Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 33
desires of my heart from longing to be my own person rather
than following you. Strengthen me and equip me to love and
serve you in every aspect of my life. Amen.
Are you spiritually parched right now? Why not come to the
One who can nourish your wilted spirit. Soak in God’s Word,
spend time in prayer and meditation, and take time to praise
the Lord!
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2021
PRAYER
The Rev. Alice Phillips ’94
Gracious and Loving God, we thank you for the way in which
you nourish our spiritual lives. You invite us to come and
drink. Oh Lord, we have to admit that there are times in our
busyness that we don’t spend ample time with you; and we
know the result: a wilted spirit. We are grateful, Lord, that as
we come to Jesus and drink, you lift us up and strengthen us!
Help us to drink abundantly so that, when the difficult times
in life come, we can stand strong and continue to bear fruit.
SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 17:5-10, 14-18
5 Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere
mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts
turn away from the LORD. 6 They shall be like a shrub in the
desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live
in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited
salt land. 7 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose
trust is the LORD. 8 They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when
heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of
drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
9 The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can
understand it? 10 I the LORD test the mind and search the
heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the
fruit of their doings. . . . 14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be
healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise.
15 See how they say to me, “Where is the word of the
LORD? Let it come!” 16 But I have not run away from being
a shepherd in your service, nor have I desired the fatal day.
You know what came from my lips; it was before your face.
17 Do not become a terror to me; you are my refuge on the
day of disaster; 18 Let my persecutors be shamed, but do not
let me be shamed; let them be dismayed, but do not let me
be dismayed; bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them
with double destruction!
DEVOTIONAL
I love plants and flowers; however, I have a problem! In
the busyness of life, I can walk right past them and forget
something . . . they need to be watered.
What is true for my flowers and plants is true for my spiritual
life as well. This passage from Jeremiah gives us a wonderful
image of a tree planted by a stream whose root system
reaches deep to be nourished by the water (vv. 7-8). These
verses tell us that, when we trust in the Lord, this is the
image for us. When we trust in the Lord, we are nourished
and strengthened, and we can bear fruit. When the tough
times come in life, we can stand strong.
We do not need to be like my dried up flowers and plants
when I forget to water them. Jesus tells us, “Let anyone who
is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as
Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within
them” (John 7:37-38).
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
The Rev. Leland Platt ’02
SCRIPTURE
John 17:1-26
1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to
heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your
Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given
him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom
you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may
know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you
have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work
that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your
own presence with the glory that I had in your presence
before the world existed. 6 “I have made your name known
to those whom you gave me from the world. They were
yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your
word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given
me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have
given to them, and they have received them and know in
truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you
sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on
behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave
me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours
are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I
am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I
am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name
that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are
one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them in your
name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one
of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that
the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to
you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may
have my joy made complete in themselves. 14 I have given
them your word, and the world has hated them because
they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to
the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary | www.pts.edu