Psalm 25:4-5

1 Passage: Psalm 25:4-5

1 Verse: Verse 4. Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for making me know Your way. Jesus said it: "I am the way." And He has given us His Spirit to guide us as we walk with Him. But the path is narrow, and though I know You will not let me leave it, I do sometimes weave a bit from side to side. Forgive me when I don't follow as well as I could, when I get distracted by what's going on in the broad road, when I get weary and sulky and my feet hurt and I'm tired and I keep whining "Are we there, yet?". Thank You for being my loving -- patient and kind -- Father, and Jesus my Good Shepherd, and the Spirit my Comforter who comes alongside me.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 86:9-12

Philippians 1:9-11

1 Passage: Philippians 1:9-11

1 Verse: Verse 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

1 Prayer: Forgive us, Father, for the pain and hurt we inadvertently cause those we love when we try to love them without knowledge and discernment. You say love covers a multitude of sins, but foolish and undiscerning love seems rather to create a multitude of sins. Protect us from our own ignorance and carelessness, the fears and lies that taint our best efforts to love one another. Please give us grace toward each other, so that we can persevere together even when we fail to properly love one another. And please increase our ability to know and to discern what real love requires, and give us the courage to abound in love to all.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 25:4-5

Philippians 2:1-4

1 Passage: Philippians 2:1-4

1 Verse: Verse 2. make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

1 Prayer: Father, may Your Spirit unify Your people into one cohesive whole. We are all so very different, yet we are all alike called to share the same mind -- the mind of Christ. We all give and receive love in various ways, yet we are all alike called to maintain the same love -- the love of Christ. Sometimes it seems like we have very different intents, varying values, divergent goals and myriad purposes, but we are all alike called to be intent together upon one purpose -- loving one another and the world around us, just as Christ loves us and gave himself up for us, taking the form of a servant, being humbled, making himself nothing, being willing to be treated as less than He deserved. Help me, Father, have the same attitude, even as I try to faithfully express my uniquely God-designed person. Help me to learn to faithfully play my part in Your whole with an attitude of selfless Christ-like love.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Philippians 1:9-11

2 Peter 1:5-8

1 Passage: 2 Peter 1:5-8

1 Verse: Verse 8. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for showing us in Your word the way to become useful and fruitful. You give us the gift of faith not for ourselves only, but for others -- so that by the qualities of Your Spirit we become kind and loving to all. Forgive me, Father, for being uselessly unfruitful in my self-focused inwardness. Help me produce instead the fruit of kindness and love toward others today.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Philippians 2:1-4

2 Peter 1:1-4

1 Passage: 2 Peter 1:1-4

1 Verse: Verse 3. seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for giving us Your divine power to live godly lives. Forgive me for living weakly in my own godless powers. Help me to gain that true knowledge of You by which I come to understand that I have all that I need in You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Peter 1:5-8

Romans 12:14-21

1 Passage: Romans 12:14-21

1 Verse: Verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for giving Your Son Jesus to the world to overcome the world. In Him is courage and peace. And despite how discouraging and damaging this world may be, I am thankful for the promise that even a very little light will not be overpowered by the darkness, that evil can be overcome, that courage and peace can be ours. Give me the faith to not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Peter 1:1-4

Ephesians 6:13-18

1 Passage: Ephesians 6:13-18

1 Verse: Verse 16. in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the gift of faith that shields us when we are under attack. Forgive me for not holding firm to my faith, for letting my guard down, for allowing my shield to slip just when I most need to be protected. Give me faith, Lord, to stand firm and stay strong instead. The fiery darts and flaming arrows aren't going to stop coming at me, no matter how many hits I take. But by faith, Father, You can snuff out every one.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Romans 12:14-21

Ephesians 5:15-17

1 Passage: Ephesians 5:15-17

1 Verse: Verse 15. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for walking with me to make me wise. As we walk together today, will You please teach me how to be careful? So many times I want to be carefree, and end up only being careless. Show me how to be wise in the things that I care about, so that I do not attach too much or too little importance to the wrong things. I want to care about what You care about, and not care for foolish things. Make me wise, please, Father, so that I can be understanding of Your will. Thank You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 6:13-18

