Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com). All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17
A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. Luke 16:1
Living Faith snippets: "This is a story about a financial manager caught misusing his boss's property. The story never says that he is sorry for his irresponsibility. He hasn't changed. Loving God, you love me no matter what. Help me to be honest."
Pat nuggets: Wow, today's reading perfectly fits into our current economic situation...coincidence, I think not! People have misused other people's money. Hopefully, hearts will be changed through this mess which has caused fear in the world. What is at the root of this fear...loss of our families needed daily bread or our own unneeded extras? How much do we really need to be fed and joyful as Christ promised (John 10:10)? We could ask a smiling child in a third world country. In Sister Francelle's devotion (see link below), she said, "The minute everything gets complicated, there goes our joy." Perhaps this economic crisis will refocus us on seeing God's hand reaching out to us each day with our "daily bread." May we let our Heavenly Father, not fear, dictate our vision of the future (see Faith Quote below). This is also the bottom line of the great comments shared by the LIFE Devotions Group after the election (see Our Prayers below)...fear not, God is still in charge!
Sister Francelle's devotion: Read her devotion titled "Prayer" at http://sisterfrancelle.blogspot.com/. A few snippets: "Dearest Ones, C. S. Lewis, an atheist until he was 30 years old, once wrote: "Every square inch of this world is either claimed by Christ or Satan. There is no neutral ground." Evil is always disguised as good so that makes it hard to recognize. I see this as the greatest challenge of being a Christian - recognizing evil for what it is. That's why we need to test for evil spirits with prayer. No prayer is ever wasted and every prayer is answered in some way. James 5:16 says, "The heartfelt prayer of a good man makes tremendous power available!" Jesus promised, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find." This world may be full of lies, temptations and reasons to doubt our faith, but this is nothing new...bless those who persecute you and pray for your enemies. "God will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in Him." (Isaiah 13)"
ProLife news: http://www.lifesitenews.com/
Our Prayers: Prayer to End Abortion, chastity, our enemies, our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, loss of loved ones, lack of faith...
* NEW: Lets pray for President-elect Obama. Let's pray that We The People of America (the beacon on the hill) will shine Christ's Light and build a culture of Life. Let's pray for courage to build relationships and talk about ProLife.
Faith Quote: "Do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you? The person who lives by fears, especially the projection of those into the future, will not find freedom in my love." God speaking in fictional book "The Shack" by William P. Young
Through Christ for ProLife,
Pat
Phil 4:13
* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml. Reflection on readings at http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that takes our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, judgment, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa.
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa.
* Evangelization: Let's make room for non-believers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!
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