3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “The Heart of Prayer: Encountering God as Father”
Your God always has good gifts for you, even in seasons that cause you and Him grief. Seek the good gifts your Father has for you. Seek His face, then His hand. He is not here to grant your wishes, but to give you good gifts. Do you trust His heart for you? Maybe you don ’t pray because you don ’t trust His heart for you, His intentions for you. If you rely solely on your desires and wants in prayer, you will be disappointed. You will stop praying because your genie is broken. We should ask for God ’s hand. We should ask for healing, comfort, peace, reconciliation, and miracles. - Pastor Paul Crandell, 1/18/26
Day 1
Featured Verse: Psalm 27:1–3
When you picture the Lord as the stronghold of your life, what current situation or relationship are you still trying to defend or protect in your own strength instead of trusting Him to be your fortress?
What “army” feels encamped against you at this season of life, whether it’s financial pressure, health concerns, family conflict, or spiritual attack, and how would your heart respond differently if you let David’s confidence become your own?
When the psalmist says “The LORD is my light,” what area of your life currently feels dark, confusing, or uncertain, and how might inviting Him to be your light change the way you walk through that situation today?
Today’s Prayer: Lord, You are my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You are the stronghold of my life; even when enemies rise against me, my heart will not fear. I will be confident in You. Thank You for always taking care of me and hearing my prayers. I know I am safe because I abide in You. Amen.
“Though an host should encompass me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Here is great courage for the time to come. Experience breeds hope and confidence. David was not so courageous a man of himself; but upon experience of God's former comfort and assistance, his faith brake as fire out of the smoke, or as the sun out of a cloud. Though I was in such and such perplexities, yet for the time to come, I have such confidence and experience of God's goodness, that I will not fear. He that seeth God by a spirit of faith in his greatness and power, he sees all other things below as nothing. Therefore, he saith here, he cares not for the time to come for any opposition; no, not of an army. If God be with us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.” - Richard Sibbes
Day 2
Featured Verse: Psalm 27:4–6
In the busyness and distractions of your current season, what keeps you from making "to behold the beauty of the Lord" the central pursuit of your heart? What small step could you take today to seek that intimate gaze on Him more intentionally?
When trouble or the "day of evil" comes against you, how would your response change if you truly trusted that God will hide you in His pavilion, conceal you in the secret place of His tent, and set you high upon a rock?
If dwelling in God's presence isn't yet the "one thing" you seek above all else, what competing desires (success, security, relationships, comfort) are crowding it out, and which one would you surrender first to make room for more of Him?
Today’s Prayer: Lord, this one thing I ask and seek: that I may dwell in Your house all the days of my life, to behold Your beauty and inquire in Your temple. Hide me in Your shelter in the day of trouble, lift my head high above my enemies, and fill my heart with shouts of joy and songs of praise to You. Help me to see more of Your beauty and to desire You above all else in my life. Amen.
“One master passion in the breast, like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.” - Alexander Pope
“Prayer and devotion are united as soul and body are united, as life and the heart are united. There is no real prayer without devotion, no devotion without prayer.” - E.M. Bounds
Day 3
Featured Verse: Psalm 27:7–14
God has said to you, "Seek My face." How quickly and wholeheartedly does your heart respond, "Your face, LORD, do I seek," and what distractions or fears are keeping you from turning toward Him fully in this moment?
Even if the closest people in your life, like father or mother or spouse, were to forsake you, how would embracing the promise that "the LORD will take me up" shift your sense of security and belonging right now?
When fear or despair threatens to make you "faint" or lose heart, what does it look like for you to believe that you "will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living," and how can that hope sustain you through today's trial?
Today’s Prayer: Lord, hear my cry and have mercy on me; answer me when I call. Your face, LORD, I seek. Do not hide from me or forsake me, for You are the God of my salvation. Even if all others abandon me, You will take me up. Regardless of whatever heartache I must face, I trust You with my life forever. Amen.
“We must believe to see, not see to believe; we must wait the appointed time, and stay our soul's hunger with foretastes of the Lord's eternal goodness which shall soon be our feast and our song.” - Charles Spurgeon
“If you believe indeed in the Lord Jesus for the salvation of your soul, if you walk uprightly and do not regard iniquity in your heart, if you continue to wait patiently, and believingly upon God; then answers will surely be given to your prayers.” - George Müller