Each week for this season our devotions will be centered around the practice of PRAYER. Like the disciples we too have the opportunity to ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We encourage you to read all prayers and Psalms out loud – let the words of Scripture fill your prayers!
Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law will he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the waterside,
that will bring forth his fruit in due season.
4 His leaf also shall not wither;
and look, whatever he does, it shall prosper.
5 As for the ungodly, it is not so with them;
but they are like the chaff, which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.
6 Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgment,
neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
7 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus, in teaching the disciples how to pray, prayed the follow prayer in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke. We learn as well as we join with the prayers of Jesus!
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Thanksgiving Prompt
What is the nicest thing someone has done for you?
Intercession Prompt
Take a few minutes and pray for your needs and the needs of those around you.
Closing Prayer
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you live and dwell in perfect unity. You ask us to be patient in suffering because that is what you have done by entering into our suffering world. Help me to be patient with my own suffering and the suffering of those around me. I cannot do this on my own strength and so ask you to help me to remain firmly and deeply rooted in you. Your strength will help me to patiently suffer. Thank you. Amen.