Mount Calvary Lutheran Church Devotional Prayer
A Guide for Daily Meditation and Prayer for the Whole Congregation
For the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
July 30, 2023 through August 6, 2023
***What the Bible Says About FALSE PROPHETS — A Prophet is a man who speaks on behalf of God and at God’s request. He has a message to bring forth from God, and it is his business to see that the message is given clearly. The false prophet is a man who speaks about God and the will of God as though he knew these things, but he is leading people astray. False prophets prophecy the deceit of their own minds, making God’s Word say what people wish to hear. Both Jesus and the apostles warn directly about false prophets in the Christian Church. The preachers of the word are to faithfully and diligently speak the message that God wants them to bring. Both Christ and the apostles have stated that people have a strange readiness to believe in false teachers who preach another Christ, and another kind of gospel. Since false teachers will have many followers, it is no proof of the truth of a teaching that there are so many who think and act by it. There is but one defense against the deceptions—the word of God. And so it is necessary to have knowledge of the word that one can discern truth from error. Another aid which Christ offers us is to know the false prophets by their fruits. Their fruits are both their preaching and the results in their own lives as well as in the lives of others. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. –adapted from Swedish Lutheran pastor Bo Giertz’ “Preaching from the Whole Bible”
The Order of Meditation and Prayer
Pray and confess out loud as much from the order and meditation and prayer as you are able, or as your family size and ages dictate. Learn by heart the verse, catechism, and hymn of the week.
Theme: Jesus Warns about False Prophets
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Apostles Creed
Psalm of the Week — Psalm 26
Verse of the Week —Proverbs 3:11-12, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
The Catechism of the Week: Table of Duties – To Parents
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Eph. 6:4)
Daily Bible Readings (Optional 2nd Reading)
Monday Ezekiel 11 Psalm 50
Tuesday Ezekiel 12 Psalm 51
Wednesday Ezekiel 13 Psalm 52-54
Thursday Ezekiel 14 Psalm 55
Friday Ezekiel 15 Psalm 56-57
Saturday Look ahead to Sunday’s Readings (Hymns: 536, 730, 726 & 708 & 783, 714)
Proverbs 16:1-9; Psalm 51:1-12; 1 Corinthians 6b-13; Luke 16:1-9
Prayers for the Week
Collect for Trinity 8
Grant to us, Lord, the Spirit to think and do always such things as are right, that we, who cannot do anything that is good without You, may be enabled by You to live according to Your will; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Daily Themes for Prayer:
