Tag: prayer

Come As You Are

Posted on by Dorci

You continue to be on my heart, and I know that’s because you’re on Jesus’s heart. 

He loves us and He wants us to know – if we’re struggling, if we’re resisting, if our shame is keeping us from coming to the cross, from receiving His forgiveness and love, whether for the first time or the hundredth – my friends, look at the cross.

Look at Christ nailed to it, stripped of His clothing, beaten, bloody, spat upon, receiving the punishment saved for the worst of the worst.

Other gods, other religions require people to clean themselves up, to suffer for their sins, to pay penance to be forgiven.

But not Christ. He paid the penalty; He suffered for our sins; He bore the shame for us so He could take it from us. He doesn’t want us living with it. 

No matter how far we’ve gone from Him – a day, a week, a decade, we’re only a step away. Only a prayer away.  Only one Name away – Jesus.

If a whole prayer seems too overwhelming, just start by calling out the name of Jesus.

And not just any Jesus. The Jesus who was in the beginning, the Jesus who created all things, the Jesus who left His throne in heaven and came down to us fully God and fully man, the Jesus who was the Messiah prophesied about, the Jesus who is the Savior of the world, the Jesus whose sacrifice paid for your sins and the sins of the world.

And once the door is opened with His Name, confess your sins, and receive the abundance of His grace and mercy and love. It’s why He came, it’s why He died, and it’s why He rose again, and lives to intercede for us.  It’s why He leaves the 99 to go after the 1. It’s why He never gives up. It’s why He invites you to come as you are.

 

 

Come As You Are
by Crowder

Come out of sadness
From wherever you’ve been
Come broken hearted
Let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t cure
So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
Fall in his arms
Come as you are
There’s joy for the morning
Oh sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
Come as you are

It Is Finished

Posted on by Dorci

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 

Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 

Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.” Hebrews 7:23-27

 

In the world people believe that if they do enough good, if they’re better than the other guy, if they’re more good than bad, if they just tip the scales, they will earn a place in heaven.

Those with no religion believe it, and those with religion alone believe it. My friends, this is a lie from the pit of hell, designed to keep people believing they’re saved without actually receiving salvation.

Sometimes even believers can slip into a subconscious belief that we must add good works to the grace of God given through the sacrifice of His Son, maybe not for salvation, but for acceptance and love. 

The sacrifices of old were given as a forerunner, a sign of the full and complete Sacrifice to come. Jesus Christ, and He alone, was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Any attempt to add onto that perfect sacrifice is sin. It is an offense to Christ and His work done on the cross, and to the Father who gave His Son to do it.

It was given once. No other sacrifice, by Him or any one else, is needed for salvation ever again.

It was given for all. Anyone and everyone – no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done – is invited to partake of the Sacrifice, to receive it by faith, for full payment of one’s own sins, now and forever.

If you recognize that you’ve been trusting in your own good works alone, or as an “add on” to Christ’s sacrifice, or trusting in another person to be the one who sits between you and God, offering up prayers for your forgiveness, or giving you ways to atone for your sin, telling you that through them you will be forgiven, I urge you to hear what Christ Himself said on the cross:

“It is finished.”

That phrase means to end, complete, execute, conclude, to discharge a debt, to pay. It’s done. There is nothing left for us to do, and no other human being needed to remove the guilt of our sins. He is the LORD, and the High Priest who lives forever, and no other can take His place.

All we need to do is believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior sent to die as the perfect and last sacrifice that paid for our sins, and pray, asking God for forgiveness, receiving Christ and His sacrifice, by faith, as a free gift in payment for every sin we’ve ever committed, and ever will commit. And then follow Him. If you want to read more, click on How You Can Know God at the top of this page.

And to my brothers and sisters in Christ who, for whatever reason, struggle with feeling like you need to earn God’s love, to you, and to myself, I say this: rest. Take a deep breath and rest in His abiding love; rest in His grace; rest in His mercy; rest in the finished work of the cross; rest in the resurrection.

You may have had to earn someone else’s love, or try and try and still never receive it, but that’s the world’s way, not God’s. That’s not who He is.

God is love, and the source of all true love. He cannot deny Himself. The Father sent His Son out of love, and the Son came out of love, and died out of love. He is preparing a place for us in heaven out of love. He is maturing and readying us out of love, and will come back again out of love.

