Thursday, December 8th

“To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.”  1 Peter 4:11

Lord God, So often when I’m doing things I’m wondering to myself:  How are people going to think about me?  What will they think of me if I do this?  I ask:  What will people think of me if I don’t do this?  I do and say so many things in my life that are motivated by the opinions and thoughts of people.  Not only is it impossible to make everyone happy, but this is also chasing the wrong applause and seeking the praise of the wrong name.  I do so many things to make my name great.  Dear Father, hallowed be your name, not mine.  Help me to hear your divine applause flowing from my baptism.  Help me to remember that through Jesus I am already wholly and completely pleasing in your sight.  And then, dear Father, with your full approval, help me to serve so that people praise you and give glory to your name.  All that I do is empowered by your strength.  Let is also be done for your glory!  Amen.

Wednesday, December 7th

“If anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything.”  1 Peter 4:11

Lord God, You have really high expectations for me.  You tell me exactly how you want me to behave and how you want me to serve my neighbor.  Jesus, in your Sermon from the Mount, you tell me to turn the other cheek, to love your enemies, to give your clock and the shirt off your back to others, even to go the extra mile in service to other people.  The bar is high and sometimes I don’t even want to do it.  More than that, I don’t have the strength in me to give and to give and to give like you ask.  My cup is empty and my strength dries up.  Lord God, give me strength to keep on servicing.  Fill up my cup by your Spirit so that I can serve other people day after day, time after time.  Create a steadfast spirit in me and renew me daily.  Satisfy me with your unfailing love.  And give me your strength so that day after day, hour after hour, I can serve and give and love.  Amen.

Our service to other people is neither for ourselves nor from ourselves.  Our service is for our neighbor.  Our service (and our strength for service) is from God.

Tuesday, December 6th

“Jesus replied, 'Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’”  John 14:23

Dear Jesus, I know you didn’t mean that I would perfectly obey your teaching.  As hard as I try I can’t.  Everyone I know fails too.  But you did mean I would honestly attempt to obey your teaching, that I would open my heart to rebuke, to correction and to change, even with it was a challenge.  You meant I would make you “number one” in my life and lose all, even family and friends in order to obey you.  You meant I would be clear headed and mature about my failings.  You meant I would watch what I said and apologize when I messed up.  You meant I would witness to others and carefully listen to them as well.  You meant that love would be the gas in my soul tank and faith would be the oil.  Oh Jesus, help me love you and obey you from the heart.  You are my loving Savior.  What else would I want to do?  Amen.

God gives insight and wisdom to those who trust his word and honestly seek to follow it. 

Monday, December 5th

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”  Psalm 17:8

Dear Heavenly Father, I remember how wonderful it made me feel as a small child when my parents would show me special attention.  I can still feel their hugs.  Encouraging words that were said years ago still hang in the walls of my heart like trophies.  When they were there to see me shine on the athletic field, the game always took on more meaning.  Even their loving discipline is a memory I cherish.  Now I read this prayer from the psalmist who asks you to keep him as the apple of your eye.  You are our heavenly Father and you count each one of us as precious in your sight.  We are the apple of your eye.  I still feel like a nobody at times on this lost planet.  It fills my life with meaning when I read in your word that you give me special attention.  All I ask is that you keep me as the apple of your eye and hide me in the shadow of your wings.  I need the security of your love to face dehumanizing health struggles and calloused disregard from people.  Your attention by your Holy Spirit to guide, correct and comfort me make me feel the way I did when my parents hugged me.  In your mercy, keep me as the apple of your eye.  Amen.

God’s attention is always on his children.

Saturday, December 3rd

“If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words.”  1 Peter 4:11

Lord God, When you speak to your people you do not speak weakly so that there is doubt about what you mean or what you want.  You speak forcefully and demand that people listen.  You speak clearly so that there is no doubt about what you mean.  You speak gently so that we hear and believe what you say.  Lord God, you have planted in me your Word of truth.  You have opened your Scriptures to me and continue to do so every single day.  When I speak your words, make me sure of your Word and make my words bold.  Make my words clear.  Make my words gentle.  Put your Word in my mouth so that when I speak it is as if you are speaking.  And then Lord, make me bold and proud to speak your Word.  Because I am not speaking about me or words that come from my imagination, these are your words.  This is your truth.  Through faith and by your Word, you have made me your mouthpiece.  Help me to speak as one who speaks God’s words because your words are the only words worth sharing.  Amen.

