Watchword for the Week: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.
Psalm 40:8
From the busyness that our jobs bring us
May we fix our attention on God’s way.
From the stress that fills our daily lives,
May we fix our attention on God’s way.
From the distractions that re-order our life’s priorities,
May we fix our attention on God’s way.
From the slumber into which our faith can sometimes fall,
May we fix our attention on God’s way.
Psalm 119:33-40
1Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
4For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
6“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
Let us humbly confess our sins.
Gracious God, we affirm that your way is perfect. The Biblical witness and the life of Jesus Christ give us the pattern by which we should live out our faith, but we have chosen to walk on our own path. We confess that we have found it easy to follow the way of our culture and have made keeping your statutes an option rather than an expectation for our lives. So we humbly ask that you create in us a clean heart, O God, and place within us that understanding that will help us to see your way and to observe it with our whole heart. Lord, have mercy on us.
The Lord says to us: I will forgive your iniquity and remember your sin no more. Peace be with you.
With grateful hearts, we say: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be a world without end. Amen.
Take time to read today’s Daily Texts. Remember that God speaks to us through the inspiration of scripture, so approach the opportunity to read the texts as a privilege, eagerly anticipating what might be spoken to you today. How might today’s Word make a part of your life new again? If you do not have a copy of the Daily Texts, you will find today’s texts posted in the margin on the right of your page (at the bottom of the page if you are on a mobile phone). When you have finished praying, continue as follows.
Let us pray together:
Creator of us all, we praise your name because you have lovingly made each one of us. May your intended purpose be made real here on earth, even as it is already done in heaven. Feed us today with the things we genuinely need, and may we share our abundance with others. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have done wrong to us. In times of temptation, may we know of your life-giving strength and keep us from all evil. Gracious God, this is your kingdom, and we acknowledge your power and glory now and always. AMEN.
Just as God created an Eden in which all was made to work together,
God has created a life pattern intended to bring us to wholeness.
That wholeness was shown to us as Jesus brought the law of God into human form.
Jesus showed us a way of grace and forgiveness, even though life was made difficult for him by the sin of the world.
We pray that God might awaken in us the desire to follow his path more closely amidst the temptations and difficulties of our lives.
Come, Holy Spirit, show us the way, the truth, and the life.
Whatever we do, therefore, whether in word or deed, let us do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Thanks be to God. Amen.