Category: Prayer

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Seek Him

Posted on by Dorci

“Thus says the Lord:

‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for all you are – for your great loving kindness, your justice, and your righteousness.  You have been so gracious to forgive us through your Son, to bring us this far through our temptations, our failings, our weaknesses, and to wisely use them all to train us up and sanctify us, purifying our faith, and preparing us for the day we meet you face to face.  Please forgive us for the times we’ve run ahead of you, for when we’ve focused more on what we’re doing, trying to serve you in our own strength, instead of just loving you, and understanding and knowing you, our God and our Savior.

Lord, give us a new perspective, that even more of our heart’s desire from this day forward would be to seek you, to know you, to understand you and your Word and your ways.  Help us to let the things of our flesh go, that nothing would come between us and You so that we might continually walk in your Spirit, bringing you glory through every blessing and trial we face in the coming year.  Lord, we ask you to break every stronghold in our lives that have kept us from fully committing our lives to you and serving you wholeheartedly.  As we seek hard after you, we know your love and your will will fill our hearts to lead us and make us fruitful for your kingdom.

Help us to not give way to fear, but fill us with your strength and courage, especially as the world turns against you and your people more and more.  As the evil one seeks to make us cower, help us remain steadfast upon You, the Rock of our salvation, the One who has overcome the world, the One who has already prepared us for eternity and a place with you forever.  We give you glory, Lord.  You are our glory.   In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Dependence

Posted on by Dorci

“During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven…”  Daniel 2:19

 

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for who you are, for your unending love and wisdom which you have freely shared with us through your Word, and that you continue to give us as we seek you with all of our heart.  Lord, no matter what we’re going through right now, whether it’s a matter of life or death, or simply getting through another day, may we never be so arrogant and prideful to think to ourselves, “I’ve got this.”  May we continually lean you on, depend on you for wisdom and direction every moment of every day. You are our God, our Lord, and you’ve been so gracious to fill us with your Holy Spirit to continually minister to us, lead us, teach us, and comfort us. Help us turn down the sound of our world and of our own voices.  Anoint the ears of our hearts so that we may be attuned to Him, and grow accustomed to the sound of His voice speaking to us in that still, small way.  Give us the courage and strength to turn left when He says to turn left, to be still when he says to be still. May we obey you in all things, our Lord and Savior.   In the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Nice Try, Sheldon

Posted on by Dorci

Every once in a while you hear someone say they don’t believe in God or the Bible because, they say, the Bible has contradictions.  Most people would probably be hard-pressed to actually name one, but as I watched an episode of Young Sheldon – the television show about a budding scientist and atheist who is forever exasperating his Christian mother by raising his hand in the middle of church to ask the pastor a question – he asked one particular question I thought was intriguing and I took it as a challenge.

 

In the middle of the service, Pastor Jeff quotes Jacob in Genesis 32:30, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Sheldon immediately turns to his mother and says in all his precociousness, “Is this an appropriate time to mention that John 1:18 says, ‘No man hath seen God at any time.’ Who’s right? Jacob or John?”

 

Hm.  Who is right?

So I started with Genesis, jumped to the beginning of chapter 32 and read to the end of it. There’s a lot going on in these verses, so I’ll keep my answer focused on the immediate action Pastor Jeff quoted.

Jacob is on his way to meet up with his brother Esau, and he’s a little freaked out. It’s nighttime and he’s alone, when suddenly a Man appears and wrestles with Jacob until dawn.  After refusing to let the Man go until He blesses him, which He does, “Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (meaning Face of God): ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.'”

Then I flipped over to the book of John, chapter 1. John begins by describing the God/Man Jesus – the Word, the Logos, or expression of the Father – that He was in the beginning, that He was with God, and that He was God.  He goes on to describe the deity of the Man, Jesus Christ, that He is the Light born into this world by the will of God.

And then John goes on to say “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Of course Jacob and John are both right.

Jacob saw God in the form of a Man.  In fact he wrestled with Him all night.  (Ever wrestled with God in prayer?)  Jacob was able to handle seeing and dealing with God in this humbled form covered by flesh.