When we speak God’s Word, there is no room for timidity.  His Word is like a fire and hammer.

Friday, December 2nd

“This is what the LORD says-your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” Isaiah 48:17

Dear Heavenly Father, How it must hurt you to see people without faith or knowledge of your word, teaching others how to think and live.  You shout from the rooftop of the Bible, “I am your Redeemer and I teach you what’s best for you.”  I’ve come to trust your word more than any other life manual on the planet.  It teaches me about the power of purity, the freedom of forgiveness, the clarity of the divine law of love, the right way to resolve conflict and the way to have hope in the darkest days.  Your word is my soul manual.  Help me to believe this enough to open it every day and read from its pages.  Give me a hunger for your word that outweighs my hunger for all other things.  Help me experience the full life you promise for those who personally feed on your word.  Amen.

God’s word can get rid of all spiritual hungriness. 

Thursday, December 1st

“The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 7:6

Dear Heavenly Father, I know you first said this to your people, Israel, in Old Testament times.  But you have also taught us that in Christ you have chosen us to be your treasured possession since eternity (Ephesians 1).  It makes me feel so loved and safe to know that you chose you me before I could have done anything to earn or lose your approval.  I know that in grace you chose me still.  It’s your choosing love that sustains my faith in you even in hard times.  I am your treasured possession.  You will not let me go.  You have my name written in heaven.  So, even when I suffer here, I know that you are with me and you are guiding my life in blessedness.  You will work everything for my good, because I am yours.  Amen.

Belonging to God make’s one’s life complete. 

Wednesday, November 30th

“Above all, maintain constant love for another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”                 1 Peter 4:8

Lord God, Sometimes it would be so much easier to be a hermit in a mountain hut.  Then I wouldn’t have to deal with people.  People hurt me so much.  Sometimes the people closest to me hurt me the most.  The people under my own roof, who share a house with me often hurt me deepest.  And it makes it hard for me to love them without conditions, without animosity, without a grumble in my heart.  Lord God, today help me to love them the way you love me.  And keep this love welling up in me like a gushing spring.  Help me, in love, to confront their sin where love requires confrontation.  Help me, to overlook the way they hurt me and to cover it up, when love requires that I bear with their weaknesses.  Help me, most of all, to forgive them for the things that they do to me.  Help me, teach me, yes, compel me to forgive them the way you have forgiven me.  You have forgiven all my sins.  You have even forgotten them!  Help me to do the same with their sins.  Help me to bury their sins in the flood of your blood and in the depths of the earth so that they don’t come to mind anymore.  Amen.

Tuesday, November 29th

“Be hospitable to one another without complaining.”  1 Peter 4:9

Dear Father, You are so generous and hospitable to welcome us into your home and your family though we have no right to be welcomed in.  You welcomed us in dirty, sinful, and rebellious.  Yet, you opened your door to us and invited us in.  Then, dear Jesus, you got down on your hands and knees not just to wash our feet, but to cleanse our souls.  You gave us clothes to wear, holy and righteous clothes, clothing fit for a king’s banquet.  You invited and still do invite us to share in all your blessings.  In your love for us you show hospitality unlike any other.  Lord God, help me to show this same hospitality to the family of believers.  Help me to give generously.  Teach me to share all that you’ve given me without complaining and without holding it back as if it were mine.  You’ve given me all that I have so that I might share it and use it to serve other people.  Lord God, by your hospitality and kindness, inspire me to be hospitable and kind just like you are.  Amen.

Hospitality is the art of serving other people the way that Jesus served us. 

Monday, November 28th

“Above all, maintain constant love for another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”                 1 Peter 4:8

Lord God, Sometimes it would be so much easier to be a hermit in a mountain hut.  Then I wouldn’t have to deal with people.  People hurt me so much.  Sometimes the people closest to me hurt me the most.  The people under my own roof, who share a house with me often hurt me deepest.  And it makes it hard for me to love them without conditions, without animosity, without a grumble in my heart.  Lord God, today help me to love them the way you love me.  And keep this love welling up in me like a gushing spring.  Help me, in love, to confront their sin where love requires confrontation.  Help me, to overlook the way they hurt me and to cover it up, when love requires that I bear with their weaknesses.  Help me, most of all, to forgive them for the things that they do to me.  Help me, teach me, yes, compel me to forgive them the way you have forgiven me.  You have forgiven all my sins.  You have even forgotten them!  Help me to do the same with their sins.  Help me to bury their sins in the flood of your blood and in the depths of the earth so that they don’t come to mind anymore.  Amen.

