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 29
Reflect:
Proverbs 29:2
2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
when the wicked rule, the people groan.
As we have seen over and over in Proverbs, there are two paths—the path of righteousness and the path of wickedness—and both lead in dramatically different directions. Righteousness leads to good, and wickedness leads to destruction. This is true both on a personal level and on a societal level as well.
We’ve all heard that old saying, “Character matters!” People of good character—those who choose to walk the path of wisdom—have a positive impact on national leadership. Our proverb is telling us when we have righteous leaders, people have every reason to rejoice. Conversely, when the wicked rule, people go into hiding.
We need righteous leaders now in our lifetime more than ever. Let’s continue with our theme from yesterday and pray for our local, state, and national leaders.
Respond:
Father, our leaders at all levels have an enormous burden. Please give them wisdom and grace to lead with courage. May they act with honesty and integrity. Place strong, wise, and mature people around them. We pray that our leaders would know deep within their souls that only by following You will the victory be won. For leaders that don’t know You personally, we pray You would draw them to Yourself, Jesus, into a deep and personal relationship. God, soften their hearts and make them true servants of the people. (Adapted from a worldvisionadvocay.org prayer for our president)
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 16:13
Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks what is right.