Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Preserved and empowered to serve God in this world

Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 5, 6, 10, 11; Dan 2:1-16; 1 Jn 2:1-11; Jn 17:12-19

Hear my words, Lord; heed my groaning, as I pray to You, my King and my God.  As we commune, I prepare a sacrifice for You, and watch.  I come before You through the abundance of Your steadfast love.  In Your righteousness, God, lead me; make the path straight before me.  Let those rejoice who take refuge in You; defend us, that we may exult in You.  Cover us with Your favor as with a shield.  Heal me, I pray; deliver me in Your steadfast love.  Let Sin and all wickedness depart from me, for YHWH accepts my prayer and turns my enemies to shame.  The wicked proudly deny God, and slide further and further into depravity.  Let God arise and deliver the hapless.  Let God break the arm of the wicked evildoers.  YHWH hears the desires of the meek; He strengthens their hearts and brings justice to the fatherless and the oppressed.  YHWH is my Refuge; He tests both righteous and wicked; only the upright will behold His face.

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar was deeply troubled by a particular dream; he demanded of his magi that they first relate to him the dream and then tell him its meaning.  The 'Chaldeans' claimed this was impossible, and Nebuchadnezzar moved to make good his threat to tear them all limb from limb.  In the roundup that followed, Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to the captain of the king's guard, and when he learned the reason for the coming slaughter, Daniel volunteered to meet the king's demands.  He asked his compatriots to seek God's mercy in prayer, so that they (and all the 'wise men' of Babylon) might not perish.

John's expression of concern for his 'little children' in the faith is written so that they may not sin.  But, he states, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father: righteous Jesus, the Messiah, and He Is the expiation for our sins and for the sins of the entire world.  We may sure that we know Jesus if we keep His commandments, and walk as He walked.  This, John affirms, is nothing new, but an old commandment--and yet it is also new, in that it links believers with Jesus Himself.  Darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.  No one in Christ's light can hate his or her brothers and sisters; loving them equates with abiding in Christ's light.

On His last night before the cross, with His closest disciples, Jesus prayed:  'While I was with them, I kept them safe in Your name, Father--the Name You gave to Me.  None is lost but the son of perdition, and that fulfills the scripture.  But now, I Am coming to You; I speak at last in this world so that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I Am not of the world.  I don't pray that You should take them out of the world, but rather that You keep them from the evil one.  Like Me, they are not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth!  As You sent Me into the world, so I Am sending them into the world.  For their sake, I consecrated Myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.'

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