Morning Exercises (Episode#3)
Ever blessed and eternal Father, You are great and greatly to be praised, You are to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols: they have eyes, but they cannot see, and ears, but they cannot hear. They have lips but they cannot speak, nor can their throats make a sound. And while they have hands, they can neither hurt nor heal. Those who worship them become like them.
But You are not like these. In Your hand are the depths of the earth. The peaks of the mountains are yours also. The sea is yours for it was You who made it, and Your hands formed the dry land. You speak and it is done. You command and it holds fast.
I come this morning to worship and bow down, to kneel before You, the Lord my Maker. For you are my God, and I am a sheep of Your pasture, You uphold me with Your hand. Show me Your glory in Christ that I might be transformed from one degree of glory into another as I behold His face in the mirror of the Word.
Please forgive me for the times I have heard Your voice and hardened my heart. By nature, every intent of the thoughts of my heart is only evil continually. My heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You alone know its depths. I have this awful habit of resisting Your Holy Spirit. I tend to turn away from the truth I know, only to turn aside to worthless things. I have gone astray like a lost sheep and turned to my own way. To make matters worse, my soul is wide open to Satan’s temptation. Many times I want to be tempted and look for opportunities to sin. As a child, You raised me up, but I have rebelled against You. An ox knows its master and a donkey knows who feeds it, but I do not know and I do not understand. I have acted corruptly. I have abandoned the Lord. I have despised the Holy One of Israel and tend to love evil more than good.
Oh, God, for Jesus’ sake, have mercy upon me and be gracious. Sprinkle me with hyssop dipped in Your Son’s blood, and I shall be clean. Pass over my acts of rebellion. Have compassion on me. Tread my iniquity under foot, and cast all my sins into the depths of the sea. Give me truth this day, and pour out your unchanging love upon me. Have You not said, “My lovingkindness endures forever?” And shall the sin of this creature exhaust the mercy of his/her God?
Insert your own prayers here:
Thank God:
For the many people who love you, care for you, and who have helped you become what you are today. They are all God’s gifts.
For the trials you have, are and, will experience. Remember God is the first cause in all these things (Psa 66:8-12) Remind yourself that He knows best. Ask Him: “Lord give me grace to persevere under trial, to pass the test so that I might receive the crown of life which You have promised to all those who love you.” (James 1:12).
For the opportunities He will set before you today. Ask Him for wisdom to use them wisely and for His glory.
That whatever you face today, He has promised to be with you always even unto the end of the age.
Help me to remember, O God that You have made me in your image. Help me to present my body as a living and holy sacrifice to You. Do not let the world squeeze me into its mold, but rather transform me by the renewing of my mind. Help me think with the mind of Christ and to love with His affection. Give me discernment to clearly perceive your will, to obey your commandments, and to press on and lay hold of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
And wherever I wander this day, keep your eye upon me. Be the shade at my right hand. Let not the sun strike me by day or the moon by night. Protect me from all evil and keep my soul. Watch over my going out and my coming in from this time forth and forever.
Finish your prayer with this doxology: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”