Daily Devotional Guide
November 5-12, 2017

                                                         https://dan1953.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/martinluther_hammer.jpg

It has been five hundred years since Martin Luther voiced his concerns with the Roman Catholic Church. Luther desired the church to embrace salvation by grace and not those works imposed upon the people by the church. He was hoping to drain the Roman Catholic swamp. Little did he know that he would be responsible for the Reformation and the establishment of the protestant form of Christianity. His main tenant is that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ through the grace of God,
not by empty works required by man.


VISIO DIVINA 
is meditative/prayer practice that opens the heart and soul
to connect with God through images.
Take time to study the picture and consider what the Holy Spirit
is communicating to you through shape, feeling, light and texture.

How does this representation of Luther and his 96 theses speak to you?
How does the play of light, texture, content speak to you?
Is God showing you something in this image that is relevant to your life today?
Is faith, joy, mercy, justice, God, Christ, Spirit witnessed to in this image?
Why is there not a face displayed? Does that play in your imagination?

Prayer

MORNING
     God of night and dawning day, the hours of light diminish
as the season hastens to winter darkness.
Light that inner flame within my heart that I may not be consumed
by the heaviness of winter chill and weather.
Awaken my joy to see your grace in my every day.
Stir within me an uneasy awareness to combat the
 empty focus of the secular Christmas season. Amen

READINGS FOR REFLECTION
Use an additional resource like the Upper Room or any devotionals you prefer.

Coats
     Coats seem to accumulate, and I find space for them a challenge.
You have spring, summer, fall, and winter. Coats for work outside, snow pants, and coveralls.
There are coats for when it is really really cold, and coats that just look good.
The closet is full and there is no room for the coats that arrive with family and friends.
 So, I decided the solution was a coat tree.
     I was on Facebook. A sometimes enjoyable, sometimes exasperating, frustrating,
and maybe offensive experience. It was there I saw a post about a woman I know asking for help.
She is having difficulty paying for her MS medicine. A former teacher in South Bend, a woman of faith,  a great volunteer now needed help surviving. We can question why, her medical choices,
her lack of planning, …… All of which I do not know.
What I do know is she needs medicine far more than I need a coat tree.
I contributed to her Go Fund Me page and probably will again.
     I don’t share this for a pat on the back, or for some halo of kindness. I share this because it was easy, and it was the right thing to do. This is loving others before myself. This is following Christ and being concerned with the interests of others. This is what love can look like.
     I am flawed and selfish, but sometimes I get things right. You can too!

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
You may also like Lectio Divina a focused reading and meditation of scripture.
try going to audio lectio

One Year Bible
Chronological Bible 

Virtues for Prayer Each Day of The Week:

love of God- Sunday                  self-denial -Wednesday and Friday
love of neighbor -Monday          resignation and meekness -  Thursday
humility -Tuesday                      and thanksgiving - Saturday
                                                          Heitzenrater, Richard P. (2013-08-20). Wesley and the People

ABIDING IN THE SPIRIT
           * Find your quiet center, empty your mind, and be present to hear the voice
       of God. Color, write in a journal, listen to music, use prayer beads to help
       your focus. Concentrate upon what God is calling you to understand,
       change, make, explore…...

BENEDICTION
    Father, what would I do without Jesus? I am dependent upon this
 gift of profound and confounding love. Teach me to live within this
 blessing of grace and to grow in love for you and all around me. Amen

DAYTIME 
Set a reminder to pray throughout the day. Embrace the breath of prayer,
release your burdens, be thankful. Recall the readings of
this day and contemplate how they are affecting your day.

    Lord, of my quiet center, I reach for your peace.
Calm the demands of this day and the weight of my responsibilities.
Bring me focus into love and to what is everlasting.
Prioritize my energies into the positive and joyful challenges enfolded in your grace, Amen

EVENING
Lord of my soul, open my understanding, challenge me to grow,
 focus my mind that I may learn and grow in love for you, others and myself.
Inspire me forward toward perfect love. Amen

Questions for Day that has Past

Did I take time to be in prayer with God and to be thankful for his mercies and blessings?
What are my goals tomorrow to be more connected to the Divine?
Did I in some way share the beauty of God to others through my words or actions?
Was I generous with my time and resources?
Did I challenge myself in faith?
Did I grow in love for God and others today?
Did I extend the forgiveness that I desire to receive?
Did I take time to be present and enjoy all God has provided?
Did I sing, create, or dedicate some act of praise to God?

ABIDING IN THE SPIRIT*

BENEDICTION

Lord Jesus, I pray you understand my sorrow and regret for all I failed to see, do, say
 that would bring your love and image into the world.
I confess my fears, my failings, my ignorance, and avoidances.
I seek to love better as the night gives way to the dawn.
 I pray for sleep of peace, and rest and that you
fill the night and my dreams with love and beauty.  You are my grace         Amen