Daily Devotion and Prayer for December 27th

+ DAILY PRAYER +

This Daily Devotion covers the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy also called the Books of Moses or the Pentateuch, in a period of one year in a Monday through Friday format, the Psalms and order of devotion follow those presented in The Treasury of Daily Prayer from Concordia Publishing House.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

     Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!

     In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 

     Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,

     and he hears my voice. 

     Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;

     He will never permit the righteous to be moved. 

Psalm 72:1, 4, 10-15, 18-19

  1. Of Solomon. Give the king your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son! 

4    May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor! 

10  May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands

render him tribute;

may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! 

11  May all kings fall down before him,

all nations serve him! 

12  For he delivers the needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper. 

13  He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the lives of the needy. 

14  From oppression and violence he redeems their life,

and precious is their blood in his sight. 

15  Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him!

May prayer be made for him continually,

and blessings invoked for him all the day! 

18  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,

who alone does wondrous things. 

19  Blessed be his glorious name forever;

may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! 

Reading Ex 23:10-33

Regulations Regarding Work and Festivals

10 “ ‘And six years you will sow your land and gather its yield. 11 But the seventh you will let it rest and leave it fallow, and the poor of your people will eat, and their remainder the animals of the field will eat. You will do likewise for your vineyard and for your olive trees.

12 “ ‘Six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you will stop so that your ox and your donkey will rest and the son of your slave woman and the alien will be refreshed.

13 “ ‘And you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not ?profess? the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.

14 “ ‘Three times in the year you will hold a festival for me. 15 You will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you at the appointed time, the month of Abib, because in it you came out from Egypt, and ?no one will? appear before me empty-handed. 16 And you will keep the Feast of Harvest, with the firstfruits of your work, what you sow in the field. And you will keep the Feast of Harvest Gathering when the year goes out, when you gather your work from the field. 17 Three times in the year all your men will appear before the Lord Yahweh.

18 “ ‘You will not sacrifice the blood of my sacrifice together with food with yeast, and you will not leave the fat of my feast overnight until morning.

19 “ ‘The best of the firstfruits of your land you will bring to the house of Yahweh your God.

“ ‘You will not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Reasons for Loyal Obedience

20 “ ‘Look, I am about to send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, because he will not forgive your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23 When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, I will wipe them out.

24 “ ‘You will not bow to their gods, and you will not serve them, and you will not act according to their actions, because you will utterly demolish them, and you will utterly break their stone pillars. 25 And you will serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from among you. 26 There will be no one suffering miscarriage or infertile in your land. I will make full the number of your days.

27 “ ‘I will release my terror before you, and I will throw into confusion all the people against whom you come, and I will ?make all your enemies turn their back to you?. 28 And I will send the hornet before you, and it will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become a desolation and ?the wild animals? multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you are fruitful and take possession of the land.

31 “ ‘And I will set your boundary from the ?Red Sea? and up to the sea of the Philistines and from the desert up to the river, because I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you. 32 You will not make a covenant with them and with their gods. 33 They will not live in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me when you serve their gods, for it will be a snare to you.’ ”

Lord’s Prayer

Daily Prayer

     Merciful Lord, cast the bright beams of Your light upon Your Church that we, being instructed in the doctrine of Your blessed apostle and evangelist John, may come to the light of everlasting life; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Concluding Prayer

Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us according to Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.