So, my online "Daily Prayers" have become more like monthly prayers. It doesn't mean
I'm not praying, it just means that I don't have the internet access I used to, and when I do have access, I haven't had a lot of spare time
to write, between continuing my studies, working on a business plan for a
very ambitious ministry concept, beginning the groundwork for my next
sermon, and putting together a bible study. I'm still praying several
times a day, trying to get everyone in and cover all of the global
issues I see. It feels good to pray - like having a chat with a good
friend who never judges (I have one or two of those, so I have some of
idea of how that really does feel). It feels even better when I pray for
someone, and then hear that my prayer was answered.
Anyway... Here's today's prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for this beautiful day. Thank You for the gifts You give us: the opportunities to serve You and glorify Your name, the loved ones that remind us, each day, just how much You love us, the roofs over our heads, the food on our tables... everything.
Father, without You we have nothing... are nothing, but with You, we are princes and princesses of the Kingdom of Heaven. Help us to remember that, when things are dark, and we feel, wrongly, that we cannot see Your light.
Lord, it's a rough time in my circle. The prayer list at church is huge. We have so many people suffering from serious medical problems, or dealing with the pain of losing a loved one, or struggling financially. It's a daunting list... for me, but not for You.
Abba, You know the needs of all of us, and we have faith that You can and will handle all of them as You see fit. I would, however, like to raise up a few specific needs.
Please watch over Dan and Karen. Dan continues to suffer medical troubles, and Lord, it's starting to wear them both down. Lend them Your strength, I beg You, and grant healing to Dan so that they can get on with living, and serving You.
My friend, Mary, has taken a bad turn, Lord. When I laid hands on her, we both felt the Spirit move through her, but Father, she's so far away, and I can't touch Her. Please grant Her the benefit of this healing gift. Please, let it be as if I am laying hands on her, let the spirit move through us, and wash away her illness.
Father, wrap the Gracy and Stevenson families in the warmth of Your love during this time of loss. Your healing does not just touch the body, Lord, it can also ease the pain of loss. Remind them that their loved ones are with You now, as will we all be, one day.
Please watch over my mother, Lord. She's gotten herself in trouble again, and the penalty is likely more than she can bear. Help her to find her way out of the wilderness, Lord, and keep her from harm - even that of her own making.
There are so many more, Lord... the list never seems to get smaller. Please, help them, heal them, comfort them, protect them.
Thank You, Abba. Thank You for always being there. Thank You for taking care of us - for all that You do.
In the name of Christ Jesus, who died that we might be clean of sin, and who rose again to stand at Your side as our intercessor.
Amen.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The Daily Prayer... because Love is all you need.
Heavenly Father,
You woke me today with the nostalgic strains of "All You Need is Love" dancing through my last dream. I always find wonder in the ways in which You choose to communicate Your will to me. You are truly an awesome God, and without You, we all (and I, specifically) would be completely and irredeemably lost. Thank You for never giving up on us, even when we give up on You.
Today, Lord, I ask for the strength to love. Not the easy love that comes for those who love me back... my family, and my friends foremost amongst them, but the hard love for the person who wronged me, for those whom I care about that don't seem to care, as much, for me, for the killers who seem to revel in dishing out pain and terror, for those among our leaders who seem to be more interested in keeping their jobs and making piles of money than in doing their jobs and helping their people, for those who spew hate, for the guy who cut me off in traffic yesterday and nearly drove me off the road. Those people need my love, Father, but it's so hard to give. Your words come to me - "Love Your Neighbor" and "Love Your Enemy" - again and again. I tried to confer the need on the congregation this weekend, Lord, and I used Your words - those very words - to do it. They say it's easier said than done, but Abba, I need to be an example, not just a teacher. So I ask, humbly, give me Your strength, that I might show Your love to this wounded world.
Lord, my prayer list is so very long. There are so many people struggling with pain, with loss, with catastrophic illness, even with the inability to reach out to You on their own. I ask that You give comfort to those in pain, relief to those suffering from loss, peace and healing to those who are sick, and Your Grace and constant presence to those who have lost their way. They all need You, Father, and even if they don't know it, they're reaching out to You. Take them in Your loving arms, and let them feel Your embrace.
I need to bring a few specific names to You, Lord, not because You don't know them, but because I feel You moving me to do so.
Watch over Jeff as he goes in for his biopsy today, Lord. He's afraid, and worried, even though he knows that You still have much for him to do. I know that it's nothing - just a doctor's fancy, but Jeff could sure use a little comfort during this frightening time. Thank You for taking care of him.
Lord, I ask You to surround Mary with Your healing presence. I can't get to her to lay hands on her, even though my fingertips itch to do so. So... I ask that You take what healing gift I have and use it on her now, even though we are separated by many miles. Your power is infinite, Lord, so this is a small thing. Please, Abba, Great Physician, use this gift to take her cancer. The world is not ready to lose her, Lord. I feel that she still has love, and kindness, and testimony to give on Your behalf, so I beg You to give her more time, and the strength to use it, and the will to do so in Your name. If it is not Your will that she be healed, then Lord, take her and her family in Your loving arms, and hold them so that they are comforted. Thank You, Lord, for healing Mary, and for comforting her family through this time.
