Humility Month Day 12: Learning to Love Enemies

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

This is the day the Lord has made! Find 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 be more like Christ in humility!

— Praise: (1)
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
You, Lord Jesus Christ, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.
To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen!

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts as we read your word:
Matthew 5:43-48

— 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)
Dear Jesus,
it is hard to forgive people
when they hurt us and our friends.
We want to hit back—
and sometimes we do.
But you teach us to love our enemies
no matter what they do.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus,
when we do not forgive others.
Help us to understand why people hurt others,
and let our hearts be filled with love for them. Amen.

— Devotional: (3)
At a certain pint in the spiritual journey God will draw a person from the beginning stage to a more advanced stage. At this stage the person will begin to engage in religious exercises and grow deeper in the spiritual life.
Such souls will likely experience what is called “the dark night of the soul.” The “dark night” is when those persons lose all the pleasure that they once experienced in their devotional life. This happens because God wants to purify them and move them on to greater heights…
Let it suffice to say, then, that God perceives the imperfections within us, and because of his love for us, urges us to grow up. His love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason he takes us into a dark night. He weans us from all of the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness.
In doing so he is able to take away all these vices and create virtues within us. Through the dark night pride becomes humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy, and sloth becomes strength. No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night.

— Closing Prayer: (4)
Almighty and merciful God,
through your well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
you have willed to make all things new.
Grant that we may be renewed by your Holy Spirit
and may come at last to that heavenly country
where your people hunger and thirst no more
and the tears are wiped away from every eye,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(1) From Revelation 5:9-13, NRSV
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(3) Purifying the Soul by John of the Cross found in Devotional Classics by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith.
(4) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.

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Humility Month Day 11: The Be Attitudes

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Pastor Jesse


Good morning! Pick up a Bible and work through all or part of the prayers, scripture, questions, and reading below. May the Lord bless you as you do so. As a result of this season, may the Spirit of God work in us to shape us to be more like Christ in humility!


— Praise: (1)
God our helper, help us to “Be” more like Jesus.
show us your holy ways and teach us your paths.
By your Holy Spirit
open our minds
that we may be led in your truth
and taught your will.
Then may we praise you
by listening to your Word
and by obeying it.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts as we read your word:
Matthew 5: 1-12

— 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)
In our world, bent under the weight of sin,
Christ gathers a new community.
Satan and his evil forces seek whom they may confuse and swallow;
but Jesus builds his church, his Spirit guides, and grace abounds.
The church is the fellowship of those who confess Jesus as Lord.
She is the Bride of Christ, his chosen partner,
loved by Jesus and loving him:
delighting in his presence, seeking him in prayer,
silent before the mystery of his love.
Our new life in Christ is celebrated and nourished
in the fellowship of congregations
where God’s name is praised,
his Word proclaimed, his way taught;
where sins are confessed, prayers and gifts are offered,
and sacraments are celebrated.

— Devotional: (3)
When God was merciful to us, we learned to be merciful with our brethren. When we received forgiveness instead of judgment, we, too, were made ready to forgive our brethren. What God did to us, we then owed to others. The more we received, the more we were able to give; and the more meager our brotherly love, the less were we living by God’s mercy and love. Thus God himself taught us to meet one another as God has met us in Christ. [(See Romans 15:7]
The fact that we are brethren only through Jesus Christ is of immeasurable significance. Not only the other person who is earnest and devout, who comes to me seeking brotherhood, must I deal with in fellowship. My brother is rather that other person who has been redeemed in Christ, delivered from sin, and called to faith and eternal life.
Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community… Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us…
I have community with others, and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ.

— Closing Prayer: (4)
God, you know all things
you know our thoughts and needs better than we ourselves.
Accept the prayers that we now offer
and strengthen us to do your will,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(1) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(3) On Community – From “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer found in Devotional Classics by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith.
(4) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources with original edits.

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Humility Month Day 10: The Baptism of Jesus

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

Good morning friends! Open a Bible and look up Matthew 3. Work through all or part of the prayers, scripture, questions, and reading below. May you find spiritual nourishment in whatever portions you complete. May the Lord bless you as you do so. As a result of this work, I pray we would grow to be more like Christ in our humility!

— Praise: (1)
Glory be to you, O God,
whom we worship in awe and wonder.
You are the author of all beginnings
and all that is pronounced “good.”
In you both day and night have purpose,
both calm and storm have meaning.
Open the eyes of our imagination,
that we may be ready to receive your gifts
and discern your activity in our midst.
In the name of Jesus,
in whose baptism we too are baptized. Amen.

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts as we read your word:
Matthew 3:13-17

— 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, why were you baptized?
But to fulfill all righteousness.
Lord Jesus, why were you baptized?
But to identify with us, whom you came to save.
Lord Jesus, why were you baptized?
But that the heavens would open,
The Spirit would descend,
The Father would declare to all that you were His beloved Son
With You, He was well pleased.
Lord Jesus, in humbling yourself you have been exalted.
And you invite us to follow you.
Come Holy Spirit, empower us to say, “Yes”!
Amen.

