March 24

Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29, Luke 6:12-38, Psalms 67:1-7, Proverbs 11:27

Pray: The power of prayer should not be underestimated. James 5:16-18 declares, "…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." God most definitely listens to prayers, answers prayers, and moves in response to prayers.

Pray today, that your prayers be as powerful as those of Elijah. Lifting our prayers to God never falls on deaf ears. Pray, in addition, for the patience and spirit to know that God is in control of all things and moves according to His Will.

Read: Today, we remember through our Old Testament reading, the wandering of the people of Israel as a result of rebelling against God’s plan to deliver them into the Promised Land. We also read of the deliverance of God of the Israelites, 40 years later, into the Promised Land. The initial battles against the people who inhabited the land went the way that Caleb and Jacob said they would… God gave the Israelites victory over them. Luke tells us of the first few times when Jesus began to establish Himself as the Son of God. Even in the face of adversity from the Pharisees, we see Jesus standing up to their title and proclaiming that He is the “master even of the Sabbath”. 

Edify: Jesus was filled with so much valuable teaching and today is no different. Today, you will read of the choosing of the first apostles from the group of disciples that Jesus accumulated. We also read some of the most beautiful words ever spoken as we read the Beatitudes along with Jesus teaching of loving your enemy. In this passage on loving your enemies, Jesus isn’t talking about the love we often think of… He was speaking of a love of the will. This kind of love takes an act of will. Loving our enemies means acting with their best interests in mind. It means lifting them in prayer and we can do things that would be of help to them. Jesus said to love one another… He didn’t exclude anyone, even the people we don’t like and that may not like us.  

Practice: Let’s pledge today to think of the best interest of others and place their needs ahead of our own… even those who would seek to attack our character. Let’s do the very thing that Christ asked us to do… love our enemies. How can you pray for them today?