River's Edge Community Church

Today we want to focus on growing in prayer. We define this characteristic with these statements:

• Our prayer life is constantly growing in richness.
• Our prayer life is in proper alignment with the emphases and priorities of the Lord’s Prayer.
• We are spending sufficient time in prayer, solitude and in listening to God speak through his Word.
• We are able to pray with contentment and peace that God’s will would be done in our lives.
• We are growing more and more in gratitude.

Wednesday is a day of worship, a day where we give praise to our God for his amazing love and grace.

My prayer goal for this week is ________________________________________.
Our goal for last week was ____________________________________________.


Let’s pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Read the following passage from Psalm 103
Praise the LORD, my soul;all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,and forget not all his benefits—
      who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
      who redeems your life from the pitand crowns you with love and compassion,
      who satisfies your desires with good thingsso that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
      as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
      for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;
      the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
      and his righteousness with their children’s children—
      with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding,who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul.

Reading to Worship
Today, we want to focus on prayer as a form of worship. This prayer from the Psalms speaks powerfully to the nature of our God.

The normal response to encountering God is worship. When that doesn’t happen, our first question must be to ask why. Why isn’t our heart moved when we hear his voice in his Word? Do a heart-check to see if there is anything blocking your way to worship as you read this passage.

Using some words and thoughts from our passage, answer one of the following questions as we prepare our hearts and minds to worship (please make these statements as personal to you as possible).

• What strikes you as you read this passage?
• What do we learn about God from this passage?
• What is the relationship of praise to discipleship and spiritual formation?
• The Psalmist urges us not to forget God’s benefits. What has God done for you?
• What spiritual priorities are evident in this prayer?
• What does prayer do for God? What does it do for us?
• If praise is so important, why don’t we invest in it more?
• How could this passage lead you to worship?

Question:
What do we need to do to grow in our ability to praise?

Thoughts to Ponder
"Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them."  (John Calvin)

“Time spent alone with God is not wasted. It changes us; it changes our surroundings; and every Christian who would live the life that counts, and who would have power for service must take time to pray.”  (M.E. Andross)

"Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence."  (W. S. Bowd)

The One Thing
Today, we want to develop a pattern of daily prayer. Praying the Lord’s Prayer daily (or two or three times) is a great habit to have. Praying the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner) throughout the day is a good way to keep centered on Christ. Prayer walks and prayer lists are both helpful. Our desire is to give you numerous tools so that you can find the one or two that works best for you. But today, we want to encourage you to pray the Psalms. Reread Psalm 103 and choose one verse that you want to pray throughout the day. For instance, you may choose verse 8 (The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love) or verse 12 (as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us) or verse 17 (But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him). Try to pray around this verse five or six times during the day so that it resounds in your soul. You don’t have to pray long; short sentence prayers are best here. The key is to pray when the Spirit moves you and to pray when you need to be reminded that God is present. Today, pray the Psalms and find God’s peace and will as you do.

Closing Prayer
Abba Father, pour out your love upon us so that we may love you and love our neighbor as ourselves. Our hearts are also small. Enlarge them with your glory so they are fit for you. Open our eyes to your love so that we will always walk in your ways. Fill us with your Spirit that we may be your people. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.