Devotions: Ps 51, 55, 59, 60, 138, 139:1-17; Deut 10:12-22, 11:18-28; Heb 4:11-5:10; Jn 3:22-4:26
Lord, cleanse me from my sins; I know I am stained, and I need Your forgiveness and restoration. Create a clean heart and upright spirit in me, and restore to me the joy of my salvation, I pray. Open my lips to praise You and my heart to reach out to others with Your gospel. I lay myself before you as a living sacrifice; accept my broken and contrite heart and spirit, Lord. Hear and answer my prayer, Lord; I am languishing, and failing in my work and my life. Confuse my enemies and defeat their attempts to destroy me. I cast my burden on YHWH; He will sustain me. I will trust in the Lord Almighty! Rouse yourself and come to my help. Punish the pagans who oppose you, howling like feral dogs. My God will enable me to look in triumph on my enemies. I will sing of Your might and sing aloud of Your steadfast love this morning; my Strength, I praise you! Give victory by Your right hand; all the universe is mine! Great is YHWH's glory, yet He regards the lowly. Though I walk in trouble, You preserve my life. Don't forsake Your handiwork, Lord! You know me thoroughly; I cannot escape your Spirit, and I don't want to! Stay near; Your presence is my greatest joy and comfort. How precious to me are Your thoughts!
Israel: what does YHWH require of you? Fear Him, walk in His ways, love Him and serve YHWH your God with all your heart and soul. Keep all His commands; He owns the universe, yet He has set His heart on you and your people. So circumcise your hearts and set aside your rigid stubbornness. YHWH your God is Lord of lords and God of gods—the great, mighty and terrible God. He shows no partiality, but executes justic for the widow, the orphan and the sojourner; all these He clothes and feeds. So we also should show favor to these who need help. Fear YHWH your God and serve Him and cleave to Him; do all in His name. He is our praise and our God, who has done great things for us! He turns a handful into a multitude! So lay up these words in your hearts and souls; bind them to your hands and your foreheads; teach them to your children at all times; ponder them as you rise and as you rest. Write them on your doorposts and gates, so that your days, and the days of your offspring, may multiply under God's favor. If you are careful to do all that God commands—loving Him and doing His will—then God will open space for you to live and work and prosper. No force will be able to withstand or overcome you. Let the fear of God motivate you, and the power of God overwhelm your enemies. God offers blessings to the obedient and curses to the sinful. Choose the right path, and prosper under God's mighty hand!
Strive to enter God's rest, for His word is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, capable of penetrating to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing is hidden from God—all are open, laid bare to His discernment. And we are served by the great High Priest, Jesus, God's Son. So let us hold fast to our confession. He is able to sympathize and understand us. Let us draw near to God confidently, close to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace and help in every time of need. Mortal high priests seek to intercede with God regarding the sins of th people, but they must also sacrifice for their own sins. And they must be called and set aside as Aaron was. In this same way, the Messiah Jesus did not exalt Himself to become high priest, but was appointed by the Father, Who said, 'You are My Son; today I have begotten You.' And in another place, God says, 'You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.' While He lived in flesh, Jesus Christ offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him Who was able to save Him from death. And He was heard because of His godly fear and obedience. Though He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered, and having been made perfect, He became the Source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, destined by God the final High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus and His disciples went into Judea, where they stayed for a time and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there was ample water, and people came to John and were baptized there. John's disciples disputed with a Jew over purification and brought the issue before John: 'Rabbi, the one who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, is baptizing now, and many are going to him.' John replied, 'You yourselves bear me witness: I said I am not the Messiah, but one sent before Him. He Who has the bride is the bridegroom; the bridegroom's friends stand and hear Him and rejoice greatly at His voice; therefore, my joy is now complete. He must increase but I must decrease.' The One Who comes form above is above all; the earthy ones belong to the earth and speak of the earth and its affairs; the One Who comes from heave is above all. He witnesses concerning what He has seen and heard, yet no one receives His testimony; but those who receive His testimony are also testifying that God is true. The One Whom God sent speaks God's own words; He does not have the Spirit in measured quantity; the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; and whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life; rather, God's wrath rests upon them. When Jesus knew that the Pharisees had news that Jesus was making more disciples than John, and His disciples were baptizing more converts, Jesus left Judea for Galilee. He had to pass through Samaria, and a certain midday found Jesus in Sychar, beside a well that Jacob had dug, named for the patriarch. Weary, Jesus sat beside the well while His disciples went into Sychar to find food. A Samaritan woman came to draw water and found Jesus there alone. He said to her, 'Give Me a drink.' Suprised, she replied, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman of Samaria.' For Jews normally have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered, 'If you knew the gift of God, and Who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked, and I would have given you living water.' The woman said to Jesus, 'Sir, you have nothing with which to draw water, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well, where his sons and livestock also drank?' Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. The water I give will become a living spring within him, welling up to eternal life.' And the woman said to Jesus, 'Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw again.' Jesus said to her, 'Go and call your husband, and come here with him.' She answered, 'I have no husband.' And Jesus replied, 'You're right in saying this; in fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.' She said, 'Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you Jews say that people ought to worship in Jerusalem.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me: the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour has now arrived when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such the Father seeks to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.' The woman said, 'I know that Messiah is coming—the One Who is called Christ. When He comesw, He will show us all things.' And Jesus said, 'I, Who speak to you, Am He.'
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