Week 32 Day 2
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
1 Cor. 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
“This is how we know what love it, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for each other.” 1 John 3:16
Reflect
Giving apart from the gospel in the end gains nothing. All who receive material gifts will someday lose them at death or before. If we don’t know Christ then all our acts of service will evaporate at our death. The gospel defines love, “Jesus laid down his life for us.” The gospel centers our activities of love on eternity. Of course people need our practical acts of service, we often need them from others. But what people most need is the gospel.
Respond
Pray for those in your life who are far from God. What role has God given you in their life? What influence do you have? How can you be more intentional to show the love of God to them? Have you been courageous in sharing the gospel with them?
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:
Philippians 2:3-7
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.