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 75
1 Unto you, O God, do we give thanks;
indeed, unto you do we give thanks.
2 Those who call upon your Name
declare your wondrous works.
3 “Surely at the time which I appoint,
I, the Lord, will judge according to what is right.
4 The earth shakes with fear, and all that dwell therein;
but I, even I, have made firm its pillars.
5 I say to the proud, ‘You should not boast!’
And to the ungodly, ‘Do not lift up your horn!
6 Do not lift up your horn on high,
nor speak with a stiff neck.'”
7 For help comes neither from the east nor from the west,
nor yet from the wilderness or the mountains.
8 For it is God who is the Judge;
he puts down one and lifts up another.
9 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is foaming;
it is fully mixed, and he pours it out.
10 As for the dregs of it,
all the ungodly of the earth shall drink them and drain them out.
11 But I will magnify the God of Jacob
and praise him for ever and ever.
12 All the horns of the ungodly will I break,
but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
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 do you look forward to most during the Christmas season?
Intercession Prompt
Take a few minutes and pray for your needs and the needs of those around you.
Closing Prayer
O Lord, thank you for dwelling with us in the midst of the longings of this world. Help me to hold today as a gift. Your grace covers yesterday. Your Spirit holds tomorrow. Today I am thankful that you are with me. Help me to be more alive to the reality of your presence. Amen.