“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
Every morning, the first thing I do after saying a brief prayer and getting out of bed, is look at the verse of the day at https://youversion.com/bible-app. The verse of the day will come as a notification if you allow it. Mine shows up daily at 5:48 AM Central Time. I often get up before 5:48 AM, so I just open the app and look at the verse. I pray on the verse for a moment, and do my best to remember it. I think on the verse throughout the day and apply it to my life. Sometimes I decide I need the context of the verse, so I read the surrounding verses of the passage.
When I get on my knees and pray each day, I pray the verse of the day for myself and others. I ask God to reveal the whole meaning of the verse to me and help me apply it to my life.
Over the years I have developed a framework when I pray that helps keep me on track as I pray. The framework is not rigid, and there are variations every day, but I find the organization helpful. After praising God, and repenting (see Teach Us To Pray), most of my prayer time involves praying for people. I always begin with my immediate family. I pray the verse of the day for each of them, as well as for any needs that they might have. Most days I pray for other family members, friends, people I work with, several that I am praying will come to know Jesus, my church, and anyone else who needs prayer on that particular day. One day per week, I pray specifically for a larger number of people, including many more extended family members, friends, and colleagues. I work with close to 300 people, which makes it really difficult to pray for each one individually, so I pray for them in groups, unless someone has a need that I know of that I want to pray specifically about. On this day I also pray for local, state, and federal government officials, and first responders among others. This was difficult to keep track of when I first began praying for all of these people. It is much easier now that I have a framework that I use.
I often end my prayer time with “The Lord’s Prayer”. Praying “The Lord’s Prayer” reminds me of how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. I usually use the ESV Bible translation which uses the terms “debts” and “debtors”, but when I pray it each day, I ask God to “forgive my sins as I forgive those who sin against me”, which is from the NIV translation. I need this reminder of God’s grace toward me, and the reminder to extend grace to anyone who has sinned against me each day. I also ask to be delivered from the evil one, also from the NIV, which is a great daily reminder that Satan is real, and he wants to destroy me.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9–13 NIV
Establishing daily worship habits, and developing a framework for my prayers has enhanced my prayer life, and helped me remember to commune with God throughout each day.