A Global Grapevine

Daily Prayer Guide for January 7

Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place. - Mic 2:10

Opportunities fly in a straight line, touch us but once and never return, but the wrongs we do others fly in a circle; they come back from the place they started.
- T. DeWitt Talmage.

Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank is bliss to fill,
Our blank is scorning.

Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way,
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards—day!
- Emily Dickinson.

Prayer

Lord God, give me the desire to be persistent in service, while I have health and strength. May I experience the sweetness that comes in doing the thing that I ought to have done, as well as that in which I took the most pleasure. Help me to so live that my days may be useful, and be recalled with bright and happy recollections. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/prayer/january/7
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Daily Prayer for January 1

Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, And to thy tabernacles. - Ps 43:3

Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
Forward I look, and backward, and below
I count, as god of avenues and gates,
The years that through my portals come and go.

I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow;
I chase the wild fowl from the frozen fen;
My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow,
My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men.
- Henry W. Longfellow.

Old things need not be therefore true,
O brother men, nor yet the new;
Ah! still awhile the old thought retain,
And yet consider it again

We! what do we see? each a space
Of some few yards before his face;
Does that the whole wide plan explain?
Ah, yet consider it again!

Alas! the great world goes its way,
And takes its truth from each new day;
They do not quit, nor can retain,
Far less consider it again.
- Arthur Hugh Clough.

There are two sorts of content; one is connected with exertion, the other habits of indolence. The first is a virtue; the other a vice.
- Maria Edgeworth.

Prayer

Almighty God, lead me in the search for life. Teach me what is important and what is unimportant; what is false, and what is true. Remove the hindrances that keep me from the worthiest deeds, and grant that I may have the peace that comes with surrender of self to thy will. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/prayer/january/1
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Morning Prayer for living faithfully in a challenging world...

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world. ⏤ James 1:27

True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. ⏤ Billy Graham

Father, it is not a holy world into which we must now go forth. It is full of sin. We must meet many temptations. Then it is not an easy life into which we have to go. It has its tasks, its duties, its responsibilities, and its conflicts. We shall have our burdens to carry and our duties to do.

Yet we would not refuse to go forth into the world. It is Your voice that calls us forth—and wherever Your voice calls us, we would go without hesitation. We have no strength or wisdom of our own to make us equal to all the work and struggle of the day—but we know that when You send us forth, You will give us all the strength and wisdom we shall need. You have promised that as our days—so shall our strength be.

Fill us with Your grace, that we may be able to move through this evil world without faltering in our faithfulness. We are not of the world, but belong to Heaven, and are citizens of the kingdom of Jesus. Help us to live out here on earth, our true life, the life of Jesus, the life of Heaven. May we be enabled to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. May we live so purely, so earnestly, with such abundant life, that our influence shall be a real force for Jesus.

We ask for grace to make our common weekday work holy and beautiful, with the beauty of Christlikeness. May we be as Jesus to everyone we meet. In our social life, our business, our responsibilities at home, in all our friendships, in our leisure—may we show the sweetness of the love of Jesus. May You keep us, each and all, in all our goings and comings. Bless us—and use us to bless the world. Bring us together in the evening. We ask all these favors for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/71/morning
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Morning Prayer rejoicing in Yah's care!

[A Psalm] of David. Blessed [be] the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, [and] my fingers to fight: My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and [he] in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me. ⏤ Psalm 144:1-2

Prayer is the language of a man burdened with a sense of need. ⏤ 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, our high tower, our deliverer, our shield, and the God in whom we trust. You are our refuge and strength, our keeper in the midst of trouble, and our deliverer.

Lord, what is man that You take knowledge of him? Man is like 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 take 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 grace. Rid us and deliver us from the hand of evil men, whose mouths speak 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 cornerstones 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 Yeshua Hamashiach our Savior. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/70/morning
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Morning Prayer for learning cheerfulness among trials.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ⏤ John 16:33

There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. ⏤ William Law

May You teach us the lesson of cheerfulness, O God. We are too easily irritated and cast down. We let little troubles and difficulties discourage us. Our joy is too easily overshadowed. Our song of gladness too often turns into a dirge. We fret ourselves needlessly and fail to rejoice always. Sorrows come over us like a flood and bury us beneath their dark waves. Our gladness is too easily turned to sadness as life’s cares and trials come upon us.