Ephesians 5:7-10

1 Passage: Ephesians 5:7-10

1 Verse: Verse 8. for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for making light of my darkness. Thank You for making me something as beautiful and useful and good as light itself. I could never have done that all on my own. Only in You do I become Light. Forgive me for not realizing it. Forgive me for shutting my eyes and stumbling around in my former blindness even after You have made me Light and allowed me to walk as a child of Light. Help me walk as Light in You today.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 5:15-17

Proverbs 15:1-5

1 Passage: Proverbs 15:1-5

1 Verse: Verse 4. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.

1 Prayer: Father, please give me a soothing tongue. Help me speak gentle words that are calm, encouraging and uplifting. Forgive me for saying harsh and inappropriate things that crush the spirit and stir up anger. Help me to replace those words with speech that brings life and turns away wrath.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 5:7-10

Psalm 19:7-10

1 Passage: Psalm 19:7-10

1 Verse: Verse 7. The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for answering our prayers. When we ask You for wisdom, You tell us exactly where to find it -- in Your word. Make me wise enough to desire Your sure and perfect truth above all else. Restore my soul.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 15:1-5

Colossians 1:9-14

1 Passage: Colossians 1:9-14

1 Verse: Verse 9. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

1 Prayer: Father, so many times I come to You asking You to fill me with wisdom and understanding and the knowledge of Your will, yet so rarely do I unceasingly pray all those same things for others. Forgive me for being only focused on myself. Obviously, Father, I need Your wisdom, but I am not the only one who does. Help me to be like Paul, continuing to pray -- from the moment I hear about another's need -- that You would bless them with the fullness of all wisdom and understanding and knowledge of Your will. And help me to be wise today, too. Thank You, Father.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 19:7-10

Hebrews 13:15-17

1 Passage: Hebrews 13:15-17

1 Verse: Verse 15^. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

1 Prayer: Forgive me, Father, for fruitless lips that are at times more like the fig tree You cursed -- all showy leaves and no profitable produce -- than the humble little seed that You blessed, which yielded its crop one-hundredfold. You created these lips and this tongue for blessing, not cursing, and I want my words to be a pleasing sacrifice of praise and thanks to You. I owe You everything. Let me continually offer back to You praise and thanks for Your everlasting loving kindness.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Colossians 1:9-14

Hebrews 12:4-11

1 Passage: Hebrews 12:4-11

1 Verse: Verse 7. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for dealing with me as Your son whom You love. Forgive me for not recognizing Your discipline for what it is. I cry and moan and blubber and wail, without ever realizing that, because You are my Father and I am Your son, all these blows are really blessings. Only Your love could manage to take all our sufferings and sorrows and scourgings and somehow transfigure them into good news. But, for all that, I still don't welcome Your discipline. I'm still begging You to relent. Teach me what You want me to endure. Show me the faults that Your discipline is meant to correct. And help me to continue to resist sin, in the full assurance that You are with me to help me become the son You have created me to be.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Hebrews 13:15-17

John 4:34-38

1 Passage: John 4:34-38

1 Verse: Verse 38. "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for sending me out to harvest. Thank You for making sure that I don't labor all alone out there. Thank You for the labors of others who have begun the work and continued it to this day. Help me to enter into their labor with my own efforts to sow and reap, however small these may be. Silence my oh-so-smart ideas about when and where and how and why to harvest, and open my eyes to see both the present ripeness of the harvest field and the richness of the reapings from it.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Hebrews 12:4-11

John 15:1-5

1 Passage: John 15:1-5

1 Verse: Verse 4. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for figuring out a way for me to bear fruit. It is the most natural thing in the world for a branch to bear fruit -- but only when it remains a part of the tree. Please help me to remain connected. Help me to draw life and strength and nourishment from Jesus. And help my feeble little branch bear some fruit today -- even in the bleak midwinter.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: John 4:34-38

