stood empty.

His victory became ours.

Sometimes people have used stories like David and Goliath to say that if we just have enough faith, we can overcome every obstacle in our way and accomplish anything we set our heart on. But God doesn’t promise that. Our victory is in Christ, but that doesn’t mean every difficult situation in this life will end the way we want. David’s victory over Goliath is not a promise that Christians will always defeat every earthly obstacle. It is a reminder of where our confidence ultimately rests.

The battle belongs to the Lord, and in Christ, the decisive battle has already been won.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

When the problems before me seem overwhelming, help me remember that they are never greater than You. Forgive me for trusting in my own strength or being ruled by fear. Thank You for sending Jesus to fight the battle I could never win and for giving me His victory over sin and death. Keep my eyes fixed on Him.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

The religious leaders have had enough of Jesus.

They challenge His authority. They try to trap Him with questions about taxes, resurrection, and the Law. Again and again, Jesus answers with wisdom that leaves them with nothing to say. Shocker! You can’t trap or confuse the Son of God!!

Then a scribe asks a sincere question:

“Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answers by bringing together two commands: Love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself.

That sounds simple enough. Until we try to do it.

God doesn’t command us merely to behave lovingly. He commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

All.

Yet our hearts wander. We put other things ahead of God. We love ourselves more naturally than we love our neighbors. Even our best acts of love are mixed with selfish motives.

The greatest commandment reveals what God created us to be. It also reveals how far we have fallen. That is why it matters so much who is speaking these words.

Jesus does what we cannot.

He loves His Father perfectly. He loves His neighbors completely. And now He is only days away from demonstrating that love by giving His life for sinners.

Interestingly, Jesus says this scribe,

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

I think there’s a double meaning to that answer. The first is that the scribe, by asking an honest question, rather than trying to go against Jesus, is close to understanding and believing. However, I think there may be a second meaning to what Jesus said, Jesus is standing feet from the man. Jesus is the Kingdom of God, which means the rule and reign of God. So, perhaps this is a hint to the scribe. Your literally close, physically, to the God’s Kingdom. I’m right here.

Near the end of the reading, Jesus watches people placing their offerings into the temple treasury. Wealthy people give large amounts, but He draws His disciples’ attention to a poor widow who contributes two tiny coins.

Others might barely have noticed her, but Jesus sees her.

He sees not simply the amount she gives but the faith from which her gift comes. She entrusts herself entirely to God.

Throughout this section, religious leaders worry about authority, reputation, arguments, and appearances. The widow has almost nothing, yet quietly places herself in God’s hands.

Faith does not earn God’s love by giving enough or doing enough. Faith receives God’s mercy and learns to entrust everything to Him.

And we can entrust ourselves to God because Jesus is about to give everything for us.

Let’s Pray…

Lord Jesus,

I have not loved God with my whole heart or loved my neighbor as myself. Forgive me for Your sake. Thank You for loving perfectly where I have failed and for giving Yourself for me. Strengthen my faith so that I trust You with all that I am and freely love those You place around me.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

Have you ever had to keep going when you couldn’t see any results or it seemed everything was failing?

Maybe you’ve prayed for someone for years and nothing seems to change. You’ve tried to repair a relationship, but it remains strained. You’ve faithfully cared for someone who isn’t getting better. You keep doing what you believe God has given you to do, yet there doesn’t seem to be much to show for it.

Psalm 126 gives us a beautiful picture for those seasons.

It pictures a farmer going out to sow his seed while weeping.

For us, planting seeds might sound peaceful. For an ancient farmer, however, those seeds were precious. They were grain that could have been eaten. When food was scarce, scattering that grain across the ground required trust and sacrifice. Once the seed disappeared beneath the soil, the farmer had to wait.

He couldn’t make it grow. He could only plant and trust God to provide the harvest.

That’s a pretty good picture of the Christian life.

God gives us many things to do, but He doesn’t always let us see what He’s doing through them.