So when John says no one has seen God at any time, he is saying no one has seen the full glory of the Almighty God (but the Son has shown Him to us).

Even Moses was only allowed to see the back of God.

There have been many times I’ve casually read a portion of scripture that seemed to make no sense at all.  It didn’t line up with my preconceived idea of who God is, or it seemed to contradict another part of scripture.  By now though I know the Bible isn’t wrong. I am. 100% of the time.

Because I don’t understand it just means my mind is smaller than God’s. Any god whose mind is no bigger than mine is no God at all. And yet the grace of God has revealed Himself to us in His Son. 

Because our human understanding is limited, it takes the Spirit of God to interpret His Word and give us understanding.  I know that if I pray for wisdom, and really dig into God’s Word, study it and learn what it actually means, I’ll discover the Bible is never contradictory.  Not even between the Old Testament and the New. God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  His Word is unerring and perfectly compatible with itself.

And by studying it my understanding of God grows, and so does my love for Him.

If you are reading this and you’ve kept your distance from God because you’ve heard the Bible has contradictions, maybe you even have something in particular in mind you believe is a contradiction, I encourage you to read it for yourself.  Seek out someone you believe might have the answer, or can dig into God’s Word with you to discover the truth.  There’s a website, Got Questions, that allows you to submit questions and also has a large archive of past articles.  And I’d be willing to give any questions you have a shot.

And for us who are believers, let’s keep studying God’s Word, or maybe we need to start.  There is a lot of teaching out there that is very unscriptural, even among some who seem to have authority, and we need to have a solid understanding of God’s Word, and discernment, so the enemy doesn’t deceive us, leading us to believe things about God that aren’t true, causing disillusionment and drawing us away from Him.

Let us emulate our Berean brothers and sisters, who were “of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  Acts 17:10-11 

There are a lot of treasures in there to uncover.

Happy studying,

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Wise Building

Posted on by Dorci

“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord,
because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” Ezra 3:11

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you because you’ve laid the foundation of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ, and you’ve made us the temple of your Holy Spirit. Lord, I simply ask you today to help us keep our hearts and spirits focused on you. With all the distractions we have coming at us from so many directions, help us keep The Main Thing, the main thing.

Help us remember that this life is about Who you’ve called us to believe in, to trust, to follow, to proclaim. Help us use the limited time and the gifts you’ve given us to be about our Father’s business, and build only on the foundation of Jesus Christ, serving Him only, building by your Spirit and not our flesh.

For “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”  1 Cor. 3: 12-15

Lead us, Lord, so that what we build will survive, and we will receive your reward. In Jesus’ eternal name we pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Healing

Posted on by Dorci

“Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all His benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:1-5

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  I come to you today and lift up to you so many us who are suffering with severe and prolonged physical illness.  Lord, it’s so easy to lose focus of you when we or a loved one is suffering and there seems to be no end. The day to day pull to focus on the pain, the illness, the medications, whatever it may be, can be overwhelming and exhausting. 

Lord, we need your strength.  We need your presence to overwhelm us and turn our eyes back to you, to gaze on your beauty, your grace and mercy, your compassion which never ends. Help us remember that our suffering is in your hands, and through it we can identify with Christ’s suffering, with His death and resurrection, for we have died to sin and you’ve made us alive in Him to the spiritual things which are infinitely of more worth. 

We ask for your peace that surpasses all human understanding, for your wisdom to lead us every day, and for your joy fill us to overflowing, that we would be a walking testimony of your love and goodness, of the fact that this is not our home, that we wait as we put our hope in a future home, a future life where all things will be made new.  So whether you heal us in this life, and I pray if that’s your will for any of us that you would, or if you heal us in the next life, may you be glorified in ways we can only imagine. 

Please use us Lord to proclaim your name, to have compassion on others, and to show the world your grace that many would be saved, and those away from you would return. 

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

May your will be done on earth, Lord, as it is in heaven.  May you bring a revival to our own hearts, to the body of Christ, and throughout the world.  Maranatha!  In the eternal name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.