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 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined to me, and heard my call.
2 He brought me out of the horrible pit, out of the mire and clay;
he set my feet upon the rock, and secured my footing.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth,
a song of thanksgiving unto our God.
4 Many shall see and fear,
and shall put their trust in the Lord.
5 Blessed is the man who has set his hope in the Lord,
and has not turned to the proud, or to those who go about lying.
6 O Lord my God, great are the wondrous works which you have done, and also your thoughts toward us;
there is none who can be compared with you.
7 If I should declare them and speak of them,
they would be more than I am able to express.
8 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but my ears you have opened.
9 Burnt offerings and sin offerings you have not required,
and so I said, “Behold, I come;
10 In the volume of the book it is written of me, that I delight to do your will, O my God;
indeed, your law is within my heart.”
11 I have declared your righteousness in the great congregation;
behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, and that you know.
12 I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart;
my talk has been of your truth and of your salvation.
13 I have not concealed your loving mercy and truth
from the great congregation.
14 Withdraw not your mercy from me, O Lord;
let your loving-kindness and your truth always preserve me.
15 For innumerable troubles have encompassed me; my sins have taken such hold of me that I am not able to look up;
indeed, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart has utterly failed me.
16 O Lord, let it be your pleasure to deliver me;
make haste, O Lord, to help me.
17 Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek after my soul to destroy it;
let them be driven backward and rebuked who wish me evil.
18 Let them be desolate and rewarded with shame
who say to me, “Aha, Aha.”
19 Let all those who seek you be joyful and glad in you;
and let those who love your salvation say always, “The Lord be praised.”
20 As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord cares for me.
21 You are my helper and deliverer;
do not tarry, O my God.
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
Has there been anything difficult in your life that you are thankful for? What was it?
Intercession Prompt
Take a few minutes and pray for your needs and the needs of those around you.
Closing Prayer
Grant us, O Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who can do no good thing apart from you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.