Posts with the tag “weekly-collect-devotional”

The grace of God– the grace that hems me in on all sides– this very gift of grace is initiated and accomplished by the Maker Himself. And we pray we would align with the reality of that truth that we may be given to good works. Because, as we well know, grace without works is dead (James 2:14). And works without grace is a life of striving. The only way to do any good thing is to notice that it is grace that both paves the way and pulls you along the road.  Read More

And of course, more often than not, I can easily think the wrong things and do the wrong things. It's why I'm grateful today for a prompted prayer that has me asking the Spirit to do this work in me. I can not do it on my own is a lesson I continually learn and just as continually forget.  Read More

May we be a church filled to the brim with the quiet confidence and godly peace to serve God out of the abundance of order He has bestowed on us! Not looking back like Lot's wife out of fear, but looking forward like Mary to the order of the coming kingdom!   Read More

We are wholly dependent on Him for strength each day and to be set apart for Him as holy. But the good news is: it’s not a BAD kind of dependent. It’s the only dependent relationship in this life where the one side is fully able and fully meant to hold the other side up. Praise be!  Read More

if you are facing adversity, I pray you know that you are not alone. I pray our community would be one where we are more about the we than the me. May the Lord give us all the desire to intercede through deed and truth to each other and may the body collectivity be comforted through one another by His mighty aid.   Read More

This little nugget of a prayer reminds us that the God who made us knows when we need comfort. Just like the disciples, we are often left gaping mouthed at circumstances, “How can this possibly work out, Lord? How can this be good or end well or bring you glory?” In God’s kindness, he assured the disciples that they wouldn’t be without a Helper. They would “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8) and be witnesses to neighbors close by and far off.   Read More

This week we are praying for God to grant us the knowledge that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We worship and fellowship together so that we may believe and know together.  Read More

Jesus is not a deity who makes impossible demands of his people from on high, distant and removed from the realities of worry and hardship. He is the Good Shepherd. I don’t know a ton about shepherds, but I do know that their job requires them to be with their sheep—walking the same terrain, battling the same elements, fending off the same enemies. The day-to-day life of the shepherd is intimately tied to that of the sheep. Indeed, the sheep cannot follow the shepherd if the shepherd doesn’t go there first! To me, that is a beautiful image of guidance and leadership that we get from Jesus’s role as our Good Shepherd.   Read More

As I read the Collect this week, I noticed our petition, “give us grace thankfully to receive his inestimable benefits” and realized that in the Easter season we enjoy that His celebrating heart and enduring joy do not run out like mine. His benefits cannot be contained even inside the biggest party– even if the whole world was one resounding ALLELUIA, His benefits would surpass it! So, we ask for grace to receive the benefits– to be filled up by His glory and beauty and steadfastness and grace and joy! And for what? We are filled up with His benefits so that we can “daily follow His footsteps.”  Read More

I want to be a person who has the soul training to give thanks in the face of hardship; because giving thanks to God in this way is an act of defiance against the narrative that death wins. It is refusing to be won over by the lie that grief, pain, and wrongness get to define our story because we know that Jesus is risen. We are not “uninformed about those who sleep in death” and therefore “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).  Read More