Daily Devotion and Prayer for December 29th

+ 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 78:1-7

  1. A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 

  • I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old, 

  • things that we have heard and known,

that our fathers have told us. 

  • We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD,

and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 

  • He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 

  • that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 

  • so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 

Reading Ex 25:1-22

Instruction to Collect Materials

25 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the ?Israelites?, and let them bring to me a contribution. You will receive my contribution from every man whose heart prompts him. And this is the contribution that you will receive from them—gold and silver and bronze, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen and goat hair, and red-dyed ram skins, and fine leather, and acacia wood, oil for the lamp, balsam oils for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and stones for mountings on the ephod and the breast piece. And make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell in the midst of them, according to all that I show you—the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its equipment—and so you will do.

Instructions for Making the Ark of the Covenant

10 “And they will make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you will overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you will overlay it, and you will make on it a gold molding all around. 12 And you will cast for it four gold rings, and you will put them on its four feet, with two rings on its one side and two rings on its second side. 13 And you will make poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them with gold. 14 And you will put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark with them. 15 In the rings of the ark will be the poles; ?they will not be removed from it?. 16 And you will put into the ark the testimony that I will give to you.

17 “And you will make an atonement cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you will make two cherubim of gold; you will make them of hammered work at the two ends of the atonement cover. 19 And make one cherub ?at one end? and one cherub ?at the other end? of the atonement cover; you will make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 And the cherubim will be with outspread wings above, covering with their wings over the atonement cover ?and facing each other?; the faces of the cherubim will be toward the atonement cover. 21 And you will put the atonement cover above onto the ark, and into the ark you will put the testimony that I will give you. 22 And I will meet you there, and I will speak with you from over the atonement cover, from between the two cherubim that are to be on the ark of the testimony—all that I will command you to the ?Israelites?.

Lord’s Prayer

Daily Prayer

     God of majesty, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven, we give You thanks for David who, through the Psalter, gave Your people hymns to sing with joy in our worship on earth so that we may glimpse Your beauty.  Bring us to the fulfillment of that hope of perfection that will be ours as we stand before Your unveiled glory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You 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.