A Guide for Daily Prayer and Meditation: December 14-21, 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)
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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.
| Morning | Close of the Day |
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In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for You and watch |
The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and peace at the last. Amen. |
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My mouth is filled with Your praise, And with Your glory all the day. |
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, To sing praise to Your name, O Most High; |
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O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth will declare Your praise. |
To herald Your love in the morning; Your truth at the close of the day. |
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 December LSB 394 Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
One or more verses from the hymn of the month are sung, or another hymn may be chosen.
Verse of the Week: Psalm 80:2b
The powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Daily Lectionary
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
| Old Testament |
Isaiah 30:15-26 |
Isaiah 30:27-31:9 |
Isaiah 32:1-20 |
Isaiah 33:1-24 |
Isaiah 34:1-2, 8-35:10 |
Isaiah 40:1-17 |
Isaiah 40:18-41:10 |
Isaiah 42:1-25 |
| Psalms | 27:1,4-5,11-14; 24 |
146:1-7 80 |
149 61 |
40:1-5, 16-17 20 |
119:81-88 145 |
103:11-18 19 |
119:25-32 141 |
102 |
| New Testament |
Rev 2:1-29 |
Rev 3:1-22 |
Rev 4:1-11 |
Rev 5:1-14 |
Rev 6:1-17 |
Rev 7:1-17 |
Rev 8:1-13 |
Rev 9:1-12 |
The Lord’s Prayer: The Fifth Petition
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean?
We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
(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: Members: Vicki Bellore, Anita Dommer, Lois Eichinger, Louis Gettler, Chuck Hull, Marlys Jones, Pastor Jones, Greg Leland, Kathy Peterson, Doris Post, Matthew Potts, Mark Radl, Ethel Vance
Family &Friends: Bob (Linda Hull’s brother), Gabby Arnquist (Lyn Brace’s sister’s granddaughter), Fred Burkart (Tiffany Drinkman’s father), Harold & Joan Grunwald (Susan’s parents), Greg Hamlet (Rosa Blake’s niece’s step-father) Linda Hull, Jahyden Justice (Linda Murillo’s grandson), Rick Lahner (Carter’s grandfather), Lacie Miles (Chrystal’s sister-in-law), Marilyn Norton (Rev Norton’s wife), Marlene Paulson (Dianne Schroeder’s sister), Pastor Szedlak, George Taylor (Rosa Blake’s nephew), Ann Thomas (Carol Gale’s mother), Jeff Thomas (Pastor’s brother)
Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent
Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Prayer based on The Lord’s Prayer: The Fifth Petition[1]
Most merciful Father, our sins make us unworthy to ask anything of You. For the sake of Your dear Son, do not condemn us for our sins, but hear our cries for mercy and forgive us our trespasses. Enlivened by Your forgiveness, we, too, pledge to sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
| Morning | Close of the Day |
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Almighty God, merciful Father, who created and completed all things, on this day when the work of our calling begins anew, we implore You to create its beginning, direct its continuance, and bless its end, that our doings may be preserved from sin, our life sanctified, and our work be well pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. I thank you my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that 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 |
Visit our dwellings, O Lord, and in Your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of Your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. 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. |
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Excerpts from the Large Catechism on the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer
-[This [petition] applies to our poor miserable life. Although we have and believe God’s Word, do and submit to His will, and are supported by His gifts and blessings, our life is still not sinless. We still stumble daily and transgress because we live in the world among people. They do us much harm and give us reasons for impatience, anger, revenge, and such. (419:86)
- There is here again great need for us to call upon God and pray, “Dear Father, forgive us our trespasses.” It is not as though He did not forgive sin without and even before our prayer. (He has given us the Gospel, in which is pure forgiveness before we prayed or ever thought about it.) But the purpose of this prayer is that we may recognize and receive such forgiveness. The flesh in which we daily live is of such a nature that it neither trusts nor believes God. It is ever active in evil lusts and devices, so that we sin daily in word and deed, by what we do and fail to do. By this the conscience is thrown into unrest, so that it is afraid of God’s wrath and displeasure. So it loses the comfort and confidence derived from the Gospel. Therefore, it is always necessary that we run here and receive consolation to comfort the conscience again. (419:88-89)
Bible verses for meditation on the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer
-For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Galatians 5:17
- For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Romans 7:18
- 1 Timothy 1:15, Luke 9:23, James 5:16; The Penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143
[1] Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis: Concordia, 2017.