Saturday, August 19, 2006

Psalm 48

1 Chapter: Psalm 48

1 Verse:
Verse 9. We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple.

1 Prayer: Father, there is nothing better for me to think on than Your lovingkindness. And yet so often my mind is focused on other things. Help me today to continually turn my thoughts to Your goodness and 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 chapter. (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!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Psalm 47

1 Chapter: Psalm 47

1 Verse:
Verse 7. For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a skillful psalm.

1 Prayer: Father, You reign over all nations and peoples. There is no earthly power -- political, economic, military -- that is beyond the reach of Your authority. It is to You we owe our full allegiance, and if we do not give it freely we will pay it dearly. May I give You today and every day what You most deserve: the very best of all the skill and power -- however small it may seem -- that You have given me, for the glory of my God and King.

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 chapter. (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!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Psalm 46

1 Chapter: Psalm 46

1 Verse:
Verse 2. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

1 Prayer: Father, You know how much I do not like change. And when the changes are big -- when it seems like the very foundations of my world are about to come undone, and the highest points trade places with the lowest -- that is when I start to fear. And yet, You remain my ever-present help. No changes are too big for You. So forgive me for living in fear of what I cannot change, and help me to embrace those changes that reflect Your wise will for me and my life.

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 chapter. (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!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Psalm 45

1 Chapter: Psalm 45

1 Verse:
Verse 10. Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house

1 Prayer: Father, just as You ask me to remember You and Your works, You ask me to forget my own people and family. I need You to help me "forget" -- not that I would literally neglect them, but that I would not value their opinions or expectations of me over Yours. Just like You say that a man and a wife leave their father and mother and cleave to one another, You ask me to answer no longer to anyone else, but only to You. Forgive me for placing the expectations and opinions and approval of others above Yours. Help me today to live for Your pleasure and Yours alone.

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 chapter. (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!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Psalm 44

1 Chapter: Psalm 44

1 Verse:
Verse 1. O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us the work that You did in their days, in the days of old.

1 Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the memories of Your saints. Thank You for passing from one generation to the next the testimony of how You have worked. Thank You for faithful witnesses who remember the ways of Your goodness and grace and speak about them to us. But why must we always only hear just with our ears? Why can't we see it for ourselves? Why does it sometimes seem that Your greatest works are confined to a time long past? When will our generation know Your mighty hand and witness Your gracious deeds? What tales will we tell the next generation of Your love and power? Help me, Father, to become a faithful winess to Your works in my days.

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 chapter. (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!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Psalm 43

1 Chapter: Psalm 43

1 Verse:
Verse 3. O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling places.

1 Prayer: It's dark this morning, Father. And not just from the waning days of summer or the Monday 'blues'. There is an oppression that is closing in, like enemies on every side. When I am surrounded, when there is no way out, I need You to guide me through the darkness so I don't stumble and fall. I need You to show me the way. I need You to send me Your light and Your truth, and I need to follow them. I need to let them lead me, let them bring me to the place where You are, to the heights upon which I am safe from attack. Lead me today, Lord, and I will follow.

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 chapter. (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!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Psalm 42

1 Chapter: Psalm 42

1 Verse:
Verse 6. O my God, my soul is in despair within me; therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

1 Prayer: Father, is memory a cure for despair? Doesn't it only make things worse to recall how much closer I felt to You then? These places take me back; they stand out in my mind as high points in our journey together -- when You carried me across the river at flood stage out of long desert wanderings into the land of rest and plenty that You'd promised. Or when You led me to a height of strength, a fortress of defense, a refuge against all enemies and tore it away from my foes and handed it over to me. Those are the times I long for, the places I'm so glad we have been together. Won't remembering those moments of joy only magnify my current despair by comparison? Yet, Lord, I remember.

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 chapter. (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!

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Psalm 41

1 Chapter: Psalm 41

1 Verse:
Verse 1. How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble.

1 Prayer: Forgive me, Father, for being inconsiderate of others more helpless than myself. I fixate upon my own troubles and neglect Your promise to help those who help the helpless. Show me today someone to whom I can be a helper.

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 chapter. (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!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Psalm 40

1 Chapter: Psalm 40

1 Verse:
Verse 13. You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.

1 Prayer: Thank you, Father, for Your continual compassion, Your longsuffering lovingkindness, Your eternal trustworthiness. You alone keep me safe and alive and protected from the eternal consequences of my sin. 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 chapter. (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!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Psalm 39

1 Chapter: Psalm 39

1 Verse:
Verse 13. Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again before I depart and am no more.

1 Prayer: Father, You are the righteous Judge of all things. You see me in all my vanity and sin and selfish, self-righteous self-importance. There is no hope for me beneath Your perfect gaze, except insofar as You see me in and through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Then and only then is Your gaze filled with infinite compassion, without a hint of eternal condemnation. Your eyes smile when they behold the extravagant passion of Your love for me in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. And I smile again, too -- deliriously, almost disbelievingly -- that Your loving gaze beholds me as perfect and acceptable in Your sight.