Saturday, November 26th

“Above all, maintain constant love for another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”               1 Peter 4:8

Lord Jesus, the community of the church is such an important one and so valuable to me.  The community of the church is there to tell me about my Savior Jesus.  She is there to correct me when I sin and to comfort me when I repent.  She is there to tell me of God’s love and to guide me to live for him.  The church is there to sing with me, to cry with me, to pray with me, yes, even to pray for me.  Your church exists to encourage me and to spur me on to live for you.  Your church is a safe haven in this world that hates you and hates us.  Lord Jesus, by faith I am a member of this church.  Help me to love like you love me.  Help me to correct my brothers and sisters in faith when they stumble into sin.  Help me to comfort and assure them of your love and forgiveness when they return.  Help me to hold them up to you in prayer and to hold them up in life with the arms of love.  We’re walking in faith and life together toward heaven.  Help us to keep on loving each other as we walk together in faith and life.  Amen.

Friday, November 25th

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Galatians 3:28

Dear Jesus, You and your gospel take care of all racism, all sexism, all class separation, and all ethnic pride.  All Christians are equal in value before you.  Our humility and peace work together to make us want to celebrate our oneness when we meet other Christians.  We look at the world the same way, forgive the same way and seek to honor our Father together the same way.  All, our individuality pales in significance to our sameness.  It’s exciting to see how you have raised us up to each other’s status.  Help us all give each other the dignity of being a child of the king even when we feel our differences.  Amen.

The blood of Christ makes all Christians kinfolks.

Thursday, November 24th

Kind and compassionate Father, we must admit our hearts are not always filled with thankfulness, especially as we see so much sin in the world.  Too often they overflow with discontentment and a desire to see better days.  As broken people living in a broken world, it is so easy to focus on all that causes pain and suffering, on all that is wrong with this world and the billions who inhabit it.  Forgive us, Lord!  Forgive us our daily discontentment, worry, and complaining.  Wash it all away in the blood of our Savior! 

Send your Spirit through Word and Sacrament to open our eyes to the many blessings you shower down upon us every day.  Help us to recognize and appreciate every good and perfect gift that comes from your gracious hand.  Fix our eyes on the blood-stained cross and empty tomb of your Son from which flow our greatest blessings: pardon and peace, new life and eternal life.  Open our minds to the wonder of your generous daily care.  Fill our mouths with praise for your blessings of daily bread, the love of family and friends, the purpose and meaning of our vocations, and the pleasures of joy and laughter.  Move us to cling to your promise that in all things, even things that bring us pain and sorrow, you are graciously at work for our ultimate good.  Fill our hearts with compassion and move our hands to action so that we may be one of the reasons that our neighbors give thanks to you and praise your saving name.

For all your blessings, Father, we give you hearty thanks in the name of your dear Son, our Lord and Savior Christ.  Amen.

Wednesday, November 23rd

“The end of all things is near.”  1 Peter 4:7

O Lord, Time is so short.  I forget how fleeting time is.  I forget how fleeting my life is.  I even forget your promise that you may return at any moment.  Lord, help me to remember.  Help me to remember that you may return at any moment and help me to make the most of the time that you do give.  Help me to make the most of the moments I get with my family today.  Help me to laugh and pray, to love, to learn, to lead, to worship with them.  Help me to make the most of the passing moments I get with other people today.  Help me to love them, to serve them, and most of all to tell them about you.  Time is short.  Their time to know you for the first time or to know you better is passing.  Most of all, dear Savior Jesus, help me to make the most of the time I have.  Help me to use this time to know you better, to know how deeply you love me, to know the power of our resurrection, to know the riches of my inheritance among all the saints.  And help me, then, to use every moment that you give me for you and your glory.  Time is fleeting.  You are coming.  Help me to make the most of every moment.  Amen.

