Daily Devotions for April 2024

April 1, 2024. Prayer 1813. Ask Good Questions

Faith is about opening our heart to what can be.  Shortly before his arrest, Jesus spoke with his disciples about how to be after he would be taken from them.  In John 15:12 Jesus says, “love one another as I have loved you…I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…whatever you ask, ask in my name that it may be given.”  Thomas asks Jesus, “we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?”  Jesus says that they will know the way as they have known and seen him.  We find our way by faith as we ask good questions about where God is leading us.

Dear God, help me turn my indecision and unknowing by asking good and open questions in your name. Amen.   

April 2, 2024. Prayer 1814. Gather Information

Increasing faith is about asking God to reveal more about truth and wonder.  In the days after Jesus was risen, comes accounts of his appearance with the disciples.  In John 21:25 Thomas had missed the most recent appearance and says to the others, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Thomas is actively gathering information.  The wounds of Jesus match the truth of Jesus’ life with them.  The risen nature of Jesus affirms the wonder of God.  To these, Thomas can’t resist.

Dear God, reveal to me the deepest truth and the widest wonder at life’s imponderables. Increase my faith! Amen.

April 3, 2024. Prayer 1815. Collaborate

Do we value and wish that all the best decisions come from a common-sense approach.  What if the best decision is not held in common.  What if what is held in common is in fact not on the side of life, equity, dignity, solidarity, community, and love?  After Jesus is risen, his message that comes to the group is about gathering together, sharing the words of faith, and forgiving the sins of anyone.  In John 20:22 he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive, they are forgiven.”  Faith work is about collaborating with others, the truth, and the truth includes the willingness to love and forgive.

Dear God, let me be willing to hear what is right and wrong in community and speak the truth with love. Amen.

April 4, 2024. Prayer 1816. Choices

Deciding on faith includes the affirmation that God has chosen us.  In John 15:16 Jesus says to his disciples, “You did not chose me, but I chose you.”  Whenever we seek to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, sacrificing for the life and well-being of the other, we are choosing to live by faith.  Our faith is that God sent us to ask for life and life healed, redeemed, restored in abundance.  Jesus uses the example of a woman giving birth.  In John 16:21 she first has sorrow, “but when delivered she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born.”  Faith has us choose joy.

Dear God, with all the suffering in the world it is so hard to choose joy for my soul’s response. Increase my faith! Amen.

April 5, 2024. Prayer 1817. Reflect

Confidence in faith comes through reflection.  When the risen Jesus appears to Peter and restores him from the bitter regret of denial to the confidence of choosing to live out his faith, it comes with the call for continual reflection.  He sends Peter out to feed the sheep saying in John 21:18 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”  Maturing in faith means we follow God’s choices not our own.

Dear God, open to me all the ways you would like me to go in this Eastertide. Limit not my horizon lines. Amen.  

Monday, April 8, 2024. Prayer 1818. Greetings!

In the weeks after Easter Sunday we read the accounts of the Risen Christ appearing to his loved ones.  We long to see our loved ones again after they have passed.  Our Easter Faith shows us that joy and peace can come back to us through a time of change and grief.  In Matthew 28:9 while Mary Magdelene and another companion were leaving the empty tomb “Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’”  Our Easter Faith has a compelling commitment to uplift.  The Risen Christ comes to us in our shock and greets us in a way that lifts up our spirits and our lives to the full. Dear God, grant me to live my life with our Easter Faith. Greet us with great love and hopefulness! Amen.

Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Prayer 1819. Walking & Talking

Conversation along the way can make all the difference.  On the day Jesus rose, two of the disciples were headed out of town on the road to Emmaus.  In Luke 24:17 Jesus comes near to them asking “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” In conversation the disciples were retelling the story of what had happened to Jesus, how he was crucified, and that he was not found in the tomb.  Though Jesus was unrecognized by them, he interpreted all the things in the scriptures about him.  Later they said, “were not our hearts burning within us?” Faith is found in conversation.

Dear God, grant me companions on the way that we may recognize you in our life experiences. Amen.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Prayer 1820. Fish Dinner

Conversation around the dinner table is the time to share what has happened to us and find support and direction.  When the disciples were talking about Jesus, he appeared to them, offered his peace, showed them the wounds in his hands and feet.  They were disbelieving and wondering.  In Luke 24:41 Jesus said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”  They gave him broiled fish and he took and ate it.  While discussing everything in light of the scriptures, they were calmed and reoriented during dinner.  Following a death, it is so good to gather with loved ones around the table.