Psalm 8:1-9

1 Passage: Psalm 8:1-9

1 Verse: Verse 4^. What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for thinking of me. Thank You for caring for me. I couldn't survive without Your attention, and there are times when even with it I wonder how I'll get through. I don't even know what I am. But I trust that You do. Help me to believe what You say is true about me -- even when I feel unthought of and uncared for. Help me to remember that You made me -- and not only that, but You made me in Your image, to be crowned with glory and majesty, to have dominion over Your creation. I don't feel up to it. Please make me worthy of it.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: John 15:1-5

James 5:13-18

1 Passage: James 5:13-18

1 Verse: Verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

1 Prayer: Here I am, Father, praying to You. I guess in the grand scheme of things my suffering really isn't so bad, but it doesn't feel that way. Thank You for inviting me -- or is this a demand? -- to share my sufferings with You. I know You feel them, too, so much so that You gave us Your own Son Jesus -- Your Suffering Servant -- to bear our sorrows and sins for us. Thank You, Father. And You give us the Holy Spirit to Comfort us in our afflictions. Thank You, Father. It is enough to make me cheerful even in the midst of sufferings. Help me to sing Your praises today, Lord.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 8:1-9

1 Thessalonians 5:11-15

1 Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15

1 Verse: Verse 14. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the beautiful picture of a community living out the kind of love You have for us all. May our communities reflect this kind of love. Help me to be patient with everyone, encouraging, and helpful.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: James 5:13-18

Hebrews 10:19-25

1 Passage: Hebrews 10:19-25

1 Verse: Verse 22. let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for being near to me. Forgive me for not always drawing near to You in return. Forgive me for my insincere heart -- a heart that wavers between faith and doubt. I know I have full assurance in You. I have no reason to doubt, and I don't doubt Your faithfulness, Your goodness, Your love. But perhaps I listen too often and too long to my unclean evil conscience -- that fickle voice of condemnation or license that threatens to weaken my faith. It drives a wedge of separation between us, just when You are calling me to draw near. Help me, today, Father, to silence that evil conscience and listen instead to Your Holy Spirit -- the voice of the Comforter. Sprinkle me clean and wash me with water, Lord, so that I may boldly and confidently draw near.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

1 Passage: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

1 Verse: Verse 4. who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

1 Prayer: I have to confess, Father, that it is hard to be thankful in all our affliction. Sometimes it is only cold comfort that these afflictions serve the purpose of someday helping others. Obviously, Father, we want to be able to share Your love with others. But did we really know the price we would have to pay in the currency of afflictions to accomplish that holy vision? I didn't expect to have to count this cost. I'm afraid I may not even be able to count that high. Still, I know it is only a fraction of the afflictions of Christ. And You are faithful, Lord. You are the God of all comfort. You are the Comforter. Please help me today to receive from You soothing peace beyond understanding, serene calm, contentment, solace and relief. Help me be a source of such gifts to others today, too, please. Just as I have been comforted, may I also comfort others.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Hebrews 10:19-25

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1 Passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1 Verse: Verse 18. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for comforting my heart with the promise of Your eternal presence. I know that Jesus is coming back, and I know that when He left, he left behind His Spirit -- the Comforter. Help me to take comfort not only in our future together, but in our present. But also help me remember, when the present seems to lack Your presence, that in the future lies the fulfillment of all I hope for. Come, Lord Jesus.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Ephesians 5:18-21

1 Passage: Ephesians 5:18-21

1 Verse: Verse 19. speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the gift of music. Thank You that we get to speak to one another with a language that communicates more than words alone. As we gather this morning for corporate worship -- to sing together as one congregation -- please help us all to make music with our hearts to You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Proverbs 3:5-8

