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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.

For the Spirit of Prayer

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord. Let your Holy Spirit guide me in my prayer and in thought, and grant me the grace to listen and hear your Word. Soften my heart, that I may be directed by your truth, and not the devices of my body and mind. In the name of Christ I ask this,

For Forgiveness

Almighty God, who freely pardons all who repent and turn to Him, I confess that I have sinned against your Holy Word. I pray that you will now fulfill in me and in every contrite heart the promise of redeeming grace; forgiving all our sins, and cleansing us from an evil conscience; through the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mason Barge/The Book of Common Worship, 1946 8/8/2014

Prayer of Praise to Christ

Lord Jesus, You are the First and the Last, and the Living One; You were dead, but You are alive forevermore, and You have the keys of death and of Hades. You are the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David and the Overcomer. You are the Lamb who was slain and whose blood purchased for God people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You are worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

The kingdom of the world has become Your kingdom, and You will reign forever and ever. You are called Faithful and True, and in righteousness You will judge and wage war. You are King of kings and Lord of lords. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. And You are coming quickly, and Your reward is with You. Come, Lord Jesus.

~ by Ken Boa

Closing Praise

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.

Office of Prime, Western Breviary 9/4/2014

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Comforts

1 Corinthians 14:26-33 (ESV)

Orderly Worship

hat then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

Notes on the Scripture

Meetings of the early church in Corinth must have been a madhouse. At least several people would talk at the same time, some of them giving personal revelations, some of them giving prophesy or teachings, while some would speak in tongues and, apparently, more than one at a time, with no attempt to “translate.” Today’s passage has little to do with theology. Someone with authority simply needed to set down some guidelines of basic group meeting protocol.

What has changed, and possibly for the worse, is that in these early Christian meetings, the congregation did not sit passively, without any active participation except to sing an occasional hymn (in most cases, barely audibly) and to pray en masse following a printed text, or listen to someone else pray. It is easy to see that individual action by personal initiative would be unworkable in a large congregation. But unless we have a smaller “Sunday School” class, or a prayer group, or something of that nature, we can go our entire lives without ever witnessing to our faith in public.

This is clearly a mistake. Faith in Christ cannot be delegated to a professional worshiper, not completely. If we do not speak our hearts and our faith in public, as an individual, we lose much. There is nothing that reinforces our faith so powerfully as giving witness, nothing that will validate our beliefs and give us a deep feeling of community. We hide our thoughts from the entire world. And we never feel the human support of someone saying “Amen” to our testimony.

This is an odd sentiment to express on an internet devotional site where, by the very nature of the medium, we cannot interact with each other face-to-face. We encourage everyone to register, log in, and say whatever moves them in the Comments section. Even better, find a church if you have fallen away from the habit, or at least a weekly group meeting where you can speak and learn.

Daily Inspiration

“Getting Used to Evil”

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