Tag: peace

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Peace

Posted on by Dorci

Oh Precious Heavenly Father, we praise and magnify your name. You are mighty and holy and worthy of all praise. 

Father, we ask for forgiveness for our sins, and we thank you for giving your Son to take the punishment that should have been ours. 

Thank you for blessing us far more than we could ever deserve. A right relationship with you is all we need, but through it you’ve done so much more than we could have ever imagined. 

Father, I want to lift up our country again to you this week. We need you so much, and we know there is nothing we can do in our own strength to change anything. We desperately look to you and pray for your grace and mercy and the pouring out of your Holy Spirit as we walk into the events of the week. 

We pray you would go before us and bind the hand of the enemy, that you would let your peace and rest be in control of our land, especially in our nation’s capital. We pray your power would be felt and your light would shine in the darkness. 

This week and beyond, may your Church, with repentant and thankful hearts, constantly lift up our voices together to you, in faith, knowing you hear us and will answer us, as we pray for salvation among the lost and revival within your church, and that you would give us the wisdom, strength, courage, and hope we’ll need in the coming days and years. 

May we abide in you so we can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, producing the fruit of magnifying and glorifying the name of Jesus wherever we go. May we do in our world today what the early church did in theirs, and be your witnesses in our homes, our neighborhoods, and to the ends of the earth.

In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Perseverance

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you for all you are and for all you do. You are our King above all kings and we look to you and you alone to provide for us, to give us courage, to open and close doors, to show us the way. You are not only the God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come, but You are our Father who lovingly cares for us in Your power and victory. 

Thank You for the strength You give us as we walk through long trials. We sometimes get tired and weary, but as we hold out a hand to You, You lift us up.

You invite us to take your yoke upon us so you can lift the weight of our trials, and that through them we can learn from You and Your gentle and humble heart, and find rest for our weary souls. 

Father, help us persevere through the prolonged difficulties we face. Help us continue to keep our focus on you, daily dying to our flesh and being filled with your Holy Spirit, seeing through your eyes of grace and mercy. 

Help us not get restless as we wait for your deliverance, but give us patience and your peace that surpasses all understanding.

Help us to “do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that we may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then we will shine among them like stars in the sky as we hold firmly to the word of life.”  

Fill us with your joy and hope at what’s to come, and through them may we  encourage and build each other up until that day. 

Thank you, Father, for your love and faithfulness to keep all your promises. May our faith rest confidently in You. 

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

Merry Christmas

Posted on by Dorci

The Spotless Lamb

Posted on by Dorci

I’ve talked about The Chosen, the series about the life of Christ, and the Christmas special that started it all, and I want to share with you that Christmas special. 

You are taken back to the night when the angel of the Lord spoke to the shepherds, shining God’s light into the dark of night, and into the spiritual darkness that filled the whole world. 

This tiny, promised Christ child brought hope and joy for anyone who would turn and follow Him, and He still does. 

My prayer is that if you’ve never turned to Him in faith, you would do that today, right now. In your own words call out to God and and tell Him you need Him, that you believe He sent His Son, Jesus, the Savior, as both the Spotless Lamb given as a sacrifice for our sins and the Shepherd who would continually lead us, and that you desire to follow Him. 

And if you’ve put your faith in Jesus in the past but you’ve walked away, a little or a lot, it’s not too late. God loves you and He’s waiting for you to return. Call on your Heavenly Father, confess your sins, and turn and follow Jesus again with your whole heart. 

God’s Word says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Believe this, and He will do it, and the peace of God will fill your hearts, even in the middle of the turmoil we face in the world, as much today as it was in the time of Jesus’ birth.

There is no better gift to give the Lord, and nothing else He desires more, than our hearts.

I pray this Christmas Special blesses you as much as it does me.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Faith, Not Feelings

Posted on by Dorci

I really hate those times when God feels so far away. 

I don’t always understand why it’s that way. Sometimes it might be a sin I need to confess. Sometimes I’m the one who’s been far away, too preoccupied with other things. Sometimes it might be that I just haven’t get enough sleep and I’m feeling grouchy.

And sometimes I think He just wants me to learn to trust Him even when the feelings aren’t there. 

I remember the day my dad taught me how to ride a bike down the very sidewalk in the picture. I was about six. My hands gripped the handlebars and I looked back and forth between the concrete sidewalk beneath me and the scenery in front of me while my dad held onto the back of the seat pushing me along. We did that a few times, and the next time I looked back and he was four feet behind me. 

I remember the days, too, when salvation was new, and the feelings of God’s closeness filled my heart and soul. When He was teaching me to know He’s always right there with me.

And then He began to wean me from my feelings, teaching me to trust Him even when I didn’t feel Him. 

That lesson’s taken longer than an afternoon. Seems I’m still learning it, but I am learning.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 
2 Corinthians 5:7 

I’m learning He’s always right there whether I feel Him or not. Whether I see Him working in my impossible situation or not. I’m learning He loves me even when I sin, even when I’ve stepped away, even when life gets overwhelming, and yes, even when I’m grouchy, or not feeling well, or sad, or a hundred million other possible reasons.

Not only is our Heavenly Father with us, He loves us so much He’s given His Holy Spirit to live in us. 

No matter what we’re going through, or ever will go through, if we’ve believed in Christ as our Savior, His Holy Spirit is a permanent resident inside our hearts to give us comfort, peace, wisdom, and direction, and He’ll never, ever leave us. 

So we can walk and live and follow and work and yes, ride, not by what we see or feel, but by faith, by our belief that God is who He says He is, being confident in His faithfulness and goodness, His constant presence, and His everlasting love. 

In Christ,