Rest is good. We’re taking a break from producing content over the summer. Enjoy this previously produced pattern and meditation.
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 good shepherd. When I was lost, you chased me down. You laid down your life for me. You know me and I know you. Call me by name and lead me. (John 10:3,11,15)
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: John 10:7-18
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Meditation
What is God saying in this passage? Try to repeat the substance in your own words.
Is there a word or phrase that jumped out at you? (Pay attention to verbs.) Why does it stand out?
What does God want me to do with this word?
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.