It was His love that drew us, and it’s His love that will keep us, and welcome us home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for the Spirit

Posted on by Dorci

 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you. Thank you for calling us out of the darkness and, through your Son, adopting us as your own dearly loved children. And then you called us, as brothers and sisters, into a sacred life to carry out your will, to show the world your light and your love. Father, give us continued passion for living and breathing and walking in your Spirit, that we would never be tempted to live out this calling of a spiritual life in our own strength.  We are called to think differently, act differently, and speak differently than the world and it’s only by your Spirit that we can do that with truth and integrity. Search our hearts and show us where we need to get right with you through repentance and obedience, and help us to do that. And then we pray your Spirit will fill us to overflowing with so much love and light and boldness of the good news that countless people will hear your calling, turn to you, fall to their knees in repentance, receive your forgiveness, and join us as your chosen ones.  Father, our world desperately needs you, and we ask for a renewal of your Spirit within and upon all of us and for a revival of your salvation throughout the world.  In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Victory

Posted on by Dorci

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. Ephesians 1:3-6

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you.  You know that many of us were not chosen in the world for much of anything.  You know that we were, and are, the neglected, rejected, and outcast. But you have chosen us.  You, the Creator of all the universe, the originator of all things, the LORD Almighty, the Beginning and the End, has chosen those the world deems as foolish and weak to bear your holy name.  You saw us and loved us, and drew us to yourself so that you could pour on us the greatest blessing of all – to receive the life of your Son, and be made holy and blameless.  You have made us the proof of your glory, and we are overwhelmed with gratefulness.  May we live every minute of every day in the victory you bought for us through the sacrifice of your Son.  May we walk in your glorious light, and never give the enemy a foothold.  Please keep us from falling into sin, so that our lives are an unbroken testimony of your glory.  And when we do stumble, help us to quickly repent, and receive your grace.  And Lord, please help us to freely give the love and grace and mercy and forgiveness that you have given us as an act of worship to you.  In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen.

Don’t Give Up

Posted on by Dorci

Don’t give up.

Those are my words to you today. Well, those are God’s words to me, and I’m sharing them with you. Don’t give up.

That health issue you’ve been dealing with for so long? Don’t give up.

That relationship you’ve been trying to heal for so long? Don’t give up.

That person you’ve been praying about for so long? Don’t give up.

That ministry you’re in, that job you’ve worked hard at, that goal you keep trying and maybe failing… Insert your own seemingly impossible situation. 

Don’t. Give. Up.

What if Moses had given up during his 40 years before God called him, or the 40 years he wandered in the desert after He called him? What if Jeremiah had given up prophesying to God’s people because they refused to listen to him? What if Abraham and Sarah had given up on having the promised child? What if Nehemiah had given up when the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed? What if Job had given up when his wife told him to?

What if Ruth had given up when her husband died? What if Joseph had given up while he languished in prison? What if Gideon had given up and let fear take over while hiding in the winepress? What if David had given up when he sinned so colossally? What if Peter had given up and never come back to Jesus after His resurrection? What if John had given up on the island of Patmos?

God’s Word is not a cleaned up, whitewashed story showing only the good side of mankind.  God intentionally lets us see the worst of it – the sin, the shame, the end of the road, the hopelessness that exists in all our lives at one time or another.

And then we see God. Time and time again we see a loving, gracious Heavenly Father who loves to change the story.  He loves a surprise ending. And a surprise beginning and middle.  He loves to show the greatness of His mercy at a time when no one would have expected it.

God’s Word, which continues in all His believers, is a story of a God who makes the impossible possible. He makes the wretched sinner new and free. He makes the dead alive again. He gives hope to the hopeless. He is the miracle-maker, the faith-giver, the blessed redeemer. He is the power and the glory. He is the overcomer.

Call on Him now in the confidence of who He is and confess the sin, present the problem, and then wait with great expectation.

 

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”  Psalm 42:5

 

If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, let me say this – God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die in your place. Yes, you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter how you’ve failed, it doesn’t matter where you are, who you are, how old or young you are.  (Believe me, no one was as lost as I was.) God is able to save you right here, right now. 

Simply acknowledge that you have sinned –  in other words, confess you’re not perfect. None of us is. We have all sinned and fallen short of the perfection of God. Then tell God that you receive Jesus Christ’s payment on the cross for your sin, and ask Jesus to come into your life, into your heart, to make you a new person, and to fill you with the Holy Spirit. 

If you want to read more, you can click up at the top on How You Can Know God, and you can read a little snippet of my story of redemption at My Testimony. If you prayed this prayer, or if you have any questions, or would like prayer for any reason, click on A Place For Prayer Requests or you can email me by clicking on that swanky envelope to the right. May the Lord bless you and fill you anew with His hope and peace.