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 14
Reflect:
Proverb 14:23
23 There is profit in all hard work,
but endless talk leads only to poverty.
“He’s all talk and no action!” A person can talk a good game, but if his actions aren’t in line with his words, his talk is meaningless. In the case of our proverb, the father wants the son to know that no amount of clever scheming will make a lazy person into a prosperous one. No, the way to prosperity is hard work. You can’t sit around and talk about all the ways you’re going to be successful. The longer you sit around and do nothing, the quicker you’ll become poor. At some point, we all have to get up and take action!
Look at what Paul says about lazy people: “Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed you how to pull your weight when we were with you, so get on with it. We didn’t sit around on our hands expecting others to take care of us. In fact, we worked our fingers to the bone, up half the night moonlighting so you wouldn’t be burdened with taking care of us. And it wasn’t because we didn’t have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious.”
“Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat.’ And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 MSG)
Respond:
Don’t be afraid of hard work; it’s good for us. Work is part of the ongoing work of creation, an aspect of God’s image in us. Those who do not work will be unfulfilled and a burden to those around them. (Commentary from The Voice Bible, 2 Thessalonians 3:16) Choose to work diligently at the work before you 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.