Lord, we look to your hand. Have Mercy on us! Save us!

 

Please click this link for the video version of this blog:   https://youtu.be/wD5TUDg-Xnw

Bible in one year by Nicky Gumbel:

https://bibleinoneyear.org/en/

Nicky Gumbel's Bible in one year today:

https://preview.mailerlite.com/d9s7t2q8b4/1960640567482260252/e0v8/

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.”

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 sins 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."

    

    The link to today's Time with Abba passages:   http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

    Time with Abba passages: (Psalm 123:1-4, 2 Samuel 15:23-16:23; John 18:25-19:22; Proverbs 16:10-11)

    Today's key passage: 

   

I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned in heaven.

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

     Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,

    for we have endured no end of contempt.

We have endured no end
    of ridicule from the arrogant,
    of contempt from the proud.

Psalm  123:1-4

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 today from Jesus is: Lord, we look to your hand. Have Mercy on us! Save us!

    Today's Psalm 123 gives us a painful situation of the Psalmist of being insulted to the most extreme state. The situation is somewhat like how David was being betrayed by his most trustworthy friend and adviser Ahithophel and his own son Absalom who wanted to kill him. Or, today's. passage in John of how Jesus was being insulted when he was being crucified.

    The past more than two years of this pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine leads us to understand the limitation of human effort. 

    What we can do should be like what the Psalmist says:

    Lord, we look to your hand. Have Mercy on us! Save us!

    How close we need that we can look at God's hand?

     Dear Lord Jesus,  

 Lead us to be close to you that we can look to your hand and cry out to you trusting that you will listen to our prayers. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

     Reflect on these questions:

     1. What have you got from today's topic "In one complete unity" or "Separate and betray" ?
     

     

      2.  What is your next step to make that happen?

      Family Corner:

     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

     

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org