Father, I ask that You grant an easement of pain to my earthly father. He struggles to remain strong in the face of his pain, but man's medicine is failing him, and he needs the salve that only You can administer. He is Your loving child, Lord, and wants to serve You. With the easing of his pain, he'll have more strength to take care of those things You need him to do. Thank You, Father, for surrounding Him in a cloud of painlessness.
Lord, my friend Michael has joined me on the long road to becoming a Pastor. He's been struggling with life choices and depression, Lord, and I ask that You take his hand and lead him, as You've done for me. Raise him up from the misery of depression, and stand as a shield for him against the darkness that assails him. Help him to provide for his family while he studies, so that that worry will not take his eyes from You. Thank You, Lord, for watching over him.
My sister-in-law Jenny is going through some painful medical woes, Father, and needs Your comfort, as well. Please, give her a cessation of pain, and Your healing touch, so that she can get back to her life, and so that she'll more easily be able to glorify Your name. You are great, Lord, and I am so grateful that through Your grace and mercy, these things will come to pass.
There is so much more going on in the world, Lord, that if I were to pray on each thing separately, I would never be able to do anything but pray and weep. You know better than any mortal man what it is that needs done, and how best to do it, and I am certain that, even without my calling specific attention to something, You can deal with, well, anything. Please Abba, give comfort where You see the need, strength where there is weakness, and peace where there is discord.
Father, help us, one and all, to remember that Love is the most important of Your wishes. Help us to share Your love, through our love, with this sorry, broken world. I know that we're unworthy of the gifts You grant us already. But, I also know that You won't withhold anything from us, if we need it, and think to ask.
I the name of Christ Jesus, who died that we might be cleansed of all our sins, and who came back that He might always stand as our Intercessor, always and ever at Your right hand, so that we might bring our sorrows, pains, joys and triumphs to You, to share them with You and to know that You will happily share in the good things, and use Your might to relieve us of the bad.
Amen.
You woke me today with the nostalgic strains of "All You Need is Love" dancing through my last dream. I always find wonder in the ways in which You choose to communicate Your will to me. You are truly an awesome God, and without You, we all (and I, specifically) would be completely and irredeemably lost. Thank You for never giving up on us, even when we give up on You.
Today, Lord, I ask for the strength to love. Not the easy love that comes for those who love me back... my family, and my friends foremost amongst them, but the hard love for the person who wronged me, for those whom I care about that don't seem to care, as much, for me, for the killers who seem to revel in dishing out pain and terror, for those among our leaders who seem to be more interested in keeping their jobs and making piles of money than in doing their jobs and helping their people, for those who spew hate, for the guy who cut me off in traffic yesterday and nearly drove me off the road. Those people need my love, Father, but it's so hard to give. Your words come to me - "Love Your Neighbor" and "Love Your Enemy" - again and again. I tried to confer the need on the congregation this weekend, Lord, and I used Your words - those very words - to do it. They say it's easier said than done, but Abba, I need to be an example, not just a teacher. So I ask, humbly, give me Your strength, that I might show Your love to this wounded world.
Lord, my prayer list is so very long. There are so many people struggling with pain, with loss, with catastrophic illness, even with the inability to reach out to You on their own. I ask that You give comfort to those in pain, relief to those suffering from loss, peace and healing to those who are sick, and Your Grace and constant presence to those who have lost their way. They all need You, Father, and even if they don't know it, they're reaching out to You. Take them in Your loving arms, and let them feel Your embrace.
I need to bring a few specific names to You, Lord, not because You don't know them, but because I feel You moving me to do so.
Watch over Jeff as he goes in for his biopsy today, Lord. He's afraid, and worried, even though he knows that You still have much for him to do. I know that it's nothing - just a doctor's fancy, but Jeff could sure use a little comfort during this frightening time. Thank You for taking care of him.
Lord, I ask You to surround Mary with Your healing presence. I can't get to her to lay hands on her, even though my fingertips itch to do so. So... I ask that You take what healing gift I have and use it on her now, even though we are separated by many miles. Your power is infinite, Lord, so this is a small thing. Please, Abba, Great Physician, use this gift to take her cancer. The world is not ready to lose her, Lord. I feel that she still has love, and kindness, and testimony to give on Your behalf, so I beg You to give her more time, and the strength to use it, and the will to do so in Your name. If it is not Your will that she be healed, then Lord, take her and her family in Your loving arms, and hold them so that they are comforted. Thank You, Lord, for healing Mary, and for comforting her family through this time.
Father, I ask that You grant an easement of pain to my earthly father. He struggles to remain strong in the face of his pain, but man's medicine is failing him, and he needs the salve that only You can administer. He is Your loving child, Lord, and wants to serve You. With the easing of his pain, he'll have more strength to take care of those things You need him to do. Thank You, Father, for surrounding Him in a cloud of painlessness.
Lord, my friend Michael has joined me on the long road to becoming a Pastor. He's been struggling with life choices and depression, Lord, and I ask that You take his hand and lead him, as You've done for me. Raise him up from the misery of depression, and stand as a shield for him against the darkness that assails him. Help him to provide for his family while he studies, so that that worry will not take his eyes from You. Thank You, Lord, for watching over him.
My sister-in-law Jenny is going through some painful medical woes, Father, and needs Your comfort, as well. Please, give her a cessation of pain, and Your healing touch, so that she can get back to her life, and so that she'll more easily be able to glorify Your name. You are great, Lord, and I am so grateful that through Your grace and mercy, these things will come to pass.
There is so much more going on in the world, Lord, that if I were to pray on each thing separately, I would never be able to do anything but pray and weep. You know better than any mortal man what it is that needs done, and how best to do it, and I am certain that, even without my calling specific attention to something, You can deal with, well, anything. Please Abba, give comfort where You see the need, strength where there is weakness, and peace where there is discord.
Father, help us, one and all, to remember that Love is the most important of Your wishes. Help us to share Your love, through our love, with this sorry, broken world. I know that we're unworthy of the gifts You grant us already. But, I also know that You won't withhold anything from us, if we need it, and think to ask.
I the name of Christ Jesus, who died that we might be cleansed of all our sins, and who came back that He might always stand as our Intercessor, always and ever at Your right hand, so that we might bring our sorrows, pains, joys and triumphs to You, to share them with You and to know that You will happily share in the good things, and use Your might to relieve us of the bad.
Amen.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tears for Heaven
During the dark years I learned to bottle my emotions pretty completely. Now I usually can't cry about normal things. I feel the pain, the grief, the anger... but no tears. Stupid stuff gets me. I cry at movies a lot, and feel ashamed of even that.
Last night, I felt the need to really pray. Don't get me wrong. I pray every night, but last night, I needed to lay it all out there. I've been working on a sermon about prayer, and wanted to start putting some of what I want to talk about into action.
It started out pretty standard. "Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful day. You are awesome and mighty Lord..." Prayer 101, you know? But as I spoke, I started to get the feeling that I wasn't controlling the words anymore. They were pouring out of me. When I got to my sins, I shot right past, "Lord, make me a better man tomorrow than I was today," and launched into a full-on confession of my sins. I couldn't stop. Then I got to my prayer list, and names kept falling out of me. Names from the church's prayer list, that I didn't even know I knew. I prayed for the Koreas, for the Middle East, for Africa... and I MEANT it. And I still couldn't stop. I asked Him to find one little child who needed help - hungry, alone, frightened, and help that one child, giving him or her my portion of His Grace, if necessary. Finally, I started winding down, thanking God for all of the gifts He's given me, and praising Him for guiding me out of the desert.
When I finished, I realized I was weeping, and had been for a while, I guess. And I felt clean. I'd been holding back, I think - giving Him the good parts of me, but keeping the bad locked away. I knew He knew about that part of me, but I was still afraid of showing it to Him. Now, it's all out there, at least between God and me.
When I started visiting my daughter's church, I commented on the fact that every time her pastor prayed, he cried. I thought it was odd... cool, but odd.
Now I understand that tears are good. They're the visible sign that you've gotten to the heart of the matter. That you've opened yourself fully to God, and let Him see you at your weakest.
I don't want to be that guy who cries at every little thing, but I hope to become a man who's not afraid to show his weakness, and cry when the situation warrants it.
Last night, I felt the need to really pray. Don't get me wrong. I pray every night, but last night, I needed to lay it all out there. I've been working on a sermon about prayer, and wanted to start putting some of what I want to talk about into action.
It started out pretty standard. "Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful day. You are awesome and mighty Lord..." Prayer 101, you know? But as I spoke, I started to get the feeling that I wasn't controlling the words anymore. They were pouring out of me. When I got to my sins, I shot right past, "Lord, make me a better man tomorrow than I was today," and launched into a full-on confession of my sins. I couldn't stop. Then I got to my prayer list, and names kept falling out of me. Names from the church's prayer list, that I didn't even know I knew. I prayed for the Koreas, for the Middle East, for Africa... and I MEANT it. And I still couldn't stop. I asked Him to find one little child who needed help - hungry, alone, frightened, and help that one child, giving him or her my portion of His Grace, if necessary. Finally, I started winding down, thanking God for all of the gifts He's given me, and praising Him for guiding me out of the desert.
When I finished, I realized I was weeping, and had been for a while, I guess. And I felt clean. I'd been holding back, I think - giving Him the good parts of me, but keeping the bad locked away. I knew He knew about that part of me, but I was still afraid of showing it to Him. Now, it's all out there, at least between God and me.
When I started visiting my daughter's church, I commented on the fact that every time her pastor prayed, he cried. I thought it was odd... cool, but odd.
Now I understand that tears are good. They're the visible sign that you've gotten to the heart of the matter. That you've opened yourself fully to God, and let Him see you at your weakest.
I don't want to be that guy who cries at every little thing, but I hope to become a man who's not afraid to show his weakness, and cry when the situation warrants it.
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