A Guide for Your Personal Worship Today

The following is a sample day's readings from Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship, a 31-day liturgical guide designed to provide structure to the daily worship of individuals and families.

A Liturgy of Daily Worship

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” It provides the answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” A liturgy of daily worship aims to help us toward the goal of glorifying God and enjoying him in a time of personal or family worship each day. So, as we rise each morning to experience God’s mercies anew, let us hear him call us to his worship through his word.

Be Thou My Vision

Jonathan Gibson

Designed to be read in 15–20 minutes a day, this liturgical devotional guide will give readers focus and purpose in their daily quiet time while teaching them historical prayers, creeds, and catechisms that point them to Christ.

Call to Worship

Hear God call you to worship through his word:

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant,
and a song of praise is fitting.
Psalm 147:1

Adoration

Say or sing this praise to God:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above you heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Doxology

Reading of the Law

Hear God’s law as his will for your life:

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:37–40

Confession of Sin

Confess your sins to God:

Almighty God,
unto whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden—
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
so that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer (1552)

Assurance of Pardon

Receive these words of comfort from God:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28–30

Apostles’ Creed

Confess what you believe about the Christian faith:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead, and buried;
he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Praise

Say or sing this praise to God:

Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Gloria Patri

Catechism

Receive this instruction from one of the church’s catechisms:

Heidelberg Catechism (1563)

1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Prayer for Illumination

As you read his word, ask God to enlighten your mind and heart:

Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your Majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, nor the thorny cares of this life choke it. But that, as seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed. Amen. Middelburg Liturgy

Scripture Reading

Read a portion of God’s word:

Acts 1

The Promise of the Holy Spirit
¹In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ²until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension
⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, ¹⁶“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” ¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

“‘Let another take his office.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” ²³And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Prayer of Intercession

As you make your requests to God, pray this prayer:

Your glorious Majesty surround me,
the blessed Trinity protect me,
and the eternal Godhead preserve me.
Your unlimited mercy support me;
your loving kindness encompass me;
your favor make me to rejoice.
The eternal truth of God be my delight,
the saving knowledge of Christ strengthen me,
and the all-prevailing grace of God be sufficient for me.
May the grace of God the Father lead me,
the wisdom of God the Son be my consolation,
and the power of the Holy Spirit enlighten me.
Lord my Creator, stand by me;
my Redeemer, save me;
and my Comforter, dwell with me. Amen.
Johann Habermann

Further Petition

Personal
Church
World

Lord’s Prayer

In closing, pray the words that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name;
your kingdom come;
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.

This article is adapted from Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship by Jonathan Gibson.

Jonathan Gibson (PhD, University of Cambridge) is an ordained minister in the International Presbyterian Church, United Kingdom, and associate professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is a coeditor of and contributor to From Heaven He Came and Sought Her and author of Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship. Jonny and his wife, Jackie, have four children.