PCPC Daily Prayer Guide

August 29 - November 27

At PCPC our desire is for people to Connect to Christ and One Another, Abide in Christ, and Extend Christ. We have developed a daily resource to Abide in Christ through Scripture and prayer. This prayer guide is oriented around the Psalms and reading through 1 & 2 Kings and Daniel.

We've made this Prayer Guide available through the new PCPC app (download via Apple App Store or Google Play Store for free), so you can have access wherever you are throughout the day.

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.

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” and let God’s Word lead you into prayer.

2. It helps us to pray biblically.

The majority of the reading is from Scripture. We will read through 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 an individual one.

Use this guide however may be helpful to you. For many, that means using it just as it is. For those who are in the habit of family worship, you can adapt the guide to read and pray together as a family.

Here are suggestions for each of the elements:

The Call to Prayer is God’s invitation for you to pray to Him as a beloved child speaking to a perfectly good and loving Father.

The Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving are a space to celebrate the wonderful loving-goodness of God as revealed in His word and in your own life.

The daily scripture readings turn our attention to God through His living Word.

The time for reflection is intended to create space for you to listen to God through the scripture readings and ask for His help to joyfully obey.

The Prayer of Confession is a time to tell God your failures, being as specific as possible, to live according to His loving-goodness and to receive the underserved healing-kindness of God that we need for renewal.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray in this way so we too follow His lead by praying the Lord’s Prayer.

The Prayer of Supplication is a place to ask God to accomplish His redemptive purposes in the specific circumstances and relationships that are on your heart and mind, even as we pray for the Church and the needs we see in the world beyond our personal involvement.

The Weekly Collect is a way of joining the Church in the local congregation and around the world by praying the same prayer on the same day. All of the closing prayers draw from The Book of Common Prayer and remind us that we are united in Christ as we gather together—“collect”—our prayers and present them before our one God: the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Sundays are a unique day set apart to gather and worship as a church family, to celebrate once again the victory of Christ over sin and death. There is not a dedicated section for Sundays in the prayer guide because the liturgy of common worship is our focus on this day.

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 element. 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, you may each say something aloud, no matter how short or clumsy (we are all learners!). During the Prayer of 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.