Be With Me: Experiencing Jesus in Prayer
An Intentional Journey to Deepen Your Relationship with the Divine
Week 2: Everyday Thanks – Be With Me in Gratitude
Preparation:
Song: “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)” by Matt Redman
[Chorus] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
[Verse 1] The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing Your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.
[Verse 2] You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.
[Chorus] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
Scripture: Hannah’s song of thanksgiving after barrenness and being given a son: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
Personal Practice:
“Thanksgiving is possible not because everything goes perfectly but because God is present." 1
In your prayer journal take time to draw or list “abundances” in your family, work, health … Thank God for these people, events, circumstances and situations. Take time to think about a difficulty in your life, offer up your true feelings about this situation, without forcing it. Can you find evidence of God’s presence with you or anything to be grateful for? If not, that is ok, simply sit with Jesus in it.
Group Prayer:
Imaginatively, take a “Prayer Walk” through the FPC church campus. Thank God for the history, congregants, staff, geographic place, neighbors and outreach that is happening at and through FPC. Remember – nursery, admin assistants, missionaries, the Pink House, ministry partners like Hope Now, Bethany Inner-City Church … What gratitude arises?!
What other institutions, schools, businesses, neighborhoods, ministries, countries can you gratefully take an “imaginative prayer walk” through this week?
Download this resource here: BWM Week 2.pdf
1Calhoun, Adele Alhberg. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. 33
Created by Beth Paz. The selections of multicultural worship are an invitation to remember the global nature of God in our prayers.
Photos courtesy of UNsplash.com. Spiritual Disciplines courtesy of “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, IVPress.
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