Daily Bible Readings
Daily Bible Readings for Week of September 13, 2021
Monday, September 13th – 1 Kings 17:8-16
Tuesday, September 14th – Romans 8:18-30
Wednesday, September 15th – Matthew 6:19-23
Thursday, September 16th – Isaiah 56:8—57:2
Friday, September 17th – Deuteronomy 6:4-7
Saturday, September 18th – Acts 8:26-38
Prayer of the Week
O God, You call us into fellowship with each other and into service in Your church. Be with us in times of difficult decisions and grant us the wisdom of Your Spirit; through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Memory Verses for September, 2021
September 5: Deuteronomy 24:19
19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
September 12: 2 Corinthians 9:6
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
September 19: James 3:18
18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
September 26: Galatians 6:8-9
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Book of the Month: James
Journey to Hope
"We need to accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope" Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
A Declaration of Blessing
“Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4) It seems a strange thing to say that those who suffer are blessed. Every instinct within our human selves rises in disbelief and confusion. It seems illogical and contradictory. How can anyone who has lost something or someone much loved be blessed? Is that not a misfortune or a curse? Yet, God declares that people who believe God are privileged in the midst of every sad and painful circumstance. How can that be?
Navigating Change
Change Is not something most of us eagerly anticipate, especially if it is not our plan. Grief brings about abrupt change. What was comfortable and familiar yesterday becomes horrifying and different today. Life can be re-categorized—there is BC (before change) and AD (after death or loss).
What the Parable of the Sower Tells Us About Grief
When we grieve the loss of something dear to us our faith is often tested. We are told in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) of four areas where seeds fell and subsequently grew. Three areas could not sustain the plants that sprung up—only one could. Going through grief can reveal our spiritual soil type. God made soil to be a natural medium for the growth of plants and we are the God-designed medium through which faith is cultivated.
Letting Go
We might not think that grieving would be an appropriate word to use for the Israelites after they left Egypt. They had been in the land for many years and it had been welcoming and a prosperous time. But under a new Pharaoh life changed drastically. The bible tells us that the Egyptian masters worked the Israelites “ruthlessly” (Exod. 1:13, 14) and made their lives “bitter” (Exod. 1:14) with “hard/cruel” (Exod. 1:14; 6:9) service. As a result, Israel languished in “misery” and “suffering” (Exod. 3:7).