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DEVOTION THEME OF THE WEEK : 
THE LORD COMES EVEN NOW
The Lord comes to us in humility as our King,
not to rule us with an iron fist,
but to rule us from His Cross.
From that cross flow all the fruits of salvation,
all those things in which we are blessed,
especially the forgiveness of our sins,
the deliverance from death,
and the crushing of the devil.
The Lord then gives us to take that beautiful reality
and proclaim it into the ears of others,
so that many would be made into saints.
All the while, we are pointed to the blessed reality
of the resurrection on the last day
where we are the second-born from the dead,
Christ, our head, being the first

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​​​BLESS YOURSELF WITH THE HOLY CROSS AND SAY : 
In the name of the Father
and of the Son
​and of the Holy Spirit.

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SAY THE APOSTLES’ CREED :
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God,
the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.


PRAY THE LORD’S PRAYER : 
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive u s our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever.
Amen.


PRAY THE MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER :​
Morning :
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger;
and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You.
For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.
Amen.
Evening :
​I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day;
and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night.
For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.
Amen. 


PRAY THE PSALM OF THE WEEK :
PSALM 25 : 1 - 3A , 4 - 5 , 21 - 22
To You, O Lord, I lift | up my soul.*                                         
O my God, I trust in You; Let me not | be ashamed;
Let not my enemies triumph | over me.*                             
Let no one who waits on You | be ashamed.            
Show me Your | ways, O Lord;*                                             
teach | me Your paths.                                                 
For You are the God of my sal- | vation;*                            
on You I wait | all the day.                                          
Let integrity and uprightness pre- | serve me,*                
for I | wait for You.                                                      
Redeem Isra- | el, O God,*                                                   
out of all their | troubles.                                         


SAY TOGETHER THE VERSE OF THE WEEK :
COLOSSIANS 1 : 18
“And He (Jesus) is the head of the body,
the church.
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything He might be preeminent.”


SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2022
A HUMBLE AND SERVING KING
MATTHEW 21 : 1 - 9
“Behold, your king is coming to you, humble…”
Our Lord Jesus comes to us as our king,
but not as the kings of this world.
The kings of this world come, not in humility, but in pride.
They seek not to serve others but to be served themselves.
Jesus, though, is different.
He comes, as the scriptures have foretold, in humility.
He comes not to be served by His disciples, but to serve them (and us).
He comes not in pride, seeking to acquire worldly fame and wealth,
but in humility, seeking to save the lost.
And Jesus’ humility and service comes to its culmination at His cross,
where He humbles Himself to the point of death.
“Behold, your king is coming to you, humble…”
Lord, thank You for coming to save me in the humility of Your cross.
Amen.


MONDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2022
SCRIPTURE: BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE
PSALM 1
What does it mean to be blessed?
The world will answer this with all sorts of answers.
Health.
Wealth.
Lots of possessions.
A good reputation.
Etc.
To be sure, these are all good gifts from our Lord,
but they don’t define our blessedness.
We are blessed whether or not we have these things.
We are blessed whether the
Lord gives us a feast or a single slice of bread.
We are blessed, because we stand,
planted like a tree, upon the Lord’s Word.
And it is that Word which gives to us all the blessings of eternity.
We receive there the forgiveness of our sins, faith,
righteousness, sanctification, and even Jesus Himself.
We are blessed because
we have these gifts of God which cannot be taken away by the world.
Lord, thank You for declaring me blessed in Your Word.
Amen.


​TUESDAY NOVEMEBER 29, 2022
SCRIPTURE: LIVING FAITHFULLY
ROMANS 13 : 11 - 14
Our Lord grants us to live our lives faithfully.
We are not to use the gift of faith
that He has given to us in order to
make an excuse for the works of darkness.
We are not to fall again into the wickedness
from which the Lord has redeemed us.
Rather, standing clothed in the armor of light, clothed in our baptism,
we are to walk in righteousness, truth, and life.
We are to live faithfully according to His Word.
And when we fall, when we sin,
the Lord points us back to His cross
 where He has died even for those sins.
And then He points us back to the road,
as His forgiven people, to walk faithfully once more,
striving for the salvation which is ever more near.
Lord, keep me on the path of righteousness
and strengthen me in the forgiveness of my sins.
Amen.


