Afresh Each Day

June 24

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night." Psalm 92:1-2

MARTIN LUTHER'S DAILY PRAYERS

This short prayer is taken from Martin Luther's Small Catechism. It is intended to be used to help you begin each day with the Lord.

LUTHER'S PRAYER:

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

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.


How many of us surrender ourselves so fully in prayer? Do we begin each day with thanksgiving to our great God and King that He has kept us through the night, or do we roll out of bed as though a new day were inevitable? Do we surrender the new day before us to His keeping or do we enter it in our own strength?

Do we enlist His aid in being kept from sin and temptation and evil or do we presume that we are capable of avoiding the pitfalls of the enemy in our own ability? If we do, we give ourselves far too much credit, for he “goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,” I Peter 5:8.

Do we enlist the Lord’s aid in assuring that our activities will please Him or do we set about our day with the intent of pleasing our self? If we are focused on the busy-ness of the day apart from His helping hand, we relegate ourselves to disappointment, for it is only what is done for Christ that shall last (see II Corinthians 5:10).

Do we embrace the idea of holy heavenly helpers to watch over us and guide us through each day so all our ways may be ordered by the Lord? Do we determine within our own mind and spirit that we will be controlled by the power of the Lord rather than by the forces of the enemy of our soul?

If the great reformer felt the necessity to commit himself afresh each day to the Savior, perhaps we, too, need Jesus’ constant help to wend our way safely through the quagmire of today’s convoluted world.