Updated March 2026
Christians want to spend time with their heavenly Father, but many activities crowd our days – and often our time with God is erratic and chaotic. These devotional guides may help to instill some order into your life and make your time with God more steady, fruitful, and enjoyable. I have been using these guides for many years and have found them very beneficial. These are guides, not laws. Use them in whatever ways they assist you in drawing near to God. Meeting with God morning and evening, however brief, is a spiritually healthy practice.
How to Use These Devotional Guides
Daily Prayer Guides | |
| Rising Prayer(2-3 min.) |  |
| Lauds(3-5 min.) | |
| Morning Prayer(20-40 min.) | |
| Noon Prayer(6-8 min.) | |
| Midday Prayer(9-12 min.) | |
| Evening Devotions(4-6 min.) | |
| Evening Prayer(20-40 min.) | |
| Compline(4-6 min.) | |
| Retiring Prayer(2-3 min.) | |
| Thanksgiving Prayers(20 min.) | |
| Opening Devotions(10 min.) | |
Devotional Resources |
|
| Psalms for Responsive Reading (ESV) | |
| Psalms for Daily Responsive Reading (ESV) | |
| Psalms for Responsive Reading (KJV) | |
| Advent Daily Readings | |
| Christmastide Daily Readings | |
| Passion Week Daily Readings | |
| Easter Week Daily Readings | |
| Passion Prayer | |
| Tenebrae |
Sample Daily Plans
Ideas for how you might use these guides to pray throughout the day.
Plan A |
Plan B |
Plan C |
| Rising Prayer | Lauds | Lauds |
| Morning Prayer | ||
| Noon Prayer | Midday Prayer | Noon Prayer |
| Evening Devotions | Evening Devotions | Evening Prayer |
| Compline | Compline | Retiring Prayer |
How to Use These Devotional Guides
Daily Prayer Guides |
|
| Rising Prayer(2-3 min.) | |
| Lauds(3-5 min.) | |
| Morning Prayer(20-40 min.) | |
| Noon Prayer(6-8 min.) | |
| Midday Prayer(9-12 min.) | |
| Evening Devotions(4-6 min.) | |
| Evening Prayer(20-40 min.) | |
| Compline(4-6 min.) | |
| Retiring Prayer(2-3 min.) | |
| Thanksgiving Prayers(20 min.) | |
| Opening Devotions(10 min.) | |
Devotional Resources |
|
| Psalms for Responsive Reading (ESV) | |
| Psalms for Daily Responsive Reading (ESV) | |
| Psalms for Responsive Reading (KJV) | |
| Advent Daily Readings | |
| Christmastide Daily Readings | |
| Passion Week Daily Readings | |
| Easter Week Daily Readings | |
| Passion Prayer | |
| Tenebrae |
Sample Daily Plans
Ideas for how you might use these guides to pray throughout the day.
Plan A |
| Rising Prayer |
| Morning Prayer |
| Noon Prayer |
| Evening Devotions |
| Compline |
Plan B |
| Lauds |
| Midday Prayer |
| Evening Devotions |
| Compline |
Plan C |
| Lauds |
| Noon Prayer |
| Evening Prayer |
| Retiring Prayer |
Rising Prayer and Retiring Prayer are brief devotional guides for those of us who cannot focus when we are tired, but wish to pray at the beginning and end of the day. Lauds and Compline are also for morning and evening. They are a bit longer and can be used individually or with a group. The rest of the guides may be most useful in a group or with your family, but individuals may wish to use them as well. Each guide suggests a psalm, which can be read from the Psalter document accessible by the link. Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, and Evening Prayer are full-length services. I suppose most people would use only one of those each day. Noon Prayer and Evening Devotions are abbreviated versions of Midday Prayer and Evening Prayer and might be used when a longer service is held at another time of the day. I suggest you use just one of the options provided for each day under “Prayer of the Day/Evening/Night/Mission.” When young children are present the shorter guides are likely the best, and selections can be abbreviated to suit the maturity of the group. Thanksgiving Prayers is designed for a family on Thanksgiving Day, and Opening Devotions is for the start of a meeting. You may wish to enlarge the display on a phone if the text is a bit small for you.
There is a deep logic in each guide and in the daily sequence, drawing on 2,000 years of devotional practice, but you should use them however they help you. Monks pray seven times a day (Psalm Psalm 119:164), and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer specifies that clergy pray Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer each day. Many of us are doing well if we manage one or two short prayers each day! Well that’s a start, and seven times is extreme for ordinary Christians, even clergy. I propose that we be guided by two priciples 1) We strive to pray throughout the day, 2) We do it in whatever manner is suitable to our situation and compatible with our personal way of approaching God. God’s people from ancient times have found that structured prayers can assist in meeting these two objectives. It is with this in mind that these guides are presented. You may find one helpful, or two, or more. Experiment and see what works for you.
You may think that saying the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer twice each day would come to be rote and meaningless. That can happen, but it’s not inevitable. Luther understood that our thoughts need to be molded toward God, and repetition is a necessary part of that process. The Creed implants in our hearts and minds the truth that we do not worship just any god, but specifically the God who revealed Himself in the Old Covenant as “Yahweh,” and in the New Covenant as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The Creed also deepens our conviction that our faith is rooted in real acts of our God in history. Every day the world, the flesh, and the devil tell us that only children and idiots believe in God, and if there is a God, He is an impersonal force. Every day the Creed summarizes the teaching of scripture that there is a true God who cares for us, and whose three persons passionately love us. The Lord’s Prayer was given us by Jesus with the instruction to say it.
“Rising Prayer” and “Retiring Prayer” are adapted from Martin Luther’s morning and evening prayer guides. I added a brief psalm reading because I think it is important to begin and end each day with a word from God. The other guides are inspired by the Book of Common Prayer also drawing from other prayer books. I have slightly adapted them to make them easier to use
David Green 