Thursday, February 8, 2024
Opening Prayer:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
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: Proverbs 28
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: 1 Corinthians 3
Prayer of Adoration:
God, I adore you as the giver of life and the object of your church’s worship. Jesus Christ, I worship you as the firm foundation upon which your church is built. Holy Spirit, I rejoice that you dwell in God’s people and make them holy.
Psalm Reading: Psalm 119:97-112
Prayer of Consecration
O Lord, this psalm reminds me that your word is given as a guide for my life: a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I’m constantly occupied with planning the future or re-playing the past, but you know every inch of my path, and you illuminate it one step at a time with your word. Help me to walk with you patiently in this moment, alive to your presence. There are many ways in which the wicked have laid a trap for me, many kinds of temptation, but I invite you to shape my will and form my inner person so deeply that I will not stray from your commandments. You are my hiding place and my shield. Through the complications and challenges ahead of me today, keep my heart steady with love for you and my ears filled with your word. Help me walk in obedience and companionship with you.
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.