1 Passage: Proverbs 3:5-8

1 Verse: Verse 6. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for being familiar with all my ways -- both the ones that seem right to me and the ones that seem to me to be dead-ends. Help me to acknowledge Your presence walking beside me along each one. Help me to stay on the narrow path -- the one that is level and straight and lit by Your Word and leads me nearer to You. Sometimes I feel like I am stumbling about in many ways, weaving to and fro as the wind blows. I fear that, when I come to a fork and paths diverge, I might not be the best judge of which one to take. Thank You for guiding me. Thank You for not deserting me -- even if I take the path that leads through the valley of the shadow of death. I will continue to acknowledge You as best I can. I will wait to see even that path made straight. I love You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 5:18-21

Proverbs 3:1-4

1 Passage: Proverbs 3:1-4

1 Verse: Verse 3. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

1 Prayer: Father, You are love. Your Word is truth. Any kindness or truth I might have comes from You -- it is You. Thank You for promising to never leave me nor forsake me. You are written on my heart -- my new heart that is a new creation in You. Help me today to love You with all my heart and to love others with all Your heart.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 3:5-8

Psalm 1:1-6

1 Passage: Psalm 1:1-6

1 Verse: Verse 6. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for knowing me. It all comes down to that. After everything is said and done, the thing in which my blessing lies is Your knowledge of me. Your knowledge is infinitely perfect and complete, but it is also intimately caring and infinitely compassionate. If I were only to meditate on Your Word -- humbly implanted within my soul -- I would realize how blessed and prosperous and well-watered and firmly planted and fruitful and leafy green I am. Help me today to not forget that You are intimately acquainted with all my ways, that You walk with me in them, that You are near to the brokenhearted and to all who call on You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 3:1-4

Luke 6:35-38

1 Passage: Luke 6:35-38

1 Verse: Verse 36. "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

1 Prayer:

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in Heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

’Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
It is something more than all;
Greater good because of evil,
Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
’Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Savior who would have us
Come and gather at His feet?

Fred­er­ick W. Fa­ber, Or­a­to­ry Hymns, 1854

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 1:1-6

Ephesians 4:14-16

1 Passage: Ephesians 4:14-16

1 Verse: Verse 16. from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for giving each one of us a part in the makeup of Your body. May You cause our love for one another to increase in scope and deepen in maturity as we grow up in You and grow into one another. Your Spirit fits us together and knits us together through the unique contributions each one of us makes. Help us all, Father, to be faithful to perform the proper working of our individual part -- however big or small, honored or overlooked -- so that the whole which we share with You can also do Your work properly. Keep us from hoarding from others the blessings You have given us for the purpose of sharing. Help me today to supply to others what they need from that which You have provided to me.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Luke 6:35-38

1 Peter 4:7-11

1 Passage: 1 Peter 4:7-11

1 Verse: Verse 8. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for covering over my many sins with Your great love. Forgive me for sometimes thinking that Your love for me is anything less than fervent -- passionate, enthusiastic, ardent, zealous. I'm afraid I sometimes imagine that Your love is grudging, tentative, measured and calculated. Maybe because that is how my love for others so often appears to me to be. Please forgive me, Father, and help me to love as You love me. Keep me ever mindful of the fervency -- the intensity -- of Your great love, and help me to show the same sort of passion in my love for others.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 4:14-16

Philippians 4:6-9

1 Passage: Philippians 4:6-9

1 Verse: Verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

1 Prayer: Father, please help me today to dwell on good things. Give me an eye to see what is excellent and praiseworthy -- in You, of course, and also in others. Help me not to overlook the pure and lovely -- however small they may be. Help me to notice things that are right and reputable and worthy of honor. Help me to give the honor that others deserve -- Yourself included. Father, so often I think I am obeying this verse when I dwell only on what I believe to be true. And usually to my eyes, the truth looks anything but good. Usually, the truth seems to be that most things are false and wrong and imperfectly pure and far from excellent or worthy of praise, regardless of the reputation they may acquire. But even if things are like that, even if the truth hurts, even if there is now more wrong than right, You call me not to dwell only on that. You call me to dwell on whatever is good, however small and and beleaguered and feeble and frail -- if there is even only one tiny little thing. Father, please help me to obey that part of this verse today, and to give You credit for all the blessings You surround me with, even in the midst of many sorrows.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Peter 4:7-11

