September 4 - Consider My Sighing

Today's Reading:
Genesis 11:1-13:4
Luke 2:36-52
Psalms 5:1-12 
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Focus Verses:
Psalm 5:1-3
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

Insight:
Two words in this passage catch my attention today: morning and expectation. The first word speaks to practice and the second word speaks to motivation. First, morning prayers were routine for the psalmist. Making time to pray every morning was the norm. Secondly, the psalmist believed that God heard, considered, and answered his prayers. When he prayed, he prayed with the expectation that God would act--his prayers mattered.

Response and Action:
I will make regular times and patterns for prayer part of my daily life. I will make every effort to make and guard a time for prayer every morning. When I pray, I will pray believing that God hears and cares about my prayers. I will pray with expectation, knowing that somehow, some way, my prayers connect my heart, my needs, and my requests into the gracious and loving presence of God. I will lay my requests before Him.

O God, I want to know your presence and involvement in my life. I want to talk with you and to hear your voice. I need you to hear my cries and concerns. I need to know your word and to be assured of your promises. Help me to be a person of prayer. Help me to demonstrate my faith and my confidence in you by making times of quiet focus and prayer a routine part of my every day life—as normal as breathing, eating, and sleeping. Because I believe you are present, and trust in your promises, I will live and pray accordingly. Increase my faith, and help me to live each day with the awareness and expectation that true faith inspires. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses:  
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Resources:
Learning to Pray Through the Psalms
by James Sire