God is Faithful, So Let Us Trust, Praise, Pray and Forgive

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Devotions: Ps 97, 99, 100; Isa 63:7-14; 1 Tim 1:18-2:8; Mk 11:12-26

In majesty, God reigns over His creation. Heaven and earth proclaim His power and glory. God loves those who practice love and hate evil. He delivers His own from the hands of the wicked; rejoice in YHWH, and give Him thanks. He is holy! Let us extol our God, and celebrate Him with joy. Know that YHWH is the one true God; He made us, and we are His, the sheep in His flock. Come to Him with thanks and praise; bless His holy name. For YHWH is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness, to all generations.

Let me continually recount God’s love and good deeds to us. He has chosen us as His own special treasure. Despite our inconstancy and rebellion, God remains faithful and loving. His Spirit lives in us and animates His community. He gives us rest and peace; He guides us home! Lord, look down on us; continue to love and nurture us; soften our hard hearts and stiff necks. Help me to grow in faith and obedience today.

Paul to Timothy: Wage the good warfare; hold fast to faith and good conscience. Pray always, for everyone and everything. Pray for leaders and followers; pray for peace! God our Savior watches over us; He desires that everyone should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. There is one God; and there is one Mediator between God and humanity—Jesus the Messiah, Who gave Himself as an effective ransom for every mortal. We bear His testimony and walk by His grace! Our commission is from Him, to preach and serve His gospel among those He seeks to save. Let everyone pray, everywhere, always, lifting holy hands, without anger or quarreling.

During His last week on earth, as Jesus and His party walked from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus spied a fig tree. Hungry, He approached it, but there was no fruit, because it was not the season for the tree to bear figs. Jesus addressed the tree: ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ When they arrived at the temple, Jesus began to drive out those engaged in commerce in the temple grounds. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He would allow no one to carry anything through the temple. Then He began to teach: ‘It is written, isn’t it, that God’s house shall be a house of prayer for all the nations. But you have made it a den of brigands!’ The chief priests and scribes heard all this, and sought a way to destroy Jesus—because they feared Him, and saw that the crowds were astonished at His teaching. That evening, Jesus and His party left the city. The next morning, as they returned, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots! Peter mentioned this, and Jesus said: ‘Have faith in God. Most solemnly I tell you: whoever says to this mountain “Be taken up and cast into the sea!” and believes, what he says will come to pass; God will do it for that person of faith. So I say to you: whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it already, and it will be yours. As you pray, if you recall that someone has something against you, forgive that person immediately and completely—so that your Father in heaven also may forgive you your trespasses.’