21 Days of Prayer
Key Verse:
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Prompt:
This week's focus: Grow in Grace
Law, statutes, precepts, commands, decrees ... all synonyms for a “rule” that God has given us. Rules can feel rigorous, overbearing, and hindering, but Psalm 19 reminds us that God’s ways refresh our souls, are wise, bring joy, give light, and are righteous. Simply put, God’s ways safeguard us from our own ways. Thankfully, when we misstep anyway, His grace is sufficient. Today, pray that your thoughts, words, and actions would reflect Jesus, and when they don’t thank God for His grace.
More:
Head: Know God’s Word | Heart: Love God | Hands: Follow God’s Way
Read Psalms 19
Head
Who likes rules? Your first response may have been, “Not me!” That’s okay! Don’t tell anybody, but there are some rules I don’t like either. But let’s think for a minute. What if there were no rules? The world would be all rainbows and unicorns, right? Umm…I don’t think so. The world would be CHAOS. Everybody could go at a traffic light when they wanted. Everybody could scream and dance around in class all day. I wouldn’t like it, and I can guess that maybe you wouldn’t either. So let me ask again, who likes rules? Me!
Psalms 19 tells us that all of God’s rules are “perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, righteous, precious, and sweet.” It tells us that if we obey the Lord, there will be a “great reward.” God does not intend for His laws to make us feel trapped. Instead, He tells us there is freedom when we obey Him. But what if we break His laws? JESUS CHRIST! Romans 8:2 says, “Because of what Christ Jesus has done, you are FREE” (NIRV). Now, obviously, we should try our best to obey the Lord because we just learned that those rules are good for us. Unfortunately, though, we make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. I’m so thankful Jesus died for me and has already forgiven me for all the mistakes I’ve made and am going to make.
Heart
So what about that “great reward” for following God’s commands that we mentioned? Psalms 19:1 says, “The heavens tell about the glory of God. The skies show that his hands created them” (NIRV). If that reward is as beautiful and magnificent as that glimpse of heaven we see through sunsets and starry skies, can you imagine how incredible His reward will be?
Hands
Get ready…this is a tough one. Someone is going to make you follow a rule today. Maybe you have a time limit on your phone, you have to do chores, or you have to be quiet in class. Choose one of those “rule-givers,” and tell them thank you. Let your teacher or parent know that you understand that they gave you those rules because they love you, just like God gives us rules because He loves us.
Prayer: Today, we’re going to pray scripture: “Lord, may these words of my mouth please You. And may these thoughts of my heart please You also. You are my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalms 19:14 NIRV).