Zion Lutheran Church (LCMS)

A Guide for Daily Prayer and Meditation: March 9-14, 2025

Pray and confess out loud as much as you are able or based on your family size and ages. (Alternative orders in LSB pp295-8)

+++

The sign of the cross + may be made by all in remembrance of their baptism.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Hymn of the Month for March LSB 921 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

One or more verses from the hymn of the month are sung, or another hymn may be chosen.

Verse of the Week: Ephesians 6:11

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Daily Lectionary

The Lord’s Prayer: The Introduction

  Our Father who art in heaven.

What does this mean?

          With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children,

   so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.     

 (Go to bottom of next page for related Bible verses and/or excerpts from Large Catechism.)

The Apostles’ Creed is confessed † Lord’s Prayer † Prayers for Others and Ourselves (see LSB 305-318 for prayers)

In Our Prayers: Those who are suffering:  Shirley Arndt, Fred Burkart (Tiffany Drinkman’s father), Anita Dommer, Dan Drinkman, JoAnn Ehlers, Lois Eichinger, Louis and Mary Gettler, Harold Grunwald (Susan’s father), Richard Hanson, Marlys Jones, Pastor Jones, Rick Lahner (Carter’s grandfather), Greg Leland, Missy Lien (Thomas family friend), Lacie Miles (Chrystal’s sister-in-law), Marlene Paulson (Dianne Schroeder’s sister), Kathy Peterson, Doris Post,  Mark Radl, Dianne Schroeder, Kara Simmons (Pastor & Susan Thomas’ goddaughter), Leah Sparks (Marty Swearingen’s sister), Pastor Szedlak, Jeff Thomas, Ethel Vance, Cookie Ziebarth

Collect for the First Sunday in Lent

O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Prayer based on The Lord’s Prayer:  The Introduction[1]

Heavenly Father, Your words give us boldness and confidence to acknowledge You as our true Father and ourselves as Your true children. May Your Holy Spirit lead us to trust in Your fatherly goodness, call upon Your name in every need, and glorify You as the author and giver of every good and perfect gift; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Excerpts from the Large Catechism on the Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

- We are in a situation where no person can perfectly keep the Ten Commandments, even though he has begun to believe. The devil with all his power, together with the world and our own flesh, resists our efforts. Therefore, nothing is more necessary than that we should continually turn towards God’s ear, call upon Him, and pray to Him. We must pray that He would give, preserve, and increase faith in us and the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments. We pray that He would remove everything that is in our way and that opposes us in these matters. (408:1-2)

-The human heart is by nature so hopeless that it always flees from God and imagines that He does not wish or desire our prayer, because we are sinners and have earned nothing but wrath. (409:10)

-From the fact that prayer is so solemnly commanded, you are to conclude and think that no one should in any way despise his prayer. Instead, he should count on prayer. He should always turn to an illustration from the other commandments. A child should in no way despise his obedience to father and mother, but should always think, “This work is a work of obedience. What I do I do for no other reason than that I may walk in the obedience and commandment of God. On this obedience I can settle and stand firm, and I can value it as a great thing, not because of my worthiness, but because of the commandment.” So here also, we should think about the words we pray and the things we pray for as things demanded by God and done in obedience to Him. We should think, “On my account this prayer would amount to nothing. But it shall succeed, because God has commanded it.” (409-410:12-13)

Bible verses for meditation on the Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

-“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”1 John 3:1-2

-“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

-“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

[1] Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis: Concordia, 2017.