• Parents teach their children God’s Word and wonder whether they’re listening.
• Christians share the hope they have in Jesus and don’t immediately see faith.
• We forgive someone who doesn’t seem sorry.
• We serve a neighbor without knowing whether it made much difference.

Sometimes we do these things with joy. Sometimes we do them with tears.

And, sometimes, those tears aren’t just tears of frustration, they are tears of sacrifice. We are called to love others with a sacrificial love. Just as the farmer may have to go without some food in order to plant the next harvest, we may need to give of the things that are important, even necessary for us. That could be time, money, physical effort, or carrying an emotional burden with someone.

We cry tears of sadness with the mourning. We cry tears of desperation for the wandering loved one. We cry tears of need when we give up what is precious to us for another.

Psalm 126 doesn’t tell us that the tears aren’t real. It doesn’t tell the farmer to cheer up before he goes into the field. Instead, it gives him a promise of joy to come.

That’s the pattern we see most clearly in Jesus.

On Good Friday, Jesus sweat blood. He went to the garden in such distress and His disciples couldn’t even stay awake. Then came the cross. His disciples saw nothing that looked like victory. Jesus suffered and died. His body sown into the tomb. All they could see was loss. They wept.

But the grave wasn’t the end.

On Easter morning, sorrow gave way to joy because Jesus rose from the dead. What looked like defeat became the salvation of the world.

That resurrection promise changes the way we face our own seasons of sorrow.

It doesn’t mean every difficult situation in this life will turn out exactly as we hope. Some prayers will be answered in ways we don’t understand. Some losses will remain with us until the resurrection.

But because Christ is risen, our tears of sorrow do not have the final word.

So we keep planting.

We pray. We love. We forgive. We serve. We speak God’s Word. And we trust the harvest to the Lord.

One day, when Christ returns and makes all things new, every believer will finally see just how right it was to trust Him. We’ll probably cry then, too…but this time tears of joy. There will certainly be shouts of joy as the harvest is brought in and we begin an eternity with our Lord.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Sometimes it is difficult to keep going when I cannot see what You are doing. Give me faith to trust You even through tears. Help me to faithfully love and serve the people You have placed in my life, and remind me that because Jesus is risen, sorrow and death will not have the final word.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

When was your last argument? What was it about?

You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.

That’s easier to say than to do. Someone makes an unfair comment about you. A family member brings up THAT issue again. You see something online that is so obviously wrong you can barely resist responding.

And sometimes you should respond. There are truths worth defending and wrongs that need to be confronted. 

But not every conflict is one of them.

Proverbs says there is actually honor in staying away from strife. That’s interesting because walking away from an argument doesn’t always feel honorable. Sometimes it feels week or like losing.

We want the last word and want the other person to understand why we’re right. At the very least, we want to make sure everyone else knows why they’re wrong.

So we keep going. One more response. One more text. One more attempt to prove our point. And often nothing improves.

Wisdom knows when to stop.

That doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations. There is a difference between peacemaking and simply refusing to deal with problems. Jesus Himself confronted sin and spoke difficult truths. Love sometimes requires us to have conversations we’d rather avoid.

The question is whether we’re trying to resolve something or simply trying to win.

That can be difficult to recognize in ourselves. What begins as a legitimate disagreement can slowly become about pride. We stop listening and start keeping score. Before long, the original issue almost doesn’t matter anymore. We just don’t want to back down.

Proverbs calls that foolishness.

There is another way. You can decide that the sarcastic comment doesn’t need a response or let someone else have the last word. You can recognize that you’ve both said what needs to be said and continuing the conversation will only make things worse. Sometimes, you can simply ignore the comment and move the conversation on or walk away before an argument even begins.

Sometimes wisdom looks like walking away.

Christians have an especially good reason to do this. We don’t need to win every argument to establish our worth. Our identity is already secure in Christ.

