Devotional Thought of the day:

¹⁷  Never stop praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT)

16 Ultimately, if we should list as sacraments all the things that have God’s command and a promise added to them, then why not prayer, which can most truly be called a sacrament? It has both the command of God and many promises. If it were placed among the sacraments and thus given, so to speak, a more exalted position, this would move men to pray.  (1)

448  You haven’t been praying? Why, because you haven’t had time? But you do have time. Furthermore, what sort of works will you be able to do if you have not meditated on them in the presence of the Lord, so as to put them in order? Without that conversation with God, how can you finish your daily work with perfection? Look, it is as if you claimed you had no time to study because you were too busy giving lessons… Without study you cannot teach well. Prayer has to come before everything. If you do not understand this and put it into practice, don’t tell me that you have no time: it’s simply that you do not want to pray!  (2)

Let’s be honest, most of us hate Mondays with a passion!

The trying to adjust to “reality”, the drudgery of work, the lack of “freedom”, the stress, and the fact that Mondays somehow seem cursed to have everything going wrong.  The only thing that is worse, a Monday after a vacation.

If only there were a way to change the anture of Monday, to flip it on its side, to turn it from curse to blessing! We need to see it as a new opportunity rather than a drag.  We need to somehow realize that Mondays, like Sundays and the rest of our weeks, is a day the Lord has made!

But it is Monday…. did I mention I hate them?   Not because of their effect on me, rather, the effect they have on those I pastor. ( I simply lock myself in my office and study for next week’s sermon.)  I see the frustration, the quickness to respond to defend, or attack, the cynical matures that peak, the sarcasm and struggles that turn into great burdens.

Even when what was heard yesterday was. “come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest...”  It is as if we expect Jesus to say – well except on Monday – I take Monday’s off!

Here is the secret to Mondays.  Sanctify them!  Make them Holy!  Set them apart as a special day for you to watch God at work in your homes, in your workplaces, in your appointments throughout the day.  Spend the day in prayer, talking to God throughout it. Spend time praising His name, giving thanks, asking for His blessings and advice on each part of the day, and listening to that advice.  ( I would suggest that you make sure it is consistent with scripture – that’s how you can confirm it is His voice you are hearing. )

That brings up a point – praying – using God’s name as He meant for us to use it, in our relationship with Him is not just a commandment, it is not law, it is the purest of gospel messages.  It is a blessing beyond belief to realize we can spend our day walking with a God who comes to us, who will cleanse and restore and heal that which is broken, and that which we break.  It is the blessing that transcends all others, this conversation that we have with God, this relationship where He is God and we are His children.

That is why Melancthon and the reformers considered Prayer a sacrament in the Apology… for then it might help men pray more often. .  That is why St Josemaria, also noted the need for it to be the basic action of our life.   This conversation, this relationship, it is who we are, what we are made for… praying will change us, change our lives, not because it is a forced, but because it reveals the presence of God… here for us.

It will even blow apart a Monday… even if you haven’t started it the right way… take a break… and start talking to Him.

Your Monday will change into a Sunday…

Start with this – Lord, Have mercy!

(1)  Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 213). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.

(2)  Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1986-1991). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.