Ephesians 4:29-32

1 Passage: Ephesians 4:29-32

1 Verse: Verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

1 Prayer: Father, please help me today to create opportunities to speak words that build up, rather than tear down. Keep me mindful of the need of the moment and help me direct my speech toward meeting that need with kindness and grace. Father, may those who hear me today receive grace and not judgment, blessing and not cursing, help and not hurt. Thank You, Father.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Philippians 4:6-9

Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Passage: Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Verse: Verse 1. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

1 Prayer: Father, You have called me to be free, to walk in freedom. Yet I still feel like I am stumbling around in prison chains. You're going to have to help me. I don't think just imploring me to walk is going to be enough to get me out of this. And how can anyone be worthy of so high a calling, anyway? You know better than anyone just how unworthy I am. Still, I trust You. If You say it is possible, I will believe it. Help my unbelief. Please help me both to believe and to walk in a manner of one who believes. Thank You for walking beside me all the way. Thank You for Your Spirit -- the Comforter, the One Who Comes Alongside. He is closer than a "walking buddy". He slows my racing heart, quiets the blood beating in my ears, steadies me when my tired legs wobble with weariness. He gives me breath when I am breathless -- my second (and third, and fourth, and fifth . . .) wind. Thank You for wrapping Him up in other peoples' skin. Please allow me today to come alongside another fellow sojourner, a pilgrim on the narrow way, and be an encouragement to them.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 4:29-32

Galatians 5:13-15

1 Passage: Galatians 5:13-15

1 Verse: Verse 13. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for calling me to freedom. You know how much I want and need to be free -- free from condemnation, from fear, from hate, from despair. Yet I hear so many other voices calling, too, and when I follow them they lead me into bondage that is hard to break -- a prison of confusion, a cell of selfishness, a maze of misery, a labyrinth of lies. And then there is the constant call of the flesh ever begging for an opportunity for indulgence. Help me not to listen to the voices of so much noise. I don't think I can silence it, but You can overcome evil with good. I can bless when they curse. I can listen to the voice of Your Spirit and Word. So help me, Father, not to serve my flesh, nor any other god. Help me instead to serve You by serving others.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Peter 5:1-7

1 Passage: 1 Peter 5:1-7

1 Verse: Verse 7. casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Prayer: Father, You know my anxious thoughts and You know how burdensome they are to me. Thank You for inviting me to cast them all on You. Forgive me for forgetting that You care for me so much that You want to carry the weight of my worries for me. Forgive me for not humbling myself enough to cast them freely on You. I think I should be strong enough to bear them all myself, but I am not. Thank You for being more than able to overcome them all and to give me peace.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Galatians 5:13-15

1 Corinthians 12:14-25

1 Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:14-25

1 Verse: Verse 25. so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for composing Your body -- the church -- in the exact arrangement You desire. It is comforting to know that even when we don't seem to fit in, we are placed right where You want us. The weak and the strong, the honored and the overlooked, the respectable and the unconventional -- somehow in Your perfect wisdom You find a place for us all. And not just any old place, but a place where we belong, a place where we are necessary. All so that there would be no division, so that we would recognize that we need one another -- as different as we all are -- and care the same for each one. Father, help us to live and work and breathe and sing and pray and rejoice and weep together as one. Help us to show the same care for one another that You show for us all.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Peter 5:1-7

Romans 15:4-7

1 Passage: Romans 15:4-7

1 Verse: Verse 7. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for accepting me in Christ. I feel so unacceptable sometimes, yet You welcome me anyway. And somehow, by accepting me as I am, You are glorified. Your mercy and grace and kindness and compassion and love are revealed to all the world. Help me to glorify You today by accepting others as they are. Remind me of how You sacrificed of yourself to compensate for my shortcomings and help me to give the same sacrificial grace to others.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Corinthians 12:14-25

