TODAY'S VERSES FROM PSALMS

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds . . . But the Lord sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice, & He judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness . . . For the needy shall not always be forgotten, * the hope of the poor shall not perish forever." Ps. 9:1, 7-8, 18

RECONSTRUCTION

"The rule is this:  Christians are people who remember their own weaknesses & failure. They are under reconstruction. So they offer hope & forgiveness to people who fall & who need Jesus' healing grace & hope." Donald M. Joy, Men's Devotional Bible

A PRAYER FOR THE LENTEN SEASON

"Gracious God, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ & also my dear Father, I thank You that You have permitted me to see another Lenten season, during which I am privileged again to meditate on the Cross of Christ with its many comforting spiritual lessons. May this holy season bring me rich personal blessings. Cause the message of the slain Lamb of God to impress on my heart & mind the awfulness of my sins & to lead me to Calvary for pardon & peace. Lead me to see that my sins caused His great agony in the Garden; that my sins nailed Him to the Cross of Calvary; that He was forsaken by His own that I might not be forsaken by You; so that He died so that I might not die eternally.

"O Lord Jesus, grant that especially during this sacred season the story of Your wondrous love for me may draw me closer to You so that in gratitude for Your great love I may rejoice in my redemption, walk with You in willing obedience, & follow Your example of love & sacrifice.

"O Holy Spirit, during this Lenten season grant all pastors a double measure of Your outpouring to arouse the indifferent listeners, to stir up the lukewarm, to encourage the timid, to assure the doubting, to calm the disturbed, & to console the sorrowing. May troubled souls everywhere by the message of Lent be led to true repentance & trusting faith in the Cross of Calvary, so that, dying to sin, they may live to You now I forever. In Jesus' name. Amen." My Prayer BooK

A LENTEN HYMN

Christ, the Life of All the Living, LSB #420, Sts. 1 & 7

Christ, the life of all the living, Christ, the death of death, our foe, Who, Thyself, for me once giving To the darkest depths of woe; Through Thy suff'rings, death, & merit I eternal life inherit. Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus unto Thee.

Then, for all that wrought my pardon, For Thy sorrows deep & sore, For Thine anguish in the Garden, I will thank Thee evermore, Thank Thee for Thy groaning, sighing, For Thy bleeding & Thy dying, For that last triumphant cry, And shall praise Thee, Lord, on high.