Faith Daily | 10 August 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p570

Grant to us, Lord, we beseech you,

the spirit to think and do always such things as are right,

that we, who cannot do anything that is good without you,

may by you be enabled to live according to your will;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 18: 15-20

15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Sonja Shipard

Are we brave enough to confront another believer if they have sinned? Or do we run and tell someone else about it or let anger or hurt or even resentment build up inside of us? In verses 15 - 17 Jesus tells us how to deal with sin-related conflict with a fellow believer. He explains a procedure that needs to be followed and it should not be treated lightly.

In verses 18 -20 God is giving us authority in order to bring His will to earth, not to bring our own will to pass. As believers we have spiritual authority and one of the ways in which we can exercise it is in prayer. The Message bible says “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action”. Jesus has taught us how to pray His will down from heaven to earth in Matthew 6:10 “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.

FINAL PRAYER Carmichael, 1976, p31. David Adam “A Celtic Psaltery”

Thanks be to Thee, O God, that I have risen today,

To the rising of this life itself;

May it be to Thine own glory, O God of every gift,

And to the glory of my soul likewise.

O great God, aid Thou my soul

With the aiding of Thine own mercy;

Even as I clothe my body with wool,

Cover Thou my soul with the shadow of Thy wing.

Help me to avoid every sin,

And the source of every sin to forsake;

And as the mist scatters on the crest of the hills,

May each ill haze clear from my soul, O God.

Amen.