Posts Tagged ‘Parable of the Sower’

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

January 26, 2011

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 1/26/2011

< >< My Prayer >< >

I humbly come to You today hoping to do my part by trying to stay consciously in the now of the moment with You throughout this day, asking that You help me to stay in the Spirit expecting to see You in each moment, ready to respond to Your will. Focusing on not letting myself get anxious or worry about anything for having felt that You ‘did not give me a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control’ and in through Jesus I can finally start to fulfill my promises to You with my first fruits and in doing to Your purpose for me by keeping my mind as rich soil.

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 >< >

LOOK AGAIN AND CONSECRATE

“If God so clothe the grass of the field . . . shall He not much more clothe you?” Matthew 6:30

A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us if we are not simple. How are we going to be simple with the simplicity of Jesus? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, obeying Him as He brings the word of God, and life will become amazingly simple. “Consider,” says Jesus, “how much more your Father Who clothes the grass of the field will clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him.” Every time we have gone back in spiritual communion it has been because we have impertinently known better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed the cares of the world to come in, and have forgotten the “much more” of our Heavenly Father.

“Behold the fowls of the air” – their main aim is to obey the principle of life that is in them and God looks after them. Jesus says that if you are rightly related to Him and obey His Spirit that is in you, God will look after your ‘feathers.’

“Consider the lilies of the field” – they grow where they are put. Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere. Jesus says that if we obey the life God has given us, He will look after all the other things. Has Jesus Christ told us a lie? If we are not experiencing the “much more,” it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations. How much time have we taken up worrying God with questions when we should have been absolutely free to concentrate on His work? Consecration means the continual separating of myself to one particular thing. We cannot consecrate once and for all. Am I continually separating myself to consider God every day of my life?

< >< Today in the Word Devotion >< >

You are robbing me. – Malachi 3:9

Two principles that should guide our giving are regularity and firstfruits. Regularity means that we set aside money for God at regular intervals. This means including giving in our regular budgets (1 Cor. 16:2). Firstfruits means that we honor the Lord by giving to Him first (Prov. 3:9-10). Our giving is not done after all other expenses have been met. That’s the mistake Malachi exposed in today’s reading—we are not to put our own “houses” ahead of God’s house or worshiping Him.

< >< Today in the Word >< >

Seeking God’s Heart: What is so Amazing About Grace? Part 2 – Listen now

James Ford concludes talking about grace and gives us three reasons why it is the only way to live the Christian life – Program Notes & Quotes

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

 

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

 

< >< 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_01_26.mp3

For link to today’s video Reflection http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml

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Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

October 22, 2010

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 10/21/2010

< >< My Prayer >< >

I ‘humble myself, under Your mighty hand, that You will lift me up in due time’ and that as I wait upon You, You would continue through Jesus in the Spirit to liken my heart to His, conditioning my mind as rich soil with Your truths and wisdom, so that others will see Your work in me, and feel I am in You; seeking one walk.

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. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

< >< Today’s Jesus Calling Daily Devotion >< >

October – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Today – TO LIVE in My Presence consistently, you must expose and expel your rebellious tendencies. When something interferes with your plans or desires, you tend to resent the interference. Try to become aware of each resentment, however petty it may seem. Don’t push those unpleasant feelings down; instead, let them come to the surface where you can deal with them. Ask My Spirit to increase your awareness of resentful feelings. Bring them boldly into the Light of My Presence, so that I can free you from them.

The ultimate solution to rebellious tendencies is submission to My authority over you. Intellectually you rejoice in My sovereignty, without which the world would be a terrifying place. But when My sovereign will encroaches on your little domain of control, you often react with telltale resentment.

The best response to losses or thwarted hopes is praise: The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Remember that all good things—your possessions, your family and friends, your health and abilities, your time—are gifts from Me. Instead of feeling entitled to all these blessings, respond to them with gratitude. Be prepared to let go of anything I take from you, but never let go of My hand!

