Each week during Lent, we are providing you with this Daily Devotional Guide. Please use these resources to reflect on this week's passages: verses from a Psalm of provision, as well as a Bible story of God's provision in the wilderness. We also invite you to join our Wednesday evening prayers at 7 pm (available to view below), Sunday communion worship at 10 am, and to walk our outdoor prayer path. A new station of the prayer path is added weekly! Church members also received this Devotional Guide as a bookmark. If you didn't receive one or would like additional copies, feel free to stop by the church during office hours.
Week Six
Opening Sentence: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for you, living God.
Silence
Prayer: Gracious God, we open ourselves to you. You have the words that give life. Speak into our lives and change us deep inside where it matters. Through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Bible Reading: Psalm 65:9-13; Mark 6:30-44
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing. - Psalm 65:9-13 NIV
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. - Mark 6:3-44 NIV
Free Prayer
Statement of Faith (Celtic Daily Prayer)
Sunday: Lord, you have always given bread for the coming day; And though I am poor, today I believe.
Monday: Lord, you have always given strength for the coming day; And though I am weak, today I believe.
Tuesday: Lord, you have always given peace for the coming day; And though of anxious heart, today I believe.
Wednesday: Lord, you have always kept me safe in trials; And now, tried as I am, today I believe.
Thursday: Lord, you have always marked the road for the coming day; And though it may be hidden, today I believe.
Friday: Lord, you have always lightened this darkness of mine; And though the night is here, today I believe.
Saturday: Lord, you have always spoken when time was ripe; And though You be silent now, today I believe.
Assurance: The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love. Amen. (Psalm 145:5)