Silence
1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.
Praise and Thanksgiving
1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3. Sing a song to praise God (you are welcome to use "Father, I adore you" which I have been singing every morning for the past 20 years or your own choice to praise God)
Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
3. John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)
(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/
"Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
Bible link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%207&version=NIV
Time with Abba one year Bible reading: http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/
Today's passage:
Mark 7
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to him.
My Listening
The topic I received from Jesus is: Do you know how unclean you are?
“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’”. Mark 7:20
Almost every time I read this passage about how unclean a man could be, I think of other people. Who are those people who have evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly? And I asked the Lord to do something to those disobedient people to make our world, our society and our church clean.
Today the Lord shows me He is talking about the reality of a human being. We are all unclean for there are lots of things within that make us unclean. If we know that we are unclean, then we have a chance to ask the Lord to help us just like how the woman asked Jesus to help her daughter or how those people asked Jesus to heal the deaf.
Do we know that Jesus was talking about us?
Do we know we are unclean and need the blood of Jesus to cleanse us?
Do you know how unclean you are?
Dear Holy Spirit,
Shine on me that I can see my sins and that I know how to repent and ask for your forgiveness. Lord Jesus, I need your blood to cleanse me that I can have a clean heart to serve you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Reflect on these questions:
1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?
2. What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus?
Family Corner:
Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message.
Please click this link for the video version of this blog:
To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org
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