Tuesday, November 22nd

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Matthew 7:1-2

Dear Jesus, Help me to truly believe in mercy so, even though I see the sins and faults of others, I do not think I’m better or less condemned by nature than them.  Help me to realize that if I live without patience and mercy, I will create an environment around me that treats me just the same.  If I do not remember mercy, I know you will make me pay for my sins too.  You came to earth to establish mercy as the greatest gift we all have.  Help me live by your mercy and reflect it in how I love people even when I must confront them to resolve conflict that their sins have caused.  Give me a merciful heart that loves the naughtiest of people the same way I love myself.  Make me an instrument of your grace.  Amen.

To have mercy is greater than any striving for self-perpetuated goodness.

Monday, November 21st

“Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.”  Romans 12:13

Dear Lord, You want us to be there for your people.  Help me to own the people in my church in my heart and treat them as one of my own dear family members.  You have brought them into your family by grace just as you did me.  Make me resilient to love them even if they let me down.  Make them patient and loving toward me even when I am not at my best.  Give me the time and foresight to invite them into my home and do life together with them.  Help me give rides and share vehicles the way my parents modeled for me with our church friends when I was growing up.  Make our church like one big family and start with me.  Amen.

Loving your Christian friends through thick and thin is loving God who gave them to you.

Saturday, November 19th

“For this reason, the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.”  1 Peter 4:6

O Holy Spirit, Your gospel is so important to me and to all the world.  It changes everything.  It saves us from the sin that would leave us condemned under God’s righteous law.  Your gospel saves us from death and hell.  More than that, O Spirit, your gospel is the message that breathes life into my spirit so that I live by faith.  By your gospel, I now live for you, for my Savior and my God.  By your gospel, I have a brand-new life to live.  O Spirit, I have heard this gospel about Jesus, this gospel that saves.  I have heard it and I believe it.  I live because of it.  I pray, O Spirit, breathe life into me today that I might preach your gospel and give wings to your work.  I pray, O Spirit, give me words and opportunities so share your message of salvation with all whom I meet and see today.  Make me one who speaks and shares this saving message with all people everywhere so that they might live with you, yes, so that they might live for you.  Create in me and in all who hear this message a new heart, O Spirit.  Give us a steadfast spirit to sustain us.  Then we will teach people your ways and sinners will turn back to you.  Amen.

Friday, November 18th

“Be joyful in hope!”  Romans 12:12

Dear Jesus, What a pitchy and powerful command!  Hope is the calm assurance that everything will get better, even when I cannot see how.  It brings a joy all its own that hides deep in the heart even when our situation is rapidly disintegrating.  You have given me that hope.  You had it while you suffered and died.  It can accompany me there in my suffering and death too.  Help me to own the fact that I help propagate my own sadness by living as a functional atheist at times.  You are alive and you are my Savior.  I can be joyful in hope.  I don’t have to be stuck in sadness.  Give this faith-based gift to me today, Jesus.  Amen.

Joy is the offspring of hope.

Thursday, November 17th

“They will have to give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.”  1 Peter 4:5

Lord God, Nobody likes for someone to come and take a close and examining look at their life. There is always something to find.  As clean and as pure as we try to live there is always some part of our life that isn’t up to the holy standards you have set for our lives.  If you come and inspect us, examining us and our lives, you will find us wanting.  My life doesn’t match your Word.  My heart and motives don’t match your heart and desires.  My life doesn’t measure up.  My life doesn’t measure up, but there is One whose life did and does.  His name is Jesus, your Son.  He came and lived the life I couldn’t.  For his sake, Lord God, save me.  For his sake, Lord God, clear my record and give me his righteousness.  He alone is my hope and righteousness.  Because of his life alone, dear Father, am I confident that I will be found clear and clean on the last day.  Because of his life alone will I escape the judgement of hell and receive the reward of heaven.  Oh God, thank you for your Son who is my righteousness and my eternal life.  Amen.

Wednesday, November 16th

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”  Romans 12:4-5

Dear Jesus, Thank you that you have made me part of a whole.  Help me fight the temptation to act as if I am a long integer.  Give me a love for family and the church that drives me toward them to live in community instead of orbiting outside the group like a lone satellite.  Thank you for the friends who have pulled me back over and over to keep me close to you and them.  Their words echo in my mind and I hear your voice in their tones.  I don’t always do the good things for the rest of my brothers and sisters in the faith for which you have made me.  But I want to be the blessing you intended.  So, crush my pride and stubborn lonely streak and make me use my gifts to be their relief and support.  Amen.

If we lose ourselves in serving others, we will never be bored.