Are you in a storm? Remember, this is the day the Lord has made – as John Ortberg adds – somehow! Pick up (or pull up) a Bible and start working through all or part of the prayers, scripture, questions, and reading below. May the Lord bless you as you do so. May you rejoice in the gift of this day. And may the Spirit of God work in us to shape us to give and pray with the love and humility of Jesus!

— Praise: (1)
Let us call to mind the reason for our hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, help us to hear your still, small voice as we read your word:
Mark 4:35-41

— Answer these four questions:
What does this passage say about God?
What does this passage say about people?
As a result of this reading, what is one step God is inviting you to take?
Who is one person you will tell about that step today?

— Response: (2)
Lord Jesus, I’ve been there. Following you, trusting you, and doing as you said, I looked up and found myself and my friends in a big storm. And we didn’t see you at first. In a panic we called. You weren’t in a hurry. You weren’t concerned at all. Eventually, at your word, the storm was over. Everything was calm. I felt your rebuke and then felt foolish. Where was my faith? But then my fears shifted from the storm to the one who calmed it. I had grown so comfortable with you that it was shock, and I had to wonder: who is this Jesus? Help me to know you and to remember who you are in every storm. Amen.

— Devotional: (3)
The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving…
In conversation, the disciple who is truly poor in spirit always leaves the other person with the feeling, “My life has been enriched by talking with you.” This is neither false modesty nor phony humility. His or her life has been enriched and graced. He is not all exhaust and no intake. She does not impose herself on others. He listens well because he knows he has so much to learn from others. Her spiritual poverty enables her to enter the world of the other even when she cannot identify with that world: i.e. the drug culture, the gay world. The poor in spirit are the most nonjudgmental of peoples’ they get along well with sinners.
The poor man and woman of the gospel have made peace with their flawed existence. They are aware of their lack of wholeness, their brokenness, the simple fact that they don’t have it all together. While they do not excuse their sin, they are humbly aware that sin is precisely what has caused them to throw themselves at the mercy of the Father. They do not pretend to be anything but what they are: sinners saved by grace.

— Closing Prayer: (4)
God, in your mercy today,
Teach us to rightly orient our fears, our faith, and our lives toward you.
Help us to do this for our sake,
For the sake of those we love,
For the sake of those you place in our path today,
And for the sake of your name.
Through Jesus, we pray, Amen.

(1) Lamentations 3:21-26 NIV as found in The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(2) Original
(3) From The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning.
(4) Original