Begin with this prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

• On a separate piece of paper, write out the (above) psalm.

Begin with this prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

Read these verses aloud several times or listen to the audio recording several times:

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

• What is the Holy Spirit bringing out of these verses today as you sit quietly with Him?

Begin with this prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

• Read these verses aloud several times or listen to the audio recording several times:

Psalm 120

A song of ascents.

1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.

2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?

4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

• Today, what are you calling on the Lord for? On a separate piece of paper, write out a prayer to Him.

Let’s Begin With This Prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

Psalm 120

A song of ascents.

1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.
2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

• On a separate piece of paper, write out the (above) psalm.

As we finish up the series in Acts, let’s return to Paul’s final words from Isaiah in Acts chapter 28:

“‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

• Pray for our time together this morning with the following:

Father, I pray that we would be a body that desires to hear and understand.

I pray that we would be a people of God who sees and perceives.

Please make our hearts soft and moldable.

Show us where we need to turn towards you and give us courage to do that. Heal us.

As we end this week, I wanted to send along the links for the books that we visited this week:

Philemon:

Phillipians:

Romans:

We will pop into a final book today, the book of Romans. Paul longed to visit the Christians in Rome and sent this letter ahead of himself.

It’s a beauty in the sense of its rich doctrine and understanding. It’s a beast for those same reasons! A deep read for sure- but well worth the effort.

• Read Romans 12:9-21

KNOW (What does the text say about God?)

BE (What does the text say about us?)

DO (What is the text calling me/us to do?)

• What pops out to you as something the Lord is encouraging you with today?