Sunday

**Assorted New and Old Testament readings**

GOD has given each person unique gifts but charity/love needs to be a goal for all…

Romans 12, 616. Brethren, having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith; or ministry, in ministering: or he that teacheth, in doctrine; he that exhorteth, in exhorting; he that giveth, with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with carefulness; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, in honor preventing one another. In carefulness, not slothful. In spirit fervent: Serving the Lord: Rejoicing in hope: Patient in tribulation: Instant in prayer: Communicating to the necessities of the Saints: Pursuing hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. Being of one mind one towards another: not minding high things, but consenting to the humble.

Prayer:  O Lord, deprive me not of Thy heavenly good things.

O Lord, deliver me from the eternal torments.  (St John Chrysostom hourly prayers)

 

Monday

THIS command is a challenge for all of us who often even find going good for those who ‘do good’ for us difficult..

Romans 12, 16-81. Brethren, be not wise in your own conceits. To no man rendering evil for evil: providing good things not only in the
sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as is in you, having peace with all men; not revenging yourselves, my dearly beloved: but .give place unto wrath; for it is written, Revenge is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink; for doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but over-come evil by good.

Prayer:  O Lord, if I have sinned in mind or thought, in word or deed, forgive me.

O Lord, deliver me from all ignorance, forgetfulness, faint-heartedness, and stony insensibility.

 

Tuesday

ALL ‘laws’ try to make us do what is right…love never does wrong and ultimately makes the ‘law’ unnecessary.  But we are far from ‘getting to that point’…

Romans 13, 8-10. Brethren, owe no man any­thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The love of our neighbor Worketh no evil. Love, therefore, is the fulfilling of the law.

Prayer:  O Lord, deliver me from every temptation.

O Lord, enlighten my heart which evil desire hath darkened.

 

Wednesday

A guide on how to live…

Colossians 3, 1217. Brethren, put ye on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience; bearing with one another, if any have a complaint against another; even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so you also. But above all these things, have charity, which is the bond of perfection: and let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, all things do ye in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer:  O Lord, as a man I have sinned, but do Thou, as the compassionate God, have mercy on me, seeing the infirmity of my soul.

O Lord, send Thy grace to my help, that I may glorify Thy holy name.

Thursday

BE a good example by your life that others see…

1 Thessalonians 1, 2-10. Brethren, we give thanks to God for you all, making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing; being mindful of the work of your faith, and labor, and charity, and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father: knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election; for our gospel hath not been unto you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in such fulness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of the Lord; receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that you were made a pattern to all that believe…
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, write me Thy servant in the Book of Life, and grant me a good end.

O Lord my God, even though I have done nothing good in Thy sight, yet grant me by Thy grace to make a good beginning.

 

Friday

MANY know the Bible and catechism but don’t practice it and thus are lost…

1 Corinthians 9, 24 to 10, 5. Brethren,1 know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but1 one receiveth the prize? So run, that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I fight not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection; lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a cast-away. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all in Moses were baptised, in the doud and in the sea; and all did eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the spiritual rode that followed them; and the rock was> Christ). But with the most of them God was not well pleased.

Prayer:    O Lord, sprinkle into my heart the dew of Thy grace.

O Lord of heaven and earth, remember me Thy sinful servant, shameful and unclean, in Thy kingdom. Amen.

Saturday

PAUL gives examples from his life to show his effort to practice holiness when challenged…

2  Corinthians 11, 19 to 12, 9., Brethren, you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise. For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face. I speak according to dishonor, as if we had been weak in This part, ^herein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also, They are Hebrews; so am I. They are Israelites ; so am I, They are the seed of Abra^api; so am I. They .are the ministers of Christ: (I speak as one less wise); I am more; in many,more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure,, in deaths often.. Of the Jews five times did .1 receive. forty stripes save. ppe. Thrice was I beaten with rods; once I was stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I was in the depth of the. sea. In Journeying often, in perils of waters,, in Perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the, city, in perils in the wilderness* in, perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren… Ip Tabor and painfulness, in much, watchings, in: hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness* ^Besides these external things, there is my daily concern, in solicitude for all the churches. Who.is weak, and I am not weak ? Who is scandalised, and I am not on fire ?

Prayer:  O Lord, accept me in penitence.

O Lord, forsake me not.