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Life Together: Chapter 2- The Day with Others


Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
Chapter 2: The Day with Others

Bonhoeffer writes "At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it". Every day is an opportunity to worship God in conjunction with the saints. Bonhoeffer suggests this is done from morning til evening through prayer scripture reading and singing hymns. 

Bonhoeffer does not take devotion to the Lord lightly. The day he writes about is fully focused on God so that everything a person does is geared towards honoring God. This means that the God-worshiper wakes up and the first thing on his mind is prayer and scripture because this is the foundation for his day.

 This can involve reading, praying, and singing the psalms. The psalms are expressions of God's people who have experienced great joy and also great tragedy. Bonhoeffer encourages Christians today to start their day by focusing on the psalms and learning to apply them and pray them well. For example there are the psalms that ask for God's wrath. Are we able to pray that towards people today? Yes, if it is prayed with Christ as the focus because we know he is the wrath-absorbing sacrifice. Can we pray the psalms that call ourselves righteous? Yes, if we consider ourselves righteous only because Christ's blood has made us clean. We can use God's Word to guide us through our prayers especially when we remember what Christ has done as we look back to the psalms.

Our prayers and love for God does not end though when we walk away from morning "quiet time". By beginning the day focused on God our whole day is meant to be focused on God. That means that when we are at work or school or whatever we do, we do as if we are doing for the Lord. At the end of the day we should return again to pray, read and sing God’s Word because this will keep us focused on the main thing and that is Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins and is able to keep us on the path of life.
These disciplines are not only meant to be done individually between one person and God but also corporately. This means that spouses, families, friends, small groups and churches should all come together at different times to praise God with one another; to sing songs, pray, read scripture, and eat. God’s people are meant to come together to experience the abundant life that God has given them through Jesus Christ.

To make it through and filled with joy every person ought to be aware that the enemy is prowling seeking to devour and destroy whoever he may. However, when Christians structure their lives in a way that puts devotion to God as the primary thing in conjunction with the rest of the church and everything is secondary yet, should be done as to God.

Psalm 74:16 the day is yours and the night is also  

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