Zion Lutheran Church (LCMS)

A Guide for Daily Prayer and Meditation: April 6–13, 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 April LSB 483 With High Delight Let Us Unite

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

Verse of the Week: Luke 20:17

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Daily Lectionary

The Lord’s Prayer: The Fourth Petition

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean?

       God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. 

 (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, Anna Thomas (Carol Gale’s mother), Jeff Thomas (Pastor’s brother), Ethel Vance, Cookie Ziebarth

Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, by Your great goodness mercifully look upon Your people that we may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul; 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 Fourth Petition[1]

Gracious Father, You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living creature. Teach us to acknowledge You as the Lord who provides for all of our needs in body and soul and so give thanks to You for all of Your bountiful gifts; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Excerpts from the Large Catechism on the Fourth Petition Lord’s Prayer

-    [The devil] is sorry if anyone has a morsel of bread from God and eats it in peace. If it were in his power and our prayer (next to God) did not prevent him, we would not keep a straw in the field, a farthing in the house, yes, not even our life for an hour. This is especially true of those who have God’s Word and would like to be Christians. (418:81)

-You see, in this way, God wishes to show us how He cares for us in all our need and faithfully provides also for our earthly support. He abundantly grants and preserves these things, even for the wicked and rogues. Yet, He wishes that we pray for these goods in order that we may recognize that we receive them from His hand and may feel His fatherly goodness toward us in them. For when He withdraws His hand, nothing can prosper or be maintained in the end. Indeed, we daily see this and experience it.” (418;82-83)

Daily Prayers: “Asking a Blessing” and “Returning Thanks” (from Small Catechism)

-    We pray before and after meals that we might learn to trust in our heavenly Father as the giver of daily bread and everything that we need to support us in this body and life. Our prayers before and after meals begin with assertions (or statements of faith) from the psalms: “The eyes of all look to You, [O Lord,] and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” and “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. [He] gives food to every creature…The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.” By praying these truths from God’s Word, we not only speak back to God what He has promised us, but we also learn to believe in these truths and trust God in the way the psalms direct us. As God’s Word, these psalm verses minister to us and serve to strengthen our faith and reliance upon Him.

Bible verses for meditation on the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer - Matthew 5:45, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, 1 Timothy 5:8, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, 1 Timothy 6:8-10, 1 Timothy 2:1-4
 

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