Thursday, February 25 – Day 9

Seeking His Life to Revive the Church
Seek God....for His people to love and obey Him

"I have set before you life and death...so choose life in order that you and your children may live..." Deuteronomy 30:19-20

How many choices do we make every day? Do we choose daily to live boldly as a people saved by grace? A people saved to live a life of love? Some choices are more earth shattering and more life changing than others. Yet God shapes our lives through the choices we make.

Choices can be personal, every day decisions. Some are on a larger scale, made in community. As a nation, we choose men and women to lead us and to make choices that affect the whole nation, and even the entire planet. Lord God, Your church makes choices on a national level, regional level and congregational level. Have mercy on us and those who lead us...together may we be obedient to You alone, and not fall prey to foolish distractions.

When face to face with a choice, should we rely on our own wisdom and intellectual prowess, or do we rely on unsearchable wisdom from a higher, infinite source? Romans 11:33 is one of my favorite doxologies...Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Let us choose to pray, to have a conversation with this God who sets before us life and death, and gives us the freedom to choose...life with Him or death! Let us believe that prayer makes a difference. The Lord our God is always near to His people, His chosen ones. God speaks to all who will hear.

As a mother with young adult children in a conflicting world where a battle is being waged for souls, my most passionate prayer from today's prayer guide is for each of my children to love God with all their heart, hear God’s voice directing their lives, sense the touch of His hand, and cling to Him every day. O Lord, may they stand firm in their faith, that worldly pleasures and the ruler of this age have no power over them. Let us all pray for today's generation, tomorrow's leaders.

Every day, I pray God will help me to make life-giving, love-giving choices. Father in heaven, may each and every one of us, Your beloved people, choose life today! May we turn our affections daily away from worldly treasures and “the seductive powers of this age” we live in, and toward You, the One who still comes to be at the heart of us and to lead us in finding our way. Amen.

Kim Drischell
St. Mark’s Lutheran