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 13:5
5 The righteous hate what is false,
but the wicked make themselves a stench
and bring shame on themselves.
I cut my grass yesterday and as I passed the trash can, I got a whiff of something wretched! Ugh… the smell of rotten food. You see, the trash can was filled with trimmings and scraps of meat I had smoked over the weekend. It had been baking inside the trash can for 5 days. It’s the kind of smell that makes you wrinkle your nose and forcibly exhale that foul smell out of your nostrils. Not only do you want to get the smell out of your nose, but you want to get away from it as fast as you can.
In our proverb for today, the wicked are described as making themselves a stench—like the one I described in the trash can. Participating in wickedness rots a person’s soul; it only brings shame and disgrace. The implication is clear: don’t join in evil but flee from it.
The better path is the path of righteousness. If we’re to walk in righteousness, we should hate what God hates, and obviously God hates wickedness. In the same way that stench in the trash can repulsed me, the evil that goes on around me should do the same—and I definitely don’t need to participate in it.
But how do we do that? We remember that by faith alone, we are made righteous in Christ. (see Romans 3:22) We clothe ourselves in Christ, we “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” (Romans 13:14 HCSB). And as we go about our day, we continually give thanks to God, because He always leads us in victory through Christ. In fact, God uses us to spread His knowledge everywhere, like a sweet-smelling perfume. Think about that! When we walk faithfully with Christ, our lives become a fragrant offering. Our offering is to be the perfume of Christ that goes out to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost (see 2 Corinthians 2:14-15).
Respond:
Pray, asking God to help you be the aroma of Christ today. Let Christ’s fragrance fill the places you go today.
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 13:15
Good judgment wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.