Devotional for March 23

Trust in the Lord

9 O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.
14 The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
15 Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord. Psalm 115:9-18 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

Accept the fact that the body must be trained with weights, or gravity and time will leave you weak and frail. Train the body under resistance for physical health and train the mind under faith for spiritual health. Pair resistance training with nutrition, and faith with wisdom, for maximum effectiveness. Physical exercise is important for the body, and spiritual training is essential for the mind. The bedrock of spiritual training is being diligent about judging one’s own thoughts. Every wrong thought must be rejected or by default it is accepted. Accepted thoughts are like seeds sown and can only bring forth more of its kind. Conformity to the Word of God is our only reliable standard for judging right and wrong thoughts. The one who doesn’t learn to hold their thoughts captive and examined in this way, will be a slave to their feelings like parent tormented by the undisciplined two year-old that throws a temper tantrum in the grocery store checkout line.  (Isaiah 26:3; Proverbs 16:3; Psalm 10:4; Isaiah 50:10-11; Galatians 6:7-9; 1 Peter 4:17; 1 Corinthians 11:31-32; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Matthew 7:16; Hebrews 4:12; Romans 1:17; 1 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 11:6; Philippians 4:1, 4-9)

Today’s Bible Reading

Exodus 34; John 13

Proverbs 10; Ephesians 3

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring us again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer