First
United Methodist Church 
Study Guide and Daily Devotion
This week’s Study Guide will be aimed at helping you grow in your relationship with God as you seek to experience God’s presence and communicate with him. Rather than Bible study you will be pursuing a form of guided prayer using the scriptures to shape your prayer life. For this we will turn to the Bible’s prayer book – the Book of Psalms.
Monday, January 15
Set aside ten to fifteen minutes, finding a quiet place for your conversation with God. Look over your notes from Sunday’s sermon. Which of the types of relationships we have with God are you most often drawn toward? Read Psalm 8 first silently, and then read it aloud. What does this Psalm say about God? What is its tone? Using the ACTS form of prayer (Affirming your faith – what you believe about God; Confession – confessing your sin and need for God’s mercy; Thanksgiving – thanking God for the blessings in your life and for who God is; and Self-disclosure – revealing to God what’s on your heart, what you hope from him, and making yourself wholly available to him), spend the next ten minutes talking with God. God hears your every prayer. He is as close as your breath. Imagine God holding you in his arms as you are praying.Tuesday, January 16
Set aside fifteen minutes for your time with God today. Read Psalm 103 in silence. Now, read it again aloud. Which of its verses speak to you? Why? Take these particular verses, or the entire Psalm, and use the words of the Psalmist as the basis for your own prayer. Pause and ponder any of the verses that seem to carry a special message from God to you. Praise is the appropriate response of the saved to the Savior, of the creature to the Creator, of the loved to the Lover. Try singing a song of praise to God. Perhaps you could take a familiar tune, like Amazing Grace, and make up your own words of praise and thanksgiving to God.Wednesday, January 17
Set aside fifteen minutes for prayer. Look over the sermon notes from last weekend. Focus on one or two of the relationships we have with God that you don’t normally consider. Begin your prayer time by speaking to God using these two relationships as the basis for your conversation. Start by affirming to God and to yourself that God does, in fact, have this kind of relationship with you, and talk to him about that. For example, you may focus on God as “potter.” Your prayer might begin something like this: “Lord, you are the potter and I am the clay. I invite you to shape my…” Read aloud and pray Psalm 139. Use the ACTS outline for prayer.Thursday, January 18
In your prayer time today, begin by reading Psalm 66, first silently, then aloud. Notice that the Psalmist calls people to prayer, then instructs the people on what to say in their prayer. He invites them to remember God’s deeds on their behalf in the past (vv. 5-12). He offers sacrifices to the Lord, and then he bears witness to others of God’s goodness. What does this Psalm teach us about how to pursue our relationship with God? Read Psalm 23. Describe the Psalmists relationship with God. Write your own Psalm to God – a simple letter using the ACTS format.Friday, January 19
Today as you set aside time for prayer, we’ll focus on Psalms about
worship. These will, in part, be aimed at preparing you for worship this
weekend. Read Psalm 84 silently, and then aloud. This Psalm describes the
ancient temple of Israel, where even the sparrows made their nests. How
did the Psalmist describe his feelings about worship? Have you ever felt
that yearning for God described in verse 2? Read and pray Psalm 100. What
is the tone of this Psalm? What is the relationship to God that is emphasized?
Using the ACTS form of prayer, and the images and ideas from Psalms 100,
conclude your time of prayer.