Written Prayer: Week of September 19
Each day, read a pre-written prayer or write a prayer of your own.
What?
Each day, read a pre-written prayer or write a prayer of your own.
Why?
The earliest Christians devoted themselves to consciously communing with God, trusting that by going before him in prayer, his kingdom of love and peace and joy would take root in their hearts and spread out into all the world. The Lord answered their prayers mightily. And he would answer our prayers today as well, but we frequently find our prayer life stunted by distracted minds and a weak, thin vocabulary of prayer. Written prayers, whether composed by others or ourselves, can counter these impediments to our walk with God and can deepen and enlarge our life of prayer.
How?
The desire to grow in prayer is good, but it is an empty desire if we do not create some plan of action. Start by answering these simple questions:
When will I pray each day?
Where will I pray each day?
Will I write down my prayer, or will I adopt the written prayer of another in my daily time of prayer?
Writing a Prayer. Writing down a prayer especially helps to curb the tendency we all have to let our minds wander off while praying. We are forced to say something specific to God rather than allow some vague ideas and prayers to float around in our minds without ever really getting at anything. One’s pen or pencil can capture those prayers and set them before the Lord. Your written prayer could take many forms or cover various topics.
Simply jot down whatever prayer comes to mind in that moment.
Write a prayer in response to your Scripture reading.
Focus on one particular kind of prayer: adoration, confession, petition, thanksgiving, or intercession. (See Matthew Henry’s helpful breakdown.)
Center your prayers around the needs of those in your sphere of influence.
Pray for the church and all who are called to witness to Christ (which is all of us!).
Craft a poem of praise; create something beautiful for God.
We could create an endless list of topics. The idea is that you might find it helpful to pick one topic or idea and construct your prayer around that.
Reading a Written Prayer. Like Jesus’ original disciples, we often don’t even know what to pray (Luke 11:1). We can enlarge our vocabulary of prayer, however, by taking up the prayer that another believer has recorded for the benefit of the faithful. We can read these prayers as they are written, using our imagination to step into the thoughts and feelings of the original author and make the prayer our own. Or we can use these prayers as a template, summarizing and elaborating the writer’s words with our own.
The first place one might start, of course, is the Bible. Besides the Psalms, which function like the Bible’s prayerbook, God led many of his prophets and apostles to write down their prayers. One attempt at cataloging all these prayers may be found here.
We may also learn from the saints of old who have demonstrated faithfulness or the liturgies of various churches across time, space, and tradition. Some of these include:
John Calvin (“Several Godly Prayers” and prayers from his commentary on Hosea)
A Collection of Prayers (This is perhaps the most expansive collection of Christian prayers online.)
Daily Reading: September 17
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 16
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 15
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 14
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 13
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 12
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Simplify Your Schedule: Week of September 12
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
What?
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
Why?
Busyness and clutter plague our culture, distracting our attention and confusing our desires. Pulled in a thousand directions and burdened by a million commitments, we have become a fragmented people with unclear purpose, shallow devotion, and countless anxieties. A practice of external simplicity resists this tendency in our culture and allows us, by the power of the Spirit, to train towards the kind of internal simplicity that characterized Jesus — that single-minded intention to glorify God with one’s whole life.
How?
Plenty of blogs can teach you how to declutter your life. For advice on acknowledging your priorities, distinguishing what is essential from what is extra, and making necessary cuts in your schedule, you should do a Google search and see what you find. But as believers in Jesus Christ, our purpose in practicing simplicity runs deeper: We want to utilize external disciplines to cultivate our spiritual life so that at our core we look more and more like Jesus. That means supplementing the blogs’ advice with spiritual insights. Prayer ought to accompany this practice in several important ways.
1. In prayer, we must acknowledge that we are finite creatures who cannot be at all places or do all things and that only the Lord is God. We must lay aside our culturally-imposed ideal of playing God.
2. In prayer, we must ask for the discernment to identify the areas in our life in which we have busied ourselves, whether in productive ways (meetings, activities, house care, etc.) or in unproductive ways (“scrolling,” binge watching, shopping, etc.).
3. In prayer, we must lay our anxieties about not doing and going at the Lord’s feet and ask that he build our trust in him.
4. Finally, in prayer, we must ask for the focus to seek first the Kingdom of God. With fewer distractions, spend time away from the doing and going and simply be with God in silence and prayer and the Word. Ask him how you can glorify him more fully and make that the entire goal of your life.
Daily Reading: September 10
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 9
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 8
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 7
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 6
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 5
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Memorize Scripture: Week of September 5
Memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 this week and meditate on it throughout the month.
What?
Memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 this week and meditate on it throughout the month.
Why?
When the devil sought to tempt Jesus, the Son of God responded with the Word of God: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4, quoting Deut 8:3). He resisted the lure of sin by storing the Word in his heart (Ps 119:11) and relishing it as sweeter than honey (Ps 19:10). By following this pattern of Scripture memorization, we discover the will of God more fully, discern truth from error more easily, disciple others more effectively, and commune with the Father more deeply. In short, we grow more into the image of Christ — full of his life, love, peace, and righteousness.
How?
Memorization techniques abound, and a simple internet search could track down some effective methods (like this one for long-term memorization). But to store the Word in your heart is a deeper process that ought to integrate as much of you — mind, spirit, and body — as possible. With that in mind, here are some helpful tips:
1. Understand the text. Look at the full context in which the passage falls and take time to consider what the author intended to communicate. Do a little study.
2. Meditate on the text. Allow the Word to fill your imagination, considering all the implications of the text and how it affects you directly. Wonder at the majesty of God revealed in the text, express gratitude for his goodness, and join your story to his Story.
3. Pray the text. Turn those verses into a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, confession, or petition.
4. Embody the text. This could mean two things. Embodying the text could refer to living it out, practicing what it says. And you should certainly do that. But also engage the text with your body: Speak it out loud, listen to it, and write it. To challenge your creativity, draw it or turn it into a song.
Combine these with traditional memorization techniques, which usually involve a fair amount of repetition and quizzing yourself, and ask the Holy Spirit to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16). Commit with another person to practice this discipline and hold each other accountable.
Daily Reading: September 3
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 2
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: September 1
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: August 31
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: August 30
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.