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A Daily Devotional Lent, 2021

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A Daily Devotional Lent, 2021 Joyfully Praying in the House of the Lord Going deeper together into God through 40 prayers of the Bible Joyfully Praying in the House of the Lord Going deeper together into God through 40 prayers of the Bible INTRODUCTION Scripture is a divine symphony, and Isaiah 52:12-56:8 is one of its grand movements. Gospel notes soar throughout. It opens with the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, on the cross, giving his life for the forgiveness of sins. It then proclaims that by the Redeemer’s death, the Father will make a covenant of everlasting peace with Israel, his own people. “Come,” we hear, “and call upon the Lord while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and let him return to the Lord.” Jesus has come for Israel. But keep listening! The movement crescendos with the astonishing news that foreigners are invited, too. The Lord “will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” Jesus has come for both Jews and Gentiles. Why? What is the purpose of God’s grand movement of divine salvation? It’s to unite all of God’s redeemed people, Jew and Gentile, into a joyful house of prayer. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7). Prayer. The Lord has done this that all who come to him will be joined on earth and in heaven in prayer before him—joyfully together in his holy house. Later Jesus affirms this prophetic word as the deep yearning of his heart (Matthew 21:13). Jesus longs for St. John Lutheran Church to be a “house of prayer.” That this may be our longing, we’ve made prayer our main focus in 2021. Prayer is a chief spiritual means by which God brings us deeper into himself. At the same time, prayer draws us more closely together. Joyfully going deeper together into God by prayer is the aim of this Lenten devotional. Each day we will meditate upon one of 40 prayers of the Bible. By listening to them and learning from them, God will reveal his heart to us and teach us more fully how we should pray and why we must pray. God would have us know that prayer is not only a duty but also a delight. The deeper we go into God the A Daily Devotional Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by prayer, the deeper is our joy in the Lord and our fellowship with one another. Lent, 2021 May our church, our homes, and our hearts be united joyfully together in prayer St. John Lutheran Church, Roanoke, Virginia this Lenten season—and forever. Let us become that “house of prayer” prophesied in Isaiah and longed for by the Lord. Pastor Mark Graham Please remember that the Lord’s Day is not counted in the 40 days of Lent, so our devotions go from Monday to Saturday each week. PRAYER #1, FEBRUARY 17 PRAYER #2, FEBRUARY 18 (ASH WEDNESDAY) Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. Genesis 18:23 Genesis 4:26 By the time we see Abraham in Genesis 18, he’s lived a full life, and then some. In the beginning, their communication was face-to-face, personal, conversa- By grace God saves Abraham from paganism. He goes down into Egypt. He tional, just like friends do. Friends talk. So it was between Adam, Eve, and God. settles with Sarah in Canaan. He rescues Lot and fights a battle. He tithes to How long had they enjoyed their close, loving friendship together in the Garden Melchizedek and receives communion from that mysterious priest and king. He before the crafty, lying serpent tempted the first couple at the tree of the enters into a covenant with God, with the sign of circumcision. He hears the knowledge of good and evil? promise of Isaac’s birth. All this over about 25 years, from Genesis 12-18. The next thing we know, Adam and Eve are hiding from the presence of their The most remarkable thing over this quarter of a century, however, is LORD God (Gen 3:8). Their sin, and the shame of it, separates the couple from Abraham’s deepening, personal relationship with the LORD. After getting to God. By the end of Genesis 3, God has banished them from the Garden, and know God, Abraham learns to trust God, even when God seems absent over with that, they no longer can simply hang out and chat with the Lord. Their long stretches of days, even when God’s promises seem impossible to believe. banishment is more than a physical one. It’s also a deeply spiritual and emotional distancing from God. At the opening of Gen 18, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit visits Abraham at his tent beside the oaks of Mamre. Then Abraham goes with the Lord toward But their longing for what once was, a return to the Garden where their Sodom. Abraham already had encountered the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah closeness with God was constant, so delightful and meaningful, that always in the battle. He knew of their sin and treachery. He suspects rightly that God remained. They passed that longing down to all the generations that followed has set out toward those cities to impose upon them his holy judgment. them. By the time we get to the end of end of Genesis 4, we’re told that “people began to call upon the name of the LORD.” The history of prayer begins. But look what Abraham does. He stands before the LORD, draws up close, and prays, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Then Abraham What is prayer, and why are we to pray? We will be taking up these questions intercedes for the people of Sodom, negotiating with God, whittling God down over the course of the next 40 days as we aim to become a House of Prayer, and to promising that “for the sake of ten [righteous ones] I will not destroy it.” Sadly, ten we are likely to find that the answers are complex and wondrous. Prayer is the righteous are not found in Sodom and Gomorrah, their wickedness is so great. only way to fill that longing every human being feels deep down to be back in Divine judgment falls hard on those cities, but not without Abraham first going close relationship with God. Many mistakenly, tragically, try to fill it in all sorts to bat for them. of other ways. But only through prayer can we return to God in the Garden. As Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it Abraham has such a close relationship with the LORD that he feels completely rests in you.” Prayer is not optional. free to go toe-to-toe with God. To stand his ground before the LORD, even on behalf of such wicked people. He intercedes for God’s mercy. We find here, in what seems like merely an historical footnote in Gen 4:26, the first definition and meaning of prayer. Prayer is “to call upon the name of the Early on in Scripture—which is the history of prayer, we learn this essential LORD.” To pray simply, Jesus, is a complete prayer. His name says it all: God teaching about it. Whatever else it is, prayer is to be intercessory. Prayer is saves; God is Savior. calling upon God’s mercy that the righteous will not be swept away with the wicked, and that even the wickedest of men and women will repent and turn In the early Church, the “Jesus Prayer” was practiced by many: “Lord Jesus from their sin to God. Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Or, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me.” Or simply, “Jesus, have mercy.” Such intercessory prayer depends on us growing, like Abraham, in a deepening, ever more personal friendship with God. The more we know God, the more we In a House of Prayer, the first and formative prayer is to call upon the name of know his mercy for us, and the more we cry out for his mercy for others. the Lord. Let the name of Jesus be our prayer in every home today, and let his holy name fill our House of Prayer in our every gathering together. In a House of Prayer, intercessions rise to God for the whole world. PRAYER #3, FEBRUARY 19 PRAYER #4, FEBRUARY 20 O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Exodus 32:11 Numbers 6:24-26 Yesterday we recalled Abraham’s intercessory prayer on behalf of people far We’ve noted that prayer simply can be calling upon the name of the LORD. It from God. Today we remember Moses’s prayer for God’s own people, Israel. might also be an intercessory prayer or an imploration. It doesn’t take long in the biblical record to see the richness of prayer. The story of the golden calf during Israel’s time in the wilderness, when the people grow impatient over Moses’s absence and demand Aaron to make for It has been said that “prayer is, at root, simply paying attention to God.” them “gods who will go before them,” is breath-taking in its sin.
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