PCPC Daily Prayer Guide

This guide has a simple aim: to help us grow in our love for God through time in His Word and prayer. The Bible teaches that in order to love God, we need a relationship with Him. That relationship has been provided by God Himself, through overcoming the alienation caused by our sin through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God the Son. In union with Christ, we now have intimate access to God as our heavenly Father. Scripture and prayer are the means through which we experience, apply, and enjoy that relationship. As we learn to pray and as we learn to listen and obey the gracious overtures of God’s Word, we learn to live as God’s children—to love and trust Him more fully.

Why set aside fixed times every day for prayer? Why not simply pray unprompted, when the stirring comes? Practically speaking, we are creatures attuned to rhythms. We order our lives by sunrises and sunsets, by hours, weeks, seasons, and years. Daily prayer is a way of consecrating our ordinary rhythms to God, ensuring that all of life is offered to Him. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” And so it must. Our relationship with God should take hold of our schedules as well as our hearts.
Historically speaking, this has been the way of God’s people. Consider the testimonies of the psalmists:

“Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).
“Evening and morning and at noon I cry out to you...” (Psalm 55:17).
“Seven times a day do I praise you...” (Psalm 119:64).
By the time of the first century, the ritual of daily prayer was formally embedded in Jewish spirituality. There were several hours in the day that marked regular times for prayer. The first detailed miracle in Acts happened because Peter and John were going to the temple “at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1) for three o’clock prayers. Peter’s vision in Acts 10 confirming God’s grace for the Gentiles occurred as he was observing sixth-hour prayer, his noon devotions (Acts 10:9). The community that gathered after Pentecost devoted themselves daily
to “the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
The practice of daily prayer continued through the early church and expanded consistently throughout time and culture wherever the gospel spread. Along with Sunday worship and the sacraments, daily prayer remains a central way that Christians all over the world express devotion to Christ.
But we might simply hearken back to Jesus Himself. Even being the eternal Son of God, Jesus set aside times to pray regularly. He celebrated His dependence on the Father (John 5:19, 30) and sought sanctuary in solitude with Him (Luke 5:16). If it was necessary for Jesus who is “very God of very God,” how much more for us who are made to bear His image?

A common objection to using a liturgy for devotions is that it restricts freedom, deteriorating into heartless formality. However, if you have ever found yourself repeating the same words and phrases over and over again in prayer “spontaneously,” then you know that our own minds and experiences are just as restrictive. Guided prayer is not meant to curb freedom but to bolster it by introducing into our prayer life the language and imagery of the Scriptures. Here are a few compelling reasons to use a prayer guide:

1. It helps us to pray regularly.
Sometimes we may not pray regularly because we may not know where to begin. A prayer guide takes the pressure off needing to make that decision anew every day. It repeatedly says, “Start here.” You do not need a stirring, a reason, a plan, or consistency. Simply “start here” and let God’s Word lead you into prayer.

2. It helps us to pray biblically.
In this prayer guide there is no commentary from gifted Christian authors or pastors. It is uncluttered, so to speak. The elements come either directly from Scripture or from common worship. The majority of time is spent in the Psalms, a book of the Bible meant especially for prayer and worship. One of the encouraging messages reiterated in the Psalms is that you do not have to put on a happy face to live the Christian life. Praying biblically allows us to pray the truth of who we are while growing in the hope of who we might yet become.

3. It helps us to pray communally.
Though we are praying individually, we are doing so together, specifically as a church body. This book is meant for this flock, in this time and place. To know that others with whom God has joined us are reading and praying the same words encourages us in our common journey. Prayer is a communal activity as much as much as an individual one.

Use this guide however may be helpful to you. For many, that means using it just as it is. For others who are already committed to daily reading plans or Bible studies, that may mean skipping the Scripture readings and only using some of the other portions. For those who are in the habit of family worship, you can adapt the guide to read and pray together as a family.

Praise God for who He is as He has shown in His Word and in your life. Thank Him for His presence and gifts in your life.

Sundays are unique as our time to gather and worship as a church family, to celebrate once again the victory of Christ over sin and death. There are only Psalm readings on Sunday because the liturgy of corporate worship is our primary focus. Consider using the Sunday morning liturgy again at night for personal prayer.

This prayer guide can be a great tool for times of family worship. We suggest letting any of those who are able take turns reading each portion: one person reads the Call to Worship, another the Confession of Sin, another the Words of Assurance, and so on. This ensures that everyone is involved in both hearing and speaking the Word of God with one another. During the Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving and the Prayers of Supplication and Intercession, you may each say something aloud, no matter how short or clumsy (we are all learners!). During the Personal Examination and Confession, take a minute to pray to God personally in the quiet of your own thoughts. This is just one way to use the guide as a family. We encourage you to explore how it might best help your own worship and devotion in your life together.

As a final word, there are many great reading plans, devotionals, and exercises to encourage in us a life of prayer. This is a way to pray, only one among many that has grown up in the history of God’s people. Most important is not the method, but the reality of loving and trusting God. May your relationship with Him grow.