Good Morning, Lord!
I Am Baptized
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with
the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and
without blemish. (Eph. 5:25-27 ESV)
Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
A Morning Prayer
All hail, O Lord my King! Reverently would I greet you at
the beginning of another day! All praise and love and loyalty be to you, O Lord
most high!
Forbid, O Lord God, that my thoughts today should be wholly
occupied with the world’s passing show. Seeing that in your lovingkindness you
have given me the power to lift my mind to the contemplation of things unseen
and eternal, forbid that I should remain content with the things of sense and
time. Please use these days and this time of prayer and hearing your word to
strengthen my hold on the unseen world, increasing my sense of its reality and
attaching my heart to holy interests that are rooted in your will. As the end
of my earthly life draws nearer, and as the current pandemic confronts me with
my mortality, help me to not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but to
be transformed in Jesus’ salvation taking hold of the life of the world to come
which is already at work in me through faith in him who died and rose again.
Help me to number my days aright, and to gain a heart of
wisdom, which is rooted in faith. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord, I pray. Amen.[1]
I Believe …
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and
earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died and was buried. He
descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the
dead. He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From
thence He will come to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the
communion of saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the
life everlasting. Amen.
Question for Meditation
What does this reading teach you about Jesus, what He said
and did, or what He wants His followers to believe? What does it teach you
about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading
challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your
life through this reading?
Prayer
Pray for your
church, the pastor, and the staff.
Pray for the
needs of your fellow church members – parents, children, youth, the elderly,
the ill, and the dying.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal
covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his
will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb. 13:20-21 ESV)
[1] This prayer is adapted
from John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 1949 – a morning prayer for the
31st day of the month. Baillie wrote wonderful prayers for the
morning and evening of each day of the month. They have inspired, educated, and
assisted many in their prayer lives. It was updated in 2014 by Susanna Wright.
That edition is available from Amazon here.
I personally prefer the 1949 edition with the older style of language. Those
can still be found if you search for it.
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