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 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,
and are so far from my cry, and from the words of my complaint?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear;
in the night season also, but I find no rest.
3 But you remain holy,
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers hoped in you;
they trusted in you, and you delivered them.
5 They called upon you, and were delivered;
they put their trust in you, and were not confounded.
6 But as for me, I am a worm, and no man,
scorned by all, and the outcast of the people.
7 All those who see me laugh me to scorn;
they curl their lips, and shake their heads, saying,
8 “He trusted in God, that he would deliver him;
let him deliver him, if he will have him.”
9 But you are he that took me out of my mother’s womb;
you were my hope, when I was yet upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I have been cast upon you ever since I was born;
you are my God, even from my mother’s womb.
11 O go not far from me, for trouble is near at hand,
and there is none to help me.
12 Many oxen have come around me;
fat bulls of Bashan close me in on every side.
13 They gape at me with their mouths,
like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart also in the midst of my body is like melting wax.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my gums,
and you bring me into the dust of death.
16 For many dogs have come about me,
and the council of the wicked lays siege against me.
17 They pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones;
they stand staring and looking upon me.
18 They part my garments among them,
and casts lots for my clothing.
19 But be not far from me, O Lord.
You are my succor; hasten to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,
and my soul in misery from among the horns of wild oxen.
22 I will declare your Name to my brethren;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
23 O praise the Lord, you that fear him;
magnify him, all you seed of Jacob, and fear him, all you seed of Israel.
24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor;
he has not hidden his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard him.
25 My praise is of you in the great congregation;
my vows will I perform in the sight of those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek after the Lord shall praise him; may your hearts live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember, and be turned unto the Lord,
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
and he is the Governor among the peoples.
29 All those who sleep in the earth, how shall they worship him?
All those who go down into the dust, how shall they kneel before him?
30 But my life shall be preserved in his sight, and my children shall worship him;
they shall tell of the Lord to the generations to come;
31 And to a people yet unborn shall they declare his righteousness,
that he has brought it to pass.
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 was the best meal you’ve ever eaten?
Intercession Prompt
Take a few minutes and pray for your needs and the needs of those around you.
Closing Prayer
Lord, teach us to pray. Help us to persevere in prayer so that we may rightly know you and become deeply mature as your followers. Amen.