{"id":21123,"date":"2023-08-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-7th-august-2023"},"modified":"2023-08-07T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-7th-august-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-7th-august-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 7th August 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span><strong>7th August 2023<\/strong><\/span><br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div readability=\"48\"><strong id=\"docs-internal-guid-1c0a9b6a-7fff-b8e4-f0f4-606c8b8591a6\">Romans 8: 9 &#8211; 11<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,&nbsp; since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.&nbsp; If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">If I was only allowed one word to try and encapsulate the entire Gospel and convey the message of Christianity it would be LIFE.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is God\u2019s gift to the world and to every created thing.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is God\u2019s offering for the world by the reconciling activity of the Son.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is God\u2019s presence in the world, through the imagination of the Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">As disciples<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is orientated around loving God with heart, soul, strength and mind, and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is lived in light of the teaching and example of the Word of Life.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is rooted in the gifts of the Spirit which both regulate our behaviour and lead us to exercise our discipleship and faith in particular ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">As communities of faith<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is nurtured through care, teaching and discernment between generations and cultures.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is transformed as we partner in God\u2019s mission with neighbours known and unknown.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE is celebrated in the breaking of bread and pouring of wine.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">Paul writes to the church in Rome, \u2018If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give LIFE to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.\u2019<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">&nbsp;May we recognise that LIFE within us this day.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The LIFE which speaks a narrative of hope and abundance in a fractious and unjust world;&nbsp;<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The LIFE which stretches out hands of compassion and reconciliation;<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The LIFE which welcomes, includes, embraces each one.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">LIFE which comes from God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The all embracing LIFE of discipleship.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The energising LIFE of community.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">The LIFE of the Holy Three-in-One in which we are privileged to dwell.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\"><strong>Prayer<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">Gracious God, giver of LIFE in all its fullness,<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">I give back my LIFE to you in praise and gratitude.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">I rejoice in your gift of LIFE to me and to the world.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">I commit myself once again to living this LIFE in hope and with joy<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">so that LIFE may go forth from me<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-d9bd0e3b-7fff-6fad-d4d0-85159384ca7c\">and touch the lives of others and creation. Amen.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>7th August 2023&nbsp; Romans 8: 9 &#8211; 11 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,&nbsp; since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of &hellip; <\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-7th-august-2023\/\" class=\"button more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;URC Daily Devotion 7th August 2023&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}