Sun.’s Devo - Prayer and Blessing

Read: Deuteronomy 26:1-27:26; Luke 10:38-11:13 Psalm 76:1-12; Proverbs 12:15-17 The first fruits of every harvest was to be taken to the place designated and given to the Lord. They were to proclaim over their crop the story of their history of slavery in Egypt and the deliverance God gave them. Every third year, their first fruits were to go to the Levites, foreigners, orphans and widows. The giver had to proclaim that his hands are clean and his gift was clean and that he had obeyed God’s laws. By this they were declaring that God was their Lord and that they were promising to walk in his ways, and obey his decrees, commands, and regulations to do everything he tells them. This made them God’s special treasure making them a holy nation. When they crossed the Jordan they were to take stones, paint them with plaster and write the words of God’s laws on them. Then they were to set up an altar and sacrifice peace offerings on it. This was to be on Mt. Ebal. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin were to stand on Mount Gerizim were to proclaim the blessing over the people given in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali were to stand on Mt. Ebal and proclaim the curses written in Deuteronomy 27:15-26. The people were to reply “Amen” to every statement. In Luke, Jesus taught different kinds of prayer. Mary exhibited worship. She sat at Jesus’ feet holding on to every moment he was with them. Martha represented service. She served the Lord with her doing. Both were appreciated but when Martha complained that it looked like to her Mary wasn’t doing anything, Jesus explained that Mary had chosen the best. The disciples asked how to pray and Jesus gave them “The Lord’s Prayer” but it should be the “People’s Prayer” because Jesus told them that this was how they should pray to God’ In Luke, he brought out these points: 1. Keep God’s name holy 2. Pray his kingdom will come soon 3. Pray for daily nourishment 4. Pray for forgiveness of sins as we forgive others who sin against us 5. Pray to stay away from temptation Next, Jesus talked about the prayer of persistence. In that case, you keep asking until you get the result you want. Jesus reminded them that God is a good god who knows how to give good gifts to his children much more than natural fathers so. He will definitely give his Holy Spirit to all who ask for it. Lord, may we grow in prayer and may we walk in your blessings all the days of our lives.