Sunday, Week 11

Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
— James 5:13 (BSB)

God desires to glorify His name by answering prayer.
— E.M. Bounds

Blessed are You, O God, our strength, who teaches our hands to war, and our fingers to fight. Teach us to war against all wickedness. You are our goodness and our fortress and our high tower, our deliverer, our shield, and the God in whom we trust. You are our refuge and our strength, our keeper in the midst of trouble, and our deliverer.

Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him. Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passes away. Yet we rejoice in Your love and thought for Your redeemed children. Though we are so frail, like a flower, like the reed, bruised and broken — still You do indeed make account of us. You have put Your image upon us. You have put Your Spirit within us. You have made us Your own children. We are dearer to You than all other things in the universe, because we are Your own children and You are our Father, and because You have redeemed us at the price of the blood of Your own Son. In the person of Your Son, we are as dear to You as He is. Help us to realize our nearness and dearness to You.

We would rejoice as a family in Your goodness and Your grace. Rid us and deliver us from the hand of evil men, whose mouth speaks vanity and whose right hands are right hands of falsehood. May our sons be as plants grown up in their youth. May our daughters be as corner-stones polished after the similitude of a palace. May our garners be full, that we may feed the hungry. May we all honor You by holy and beautiful lives.

Fill our home today with Your love, and may all of us receive from You grace, mercy, and truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.