Week 10 Day 5
I. Prayer to enter the Lord’s presence:
Be still for a moment. “Lord, I give the day that is now past to you. It is yours. I give the day that is to come to you; help me to see where you are working and to join you there. Speak to me during these moments. I commit them and myself to you.”
II. Prayer of Confession:
“Lord, you are faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of my sin when I confess it to you. I confess my sin(s) of ______________. Thank you for forgiveness.” (1 John 1:9)
III. Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Choose to be thankful, speak out loud of what God has done.
“Thank you, Father, for _________________. Fill my heart and my mouth with gratitude throughout this day.”
IV. Scripture Reflection
Read:
Ezek. 10:18-19 Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
Ezek. 11:22-24 Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me, and I told the exiles everything the LORD had shown me.
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
1 Cor. 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Reflect:
The visible presence of God fell on the mountain as God gave the law to Moses. Then it fell on the Tabernacle as the people journeyed with God through the wilderness. Then it fell on the Temple as God’s people were permanently in the place God had promised to bring them and dwell with them. But then in Ezekiel the visible presence of God, his moving royal throne, is seen to depart from the Temple and head east to where Ezekiel and the other exiles were living in Babylon. Of course God is omnipresent…he is everywhere and not spatially limited like we are. But the visible manifestation of his presence was important to communicate to his people the important reality that he would be with them when they were committed to him. In Acts we see the visible manifestation of God’s presence coming to individual believers at Pentecost. Pentecost was when the Jewish people celebrated the day God gave the law to Moses. Now God is doing a greater thing…he is coming to dwell directly in his people.
Respond:
Read 1 Cor. 6:19-20 again. Ponder the reality that your physical body is the temple dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. What are you doing with that “Holy Temple”? Are you doing what you want with your thoughts, your words, your actions? Are you doing what the “Holy One” wants done with his “Holy Temple.”? Go into your day remembering you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
V. Prayer for others:
Pray specifically for the concerns of your life and the lives of others.
VI. Prayer of commitment:
“Lord God, I commit to love you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind and to love my neighbor as myself. Empower me today to love you and others with everything that I am.” (Luke 10:27)
This Month’s Scripture Memory:
Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.