As we remember St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord, we read a devotion from The Heart of Jesus: Women in the Gospel of Luke.

Learn about Jonah and, more importantly, how Jonah points toward Christ, with these study helps.

We focus on the Old Testament Reading today with a devotion from Portals of Prayer.

Relationships are the heart of God, Himself. Picture for a moment that your child is engaged in the battle of his life. He stands on the open field with arrows and swords seeking to take from him all that he has, even his very life. What has he to defend himself with? God gave you, the parents, the tools he needs to get out of this surge, successfully and in tact. God has given you His Word, the Master Instruction Manual, the Play-by-Play to maneuver Satan’s attempts on our earthly lives. Are we simply holding it in our hands on Sunday mornings or have we read it through and inwardly digested it all in order to set our frame of mind on God’s intentions for defeat? Everywhere we go and everything we do requires us to be in relationship with other people around us. When we understand the mentality of God as He has created us to relate with one another, our lives will be changed.  And as we take that mentality and teach it to our children, so it will be done in their lives as well. Sex is a powerful thing whether used for good or for evil; we can’t afford to not give it the respect it deserves and here are the top ten reasons why:

She woke up this morning, excited, because she was going to church. She didn't go to church all that often, just a couple times a month, but she loved going. In this day and age where you can connect online and do your "church" through your phone, she still appreciated being among people. There was something about the camaraderie or community of it, everyone together for a similar purpose.

If you are a Christian who needs to lose weight, you face a dilemma. You are unhappy with your weight. Perhaps you've hit a rock bottom moment of recognizing that your health and quality of life are suffering.

The Gospel for the day is our focus and our devotion comes from Luther’s Works, Volume 23 (Sermons on the Gospel of St. John Chapters 6–8).

Today we remember Joanna, Mary, and Salome, the women who went to Jesus’ grave to anoint His body with spices. Our devotion is from Concordia Bible Story Book.

When we sit in the dirt feeling the effects of our shame and guilt, sometimes we wrongfully feel that our sin is bigger than our Savior. We sometimes become afraid that the accusation is too awful and there’s no coming back from our spot in the dirt. It is then, that our Savior stoops down into the dirt and lifts us out of our shame and guilt. It was for this very purpose that He came.

Our devotion today is about the Old Testament Reading, which records God establishing the rainbow as a sign to never flood the entire earth again. The devotion is an excerpt from Luther’s Works, Volume 2 (Lectures on Genesis Chapters 6–14).