Lent 2023 – Day Five – Luke 4

“His teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative…”

The world of successful xxx (fill in the blanks with your own, profession/sport/interest) often uses the rule of the 3 P’s. So much so that there are a wide range of variations of the meaning of each of the P’s.

• Passion, Preparation, Persistence
• Practice, Planning, Positive Thinking
• Preparation, Produces Performance and so on…

As Jesus spends time in the wilderness he is preparing and during this time he is certainly passionate and persistent in the face of hostility.

We too can apply these very active descriptions to our journey of faith. In our daily walk with Jesus as we too face temptations from the world to wander from the path and also to our opportunities of speaking of the gospel’s Good News.

My Mum, and I can hear her say it now, used to say practice makes perfect and although I would be hard pressed to mention anything which I have done perfectly, it is true that the more you practice the better you get at something. In this period of Lent and beyond we pray that in our busy lives we will make the time available so that we can spend it, planning and practicing persistently. In that way we too will be well prepared to speak passionately about our own experiences of our relationship with God and in so doing open an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to transform lives.

Hymn: Singing the Faith –  661 “Give me the faith which can remove”

1      Give me the faith which can remove            and sink the mountain to a plain;            give me the childlike praying love,            which longs to build thy house again;            thy love, let it my heart o’erpower,            and all my simple soul devour.    2      I would the precious time redeem,            and longer live for this alone:            to spend, and to be spent, for them            who have not yet my Saviour known;            fully on these my mission prove,            and only breathe, to breathe thy love.

3    My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord,            into thy blessèd hands receive;            and let me live to preach thy word,            and let me to thy glory live;            my every sacred moment spend            in publishing the sinners’ friend.    4      Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart            with boundless charity divine:            so shall I all my strength exert,            and love them with a zeal like thine;            and lead them to thy open side,            the sheep for whom their Shepherd died. Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Daily Sketch

Today’s passage spoke to me

Let us pray together.

Audio of Prayer section

After the contemplation words. The audio has approximately four minutes of the quiet background music for your own prayers. If you would like longer just stop the audio and re-start it when you wish. If you want a shorted period “drag” the audio to 06:00 which is just before the final prayer.

Contemplation Words

“ I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God …” (v 43 NIV)

Think of the words in order to understand context and meaning, Feel the meaning of the words with and in your heart,

Pray, using the words, for yourself or others. With only a name and without explaining the reasons or pre-defining any answers.

Listen for God’s voice in the quiet of your prayers.

Pray using your own prayers or one of those which have been prepared below.

Twitter Prayer

Lord make me strong to resist the temptations of the world that would lead me away from you. Amen

Facebook Prayer

Dear Lord make me a confident speaker in your name. Help me to be forthright and confident when speaking of your place in my life. When I speak of your love for me, may I shine with the light you have placed into my life, so that all may see that you are my Saviour. Amen

Full Prayer

Lord we are often tempted, to do what is not quite right or perhaps more often to not do what is right. Help us in these moments of temptations to hold fast to your commandment that we should love one another. Help us to live out that commandment and through our lives show that you are our Saviour.

Lord we pray that when we remember the great gift you have given to each one of us, may we be passionate about sharing the message you have for the world with everyone we meet. Help us to be sensitive in our speaking of the Good News so that we can build up and not damage relationships. So that we can draw others into relationship with you and not drive them away with our words. Lord we pray that your Holy Spirit be active in our lives and that you will take our stumbling words and through the power of your Spirit work wonders in the lives of those around us. Amen

Copyright Notices

Reflections and Prayers

By Chris Hancock

Hymns

Hymn words where displayed are in the Public Domain.

Hymn organ recordings where used are from Small Church Music. Copyright notice: Rev. Clyde McLennan, performer in this collection, has assigned his performer rights in this collection to Hymnary.org. Non-commercial use of these recordings is permitted.

Other hymns are from YouTube and covered by YouTube copyright processes.

Bible Readings

Bible readings are from the New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Images

Images where used are from pixabay.com and free for commercial use no attribution required.

Background Music

The background music in today’s recordings is:

Music from Pixabay Relaxing Music Vol.1 – Relaxing Time slightly edited by Chris Hancock as permitted by the Pixabay licence.