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
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I admit that I have been wrong in thought, in motive and in action. It is only by your grace that I can be freed from my guilty conscience. Please forgive me. Help me to live purely today. Thank you. Amen.
Psalm 69:1-18
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up even to my neck.
2 I sink down in the deep mire, where there is no ground;
I have come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.
3 I am weary of crying; my throat is dry;
my sight fails me from waiting so long for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
those who are my enemies, and would destroy me wrongfully, are mighty.
5 They bid me restore things I never took.
O God, you know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from you.
6 Let not those who trust in you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
let not those who seek you be confounded through me, O God of Israel.
7 Surely for your sake have I suffered reproach;
shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brethren,
unknown to my mother’s children,
9 Because zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.
10 I wept, and humbled myself with fasting,
but that was turned to my reproach.
11 I put on sackcloth also,
and I became a byword among them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 But, Lord, I make my prayer to you
in an acceptable time.
14 Hear me, O God, in the multitude of your mercy,
even in the truth of your salvation.
15 Take me out of the mire, lest I sink;
O let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
16 Let not the floodwaters drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up,
and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.
17 Hear me, O Lord, for your loving-kindness is good;
turn to me according to the multitude of your mercies;
18 And hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble;
O hasten and hear me.
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
As you think over the past year, what are you most thankful for?
Intercession Prompt
Take a few minutes and pray for your needs and the needs of those around you.
Closing Prayer
We confess before you that we have not loved the people in your church as well as we should have. And we further ask your forgiveness for caring more about our personal comfort than about providing hospitality to the strangers in our midst. We ask that you would guide us and protect us as we reach out to people both inside and outside of this church body during this difficult time in history to bring your light and love to all whom you place in our paths. Amen