Food for the Journey

Daily Scripture Readings

Here are suggested daily Scripture readings for the coming week May 4 through May 10. This week’s theme is:

Life Together

• Monday - Ephesians 4:1-16
• Tuesday - Philemon
• Wednesday - 1 Corinthians 6:1-10
• Thursday - 1 Corinthians 3:5-23
• Friday - Romans 12:1-21
• Saturday - Colossians 3:5-17
• Sunday - John 17:1-11
  
  

Thoughts Along the Way

(Occasional thoughts, quotes and Scripture passages to encourage you or just make you think as we journey together on “The Way” of Christian discipleship)

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called. "The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone...I will not be with you then, nor you with me" (Luther).

But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you. "If I die, then I am not alone in death; if I suffer they [the fellowship] suffer with me" (Luther).
From Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

PRAYER QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In talking with hundreds of Christians about this subject in casual conversations, I have discovered a deep and abiding frustration on the part of many of God's people when it comes to prayer. Some who have been Christians for many years frankly confess that prayer has been a struggle from the very beginning. Andrew Murray commented that "if we do not learn how to pray when we are younger, we will stumble at it all of our lives." I must confess that even as a pastor, there have been many years when prayer has been a great struggle for me. Why is it that some people pray with such great power and fervor while some of us struggle with it all our lives?

The disciples who lived and walked with Jesus had many of the same frustrations you and I have. Why else would they have come to Jesus one day and said to Him, "Lord, please show us how to pray like you pray"? In Luke's rendition of the prayer, Jesus answered, "When you pray, say this…" and then He gave us this prayer. It by no means exhausts everything we might say to God, but it does provide an outline for prayer that gets us started in the right direction. If we were to put this outline prayer in outline form, it might look like this:

I. Emphasis on God
A. Praise (6:9)
B. Priorities (6:10)

II. Emphasis on us
A. Provision (6:11)
B. Personal relationships (6:12)
C. Protection (6:13a)

III. Emphasis on God
A. Promise (6:13b)

As we dig deeper into this rich vein of divine ore, we'll follow the contours of this simple outline. And as we do so, let's be careful to remember that the purpose of our expedition is not merely to admire the nuggets we uncover, but to bring them into the full light of day where we can appropriate them for our own use. Gold is beautiful, but it's also amazingly useful. It spends! It purchases! It has great practical value as a currency. Let's make sure that we honor our Lord's words in His prayer by enjoying them fully for both their beauty and their usefulness.
--From Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah, Pages 76 and 77.

PRAYER OF THE WEEK

Mother Theresa
1910 - 1997
The daughter of an Albanian grocer, she became a nun and traveled to India at the age of seventeen. For twenty years she taught in a convent school, but in 1948 she left to work amongst the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, which now has over two hundred branches worldwide. Her simple prayers reflect her radiant love.

LORD, OPEN OUR EYES
Lord, open our eyes,
That we may see you in our brothers and sisters.
Lord, open our ears,
That we may hear the cries of the hungry, the cold,
the frightened, the oppressed.
Lord, open our hearts,
That we may love each other as you love us.
Renew in us your spirit
Lord, free us and make us one.

LORD, SHAKE AWAY MY INDIFFERENCE
Lord, shake away my indifference and insensitivity to the plight of the poor. When I meet you hungry, thirsty or as a stranger, show me how I can give you food or quench your thirst or receive you in my home - and in my heart. Show me how I can serve you in the least of your brothers.

TAKE, O LORD, AND RECEIVE
Take, O Lord, and receive
All my liberty, my memory,
my understanding and my will,
all that I have and possess.
You have given them to me;
To you, O Lord, I restore them.
All things are yours:
Dispose of them according to your will.
Give me your love and your grace,
For this is enough for me.

LORD BY THY GRACE
Lord by thy grace,
Let the poor seeing me be drawn to Christ and invite him to enter their homes and their lives.
Let the sick and the suffering find in me a real angel of comfort and consolation.
Let the little ones of the streets cling to me because I remind them of him, the friend of all little ones.

HERE I AM, LORD
Here I am, Lord - body, heart and soul.
Grant that with your love,
I may be big enough to reach the world,
And small enough to be at one with you.

Humor