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Weekly Prayer & Study Guide
Monday – Read Exodus 20:14-15, 17; Matthew 5:6, 8, 27-30; James 1:14-15; 4:7. Remove and Avoid Temptation. The Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Commandments all deal with our desire to have and take something that belongs to our neighbor. It causes problems when we take something that doesn’t belong to us. Lust is a covetousness at the heart of a person. It distorts how we view a person. When we lust after a person, we stop seeing him or her as a person made in God’s image. Instead, we see an object for our gratification. Lust makes people one-dimensional and makes us not care about the well-being of the other person. Proverbs 6:27 says, “Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” Adultery happens when a married person is intimate with anyone to whom he or she is not married. We all wrestle with temptations. Jesus tells us that to dismiss the tempting thoughts that enter our minds and move on. Don’t let sinful desires take root in your thought life. Remove and avoid things and situations that tempt you and may cause you to sin against God, yourself, or others. James said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” What situations, people, or things tempt you? Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to remove, avoid, and resist temptation.
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Tuesday – Read Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 1:18-25; 5:31-32. Marriage: a Life-long Covenant. God’s desire is for marriage to be a life-long covenant between a husband and a wife. No marriage is perfect, and when problems arise, it is the covenant of marriage which gives hope that a husband and wife can work out any conflicts between them. It is interesting to remember that Joseph wanted to divorce Mary when he learned that she was pregnant, but the angel of the Lord intervened to change Joseph’s mind. If you are having problems in your marriage, do everything in your power to work things out with your spouse. In Jesus’ time, the decision to divorce was the prerogative of the husband who could write a certificate of divorce on the grounds of infidelity or anything that displeased him. Jesus prohibited divorce out of his concern for the rights of women. Jesus knew that divorce causes much pain and deep wounds. The Greek word, porneia, can mean sexual immorality or adultery. In allowing the exception of divorce on the grounds of sexual immorality, Jesus indicates that if there is one exception, there may be others. It is not God’s will for a wife or a husband to be in an abusive marriage. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring healing and reconciliation to spouses whose marriages are broken.
Wednesday – Read Genesis 2:18, 21-25; Matthew 19:1-9. The Purpose of Christian Marriage. Christian marriage is a vocation. The purpose of Christian marriage is to build up Jesus’ Church. God gave the gift of marriage when God created us, male and female, in the image of God. A husband and wife partner together to help each of them grow as disciples of Jesus Christ so that they might serve in the kingdom together. The love that Christians share in marriage is made possible because God loved us first. Christian ethics professor Stanley Hauerwas says, “You always marry the wrong person; conversely, you always marry the right person. We no more know the person we marry than we know ourselves. A Christian wedding requires witnesses when the bride and groom make their vows because the church will hold you to promises you made when you did not and could not comprehend what you were promising. How could anyone know what it means to promise life-long monogamous fidelity? From the church’s perspective, the question is not whether you know what you are promising; rather, the question is whether you are the kind of person who can be held to a promise you made when you did not know what you were promising. We believe that baptism creates the condition that makes possible the presumption that we might just be such people.” Ask the Holy Spirit to help married people grow closer together and to the Lord so that they might serve God together.
Thursday – Read Matthew 19:10-12; I Corinthians 7:1-9; 32-35. Christian Singleness. Jesus says that God calls some people to a season or a life of singleness and celibacy for the sake of giving their full attention and energy to serve the kingdom of heaven. Christian ethics professor Stanley Hauerwas says, “Singleness is the one practice of the Church that most profoundly shows that it has accepted and wishes to participate in the hope that God secured through Christ’s cross, resurrection, and ascension. Singleness embodies the Christian hope that God’s kingdom has come, is present, and is still to come. We cannot help but witness this good news to others. These “others” may indeed be our own children but are more likely to be children who have come from families who have never heard the name of Christ…. The most significant thing those who are single give up is not sex. The person who is single gives up heirs, grandchildren, and they do so because they now understand that they have been made part of a community that is more determinative than the biological family.” Pray for the Holy Spirit to work through those who are single to serve in ministry. Pray also for God to help those who are single and would like to marry to come to know that special person.
Friday – Read Matthew 19:13-15. Children Are a Gift from God. In a time when many adults viewed children as the lowest of the low, Jesus elevated children to a place of importance in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus welcomed children and demonstrated God’s love to them. When a child is baptized, adults in the church all vow to help raise the child to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ. Christians, married and single, are parents. The church expects parents to bring up children in the faith. No responsibility is more important. The church has rightly resisted state authorities when they attempt to educate children in a manner contrary to parental desires. The church does so because the church expects parents to represent Christ for our children. Christian parents do not own their children; rather, Christian parents are called to serve our children by recognizing that children are gifts of God. Ask God to help you demonstrate God’s love to children.
Saturday – Read Matthew 5:33-37; Leviticus 19:12; James 5:12. Keep Your Word. Oaths involve communication between two parties, with the name of God invoked as guarantor. Vows were made directly to God. What was confirmed by an oath had to be true; what was vowed had to be done. Jesus abolished the distinction between words that must be true and those that must not. Jesus calls us to keep our word and for all speech to be truthful. Ask God to help you speak truthful words and always keep your word.