Sunday Morning Devotional: Week 29

Your Weekly Rest and Reset

Good morning! It’s good to be back. I’ve been on vacation and had a few extra things on my plate over the last few weeks, but I’m hoping to now be back in the groove. I hope today’s Sunday Morning Devotional will help you get your week off on the right foot.

Blessings,
Dale

Prayer is not the fruit of natural talents; it is the product of faith, of holiness, of deeply spiritual character. (E.M. Bounds)

This Week’s Scripture

·         Ezekiel 37:1-14
·         Psalm 130
·         Romans 8:6-11
·         John 11:1-45

Adoration

John 11:25-26a
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Jesus Shall Reign (verse 1)
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
does its successive journeys run.
his kingdom spread from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.
(Isaac Watts)

Take time now to offer God your praise and worship.

Confession

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

Lord give me the repentance which is of the will, that, not only in desire but also in intention and effort I may embrace what is good, especially those virtues which once I neglected or refused, and so be endued with power to accept thy pardon; through Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. (Bishop Brent)

As David did in Psalm 139, ask the Lord to search you and know you through and through. Confess the sins God brings to mind, knowing you are forgiven and that He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Thanksgiving

O Lord, you hear our cries when we call out to you. You hear our voices and are attentive to our pleas for mercy. We give you thanks. God of grace, you do not mark our iniquities, for if you did, who could stand? Instead, with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. We give you thanks. Because in you there is hope, we will wait upon you. We give you thanks. Lord, with you there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption. We praise you good and sovereign Lord that you will redeem us from all our iniquities. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. (based on Psalm 130)

Spend some time reflecting on the prayer of thanksgiving above and then thank God for who he is and the many ways he has poured out his goodness and grace in your life.
 
Supplication (Petition – prayers for yourself)

·         Help me to mature in my faith and to increasingly please God by my thoughts, words, and deeds.
·         Particular struggles in various relationships
·         My activities for this day
·         Other needs
 
Supplication (Intercession – prayers for others)

·         My Family
·         My local church
·         My denomination
·         Para-church ministries, particularly Christian education and discipleship
·         Evangelistic ministries
·         Other needs
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God is too kind to do anything cruel, too wise to make a mistake, too deep to explain himself.
(Charles Swindoll)

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