We hear You bidding us to be of good cheer because You have overcome the world, telling us that though we have tribulations, we may have peace in You. But the lesson is not easy. It’s hard for us to keep the song always in our hearts and the sunshine always on our faces when there are so many cares.

We come to You, pleading that You will teach us how to always be cheerful. Help us to have such a strong, quiet, firm faith in Jesus that no matter what comes into our lives, we may always rejoice. Rescue us from discouragement, no matter how great its cause may appear to be. Help us to cast every burden on You, sure that You will sustain us. Help us to learn to rejoice even in disappointments, knowing that if we could see all as You see, we would find beauty and good in everything that seems painful and dark to us.

We desire to be ministers of cheer to others. Forbid that we should go out with sadness in our faces, casting a shadow on other lives. May we be sunshine to others. May we show the world what grace can do in making us messengers of gladness. We ask this in the name of Him who overcame the world and can give us peace. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/59/morning
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Morning Prayer looking to the Lord for help.

A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. ⏤ Psalm 121:1-2

The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. ⏤ R.A. Torrey

We lift up our eyes to the mountains. Where does our help come from? Our help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth. You will not let our feet slip. You who watch over us will not slumber. You are our keeper. You are our shade at our right hand. The sun will not harm us by day, nor the moon by night. You will keep us from all harm. You will watch over our lives. You will watch over our coming and going both now and forevermore.

We lift up our eyes to You who dwell in the heavens. As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to You, O Lord our God, until You show us Your mercy.

Teach us Your will for this day. We earnestly desire to live out the plan of life You have for us. We know it is a beautiful and worthy plan. Reveal it to us as we go about our day. Show us this day’s portion of it, and help us to submit ourselves fully to Your guidance. Let us not ruin our lives by taking even the smallest part out of Your hands and into our own. Show us Your way, and make us willing to follow it, even if it is not the path we would choose.

Grant us a day filled with goodness and mercy. Let us not grieve You, nor turn away from Your commandments. Help us to live profitably, unselfishly, and purely. Show us our faults, and then help us to overcome them and put them away. Give us the grace to make restitution if we have taken anything from another that was not ours; may we be able to return it today. Let us never lie, steal, or defraud in any way. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be upon us. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/58/morning
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Morning Prayer

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: ⏤ Philippians 3:20

The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. ⏤ E.M. Bounds

O God, most merciful—bless us this morning. Lay Your hand upon us with a Father’s blessing. May the grace of the Yeshua be upon us and in us all day long. Let Your word dwell in our hearts richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing us. May it be so deeply rooted in us that it keeps us from sin. May the power of Your Spirit rest upon us throughout this day, cleansing and purifying our thoughts, feelings, and all our inner life, and compelling us to walk in holiness in all we say and do.

Please guide us today, O Elohim, and keep us in all our experiences. Guard us from carelessness. Let us not drift away from the holy truths we have been taught, nor from Jesus, Yeshua... our Savior. Let us not become entangled in the affairs of this world in a way that causes us to lose any of the sanctity of our lives. Though we are in the world, let us not be of it. Help us to maintain a godly life amid all that is ungodly. May our citizenship always be visibly in Heaven, even though we dwell on this earth. May we be true pilgrims, looking for a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Let us not love this world as if we were going to stay in it forever.

Grant a personal blessing to each one in our family. Our needs are different. Tenderly care for those of us who are weak. Shelter any of us who will be exposed to temptation today, and let us not fall. If any unforeseen trouble or sorrow lies in our path, prepare us for it, that we may not be caught off guard and fall into sin. May we each carry out into the world a power of love and grace that will bless everyone we meet. We ask all this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/57/morning
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