With all the noise in the world, do you hear the voice of God? Your calendar tells you what to do, but do you remember who you are? Being comes before doing. This is a call to put first things first. Return to the Lord with this daily pattern of prayer and devotion. Set aside this time as a sanctuary. Find a space free of distraction and follow this pattern.
Invocation
Making the sign of the cross, I say,
I speak your name it identifies me. I am your child, of your family. So I begin my day with your name on me, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
I invite my Lord,
Jesus, you are the Prince of Peace. You speak and everything calms down. Place your word in my mouth that all who hear me encounter You and Your peace. Amen.
Confession
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wasted and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have labored so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all.
Word: Luke 10:5-6
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.”
Meditation
Feuds. Most families have at least one. Some have several. Sometimes they’re about serious issues. Other times they are petty and unimportant. But no matter how many feuds your family has or what they are about they all have this in common. Feuds have the potential to turn any family gathering into a conflict.
Jesus came to bring about peace between God and man. This was the angels’ announcement at our Lord’s birth (Luke 2:14) and Jesus’ first words to his disciples following his resurrection (Luke 24:36). In the cross of Jesus, your conflict with God over sin has been brought to a bloody and decisive end. This is great news! And peace with God is the starting point for peace with one another. So consider …
Who in your family needs to hear a word of peace from you?
Who do you need to forgive or perhaps seek forgiveness from?
Where are you called to be a peacemaker?
Prayer for Family
- For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
- For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
- For close friends that are as family to me.
- For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
- For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
- For provision where there is need in my family.
- For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
- For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Prayer
Father, you have given me a family. Thank you for my home. We are not perfect. Our relationships are often strained. Where there is stress, relieve. Where there is division, reconcile. Where there are wounds, heal. Where there is joy, cause it to overflow from our family to others. Plant your love in the middle of our family. Be our foundation. Your cross is our compass, in Jesus’ name, Amen.