Monday, October 18, 2021
Opening Prayer:
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Confession of Sin & Prayer for Grace
O Lord, you promise to work all things for my good. Yet I confess that instead of delighting in your grace, I find reasons to be unhappy. I have filled my life with busyness and scheduled myself into exhaustion. I have been quick to judge others and slow to forgive them. Open my eyes to Your glory which is all around me, and to Your love which is smiling through all things. Renew in me a sense of wonder in You and your good creation. Amen.
Old Testament Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
The Lord’s Prayer
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
New Testament Reading: Matthew 22:34-46
Prayer of Adoration:
Jesus Christ, I worship you as Lord and king. You are both the eternal Son of God and the incarnate son of David; the king of heaven and Lord of all the earth. In your nearness, I delight; by your holiness, I am humbled.
Psalm Reading: Psalm 1
Prayer of Consecration
O God: as I begin this day, I want to let this Psalm sink down into the fabric of my being. I don’t want to walk in the counsel of the wicked; rather, I want to be a person who meditates on your law day and night. I long to be a fruitful tree planted by streams of water, not chaff driven away by the wind. And so I turn my mind to Jesus, who IS the perfect fulfillment of this Psalm. Jesus delights in the law of the Lord. In all that Jesus does, he prospers. And by grace, Jesus is conforming ME into his image! Through union with him, I am becoming more and more like the person Psalm 1 envisions. So today, Holy Spirit, let that work continue. Fill me and further your gracious influence in my life, for my good and Christ’s glory.
BENEDICTION
And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and always, until the day of Christ's return.