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 chapter. (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!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Psalm 38

1 Chapter: Psalm 38

1 Verse:
Verse 9. Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.

1 Prayer: Father, You know my every desire. Some of them are good, and draw me near to You. Some only lead me further away. But the drama of all my wants and longings -- both those met and those unmet -- is played out right in front of You. As much as I may wish to deny it, I can't hide my sighing from You. So help me carry my wants to You and lay them openly at Your feet, so You can satisfy those that please You and I can sacrifice those that don't.

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 chapter. (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!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Psalm 37

1 Chapter: Psalm 37

1 Verse:
Verse 6. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.

1 Prayer: Forgive me, Father, for my impatience. It is so hard to wait, and I begin to fret, when I look about and see how dimly the light of my own righteousness shines. It seems to barely creep over the horizon like the faintest glimmer of dawn. It is almost imperceptible. Yet You promise me the full blazing sun at its midday zenith. How can this be but through the righteousness of Christ granted to me as a gift of faith? Thank you for bathing me in the full glow of His perfect and complete righteousness instead of my own shadowy substitute.

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 chapter. (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!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Psalm 36

1 Chapter: Psalm 36

1 Verse:
Verse 9. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

1 Prayer: Father, You are the source of all life. All comes from You. Why would I want to be with anyone else? Keep me in Your light today, so that I might see with enlightened eyes of spiritual illumination the wonders and glory of Your life in all that You have made.

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 chapter. (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!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Psalm 35

1 Chapter: Psalm 35

1 Verse:
Verse 1. Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.

1 Prayer: Father, I'm not always aware of the fact that I have an enemy who is dead-set against me. I see flesh and blood in the earthlies when instead I should see principalities and powers and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. I need You to be my defense. I need You to take up the fight on my behalf. Help me today to resist that which would draw me away from you and into a battle I cannot win on my own. Thank you for having overcome the world.

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 chapter. (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!

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Psalm 34

1 Chapter: Psalm 34

1 Verse:
Verse 3. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.

1 Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the fellowship of Your people. Thank You for placing me within a family and a community that recognizes and celebrates Your goodness. Help me today to make a big deal about how good You are with others who also 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 chapter. (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!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Psalm 33

1 Chapter: Psalm 33

1 Verse:
Verse 18. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness,

1 Prayer: Father, I know Your eye is upon me, not to spy out my mistakes and failures but to look for ways to show me your kindness and love. That is my only hope -- that You would be gracious to me in my weakness. And "behold!" -- You are! You've proven beyond all shadow of doubt that whatever it is that You see when You look at me is somehow worth saving, even at the cost of the life of Your Son. I don't understand it, Lord, but I hope for it anyway. Thank you, Father, for being so kind.

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 chapter. (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!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Psalm 32

1 Chapter: Psalm 32

1 Verse:
Verse 7. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

1 Prayer: Father, there are so many places that I run to when I need to hide, but You alone are the One who gives real, lasting, eternal security. Help me to not hide from You, but instead hide in You. Help me hear the songs of deliverance, of rescue, of liberation that come from 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 chapter. (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!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Psalm 31

1 Chapter: Psalm 31

1 Verse:
Verse 22. As for me, I said in my alarm, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You.

1 Prayer: Thank you, Father, for being unwavering in Your commitment to me. Even when my faith is weak and I fear the worst, You prove me wrong by proving Yourself faithful. Your love truly is unfailing. Today I celebrate being held secure in the arms of Your love that will not let me go.

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 chapter. (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!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Psalm 30

1 Chapter: Psalm 30

1 Verse:
Verse 9. "What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?"

1 Prayer: Father, it's incredible to think that You might profit in any way from my life. You are unlimited in Your infinite resources, while all I have and all I am already comes from You. Yet You have made this a non-zero-sum world. You are benefited, it is to Your advantage, whenever I praise You and declare Your faithfulness. Help me not to withhold from You what You have so rightly earned, the worship You freely and richly deserve.

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 chapter. (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!

Monday, July 31, 2006

Psalm 29

1 Chapter: Psalm 29

1 Verse:
Verse 11. The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.

1 Prayer: Father, is it really Your voice that is stripping the cedars of Lebanon bare? Does strength only come from military force? Is peace only achieved through violence? Your people are on all sides, on both sides, on neither side, surrounded by enemies, entangled in governments, victimized by history, oppressed by economics, paralyzed by politics, yet still You bless us with peace that passes understanding. Our world seems able to understand only one kind of peace -- peace bought with weapons of war. We need Your miraculous, other-worldly, incomprehensible peace instead.

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 chapter. (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!