Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church

Daily Devotions for July 2022

This month we will continue with our summer of daily lection divina. I want to encourage you to use a simple daily practice with scripture, trusting that the Spirit will inspire and lead you. Throughout this month we will focus on the book of Psalms, our prayer book for millennia. Most of these verses are very short. You might try memorizing the ones that speak most deeply to you. Or you can return to the verse throughout the day and sit with it to see how the Spirit enlivens different aspects. The Psalms express every emotion and state of the human experience. On any particular day, the verse might not feel like it reflects where you are that day. I encourage you to use it anyway. It will plant itself inside you and be there for you just when you need it. To begin each day, take a few deep breaths and try to release your worries and thoughts for just a split second. This will open you to that spacious place in your heart where the Spirit resides. Then, when you are ready, read each of this brief scriptures aloud, if that is practical. Invite the Spirit to illumine your heart. Then read it again, slowly. Notice if any word or idea seems more vibrant to you. If so, linger with it. Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t try to study it. Just be for a moment with the word or thought in the Spirit’s presence. Know that the Spirit is working just what you need inside of you, whether you can feel that or not. Then read the verse once more, slowly and with gratitude and close your time with the written prayer. This ancient method of scripture meditation is called lectio divina and it has held believers up and together for many centuries. I will do this with you and pray for the Spirit’s fruit to be manifest from our time of daily meditation. 

1 – Psalm 99:5 Extol the Lord our God; worship at God’s footstool. Holy is our God! 

Prayer: Dear God, you are all holiness and beauty! We see your handiwork our hearts take flight. Open our eyes today to see and praise you. Amen. 

2 – Psalm 26:8 I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glory shines. 

Prayer: Dear God, throughout the centuries across the globe your children have delighted in worshipping you. Fill me today with deep wonder at your love and power. Draw me to worship you with my whole heart. Amen. 

3 – Psalm 33:4 – The word of the Lord holds true, and everything he does is worthy of trust. 

Prayer: Dear God, how I long to trust you more! Some days I feel that you are far away and distracted. Then I can only trust myself. What a mistake! Help me to trust you even if I do not feel you. Amen. 

4 – Psalm 104:24 How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 

Prayer: Dear God, I thank you today for the beauty of this land and for the gifts and responsibilities you have given us as a people. Help us to work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen. 

5 – Psalm 91:1 God orders the angels to protect you wherever you go. 

Prayer: Dear God you are with me and in charge today. Thank you. Help me to lean into your love and provision and live this day in tranquility. Amen. 

6 – Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law. 

Prayer: Dear God, sometimes rules seem to chafe, but your rule is always not only right, but good and winsome. Help me to honor you today by living according to your word. Amen. 

7 – Psalm 68:19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day God carries us in his arms. 

Prayer: Dear God, I woke up weary this morning and I am aware that I need you more than usual. Lift me up and hold me tight. Fill me with your love and live through me today. Amen. 

8 – Psalm 40:17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God. 

Prayer: Dear God, sometimes I am just a bundle of needs and hurts. Comfort me, I beg of you. Remind me that what I see is not all that there is, not to my situation, not to the world, and especially not to you. Amen. 

9 – Psalm 130:1-2 From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. 

Prayer: Dear God, sometimes I cry out to you and do not understand why you seem silent. Speak to me today, dear God. Help me to meet today’s challenges knowing that you are with me. Amen. 

10 – Psalm 26:12 I have taken a stand, and I will publicly praise the Lord. 

Prayer: Dear God, it is my joy today to bear your name: Christian. Help me to honor you in all I do. Give me courage to be your person in all that I do. Amen 

11 – Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good; God’s love endures forever. 

Prayer: Dear God, it is so much fun to wake with your praises on my lips. Thanks you for drawing me to prayer to day! Help me all day to notice every blessing and sing your praise. Amen. 

12 – Psalm 84:11 – For the Lord is our light and protector. God gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. 