— Devotional: (3)
I want to simplify your lives. When others are telling you to read more, I want to tell you to read less; when others are telling you to do more, I want to tell you to do less. The world does not need more of you; it needs more of God. Your friends do not need more of you; they need more of God. And you don’t need more of you; you need more of God. For we do not progress in the Christian life by becoming more competent, more knowledgeable, more virtuous or more energetic. We do not advance in the Chirstian life by acquiring expertise. Each day, and many times each day, we need more of God. Back to square one.
– Eugene Peterson

— Closing Prayer: (4)
God, you know all things
you know our thoughts and needs better than we ourselves.
Accept the prayers that we now offer
and strengthen us to do your will,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(1) Original with excerpts from The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(3) From “Back to Square One: God Said (The Witness of Holy Scripture)” Crux April 10-14.
(4) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources with original edits.

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Humility Month Day 9: The Humble Birth of the King

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

Good morning! Find a Bible (in print, on your phone, on your computer, etc.) and work through all or part of the prayers, scripture, questions, and reading below. May whatever portions you complete be spiritually nourishing and may the Lord bless you as you do so. As a result of this work, I pray we would grow to be more like Christ in our humility!


— Praise: (1)
God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Three in one both now and forever.
Fill our hearts with love and our minds with holy imagination
So that we would join others in making the journey to see Jesus.
So let us go, in heart and mind, to see what has come to pass.
Let us go with the shepherds:
Let us go to find the Savior!
Let us go with the wise ones:
Let us go to find God’s promise, born for us!
Let us go with the poor and humble:
Let us go to find our King, born in a lowly manger.
Let us go with all the world, with all the peoples of the nations.
Come, let us worship; come, let us adore him:
Christ the Lord

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts as we read your word:
Luke 2:1-20

— 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)
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have stooped to raise fallen humanity.
Grant that we who have seen your glory revealed in our human nature,
and your love made perfect in our weakness,
may daily be renewed in your image
and conformed to the pattern of your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

— Devotional: (3)
When we receive a child in the name of Christ, the very childhood that we receive to our arms is humanity. We love its humanity in its childhood, for childhood is the deepest heart of humanity – its divine heart; and so in the name of the child we receive all humanity.

— Closing Prayer: (4)
Mighty God,
the shepherds of old were full of your praises,
saying that all they had heard and seen
was mirrored by what they had been told.
Move among us now with your Holy Spirit,
that we too might hear and experience
the wonder and joy of the living Word
as we seek to welcome the written Word into our lives.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(1) Original with excerpts from The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(3) From Creation in Christ by George MacDonald
(4) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.

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Humility Month Day 8: Walk Humbly with God

Posted on August 8, 2024 by Pastor Jesse

Good morning! Find a Bible (in print, on your phone, on your computer, etc.) and work through all or part of the prayers, scripture, questions, and reading below. May whatever portions you complete be spiritually nourishing and may the Lord bless you and make you more aware of who he is and who you are!


— Praise: (1)
Holy God,
Lord of Lords, King of the Ages.
You are eternal. My days are numbered.
You are the Creator. I am part of creation.
You are all powerful. I can be so weak.
You are God. I am not.
You have shown us your love in Jesus.
By the power of your Spirit, through your word, in these prayers and readings,
Remind us this morning who you are and who we are.
Use this moment to teach us what it means to walk humbly with you.

— Scripture:
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts as we read your word:
Micah 6:1-8

— Answer these three 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)
O Lord, open our eyes, that we may see the needs of others.
Open our ears, that we may hear their cries.
Open our hearts, that they need not be without help.
Let us not be afraid to defend the weak
because of the anger of the strong,
nor afraid to defend the poor
because of the anger of the rich.
Show us where love and hope are needed,
and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our eyes and ears, that this day we may
do some work of peace for you. Amen.

— Devotional: (3)
Humility begins as a gift from God, but it is increased as a habit we develop. That is, humility is increased by exercising it…
Confess your sins often to God and don’t think of them as scattered offenses in the course of a long life; a burst of anger here, an act of impatience there. Instead, unite them into one continuous representation of your life. Remember that a person may seem rather good if his faults are scattered over large distances throughout his lifetime; but if his errors and follies are placed next to one another, he will appear to be a vicious and miserable person. Hopefully this exercise, when really applied to your soul, will be useful to you for increasing the grace of humility.

— Closing Prayer: (4)
God, we humbly seek you and devote ourselves to you today. By the power of your Spirit, help us to do so with a whole heart that we might reflect the life of Christ in this world.

(1) Original
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(3) From “The Grace of Humility” by Jeremy Taylor found in Devotional Classics by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith.
(4) Original

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