Friday - be alert

Prayer:  Awesome God,  impress upon our minds and souls and hearts this day Your great love.   We open ourselves up to Your love and release all tension and worries to You.   Amen.

 

Read St. Luke 21: 34 – 36

Jesus continues to tell the disciples:  Be careful.  Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties, drinking, and the anxieties of life.    

 

³⁴ “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵ like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to endure all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke  21:  34 – 36.  New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.)

Be alert at all times.  How are we to be alert?  By praying at all times.  Christians are not immune from the bad stuff of life.   But if we keep praying,  we will have the strength to endure.

Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s not my problem”?   There is nothing as infuriating as the phrase “it’s not my problem”.     And usually those who say, “It’s not my problem” have said it because it WAS their problem and they did not take the responsibility to solve the issue or situation.     Funny how even as Christians,  we want to take the easiest route or pass the buck and not take on the responsibility that we are given.

Be alert by praying at all times.    Remember that prayer is action…. through prayer we are taught that we live life in Christ.  It is out of our love for Christ that we help others… that we take on the responsibility of helping others. 

Read the verses again and ask yourself how Jesus is encouraging the disciples (and us) to do more and to do better….to be responsible Christians.

Prayer:  Spirit of Encouragement,  we know that You fully support us all of our lives.  We now release our hold on all the worries or problems from the past that we keep bringing back into our lives and give them to You.   May You take our lives and make them new in Your sight and love.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.