Romans 12:9-13

1 Passage: Romans 12:9-13

1 Verse: Verse 10. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the love You cultivate among Your people. We truly are Your family: united together under one Father, named after one Lord, bonded in peace by one Spirit. Today, as we go about the weekly acts of devotion that we share with one another, may Your love become the greater part of that devotion. Help us to see that being devoted to one another in love is Your preferred mode of worship, Your true religion.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Romans 15:4-7

1 John 3:13-18

1 Passage: 1 John 3:13-18

1 Verse: Verse 17. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for helping me put on a heart of compassion yesterday. I trusted You to do it, and You did, and now not only am I thankful, but those with whom I was able to share Your compassion are thankful, too. And this morning, it is all about the heart once again. This time, You tell me not to close my heart against my brothers and sisters in need. Father, help me to have an open heart toward others. Help me to be for them and not against them. Help me to show Your heart through my sincere effort and energy on behalf of others today, and not just in the words of this prayer.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's passage: Romans 12:9-13

Colossians 3:12-17

1 Passage: Colossians 3:12-17

1 Verse: Verse 12. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for welcoming me to live as one whom You chose -- as if I were holy and beloved. Thank You for loving me enough to replace my unholiness with the holiness of Jesus, Your Son. And now, You ask me to put on a heart to match. I'm not always sure how to do that. I know how to put on a mask, put on a show, put on a put-on . . . but those are all external, surface, cosmetic applications. Putting on a heart is another thing entirely. Putting on a heart is internal, and spiritual. And I already have one, and the one I have isn't always very cooperative. It can be cold and stubborn and hard as a rock. So please, Father, help me today to wear a new one. Help me to be kind and compassionate from the heart -- not as an outward show, but as a deep abiding reality. I know You can do it, and I trust You to. Thank You, Father.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: 1 John 3:13-18

John 15:9-14

1 Passage: John 15:9-14

1 Verse: Verse 9. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love."

1 Prayer: Lord, You know there is nothing I want more than to abide in Your love. But You say that abiding in Your love comes from loving one another as You love us. That doesn't always come easy -- especially not this morning. So I'm left feeling far outside Your love. I guess the only solution is for You to help me learn to love others better. Please help me today. I feel like I'm already off to a pretty bad start. But I trust You to lead me out. Thanks.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: Colossians 3:12-17

Romans 8:31-39

1 Passage: Romans 8:31-39

1 Verse: Verse 32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

1 Prayer: Father, forgive me for forgetting that You are for me, not against me. Life gets so contentious. Everything seems to conspire against me. Every day feels like a battle against forces I can't control and can't overcome. I feel more often like the conquered than the conqueror. But here is hard evidence, living proof, incontrovertible fact that You are on my side -- You gave up Jesus for me. How can I doubt Your love in the face of that truth. Well, I'll tell You how: I'm still waiting for You to freely give us all things. There is a real existential gap between the gift of salvation and the gift of all things, and I get stuck there. I take the non-existence of the latter as evidence for the non-existence of the former. But Your word says that is backwards. Help me to think the right way about this, Father. Help me to remember when I am missing the "all things" that I am not in any way missing the salvation that comes from Your deep love for me - and that guarantees the all things to me, even in my non-possession of them. On the basis of Your gift to me in Jesus, I will continue to trust You to freely give the rest in Your wisdom and kindness. Thank You, Father.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: John 15:9-14

Galatians 5:16-26

1 Passage: Galatians 5:16-26

1 Verse: Verse 25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for giving me life by Your Spirit. I'm grateful that Your Spirit is greater than my flesh. But You know sometimes I do not walk by the Spirit. Sometimes I walk in my own powers and perceptions. Sometimes I live by my own lights and not Yours. Forgive me, Father, for allowing old things to hold me back. Help me today to walk in newness of life with You, by Your Spirit.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: Romans 8:31-39

