30 Day Prayer Guide | Day 17
MORNING PRAYER
SILENCE [2 min]
Silence, stillness, and centering before the God of our salvation.
THE PSALM
In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
(Psalms 78:32–39)
MORNING HYMN
Heal us, Emmanuel, hear our prayer — we wait to feel thy touch;
Deep-wounded souls to thee repair, and Savior, we are such.
Our faith is feeble, we confess
we fairly trust thy word;
but wilt thou pity us the less? Be that far from thee, Lord!
Remember him who once applied with trembling for relief;
“Lord, I believe,” with tears he cried; “O help my unbelief!”
She, too, who touched thee in the press and healing virtue stole,
was answered, “Daughter, go in peace: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Like her, with hopes and fears we come to touch thee if we may;
O send us not despairing home; send none unhealed away.
William Cowper, 1779
PROMPTED PRAYER
- For a sense of God as our Rock
- For emotionally-healthy spirituality
- For friends and family members who do not profess faith in Christ
TRADITIONAL PRAYER
Heavenly Father, you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look upon the heartfelt desires of your humble servants, and stretch forth the strong hand of your Majesty to be our defense against our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. (BCP)
EVENING PRAYER
SILENCE [2 min]
Silence, stillness, and centering before the God of our salvation.
THE PSALM
They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe, when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan. He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost. He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts. He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham. Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
(Psalm 78:42-53)
MEDITATIVE PRAYER
You are beautiful. You are good. You are true.
(Canyon Road: A Book of Prayer)
GOSPEL READING
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God...
(John 7:25–31)
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Pray for the known needs of your local and global community: singles, families, widows, refugees, orphans, churches, ministries, missionaries, etc.
THE BENEDICTION
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
(Psalms 147:3)
SILENCE [2 min]
Silence and stillness, as God has the last word to finish the day. He labors while you sleep.