​WEDNESDAY NOVEMEBER 30, 2022
SCRIPTURE: FROM FISH TO SAINT
MATTHEW 4 : 18 - 22
Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to be “fishers of men”.
These two were fishermen by trade.
They understood what sort of toil and labor was involved in fishing.
The fish don’t want to be caught.
They run from the boat.
They evade being captured with all their strength.
Even once they’re in the boat, still they fight.
If ever there was an apt analogy for calling sinners to faith, this is it.
But Andrew and Peter (and all who speak the Lord’s Word
to sinners) do not labor alone.
They cast the net of the Gospel as the Lord instructs.
They say what He gives them to say.
And it is those words, not their own labors,
which will convert fish into saints, a work still going on among us today.
Lord, thank You for calling me by the Gospel to be Yours.
Amen.


​THURSDAY DECEMBER 1, 2022
SCRIPTURE: PREPARING HEARTS FOR THE CHRIST
LUKE 1: 1 - 25
St. John the Baptist has a very specific task,
laid out not only from the mouth of Gabriel,
but also from the Old Testament Prophets.
He is to make way for the coming Lord.
He is to level mountains, straighten paths, and prepare hearts.
Like soil that is tilled in order for a seed to be planted,
so also the heart must be made ready for the Gospel.
Our Lord does this through the preaching of His Law.
St. John does this as the forerunner,
but he’s not the only one.
So too have all the saints before and all the saints after
whom the Lord has called to prepare hearts for Christ.
The Law is preached so that we can know
how great our need is for a Savior,
and then the Gospel is planted, and faith is born.
Lord, thank You for preparing my heart for You through Your law.
Amen.


​FRIDAY DECEMBER 2, 2022
SCRIPTURE: FIRST TO COME OUT OF THE GRAVE
COLOSSIANS 1 : 12 - 323
St. Paul lays out a myriad of things which our Lord Jesus has done
and what He continues to do among His church.
And right in the middle is this beautiful statement:
He is “the firstborn from the dead”.
We might miss what’s being said here
if we read through too quickly.
Jesus was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification.
We know this very well.
But part of His resurrection is that He points us to our resurrection.
Just as He is raised from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity,
so too will we be raised from the dead, and live with Him eternally.
He is the firstborn from the dead, but not the Last.
He comes out of the grave first, and then we follow.
Lord, thank You for destroying death and promising my resurrection.
Amen.


​SATURDAY DECEMBER 3, 2022
SCRIPTURE: DELIVERED FROM OUR ENEMIES
PSALM 143
St. David teaches us to pray for deliverance from our enemies.
And while we certainly may have enemies in this world;
those who fight against the Gospel and the Lord’s Church
and the proclamation of what is good, beautiful, and true;
we also have a set of greater enemies from which we pray for deliverance.
These are the threefold enemies of
sin, death, and devil.
These enemies are without doubt those who
pursue our souls, crush our lives, and cause us to sit in darkness.
But the Lord, as He’s promised, has delivered us from these things.
He has crucified our sin on His cross.
He has destroyed death by His death.
And He has crushed the devil’s head with His heel.
Lord, thank You for delivering me from sin, death, and devil.
Amen.


PRAY THE PRAYER OF THE WEEK :
Almighty God, heavenly Father, bestow on us Your grace
that we may cast away the works of darkness,
and put upon us the armor of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which Your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility,
that in the Last Day
when He will come again in His glorious Majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may then rise to the life immortal;
through Him who lives and reigns
with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.


PRAYER FOR OURSELVES AND OTHERS

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SING OR SAY THE HYMN OF THE WEEK :
SAVIOR OF THE NATIONS COME