Week 1 - Day 3
FRUIT - JOIN JESUS
KEEP IT FRESH
Missionary and educator Frank Laubach once wrote:
If you are weary of some sleepy form of devotion, probably God is as weary of it as you are. (Man of Prayer: Selected Writings of a World Missionary)
Good point! Now that you have been using Daily Connect for two days, the last thing we want it to do is put you to sleep or become a weary religious routine.
The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah said this about the people of his day:
Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
Once again, we don’t want Daily Connect to be merely human rules that don’t actually help us connect with Jesus. Instead, the hope is that Daily Connect will help you personally meet with Jesus.
So to keep things fresh, we’ll add the Lord’s Prayer (sometimes called the Disciples’ Prayer) as a template for connecting with Jesus.
Matthew 6:9-13 (CSB)
9 You should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
And the footnote:
Some later manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Why did Jesus say, pray like this rather than pray this?
Today, use the Lord’s Prayer as a template to meet with Jesus.
Our Father in heaven.
I thank you that You are our Father because …
Your name be honored as holy.
In …
Your Kingdom come.
May Your rule and reign come to …
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Lord, I hear You saying …
With Your help, I will …
Give us today our daily bread.
Meet our daily needs of …
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Forgive me of my sin of …. And I forgive … of their sin against me of …
And do not bring us into temptation.
Help me to withstand the temptation of …
But deliver us from the evil one.
Satan is attacking me by … and I need Your help.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Buddy Contact
Don’t forget to pray for and connect with your buddy this week.