Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Aug 31

Opening Prayer:

Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in your law.

Confession of Sin & Prayer for Grace

Almighty God: I cannot keep silent about my sin; when I do, my bones waste away and your hand is heavy upon me. So I will acknowledge my sin to you, and I will not cover my iniquity. Today, I acknowledge the sin of ENTITLEMENT. I live with a demanding spirit that grabs, clutches, and expects, rather than with a generous spirit that thanks you and blesses others. Forgive me, O Lord, by the mercy of Jesus, who did not regard equality with you as something to be grasped, but emptied himself that I might be filled. Fill me up today with the freedom and joy of grace, for Your name’s sake: Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 24:1-2 & 14-28

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: Matthew 18:1-20

Prayer of Adoration:

Lord, I adore you, for you do not value people the way the world does. Your concern is for the overlooked, the overwhelmed, the small, and the weak. I worship you for this, as I know I am but a little child in your Fatherly care.

Psalm Reading: Psalm 84

Prayer of Consecration

Lord God, this Psalm expresses a longing for your presence. In the Old Testament, the Temple was the place where you dwelled in a special way. So the Psalmist longs for your courts, for your house, for the place where you dwell. And the glory of the New Covenant is that you now dwell IN your people, by your Spirit! I don’t have to go to a physical place to experience your presence; you are in me and with me by your Spirit. And yet I confess that in my busy-ness and distraction, I don’t always acknowledge and enjoy your presence. So today, I ask that you would deepen my longing for your presence. Let my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Pull me ever deeper into the experience of union with you. Let me know and feel the beauty of your presence, because your nearness is good for me in every way.

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.