Prayer

Praying

/ The Pastor

I have been on a roll recently, writing prayers…

Praise be to God!

Maybe this is coming out of the spiritual discipline I have taken on this Lent: Using a prayer journal.  It is amazing what happens when you just let go and not force something out, but just let your spirit pray; talking and listening to God.  I’m still trying to get used to handwriting my prayers in my journal, but I am finding that I am enjoying this more and more.  The hand cramps force me to slow down, and I need that.

The following prayer is one I wrote to be used as the prayer before I preach the sermon on Feb 24th.  In the back of my mind I was thinking about Psalm 27.  I wrote and posted a prayer based on that Psalm the other day.

So let us go to God in prayer as we prepare for worship…

Father in heaven, you are a holy and awesome God.  You are worthy of all praise and worship.  You are faithful and full of grace.  In you there is shelter and life.  In you there is salvation.  May we seek your face in the midst of fear.  May we seek your shelter in the midst of storms.  And may we dwell in your house forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ you have conquered all that would besiege us and promised us a future; you have promised us life through faith in Jesus Christ.  Strengthen our faith in the face of fears and may we always seek you.  Now may the words of my mouth and the mediation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

May God bless your day 🙂

The pastor -|—

Psalm 27 prayer

/ The Pastor

Oh Lord, my God, you are my light and my salvation;
of whom shall I fear.
Oh Lord, my God, you are the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid.
When the evil of this world advances against me,
When Satan fires his flaming arrows at me,
When Satan prowls around like a roaring lion,
When people spread falsehoods about me,
I will be confident; for you are with me.

Loving and holy God;
I want to dwell in your house,
I want to gaze upon your beauty,
I want to worship you forever.
Please keep me safe from the evil one.
Please protect my faith from Satan’s onslaughts.
Please watch over my life.

And…
Teach me to follow you better.
Teach me to know your laws better.
Teach me to be more obedient.
Teach me to be more faithful.

I want to give your name glory and honor in my life.

Thank you, loving God, for being my fortress and stronghold.

Amen!

The Pastor -|—

“Something” for Lent

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday; the beginning of Lent.

As I reflect on the coming season I have been thinking about a Lenten discipline to engage in.  Not that you have to do something or give up something, but “something” has been tugging at my heart.  It’s been tugging for a couple weeks now.   I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I think I finally know what that “something” is.

Starting tomorrow I am going to do something that I haven’t done before…

Pray.

Well…actually I do pray daily but what I am going to do for Lent is engage in the discipline of writing out my prayers in a prayer journal.

That is new for me.

I write prayers for worship and for this blog but I have never done so in such a personal and intimate way.  Never in a way to track and see what God is doing in my life.  I have never gone back to prayers I have written to see what God did with it.  I am not going to write those prayers here, but I may share experiences of this discipline here.

But I am curious, though…

Has anyone out there done this or does this on a regular basis?
Do you even engage in a spiritual discipline?
Do you give anything up?

Whatever you do, may you have a blessed Lenten season as we make our way to the cross and the empty tomb.

Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

Because you say so

/ The Pastor

Do we really need another reason?

Awesome and holy God, to look around is to see your awesome power and your holiness.  But too often we are blinded by our own short-sightedness.  We are distracted by our limited abilities and flawed wisdom.  If only we were to stop and listen and look would we see your faithfulness and strength and power.  You are holy.  You and you alone see the whole and complete picture.  May we respond to your voice; may we walk by faith and not by sight; may we marvel at the glory of your name.  Because you say so God, may we follow.  Because you say so may we listen.  Because you say so may we trust. Now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

May God bless your day 🙂

The pastor -|—

Ministering to children

/ The Pastor

Gracious God, I have just been struck with the awareness of the awesome responsibility that is looming; children coming to this church building to see you.  Twenty one 3 – 5th graders coming soon;  8 confirmation students later this afternoon and 40 some Wednesday Night Live students tonight.  God…bless everyone of those students that they may see you.  Bless the teachers that will be teaching those students.

Gracious God, I am thankful that you have placed me here in this place.  I am thankful that you have found me worthy to minister to these children.  I am thankful that you walk along side of me during these times.  May you be glorified in my words and actions.  Grant me patience and wisdom as I interact with these great kids.

So…here we go.  Let’s have some fun.

Amen!

The pastor -|—

Afternoon thankfulness

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Loving God, I give you thanks for the “time out” I just had; for that quiet time with coffee and your Word.  Life as a pastor can be very busy at times but you are faithful to provide moments for me to get away. May I not take those for granted.

Loving God, I also ask that we may never be “too busy” to hear from you. May we, as your children, always seek you.  May we, as your beloved, desire your Word.  May we, as your redeemed, run to you. May we have the presence of mind to recognize that our need for you is greater than any over-sized calendar and to-do list. 

Gracious God, thank you for this day and we ask that you may bless our evening; bless our rest; bless our dreaming, that we may awake in the morning to tackle a new day.  But, of course, all this according to your gracious will. 

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Use us

/ The Pastor

A morning prayer as you prepare for your day.  May you know the blessings of God and wonders of his awesome love.  Let us pray…

Loving and gracious Father…you have given us a mighty task; to use our spiritual gifts for the common good.  But too often we are swayed by the world to promote ourselves therefore misusing those gifts.  Please grant us the faith to see what you have done for us so that we may do everything in our power to use what you have given us for the common good.  May we not be so selfish, conceited, arrogant or puffed up that we miss golden opportunities to advance the Gospel.  And…as we use our gifts, may you be glorified in all that we do and say.

Awesome God ~ I lift up to you this morning all who preach your Word.  May they be faithful to the Word and proclaim your promises through Jesus Christ with boldness and confidence. May those servants not conform to the world but be instruments that transform the world by the renewing of hearts and minds.

Faithful God ~ I also lift up to you all those who will hear your Word this morning.  Create faith where it is lacking; strengthen faith where it is weak; renew faith where it has grown stale.  May the power of your Word do its thing as it leads us out to advance the Gospel.

Oh God, you are an awesome God.  You saved us.  You remade us.  You gave us hope through Jesus Christ.  May you be glorified for you are worthy.  All praise, worship and honor be to you, Oh God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

The pastor -|—

The Feast

/ The Pastor

This morning the preaching text is John 2:1-11; Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. This miracle is labeled the first of Jesus’ miraculous signs.  It also serves as a bookend to the Gospel of John.  In this miracle we see the promise and then at the end of John we see how Jesus is going to accomplish the promise.

The promise ~ The best is yet to come.
How? ~ The cross and the empty tomb.

The rest of the Gospel of John fills in the blanks with proclamations of forgiveness; more miracles (in case this one wasn’t enough to show you that Jesus is the one who is to come), awesome acts of mercy, instructions on how to carry on with this ministry and encouragement to endure to the end.  The Gospel of John is plump full of “good stuff” that carries us to the BEST of what is to come.  This life is not it so don’t cling to it as if it is.

Let’s pray together as we prepare to worship this morning:
Loving God, through Jesus you show us that you have prepared something much better for us.  Through Jesus you give us hope that this world is not our final reality.  Through Jesus you give us a foretaste of the feast to come; a great feast that will have no end.  May we not cling to this life as if it is the final course.  May we not try to build this life in such a way that it ends up being our final course.  But…may this life just be a teaser for the Great Banquet that has been prepared and where; through faith in Jesus, we have a seat reserved.  Tempt our “taste buds” to seek Jesus more and more. And may we also seek to share this feast with others.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

The table has been set, let us feast together 🙂

The pastor -|—

Morning preparations

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Loving and gracious God, I come before you today ready to worship.  Not just during the “organized” time with others but right now and every minute after this.  And as I come ready to worship I come ready to hear a word from you.  May my heart be ready to receive so that you may be glorified in my life.

Lord God, I also lift up to you all those called to preach your word; those pastors and lay ministers preparing to lead worship.  May they be faithful in their task and bold to proclaim your word.  It is too often tempting to tame things down so we might appeal better to others, but may we not be swayed by man but be led by your Spirit.

Faithful God, I also lift up to you all others who are preparing for this day.  May they, through your Spirit, remember what you have done for them in Jesus and be led to worship; for you are worthy.  

O God, you are so worthy.

Thank you for your grace; for it is through your grace that we may have any hope beyond this life.  Thank you for your love; for it is through your love that you offer us forgiveness.  Thank you for your mercy; for it is through your mercy that we are saved.

O God, you are so worthy.  May your name be praised always and forever.  In Jesus name I pray…Amen!

May God bless your day 🙂

The pastor -|—

 

Fear and faithfulness – My adoption story

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

When my wife and I started the adoption process back  on June 28, 2012, I was scared silly as we were entering a world of unknowns.  My wife was ready to start this process a long time before I was.  I remember many times when she would bring it up but I wouldn’t give it much time in conversation.  I would find ways to divert the topic and hope it would end.

I knew it was expensive and that scared me.
I knew we didn’t have the money.
I knew it would be hard.
I knew it would forever change our lives.

But…

I also knew that I wanted to be a father.  I was caught between my fear and my dream.  I didn’t know what to do or how to proceed.  I was praying but I don’t think I was listening very well.

I don’t remember specifically what the turning point was but we finally dove in.  We decided on an agency that my wife found (God’s Children Adoption Agency) and off we went.  We met with one of the case workers and got the information we needed.  My wife immediately started the paper work and I started feeling more overwhelmed.

What have I gotten myself into? [I was still worried about money.]

The home study process started and things seemed to fall into place.  It wasn’t too long into the process that we received our first financial contribution from a friend.  Then our parents pledged support.  At the outset of this we had friends praying for us.  There were times when we would talk with these friends and they would end up gathering around my wife and I to pray.

It was overwhelming…but this time in a good way.

Now we are 6 months in and I am feeling like this has been God’s plan all along.  I still know that this will be a lot of money but I don’t worry about that anymore.  God has showed me over and over again that He has us covered.  Various financial gifts have come in; showing me that God is not going to leave us hanging.  God is faithful and always has been faithful.  There are still a lot of question marks but feeling that my hand is firmly in the grip of God’s hand is comforting.  We are not walking alone.  And I am so thankful for our wonderful family and our wonderful friends.  There is no way we could have gotten this far without them.  They are indeed a gift from God.

So we continue waiting; knowing that God has a little one out there waiting for us.  And when that child enters our home they are going to be so loved; not just by my wife and me but by our wonderful and supportive family and friends (including the congregations I serve).

Despite my fear God was faithful.  What an awesome God we have.

Thank you, God, for walking with us in this process.  Thank you for your faithfulness.  Thank you for calming my fears.  Thank you for your love.  In Jesus name, Amen.

The pastor -|—