Unite Church 11/23/23 Unite Church 11/23/23

Thursday

This week we take a break from Matthew and meditate on Psalm 139, focusing on trust and surrender. Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Psalm 139:13-18

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Unite Church 11/22/23 Unite Church 11/22/23

Wednesday

This week we take a break from Matthew and meditate on Psalm 139, focusing on trust and surrender. Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Psalm 139:7-12

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Unite Church 11/21/23 Unite Church 11/21/23

Tuesday

This week we take a break from Matthew and meditate on Psalm 139, focusing on trust and surrender. Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Psalm 139:1-6

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Unite Church 11/20/23 Unite Church 11/20/23

Monday

This week we take a break from Matthew and meditate on Psalm 139, focusing on trust and surrender. Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Psalm 139:23-24

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Unite Church 11/19/23 Unite Church 11/19/23

Sunday

This week we continue through Matthew -
Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Proverbs 20

20 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;
whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

2 A king’s wrath strikes terror like the roar of a lion;
those who anger him forfeit their lives.

3 It is to one’s honor to avoid strife,
but every fool is quick to quarrel.

4 Sluggards do not plow in season;
so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

5 The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.

6 Many claim to have unfailing love,
but a faithful person who can find?

7 The righteous lead blameless lives;
blessed are their children after them.

8 When a king sits on his throne to judge,
he winnows out all evil with his eyes.

9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure;
I am clean and without sin”?

10 Differing weights and differing measures—
the Lord detests them both.

11 Even small children are known by their actions,
so is their conduct really pure and upright?

12 Ears that hear and eyes that see—
the Lord has made them both.

13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;
stay awake and you will have food to spare.

14 “It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer—
then goes off and boasts about the purchase.

15 Gold there is, and rubies in abundance,
but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet,
but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

18 Plans are established by seeking advice;
so if you wage war, obtain guidance.

19 A gossip betrays a confidence;
so avoid anyone who talks too much.

20 If someone curses their father or mother,
their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

21 An inheritance claimed too soon
will not be blessed at the end.

22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!”
Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.

23 The Lord detests differing weights,
and dishonest scales do not please him.

24 A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.
How then can anyone understand their own way?

25 It is a trap to dedicate something rashly
and only later to consider one’s vows.

26 A wise king winnows out the wicked;
he drives the threshing wheel over them.

27 The human spirit is[a] the lamp of the Lord
that sheds light on one’s inmost being.

28 Love and faithfulness keep a king safe;
through love his throne is made secure.

29 The glory of young men is their strength,
gray hair the splendor of the old.

30 Blows and wounds scrub away evil,
and beatings purge the inmost being.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Unite Church 11/18/23 Unite Church 11/18/23

Saturday

This week we continue through Matthew -
Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Psalm 140

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
protect me from the violent,

2 who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.

3 They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.[b]

4 Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
who devise ways to trip my feet.

5 The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path.

6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.

7 Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
you shield my head in the day of battle.

8 Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
do not let their plans succeed.

9 Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
may the mischief of their lips engulf them.

10 May burning coals fall on them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise.

11 May slanderers not be established in the land;
may disaster hunt down the violent.

12 I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
and upholds the cause of the needy.

13 Surely the righteous will praise your name,
and the upright will live in your presence.

Unite Church 11/17/23 Unite Church 11/17/23

Friday

This week we continue through Matthew -
Before you read, take a few breaths, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead your heart.

Consider -
Q1. What does this passage tell me about God?
Q2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?
Q3. How is the Holy Spirit leading me to respond?

Matt 14:22-36

Jesus Walks on the Water

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.