Dear God, bless those who have endured great loss to be gathered at table in the presence of love and faith. Amen.

April 11, 2024. Prayer 1821. Believing

It’s hard to believe it when a loved one is gone.  Doubts arise in the heart about our life going forward.  When Jesus was gone the disciples were gathered and talking about everything.  He appears to them and breathes new life into them in the Spirit.  Thomas had missed the moment.  He was disbelieving.  In John 20:27 he appears again and says to Thomas, “Put you finger here and see my hands. Do not doubt but believe.”  Thomas was blessed when looking at Jesus’ wounds.  Healing comes from telling the story of our woundedness and reaching out to each other for confidence and trust.  Dear God, bless me with the strength to acknowledge our woundedness and turn that into faithful witness. Amen.

 

April 12, 2024. Prayer 1822. Love Came Down at Easter

Our Easter Faith sends us out into the world by love to give and receive love.  When Peter had denied Jesus three times in his hour of need, he must have felt terrible.  Feelings of guilt and shame must have weighed heavy on his heart.  He would not be able to go on with Jesus’ mission.  The Risen Christ comes to speak with Peter in the heart.  In John 21: he asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?”  Peter is hurt.  He wants to love again, but must be wrestling with his actions.  Three times Jesus has Peter acknowledge that with that confession of love, Peter will go and “tend my sheep.”

Dear God, reach out to us with great love that we may turn from our self-doubts and trust in our Easter Faith. Amen.

FAITH STEPS

 

Monday, April 15, 2024. Prayer 1823. Peace of Mind

No doubt we live in anxious times.  And, so too were the people in Bible times also filled with anxiety.  Paul says in Philippians 4:6-7 “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Faith reminds us that God’s understanding of all things is far greater than ours.  In this we may have peace of mind and peace in our hearts when we cultivate a life of prayer.  When we pray, we give thanks for the opportunity to ask for peace.

Dear God, I thank you that in your understanding my mind might be at rest and my heart filled with your peace. Amen.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Prayer 1824. In Progress

We are a work in progress.  The world places demands on us to produce more, to get the most out of the time, and to be perfect.  Faith has us pause to reflect upon balance between doing and being.  1 Samuel 16:7 has us ponder, “For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  We do well to remember that the Lord may not be judging us for being less than perfect.  There is a quality of our relationship with the divine that invites us to breathe, to be, to be at rest, to be simply who we are created to be.  That is progress!

Dear God, grant me those blessed moments of rest in a busy day that I may let my spirit catch up with myself! Amen.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Prayer 1825. Good Judgment

Life requires continual judgment making.  Driving in traffic.  Selecting a treatment option.  Choosing a career.  Responding to another’s need.  As persons of faith, we strive with God’s help to make the best judgment possible.  Paul guides us in Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with the good.”  In small ways we can let our irritations have us respond angrily.  In large ways we can be defeated by a world that is greatly unnerving.  But for our humble hearts before God, we recall that God has already overcome evil with love and we strive to live that way everyday.

Dear God, guard my mind in you when I face decisions that seem difficult. Show me the still better way to go! Amen.

Thursday, April 18, 2024. Prayer 1826. In the Pit

We all know what it like to feel like we are in the pit.  On those days we feel terrible about ourselves and we even turn away from tried-and-true faith practices that we use and that we see in others.  No one is perfect.  Our faith escapes us.  The book of Lamentations in 3:55 is a prayer when the whole nation is in a low place.  “I called on your name, Lord, out of the lowest pit.”  God is attributed to high places.  Yet, God’s care for us includes the will and the way to reach those in the lowest of places.  Prayer is the beginning of holding onto that rope that pulls us up to higher ground.

Dear God, grant me the strength to call out your name when I am in a place that feels lower than low. Amen.  

 Friday, April 19, 2024. Prayer 1827. Small Steps

Spring is a wonderful season because each day reminds us of the recipe of renewal.  There is something comforting about seeing a bulb send forth a flower we haven’t seen since a year ago.  The prophets tell us God is about renewal.  In Isaiah 43:19 God says to us, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”  Sudan.  Gaza.  Ukraine.  War and famine seem impossible to stop.  But renewal comes one small step at a time.  By faith we believe in renewal and we walk confidently towards it.

Dear God, in the big things and in the little things, may I work towards and see pathways open for renewal. Amen.