Eight Days a Week – Really?
Good day, friends, the picture above is of my mother Mae Evelyn Lewis. If you knew her, you’d know why I used her picture for this installment, “Eight Days a Week – Really?”. I am including a prayer guide for this coming week and asking you to pray 8 different “morning and evening” prayer requests/questions. So there are 8 days worth of items, but 7 days or a week until the next installment of 52 Week Plan. Maybe you could double up one day!
My Mom prayed. Even when she was in her 90’s and for decades prior, she prayed. At 100 years of age, she went to be with the God she’d served most of her life and talked to in prayer regularly…daily…often. So would you please check out the prayer guide below and perhaps use a method of keeping it handy as an appointment on your digital calendar or just a paper copy.
The 8 “Morning and Evening” Prayer Guide comes from a study I have been doing for years on The Beatitudes. We used the discoveries in Basic Training when I was at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. (2001-2010) Since then, we’ve used these principles in teaching and reaching people around the country and outside the country, as well.
Beatitude Prayer Guide – “How’s Your Heart?”
Did I live loved and give Jesus’ love freely today…starting with my closest relationships?
Matthew 5:3-12
Directions: Would you please pray one or more of these Morning Prayers before leaving home? Would you ask God the Evening questions and listen to Him using the Evening Prayer before going to sleep at night?
1. Morning Prayer – Father, may I realize that I am 100% needy of Your love and provision 100% of the time? Help me not feel or act superior or inferior to others; help me to live loved and give Jesus’ love freely.
Evening Prayer – Father, are there those to whom I felt or acted inferior or superior today? If so, I admit it to you now that I am neither. I am just as loved by You and just as needy of You, as every other person. Are you my greatest source of hope for a blessed and enviable life?
2. Morning Prayer – Father, may I bring my pain to you today when I am hurt by others or when I hurt others? Help me to admit my wrong and hurt to You and others as You direct.
Evening Prayer – Father, did I do damage to others today leaving them in their aloneness when I could have shown your love? Was my heart damaged today being left in my aloneness? Did I admit either or both to you? Does anyone but You, Father, have ultimate control of my thoughts and emotions?
3. Morning Prayer – Father, may I submit to your opinion of me and conduct myself in a way that shows I value your will and ways more than I do anyone else’s; even more than my own.
Evening Prayer – Father, today was my life a clear example of someone who didn’t live for myself but lived it in complete submission to Your will and way? Does Your opinion of me matter most? Am I free of insecurity and fear, knowing you keep your promises to me?
4. Morning Prayer – Father, rather than do good deeds today to make myself acceptable to You or liked by others, may I do what I do from gratitude because You already love and accept me?
Evening Prayer – Father, did I walk today in the satisfaction of knowing I am loved and accepted not because I am good but because Jesus, Who lives in me, declares me to be acceptable to You?
5. Morning Prayer – Father, may I forgive others from the heart today as You forgive me, whether the wrong I experienced was recent, distant past, a single incident, or continuous over time?
Evening Prayer – Father, was there anyone today to whom I didn’t show mercy but held them at arm’s length or kept them caged in my prison of unforgiveness? Is my heart free of anger and bitterness? Did I yield control of my life to anyone who doesn’t truly love me?
6. Morning Prayer – Father, may I hold nothing in my heart that would be considered an unnecessary weight or unconfessed sin, so that my heart can be pure, and I can see You as you truly are?
Evening Prayer – Father, is there anything in my heart that would be considered a burden (damage others inflicted on me) or a sin (damage I did to others)? Is there anything in either category in my heart as I prepare to sleep and rest?
7. Morning Prayer – Father, may I live as a peacemaker today; and be in Your service bringing people together and to You, as any loved child in Your forever family is able to do?
Evening Prayer – Father, was I a peacemaker or a trouble maker today? Was there any gap between two people or between You and another person where I served as a bridge at Your direction or did I make the gap bigger in any relationship?
8. Morning Prayer – Father, as a child of Yours living my life today, my acts of service may be appreciated or not, and my motives may, at times, be understood or not. Whether or not I am accepted and appreciated by others, may I continue to love.
Evening Prayer – Father, what was it today that challenged my faith or my trust in You? Was I stopped in my loving devotion to You or my service to others because someone misunderstood or challenged me? Was I a resilient Christian today, loving even when ignored or rejected?
Note: Each of these 8 prayer reminders is based on a Beatitude: Matthew 5:3-12