Today is September 10.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.    Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”       Today’s reading is from the book of Joshua, chapter 8.    So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.” Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai—but Joshua spent that night with the people.    Welcome to prayer today. Our Old Testament text is a war story. How do you feel when you come across stories in the Bible that feel out of touch, or strange… or like this one: a story of something violent? How do you feel that the Bible tells the story of a real history… one that is filled with the fallenness of this world?    Into a world filled with violence and hurt, God revealed himself in history as Jesus – the peacemaker. The redeemer. The merciful. Listen to the text again and consider the way of this world. With the way that Jesus teaches us in the beatitudes. What do you do with the breath of this distinction from the Old to the New Testament?     As we end our time together, take a few moments to intercede for areas in your life, or your family, or in the world around you, that are experiencing violence and war. Pray for the revelation of Christ. Pray for protection of the innocent. And pray for God’s kingdom – of mercy, shalom, and loving-kindness, to increase. Music: When You Call My Name - Vineyard Worship - (YouTube)

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