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: Proverbs Chapter 13
Reflect:
Proverbs 13:6
6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity,
but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
Again, we see two types of people, two paths to walk, but only one that leads to life. It’s the path of righteousness. Righteousness acts as a guard. Think about that—it protects your life! Think of a soldier or a bodyguard who’s assigned to keep watch over someone; their goal is to protect that person, to keep them safe. Like a fortress, righteousness protects us.
As followers of Christ, we are called to be people of integrity. That means we have a choice: will we walk the path of righteousness or folly? The person of integrity is one who seeks to walk the good path. The godly person yield’s every part of their life to God. Know that we can’t do this perfectly, but we can make it the direction of our lives. How? By training for godliness! By posting a guard over our heart!
I was in Iraq in 2004. The base had one Entry Control Point (ECP). No one got into the compound unless they were cleared by the guards posted at the ECP. Day after day, the guards were vigilant in protecting us from outside threats. To this day, I’m grateful for the guards that were on duty; they had a difficult job to do, yet they did it with excellence.
Every time I think about guarding my mind, I can’t help but think back to the ECP in Iraq. We should strive to do the same thing with the thoughts that come into our head. Post guards and don’t let unhealthy or evil thoughts enter your heart. The only thoughts that should be allowed are those that have been cleared to enter! We need to be vigilant at identifying our thoughts and if they are not godly thoughts, then we don’t allow them to enter. We are to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Respond:
“Train yourself to be godly. ‘Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.'” (1 Timothy 4:7-8)
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 Week’s Scripture Memory:
Proverbs 23:4-5
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.