Prayer: Dear God, you are the light of my life. Today I ask that you show me a patch of your light to stand in. Help me to trust your bounty and live according to your plan. Amen. 

13 – Psalm 106:2 – Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all God’s praise? 

Prayer: Dear God, I am amazed by you. I see the tiniest creatures and the grandest designs and I am humbled to the core. You have kept me and led me all of my life and I do not know what to say but ‘thank you’. Amen. 

14 – Psalm 32:8 – The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” 

Prayer: Dear God, some days my path seems strewn with boulders higher than I can even see. Help me to trust you to take my next step. Help me to know that you see the destination and to follow you willingly. Amen. 

15 – Psalm 36:6 – By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of God’s mouth. 

Prayer: Dear God, you have spoken all creation into being. It’s vastness is supreme. Even my own life you spoke into being. Thank you for your word. Train me to hear and respond. Amen. 

16 – Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation---so why should I be afraid? 

Prayer: Dear God, sometimes my fears are just relentless. Even when they threaten to overwhelm me I know that they are really false because in you all fear is banished. Help me today to see your light. Amen. 

17 – Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is in vain. 

Prayer: Dear God, the house of my soul feels shaky today. Shore up my foundations with your peace for I cannot do it alone. Amen. 

18 – Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear God, and God delivers them. 

Prayer: Dear God, I believe that your angels are encamped around me to help and protect me. Thank you. Today I ask that you help me rest in the promise of your help. Amen. 

19 – Psalm 31:7 I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul. 

Prayer: Dear God, all I can think about today is your love for me. It is more wonderful than words. You have held me in despair and your love is enough. Amen. 

20 – Psalm 128: 1-2 Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,, who walks in God’s ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you. 

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for providing me with something to do today, no matter what it is. My life is full from loving you and I am feasting on your grace. Amen. 

21 – Psalm 69: 14 – Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. 

Prayer: Dear God, people are driving me crazy today! I do not understand them or why they do what they do. Help me to rely on you. Guide me through these waters. Amen. 

22 – Psalm 41:1 – Blessed is the one who considers the poor 

Prayer: Dear God, I am tired of thinking about my own problems all the time! Help me to focus on others in need. Use me in their healing. Amen. 

23 – Psalm 68:34 – Tell everyone about God’s power. 

Prayer: Dear God, than you for your powerful love. Give me today someone with whom I can share that love. Amen. 

24 – Psalm 27:4 - The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live my life in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. 

Prayer: Dear God, I long for you with a deep longing. All I ask is to draw near to you. Take me in your arms and never let me go. Amen. 

25 – Psalm 106:48 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord. 

Prayer: Dear God, I want to praise you today but I am having a hard time doing it. Life is hard and I am stressed. Come to me, Lord, and open my eyes to your wonders. Amen. 

26 – Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

Prayer: Dear God, I return to this verse again and again and again. I cling to it as a way of clinging to you. Help me. Strengthen me. Deliver me. Amen. 

27 – Psalm 69:32 – The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God’s help live in joy. 

Prayer: Dear God, help me today not to try to do everything myself. Help me to seek and accept the help I need so that I may experience a little of the joy you have for me. Amen. 

28 – Psalm 141:3 – Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. 

Prayer: Dear God, today I ask that you help me to speak only good and loving things to others and to myself. Amen. 

29 – Psalm 27:5 In the time of trouble God shall hide me in God’s own pavilion 

Prayer: Dear God, I would like to flee to you today. Please tuck me to your heart and let me rest there awhile. Amen. 

30 – Psalm 100:2 – Obey God gladly; come before God, singing with joy. 

Prayer: Dear God, I seem to never learn that obeying you is my joy. Help me today to remember that your ways are always best. Amen. 

31 – Psalm 124:8 – Our help is from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth. 

Prayer: Dear God, you have made all things and we are all in your hands. Help me today to look to you for my support and my meaning. Amen.