Week 31 Day 1
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
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:26-29
Reflect
Paul’s letter to the Galatians was a response to a group of Jewish background “Christians” who were teaching that obedience to law, revealed in the practice of circumcision was a prerequisite for salvation. These people were called “Judaizers.” They were a serious threat to the Gospel because they undercut salvation by faith alone. It was a powerless and false version of Christianity. It was reliant on human ability to keep the law which had proven impossible over the long history of humanity. Christ alone kept the law perfectly and faith in him alone could lead to being sons and daughters of God.
Respond
There is a constant tension in our relationship with God. We cannot earn God’s favor by our obedience but because of his favor we want to obey. It is easy to fall off the wall one way or another. One side is to live in constant dread of failing God. The other side is to live flippantly…believing that grace means it doesn’t really matter if we obey. Most don’t live in the extremes but is there a way you tend to lean? Are you failing to live in the freedom of faith…fully accepted no matter what you do? Or are you failing to live in the freedom of obedience…fully accepted and now empowered to do what God wants you do? Where do you lean? Lean back into balance.
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 Month’s Scripture Memory:
Philippians 2:3-7
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.