Quiet Walk

[Judy Harder]

September 16

Acts 26

Paul is given an audience with King Agrippa.

INSIGHT

To repent means to turn around, to go in the opposite direction, or to think opposite thoughts. If you have not received Christ, you must repent to do so. In his defense before King Agrippa and Festus, Paul says he preaches to everyone that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance (v. 20). One cannot repent without changing. Repentance toward Christ brings new birth and the power to change. Have you repented and turned to God?

PRAYER

Praise the Lord for His patience and love:
I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
(Psalm 9:1-2)

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy. (Psalm 33:1-3)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Lord, I hope for Your salvation,
And I do Your commandments.
My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are before You. (Psalm 119:166-168)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Power to become more Christ-like
Your activities for the day
Whatever else is on your heart
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
The Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright. (Psalm 11:7) 

[Judy Harder]

September 17

Acts 27

Paul exercises his right as a Roman citizen to take his case before Caesar.

INSIGHT

One of the secrets of peace is believing the promises of God. There are many things that we think we believe, but our anxiety level reveals that we do not. The Lord promises to meet all our needs, but our labor and worry reveal that we are not so sure. Paul receives a word from God that he will not perish. In relating this to the sailors, Paul says: "Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me" (v. 25). If we believe, we can be at peace; if we do not believe, we will fret. Review the promises of Scripture when you are troubled. What among them are you not believing? If you are trying to believe but still struggle, you may pray the prayer of the father regarding his son who had an evil spirit: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

PRAYER

Praise God that He rewards our faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed:
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who only does wondrous things!
And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen. (Psalm 72:18-19)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
O Israel, return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
"Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips."
(Hosea 14:1-2)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;
and the bread that I shall give is My flesh,
which I shall give for the life of the world." (John 6:51)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Greater love for your family
Missions in North America
Your activities for the day
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
"The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works." (Matthew 16:27) 

[Judy Harder]

September 18

Acts 28

Paul finally arrives in Rome after a harrowing journey by sea.

INSIGHT

Our lives are a constant struggle between our own wills and the will of God. The circumstances of God's will are often strange and enigmatic; they do not always make sense. However, His will is being worked out even in ways we cannot see or understand. When we relinquish control of our lives and yield to God's will, then peace, love, and joy will characterize our lives. Paul must have wondered from time to time how shipwreck and imprisonment were working into God's will; yet with historical perspective, we can see that good came of these events. In the words of the old hymn, we must: "Trust and obey, for there´s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

PRAYER

Thank the Lord and praise Him because He is good and can be trusted:
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God. . . .
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
(Psalm 90:1-2, 14)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin and in fellowship with Him:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye. (Psalm 32:

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Faithfulness with your finances
Revival in America
Whatever else is on your heart
Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) 

[Judy Harder]

September 19

Romans 1

Paul emphasizes the importance of the gospel message.

INSIGHT

According to Romans 1:18-20, all people have two avenues for beginning to learn about God. First, all human beings have an inner awareness of God or conscience (v. 19). Second, they can look at nature and learn several truths about God: (1) His invisible attributes—beauty, intelligence, etc.; (2) His eternal power—what awesome power it takes to put the stars in place!; (3) His divine nature—that there is a God who is higher than man and nature. Whenever anyone looks at nature and honestly searches his own heart, he can know that there is a God.

PRAYER

The righteousness of God has been imputed to you if you are a child of God, and you can praise Him in holiness and truth:
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting. (Psalm 93:1-2)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving, and pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin and in fellowship with Him:
You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
(Psalm 51:16-17)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

The development of an eternal perspective
Your activities for the day
Whatever else is on your heart
Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14) 

[Judy Harder]

September 20

Romans 2

The Jews have no partiality with God because they live for the Law.

INSIGHT

Without God, there is no right and wrong; there is only preference. We can say that we prefer something to be or not to be; but unless we appeal to God, we cannot use the words right and wrong. If one person says something is right and another says it is wrong, their opinions cancel each other out unless they can appeal to a higher authority. Mankind needs God not only for salvation but also for the normal functioning of society. It is sobering to ask, "If everyone were exactly like me, what kind of society would we have?"

PRAYER

Give praise and thanks to the Lord for the matchless gift of eternal life through Christ:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods. . . .
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand. (Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving, and pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
I have sworn and confirmed
That I will keep Your righteous judgments. . . .
Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me Your judgments. (Psalm 119:105-106, 108)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Greater personal discipline
Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith
Your activities for the day
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17) 

[Judy Harder]

September 21

Romans 3

The world stands guilty before God, and can only be forgiven through Christ.

