Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

National Day of Prayer
Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 96:1-2; John 15:9-11

Acts 15:7-21 is a very powerful passage which strongly urges us to praise Jesus for his Grace, reminding us it was his Precious Blood shed on Calvary which freed us from our sins. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, believing in this loving act of the Son of God, Our Savior.

We are to be very careful to follow the commands of Christ and Sacred Scripture in our practices and beliefs to demonstrate our love for Jesus and to be good witnesses to both believers and non-believers at our workplace, school and everyday interaction with others along with loving and respecting others as Jesus did.

Psalm 96:1-2: This Psalm/hymn needs to be a reminder each day for all Christians to Praise God always for sending His only son to die on the Cross, shedding his Precious Blood for us so our sins would be forgiven and no more remembered against us. What a pure, beautiful, loving gift, to think that Our Savior would come down to earth, become one of us in all ways except sin, to experience all the trials we face everyday including a horrible death on the Cross. All in obedience to his Father’s Will. What a loving God we serve, may we Praise Him, the source of our salvation and all our good gifts. Glory and Praise to His Name Forever!

John 15:9-11: Jesus wishes our obedience that we keep open our personal relationship with Him. When we give our hearts to Jesus, we desire to follow Jesus out of love. After doing this, when we sin, we immediately confess it keeping the lines of communication (prayer) open. We then desire to spend special prayer and devotional time with Jesus each day (try for early morning as Jesus did) and Scripture reading; first asking the Holy Spirit for His guidance and wisdom. We joyfully wish to worship in fellowship and keep the Sabbath each week and serve and love one another as He loves us!

As we pray for our nation’s needs and our government officials on this National Day of Prayer, may we always remember 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”

Have a Blessed Day!

Harry Hagerman, Jr.