4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness[a] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Questions for Reflection:
How does having a loving Father in Heaven who wants to come alongside you help you deal with the challenges of life?
What is one thing on your plate right now that you would love to tell God about?
Despite anything going on right now, how could you rejoice? Even if just a little?
Prayer of the Week:
My dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You now to be restored in You, to be renewed in You to receive Your love and Your life and all the GRACE and MERCY I so desperately need this day.
I praise You Jesus, that You have made union with my Father in heaven possible through for me through Your life, death, and resurrection. Thank You for reconciling me to my Father in heaven who loves me very much. Thank You for the gift of prayer so that I might experience this deep relationship in the moments of my day.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit I love You, I worship You, I adore You and I embrace You in this time of prayer. Wow, to thinkthat in this moment I am talking with my God on a deep and personal, sitting down over a cup of coffee, kind of way.
You are amazing. You are available. You are the creator of the universe, Savior of the world, the King above all kings and You have time for me and everything that is important to me right now. Oh, Jesus thank You for making sure I am never alone. Come Holy Spirit and empower me to pray well and enjoy You this day.
Jesus, refresh the mindset I have about prayer, expand my understanding, fine tune my framework so that nothing (especially me) gets in the way of using this gift. Help me to keep from seeing prayer as another thing on the “to do” list but rather help me see prayer as the way to experience Your radically gracious availability.
Father, I want to “always pray and never give up” but I confess that so often I don’t even think of coming to You first – for the big things and the little things. Holy Spirit, I sincerely ask You to teach, guide, counsel and help me to Pray First, Pray Now, Pray Bold and Pray Through.
Jesus, hear my prayer ..... (conclude this prayer by taking whatever time you need to personally pray what is on your heart right now .... Prayers of praise or petition or thanks giving or .... just enjoy praying first, praying now, praying bold, praying through...)
Amen