Sometimes, Christians have a greater temptation, though. We feel the righteous need to respond. Maybe the person said something false about God or about someone else. And again, sometimes there needs to be a response, but we need wisdom. Proverbs 26-4-5 tells us,

“Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

It sounds contradictory at first, but this proverb is telling us that there’s a danger in responding to a fool, you may end up meeting him on his level and sounding like a fool too. The next verse, though tells us that sometimes a foolishness of the fool needs to be addressed. In other words, we need wisdom to know when to respond and wisdom in how we respond when we do. But we don’t always have to respond. 

Jesus endured false accusations, insults, and mockery. At times He answered His accusers. At other times He remained silent. He was not controlled by the need to prove Himself. You don’t have to be either.

So the next time you feel yourself being pulled into a quarrel, ask whether this conversation really needs another response.

Sometimes speaking is wise. And sometimes there is honor in letting it go.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

You know how easily pride can draw me into unnecessary conflict. Forgive me for the times I have cared more about winning an argument than loving the person in front of me. Give me wisdom to know when I need to speak and when I should let something go. When difficult conversations are necessary, help me enter them with humility and love. And when they are not, give me the security to walk away in peace, remembering that my identity and worth are already secure in Christ.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.

Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer begins with God’s name, God’s Kingdom, and God’s will. Then Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily needs.

But He knows we need more than bread.

• We need forgiveness.
• We need help against temptation.
• And ultimately, we need to be rescued from every evil that sin has brought into this world.

So the final petitions of the Lord’s Prayer bring us face-to-face with the reality of life as sinners in a broken world.

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Christians never outgrow the need for those words.

Luther points out that we sin every day and deserve nothing but punishment. Yet, we ask our Father not to look at our sins or deny our prayers because of them. Instead, we ask Him to give everything by grace.

That is the Christian life: continually returning to God empty-handed and receiving again what Christ has already won for us.

Forgiveness:
Jesus carried your guilt to the cross. He suffered the judgment your sins deserved. So, your sins are forgiven. Because He rose again, you can approach your Father every day knowing that Christ’s death was enough.

That forgiveness also changes how we treat people who sin against us. We don’t forgive others to earn God’s forgiveness. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We give forgiveness out of the forgiveness we, ourselves, have already received.

Temptation:
Now, being forgiven, we don’t want to fall again into sin. So, Jesus teaches us to pray,

“Lead us not into temptation.”

God does not tempt us to sin, but temptation surrounds us in this life.

• The devil wants to destroy faith.
• The world constantly calls evil good and good evil.
• Our own sinful nature finds those lies appealing.

The devil, the world, and even our own flesh are against us, so we ask our Father to guard us.

Sometimes the victory He gives is strength to resist temptation and other times it’s a way of escape before we fall. If and when we do fall, He calls us back to repentance and the forgiveness Christ has won. Our lives as Christians are ones of repentance.

Evil:
Finally, we pray,

“Deliver us from evil.”

That petition is enormous. We are asking God to rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation. This includes disease, disaster, violence, grief, sin, the works of the devil and even death itself.

Sometimes God delivers us by removing the trouble. Sometimes He carries us through it.

And one day, He will deliver us from it completely.

That is where the Lord’s Prayer ultimately points us. We are praying toward the day when God takes us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

Until then, we live as people who need our Father and His mercy every day.

We need forgiveness for yesterday, strength for today’s temptations, and confidence that whatever tomorrow brings, evil will not have the final word.

Jesus will.

He has already defeated sin, death, and the devil through His cross and resurrection. And the Savior who taught you to pray for deliverance will finally deliver you.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Forgive all my sins for the sake of Jesus Christ. As You have forgiven me, help me to forgive those who sin against me. Guard me from temptation, strengthen me when I am weak, and protect me from every evil. When my last hour comes, grant me a blessed end and graciously take me from this world to Yourself. Through Jesus Christ, my Savior.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.