My Daily Prayers and Readings for 4/27/2011
< >< My Prayer >< >
I seek to find the degree of abandonment You ask of me; and while I am fearful of what that means I ask and pray for courage, and when courage fails me I look to Your forgiveness, mercy and grace to help me get back at it with and for You until I am one with You.
Abba Father in the name of Christ Jesus who lives within me through the Holy Spirit I pray that You create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me, for my one walk in and with Jesus today. Asking that You bless me and mine in fulfillment of Your will and keep us from evil and pain; and if we get nothing else done this day, let us spend it loving You and others as You love us. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
< >< My Utmost for His Highest >< >
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
“Seekest thou great things for thyself?” Jeremiah 45:5
Are you seeking great things for yourself? Not seeking to be a great one, but seeking great things from God for yourself. God wants you in a closer relationship to Himself than receiving His gifts, He wants you to get to know Him. A great thing is accidental, it comes and goes. God never gives us anything accidental. There is nothing easier than getting into a right relationship with God except when it is not God Whom you want but only what He gives.
If you have only come the length of asking God for things, you have never come to the first strand of abandonment, you have become a Christian from a standpoint of your own. “I did ask God for the Holy Spirit, but He did not give me the rest and the peace I expected.” Instantly God puts His finger on the reason – you are not seeking the Lord at all, you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus says – “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Ask God for what you want, and you cannot ask if you are not asking for a right thing. When you draw near to God, you cease from asking for things. “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Then why ask? That you may get to know Him.
Are you seeking great things for yourself? “O Lord, baptize me with the Holy Ghost.” If God does not, it is because you are not abandoned enough to Him, there is something you will not do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores the present perfection for the ultimate perfection. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy just now; He is working out His ultimate perfection all the time – “that they may be one even as We are.”
< >< Today in the Word Devotion >< >
They kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Luke 23:21
Why did Peter deny Christ three times? He was afraid. If he was identified as a friend of Jesus, perhaps they would arrest him as well. Would he then be imprisoned or executed? Peter didn’t know, and he acted on base instincts of self-preservation rather than taking a stand for what he believed. Fear is always the enemy of faith. Thankfully, when our courage fails, as it did Peter that night, there is “forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”(Eph. 1:7).
< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >
Acts 3:1-10
Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9
Luke 24:13-35
< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >
Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind that sets bounds to the passions. — St. Thomas Aquinas
< >< Today in the Word >< >
At the Cross: When God Was at His Best – Part 2 – Listen now
Pastor Hill concludes his thoughts on when God was at His very best – Program Notes & Quotes
< >< Online Sources for Devotion Scripture References & Daily Mass Readings >< >
Link to Devotion Scriptures unless noted from New International Version BibleGateway.com
Links for today’s readings from USCCB using the New American Bible or
Links for today’s readings from EWTN using the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
For audio link to today’s readings from USCCB using the New American Bible click:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/11_04_27.mp3
For link to today’s video Reflection http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml
< >< Bible Online >< >
< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >
Christianity – Faith in God and Jesus Christ
Light Source – Christian Video Broadcasts and Ministry Television Online
Moody Ministries – From the Word to Life
Today in the Word Radio Online
< >< One Walk – Continuity in Change >< >
See what I’m thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com follow me on Twitter @richardangulo
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