PSALM 139:23-24, 1 PETER 5:6, JOB 1:21 (NKJV)

< >< Today in the Word >< >

Be Still and Know: Finding Rest Through Confidence in God’s WordListen now

Pastor Colin Smith begins looking at the parable of the sower (soils) – Program Notes & Quotes

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

Audio Link

Reading 1 Eph 3:14-21

Brothers and sisters:
I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19

R. (5b) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten‑stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

To watch video Reflection on today’s Gospel click link at bottom on this email:

How many sins have entered into the soul through the eye as Holy Scripture indicates? [1 Jn. 2:16]. That is why they must fast by keeping them lowered and not permitting them to look upon frivolous and unlawful objects; the ears, by depriving them of listening to vain talk which serves only to fill the mind with worldly images; the tongue, in not speaking idle words and those which savor of the world or the things of the world. We ought also to cut off useless thoughts, as well as vain memories and superfluous appetites and desires of our will. In short, we ought to hold in check all those things which keep us from loving or tending to the Sovereign Good. — St. Francis de Sales

< >< 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/10_10_21.mp3

For link to today’s video Reflection http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml

< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >

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See what I am thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com follow me on Twitter @richardangulo

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But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

September 19, 2010

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 09/18/2010

< >< My Prayer >< >

I have thought on these words often – ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving’ overcoming what to me seems like many obstacles, yet just as I think I have found the way, another obstacle presents itself. So I wrestle with that each obstacle fighting to overcome myself, my pride, my fallen nature all along trying to remember how I have moved from believing to following, knowing that each obstacle overcome takes me one step closer to Your image in Jesus Christ and to discipleship.

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. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

< >< Today’s Jesus Calling Daily Devotion >< >

September – “… I am the light of the world. Whoever follows we will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Today – SEEK TO PLEASE ME above all else. Let that goal be your focal point as you go through this day. Such a mind-set will protect you from scattering your energy to the winds. The free will I bestowed on you comes with awesome responsibility. Each day presents you with choice after choice. Many of these decisions you ignore and thus make by default. Without a focal point to guide you, you can easily lose your way. That’s why it is so important to stay in communication with Me, living in thankful awareness of My Presence.

You inhabit a fallen, disjointed world, where things are constantly unraveling around the edges. Only a vibrant relationship with Me can keep you from coming unraveled too.

MATTHEW 6:33, JOHN 8:29, COLOSSIANS 3:23-24

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

Audio Link

Reading 1 1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49

Brothers and sisters:
Someone may say, “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body will they come back?”

You fool!
What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body that is to be
but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind.

So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious.
It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

So, too, it is written,
“The first man, Adam, became a living being,”
the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual was not first;
rather the natural and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, earthly;
the second man, from heaven.
As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly,
and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 56:10c-12, 13-14

R. (14) I will walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.
Now I know that God is with me.
In God, in whose promise I glory,
in God I trust without fear;
what can flesh do against me?
R. I will walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.
I am bound, O God, by vows to you;
your thank offerings I will fulfill.
For you have rescued me from death,
my feet, too, from stumbling;
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
R. I will walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.

Gospel Lk 8:4-15

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

Then his disciples asked him
what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered,
“Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
has been granted to you;
but to the rest, they are made known through parables
so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life,
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.”

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

To watch video Reflection on today’s Gospel click link at bottom on this email:

Reason can but ascertain the profound difficulties of our condition, it cannot remove them. — John Cardinal Newman

< >< 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/10_09_18.mp3

For link to today’s video Reflection http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml

< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >

EWTN

Moody Radio Online

Today in the Word Radio Online

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Today in the Word – Today’s Devotional

< >< Bible Online >< >

BibleGateway.com

< >< One Walk >< >

See what I am thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com follow me on Twitter @richardangulo

See what I am doing, visit www.raagroup.com follow me on Twitter @raagroup