MORNING REFLECTION
READY: ‘Happy is everyone who fears the Lord.’ Ask God to put fear in proper perspective as you read this psalm.
READ: Read through the psalm twice. Ask God to release fruitfulness and happiness to you as you read Psalm 128.
REFLECT: This psalm gives us a recipe for happiness, something that our world knows little about. Meditate on this verse, ‘Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.’
REPENT: This psalm tells us what fruitfulness looks like in God’s kingdom and in His family. Repent for the incorrect ways that you have looked at success and fruitfulness.
REJOICE: Praise God for the good things that come from being in His kingdom and family, happiness, blessing, prosperity, and living to see your children prosper and your children’s children.
EVENING READING Mark 9:42-50
2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ 3He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ 4They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ 5But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” 7“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,* 8and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
EVENING REFLECTION
READY: In this passage people were bringing children to Jesus that He might touch them and bless them. Prepare to read this story by seeing yourself and those you love brought to Jesus to be touched and to be blessed. Ask Jesus to touch you through these verses.
READ: Read the text twice. Picture the story as you read it and ask God to make the story come alive to you.
REFLECT: Jesus told His disciples to not stop the children from coming because the kingdom of God belongs to those who come like children. He then tells us, ‘Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ Ask God to give you understanding about what this means.
REPENT: Spend time in repentance. Read these scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to show you when you have not come to God and His kingdom like a child.
REJOICE: Jesus took the children in His arms and He blessed them. Thank God for the ways that He has been taking you in His arms and blessing you during Lent.
