O, Lord, Help This Humble Blog Writer 020712

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Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

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Scriptures follow the meditation and thoughts. Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

 

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Psalm 35:1-10

Numbers 22:22-28

1 Corinthians 7:32-40

 

O, Lord, Help This Humble Blog Writer 020712

 

Each day for over a year now, we’ve been posting a brief daily meditation about the selected Bible verses. In a three year period of time we will have read the entire Bible and that’s worthwhile.

Our overall goal has been to encourage our church and willing readers to read the Bible and to pray every day.

Each day three Bible verses are read; one from the Psalms, a second from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. Usually, from the three verses one strikes the writer as notable, or surprising, or familiar or something. And the small task of writing a few sentences to engage a reader’s interest is easy. Not so today.

Of the three Bible verses today not a one seems interesting to me. The Psalm does not inspire me. The Old Testament selection is about Balaam beating his talking donkey, and the New Testament selection is a discussion of Paul’s ideas about marriage and being engaged. Let’s see, how long was Paul married?

 

So, if I had a prayer today, it would be for ‘better’ Bible verses for the morrow. At least verses that allow a humble imagination to take flight. Maybe I need more sleep!

May today be a blessed day for you, and you spread the joy of Jesus. Pray for peace, always.

(brother) Bill

 

Psalm 35

¹Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!

²Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me!

³Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

⁴Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me.

⁵Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on.

⁶Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

⁷For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.

⁸Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it—to their ruin.

⁹Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his deliverance.

¹⁰All my bones shall say, “O Lord, who is like you? You deliver the weak from those too strong for them, the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”

Numbers 22:22-28

²²God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. ²⁴Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. ²⁵When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. ²⁶Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

1 Corinthians 7:32-40

³²I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; ³³but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, ³⁴and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. ³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancee, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. ³⁷But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancee, he will do well. ³⁸So then, he who marries his fiancee does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord. ⁴⁰But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 

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