Christ in Our Home devotions Dec 5 - Dec 11, 2016

Christ In Our Home Devotions

Third Sunday in Advent
Not as it seems


1. Make the sign of the cross over yourself and say:
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.


2. Pray Luther’s Morning or Evening 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. Keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day. Forgive me all my sins, and graciously keep me this night. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.


3. Pray the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.


4. Pray the Prayer of the Week
Hear our prayers, Lord Jesus Christ, and come with the good news of your mighty deliverance. Drive the darkness from our hearts and fill us with your light; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.


5. Say the Apostles’ Creed:
     I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
     I believe 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 is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there 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.


6. Pray the Psalm of the Week: Psalm 146
Refrain: I will praise your name forever, my King and my God.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.*
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,*
in mortal men, who cannot save.
Blessed is he whose hope is in the LORD his God,*
the maker of heaven and earth.

Refrain

The LORD gives food to the hungry,*
the LORD sets prisoners free.
The LORD gives sight to the blind,*
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down.
The LORD watches over the outcast*
and sustains the fatherless and the widow.
The LORD remains faithful forever.*
He upholds the cause of the oppressed.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son*
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,*
is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Refrain


7. Say the Verse of the Week:
Alleluia. I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. Alleluia. (Matthew 11:10)


8. Read a Devotion or the Following Suggested Scriptures
Dec 5 Daniel 5‐6, 1 John 4
Dec 6 Daniel 7‐8, 1 John 5
Dec 7 Daniel 9‐10, 2 John 1
Dec 8 Daniel 11‐12, 3 John 1
Dec 9 Hosea 1‐4, Jude 1
Dec 10 Hosea 5‐8, Revelation 1
Dec 11 Hosea 9‐11, Revelation 2 & Worship in the House of the Lord



9. Prayer of JOY: Jesus; Others; and Yourself


10. Sing or Say the Hymn of the Week: 
14  Arise, O Christian People
1  Arise, O Christian people! Prepare yourselves today.
Prepare to greet the Savior, Who takes your sins away.
To us by grace alone The truth and light was given;
The promised Lord from heaven To all the world is shown.

2  Prepare the way before him; Prepare for him the best.
Cast out what would offend him, This great, this heav’nly guest.
Make straight, make plain the way: The lowly valleys raising,
The heights of pride abasing, His path all even lay.

3  The humble heart and lowly God raises up on high;
Beneath his feet in terror The haughty soul shall lie.
The heart sincere and right, That heeds God’s invitation
And makes true preparation—It is the Lord’s delight.

4  Prepare my heart, Lord Jesus; Turn not from me aside,
And help me to receive you This blessed Adventtide.
From stall and manger low Come now to dwell within me;
I’ll sing your praises gladly And forth your glory show.

Text: Valentin Thilo, 1607–62, alt.; tr. Arthur T. Russell, 1806–74, st. 1-3, alt.;
The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis, 1941, st. 4, alt.


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