Prayer Practice
Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.
DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Humbled to Give
by Kelsey Bacon
Recently, I taught a Ten Commandments workshop for the middle schoolers at our church. One of the commandments is "You shall not steal." Seems pretty straight forward, but I don't meet a lot of kleptomaniac middle schoolers, so we took it a little deeper and looked to a verse in Ephesians, one that we heard read in Steve's sermon this past Sunday. Ephesians 4:28 says, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need." In the workshop, we talked about how the opposite of stealing isn't just not stealing, but is giving--and how we are commanded to give and give with all we have and all we are.
In this first world country of privilege, entitlement, wealth, and safety (in comparison to much of the rest of the world), it is easy to forget that what we own isn't ours. It is easy to guard our possessions, to value weath too highly, to desire stuff a little too much. It's easy to have an emotional attachment to our property, to our things, to feel proud of all that we have accomplished because our society has told us that accomplishing things is our purpose.
And don't even get me started on coveting. This was a big topic of conversation in our Ten Commandments workshop, as the Ten Commandments have a lot of say about it and pretty much every middle schooler (if not every human) knows what it means to covet. In our society, there's always a new version of the old thing coming out. There's always someone who has a cooler, better thing. Or someone who has something in their marriage that you want. Or someone whose kid does something you wish your kid would do. Or someone who you think has a better spiritual life than you do. The devil uses this tool to seed jealousy, doubt, and mistrust in our hearts toward others and toward God.
I think all of this is why Jesus says it is more blessed to give than to receive. Because when we give we are working against our basic human nature of selfishness. We are not only blessing others, but we are being blessed by the act of giving--whatever the gift may be. We are blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us chipping away at our hard, selfish hearts and exposing the soft heart of the Father within us. And we are also humbled, realizing all that we have, recognizing that it is not ours in the first place--that it was only given to us by the Lord to steward temporarily. And in that humility we can care for those around us, and our eyes will be more fully opened to the glory of God.
Reflect: Pray today and ask God to humble you in all you have, reminding you that none of it is yours. Ask him how he wants you to give and who he wants you to serve in the coming week.
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