INSIGHT

There are several commonly held misconceptions about how God evaluates the deeds of men. One idea is that as long as we don't do anything "terrible," God will overlook our "little" sins. Another is that God weighs all our good works on one side of a scale and all our bad works on the other. If the good outweighs the bad, we're okay. A third incorrect notion is that God lines up all the people who have ever lived from the best to the worst and then divides them in half. If you make the cut, you're okay. The truth the Bible teaches is that God demands sinlessness. And since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, all people are condemned. There is only one way out: Receive Jesus as your personal Savior. Through Him, all your sins can be forgiven.

PRAYER

Offer your praise to the Lord for His grace and salvation:
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night . . .
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
(Psalm 92:1-2, 15)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives."
(Hebrews 12:5-6).

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

A stronger desire to be like Christ
Churches across the nation
Your activities for the day
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
To Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ . . . to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. (Romans 16:25, 27) 

[Judy Harder]

September 22

Romans 4

Justification by faith is illustrated in the Old Testament through the lives of Abraham and David.

INSIGHT

To impute something means "to apply something to your account." The Bible teaches that no one can earn salvation. However, God will give it to us freely if we have faith in Him. God honors the attitude of our hearts and imputes righteousness to our accounts. To be able to impute righteousness to those living during Old Testament times, God looked ahead to the work of Christ on the cross. Now He looks back to the Cross. But in both cases, God´s people have been saved by grace through faith.

PRAYER

Offer praise to God for His righteous works:
I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull,
Which has horns and hooves.
The humble shall see this and be glad;
And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
(Psalm 69:30-32)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

Now pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
(Malachi 2:10)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your fame, O Lord, throughout all generations.
For the Lord will judge His people,
And He will have compassion on His servants.
(Psalm 135:13-14).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

A humble spirit
Evangelism in Russia
Your activities for the day
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.
(Psalm 136:4-9) 

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[Judy Harder]

September 23

Romans 5

"Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 1).

INSIGHT

Paul spells out in specific terms how our salvation is accomplished. We learn that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

We also discover that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:.

"Sin entered the world" through Adam "and death through sin," for all sinned (5:12). But salvation is offered to all through the God-Man, Jesus Christ. We can escape death by trusting in Christ as our Redeemer.

PRAYER

Praise the Son for His glorious sacrifice on the cross:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions. . .
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart
These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:1, 17)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
The love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

An attitude of gratefulness
Unsaved family members
Your activities for the day
Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
Therefore God also has highly exalted [Jesus] and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:9-11)

[Judy Harder]

September 24

Romans 6

We are to present our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.

INSIGHT

Micky Cohen, a noted gangster of a past generation, said that after he embraced Christianity, he felt betrayed. No one had explained that God would require a change in his behavior. "There are Christian athletes and Christian businessmen. Why not Christian gangsters?" he reasoned. But when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are no longer free to continue living as we did in the world. Our affections and activities must change to reflect the God whom we serve. The term "Christian gangster" contradicts itself because the activities of a gangster generally oppose the character of Christ.

PRAYER

Use the following psalm to offer the Lord your praise for all He has done for you:
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96:1-4)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving, and pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You.
Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God
of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek You be confounded
because of me, O God of Israel. (Psalm 69:5-6)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."
(John 6:37)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Greater love for others
The work of missions worldwide
Whatever else is on your heart
Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25). 

[Judy Harder]

Quiet Walk

September 25

Romans 7

A civil war rages in the life of every Christian.

INSIGHT

The "inward man" (v. 22) is created in righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24), wills to do good (v. 21), joyfully delights in the law of God (v. 22), and serves "the law of God" (v. 25). However, the "flesh" (v. 18) practices the thing the inward man hates (v. 15). "Nothing good" dwells in the flesh (v. 18). It wars against the law of the mind (v. 23) and serves "the law of sin" (v. 25). As a result of this civil war, our lives do not run smoothly. We do things we don't want to do, and we fail to do things we want to do. Who can deliver us from "this body of death" (v. 24)? Only Jesus. When we receive Him as our personal Savior, the spiritual forces are put into place to free us from the bondage of sin. Then we must begin the process of dying to sin on a daily basis.

PRAYER

Offer your praise to the Lord because He frees you from the bondage of sin and gives you glorious, eternal life:
All the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts. . . .
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness. (Psalm 96:5-8, 11)

Pause to express your praise and thankfulness.

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
(Deuteronomy 32:18)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

Faithfulness in sharing Christ
The Lord´s work in world affairs
Whatever else is on your heart
Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)