1 John 4:7-12

1 Passage: 1 John 4:7-12

1 Verse: Verse 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for loving us so much that You freely allowed Your Son Jesus to give His life for our sins. You know how many sins separate me from You, and yet none of them are enough that they can't be covered by Jesus' love. Love covers a multitude of sins. There can't be too many sins to keep me from You, for where sins increase, grace abounds all the more. And Father I confess that I am often painfully aware of how little I love You in return. I obsess over what looks to me like my lack of love for You. But here in Your word You tell me that love is not to be found in me toward You, but in You toward me. Forgive me not only for my lack of love, but for thinking it is up to me to manufacture it. Love is from You and You alone. You are love. Thank You for loving me and allowing some of that love to be directed through me to others and thereby back to You.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: Galatians 5:16-26

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Verse: Verse 5. [Love] does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.

1 Prayer: Father, today Your people gather together to do Your will. We will sing and pray. We will speak to one another and we'll listen to one another. We'll eat together. And, Lord, I know from having done this before so many times that it might require a little patience and kindness. I might be tempted to act unbecomingly. I will probably be provoked. Maybe I'll even suffer a wrong. But whatever happens, Father, please help me to love Your people. Help me to seek Your will and not my own.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: 1 John 4:7-12

Psalm 119:105-112

1 Passage: Psalm 119:105-112

1 Verse: Verse 107. I am exceedingly afflicted; revive me, O LORD, according to Your word.

1 Prayer: Father, You know my afflictions. Whether they rise to the level of the "exceedingly afflicted", I can't quite be sure. But regardless, a little revival would not be unwelcome. Revive me so that I may live anew with You. Your word says Your mercies are new every morning, and God You know how I need them this morning. Help me stay mindful of the promises of Your word to me today, so that in my affliction I can be revived and renewed.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Psalm 119:97-104

1 Passage: Psalm 119:97-104

1 Verse: Verse 102. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for being my teacher. There is no greater source of wisdom and knowledge than You. You are the only source of all wisdom and knowledge. And You have come to teach Your people Yourself. You have placed Your Spirit within to guide, lead and direct, challenge, convict and correct, comfort, encourage and console. Father, You know how much I need You to teach me. I have so much yet to learn. I can't say that I have followed all Your ordinances and avoided every evil way -- no one can. But I haven't turned aside from them either. I turn to them every day, trusting that with You as my Teacher I will learn them and live them. Help me to live and learn today.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

Tomorrow's Passage: Psalm 119:105-112

Psalm 119:129-136

1 Passage: Psalm 119:129-136

1 Verse: Verse 135. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

1 Prayer: Father, I need to be taught by You. When I am in darkness, You are my light. Your word is a lamp to my feet. Your faith gives sight to my eyes. Your truth sets me free from the shadows of death. Help me today to be a better servant of Yours -- one who knows Your will and does it well. Let me walk in the glow of fellowship with You -- the Living Word. Teach me to live in the light of Your face. Shine Your good grace on me. Thank You, Lord.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!

1 John 3:19-24

1 Passage: 1 John 3:19-24

1 Verse: Verse 20. in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for being greater than my heart. That doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment -- my heart is so small and weak and willful. But that is precisely why I am so incredibly grateful that You are greater. My heart fails me sometimes. It fails You sometimes. Sometimes it is full of condemnation -- of myself, of others, of You even. But You are greater. You know all things. You know that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You know that includes me. You are the Good Shepherd who knows Your own sheep. I'm sorry I let my heart get away with its condemning spree. But when it does, I praise and thank You that I am not overcome by what my heart condemns. Instead, You in Your greatness have overcome my heart, and I love You for it.

1 Person: Now, it's your turn! Please click "COMMENTS" below to add your own favorite verse and to share your own personal prayer from today's passage. (Your favorite verse and prayer might even be the same as mine, but we'd still love to hear from you. Feel free to just drop us a note so we know you stopped by.) Thanks!