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 19
Reflect:
Proverbs 19:27
27 If you stop listening to correction, my son,
you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Early in my walk with Christ, I was hungry for God’s word. My life before Christ was a wreck—my marriage was at a breaking point—and then Jesus entered the picture and transformed both Patty and I. He so radically changed our lives that I couldn’t get enough of Him. Anytime the doors were open at Southside Baptist, Patty and I were there. The changes that needed to take place in my life were glaring, and I worked feverishly on changing.
As time went on, a pattern in my life became clear. It was something like this: I would notice something that needed to be corrected in my life, maybe something in my walk with Christ or something as basic as my physical health. Whatever it was didn’t really matter; I would work feverishly at getting a handle on the problem and making the necessary changes. Many times, it would be an uphill battle, but I would charge up that hill! But here’s where the problem with my approach comes into play. As soon as I began to have some victory, I would start to back off. Somehow, I thought that if I had some degree of mastery over a specific area, there would be no need to maintain it. I had mastered it and could forget about it and move on to the next issue. It was as though I made it to the top of a plateau and everything would be great from that point on. But that’s not how life works! If you stop paying attention to the things you need to, you’ll begin to stray and those old habits will come roaring back into your life. That’s been my experience, and I think it lines up with what the teacher states in this proverb.
We can’t afford to be static. Even though we are born-again believers, we have a natural bent to the lower nature. Paul understood this reality well. We can look at the book of Ephesians and see how earnestly he prayed for believers. Paul prayed they’d be strengthened with power in their inner being through the Holy Spirit and that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. He prayed that they would be rooted and firmly established in love, and that they would be able to comprehend with all the saints the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge so that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. (See Ephesians 4:14 ff.) We don’t experience the things Paul prayed for by being static.
Respond:
Have you been static lately in your walk with Christ? What are some things that you can do today that will keep you from being static? One thing you might do is spend some time in Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 4. What would it look like for you to live out the things Paul prayed for?
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 11:25
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.