God is Real.
Today’s Bible Verse:
Psalm 61:2 ESV
From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,
Yesterday I was at the cancer center. While sitting in the waiting area, a man came up to me and asked if we could talk. His oncologist told him a few minutes before that the cancer they’ve been fighting was now winning. He has six months to live. He is 52 years young with a wife and four children. Through his tears, he asked me if there really is a God.
I told him that there is one unwavering fact - God is real. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit love me even though I do not deserve it. He listens to me when my heart is overwhelmed and comforts me when I cry. God promised me and all people eternal life. I know He doesn’t give cancer to people. He does give hope. And the hope is not like those given by pseudo-dimwits trying to sell self-help books. True hope is God’s love wrapped in the promise of His Son, Jesus Christ. That hope is real.
PRAYERS
Keep in Your Prayers:
For all across our country dealing with excessive heat.
All people dealing with cancer
Those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
A Prayer for Today:
Lord God, I pray for people like Gregory who are dealing with tough cancer diagnoses. Give them hope in their fear and strength to believe in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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