Month of Prayer - Week 1

Finite

Confessing Our Mortality

Opening Meditation

Psalm 90:1-4, 10-12

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Prayer of Confession

Everlasting God, we worship you,
Father, Son, and Spirit, uncreated and eternal.
The beginning and the end.
Before anything was, You are.
We confess that we are dependent upon you for our creation and continued existence.
We cannot add a single hour to our lives, which fade like flowers and blow away.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord.
Forgive us for the ways we live as though we were immortal like You.
For presuming to do things whether you are with us or not.
For building our foundation on sinking sand and hoarding rusty treasures.
For refusing to trust you unless you bless our plans.
Teach us to number our days and look to our Maker all the days of our misty lives.
Open our hearts to the fountain of living water in Jesus Christ,
That we might be transformed from dust and stone to Spirit and flesh,
to inherit and enjoy eternal life with You.
In Jesus’ eternal name we pray, Amen.

Assurance Reading

1 Timothy 1:15-17

Receive these words of comfort from God:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Response

Sing or Pray these words

Catechism

Confess what you believe while receiving instruction from the New City Catechism

Q1: What is our only hope in life and death?
Answer: That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Q2: What is God?
Answer: God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.

Q4: How and why did God create us?
Answer: God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory.

BIBLE READING

Lord God, may your Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (based on Psalm 119:105)

• Read along in your Bible Reading Plan
• Or read the sermon text for this upcoming Sunday
• Or meditate on and memorize this week’s readings

PRAYERs OF INTERCESSION

Almighty God, give us peace, that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life (in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility); that in the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)

FAMILY

Pray that your household and church family would behold our glorious God more clearly and fervently.

WHO’S YOUR ONE?

Pray that your unbelieving family members, neighbors, and coworkers would be confronted with their mortality and so be prepared to hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ.

WORLD

Pray that missionaries would be called, raised up, and sent to the nations, and that a renewed sense of reverence, repentance, and rejoicing in Christ would fill the earth in our lifetime.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Conclude with the prayer our Lord Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:9-13)