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
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9) O Lord, you are the God who makes peace from turmoil. As your child, send me to be a peacemaker. Amen.
Word: Matthew 5:43-45
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Meditation
Love and prayer. These are the tools of the peacemaker. In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner.”
Prayer dissolves our own natural instinct to repay hate with hate and instead moves us to love. It may seem like a backwards way to respond to an enemy who is persecuting you. But it is the way of the sons of God. On the cross, Jesus prayed for his executioners and those who had conspired to put him there. As children of the Heavenly Father, it must be our way too.
Prayer for the Church
· For my local congregation, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
· For Christians across my community and city.
· For my denomination or church body.
· For repentance where God’s people have failed or erred.
· For the mission of God given to his people, that all nations know Him.
· For the church where she is persecuted for Christ’s name.
· For church plants and mission frontiers.
· For workers in the harvest: pastors, teachers, evangelists, servants.
· For the everyday, ordinary Christian to serve and witness as the priesthood of all believers.
· For the small, overlooked, and undervalued parts of the body of Christ.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, look with mercy upon those who revile Your Church. Strengthen our brothers and sisters facing persecution for the sake of your name. Open the eyes and hearts of our enemies that they too may receive your peace. In Jesus’s name, amen.