Daily Prayer for Wednesday, August 26, 2019

“Here bestow on all Your servants what they ask of You to gain…”        
                                        —-Henry Thomas Smart, 1867

Preparation for worship
Sit in a relaxed position. Take a slow, deep breath (or 2 or 3 or as many as needed) until you feel your body, mind, and soul begin to relax and rest in the Spirit.  Take time to reflect as you move through this time of worship…

Opening Sentences                                                                    Psalm 103: 8
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in love.

Prayer                                                                             George Appleton, 1985
Lord, my heart is not large enough,
    my memory is not good enough,
    my will is not strong enough:
Take my heart and enlarge it,
Take my memory and give it quicker recall,
Take my will and make it strong
    and make me conscious of thee
        everpresent,
        ever accompanying.  Amen.

Hymn of the Day
“Just Today,” by Shillong Chamber Choir.  Pray and listen!

Reading of the Day                                                              1 John 2: 18-29
18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.
26 I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him.

Prayers for self and others
Please pray today for those who are being affected by COVID 19 and by its side effects in our world. Please pray for Mark Sabala, working with Covid patients as a nurse, Marcy Szeliga, working as a case investigator and contact tracer,
for Jeanette and her family who’ve been heavily impacted, for Sylvia Washer, and for all who have been recently diagnosed with- or are recovering from- the virus.  Pray for our teachers, many of whom are halfway through the first week of online instruction, that their skills would be made as strong as their hearts.  As we hear of more friends who are directly affected, or who are working in high risk places, we will list them here.  Use this time to lift your joys, concerns, and hopes to God.

Benediction
Now to the One who is able
to keep you from falling,
and to make you stand without shame
in the presence of God’s glory with rejoicing,
to the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, power, and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
Amen.