Tag: prayer

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Be Still

Posted on by Dorci

Oh Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise the One, the only One, Who is full of grace and mercy. 

Today we simply ask that you would help us to be still and know that you are God. Help us to cease from our works, to cease striving to gain your love and your favor. In your Son you fully love us already and nothing can separate us from your love. 

Help us be still within our spirits and lean into our Savior Jesus. 

You know what we need, and we ask in your great grace and mercy that you would provide for us, and that we would give you all the glory. In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer on Pentecost

Posted on by Dorci

Before we get to our prayer, let’s look for just a moment at Pentecost. 

With the Lord there are no coincidences.

First, Passover is the observance of the time in Egypt when God caused the plague of death to pass over the those who’d taken refuge inside homes where the doorframes were covered with sacrificial lamb’s blood.

And Passover was the day God ordained the crucifixion of Christ, the perfect sacrificial Lamb, and the shedding of His blood so that spiritual death would pass over any who would take refuge in the blood of Christ through belief in Him.

Likewise, fifty days after Passover is Pentecost (which means fifty), also known as the Feast of Weeks, the celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest.

It was also the day God ordained to send His Holy Spirit to indwell the disciples of Christ, referred to several times in the Bible as wheat, reaping the first fruits of the harvest of Christ’s work on the cross.

For those of us who believe in Christ and are filled with His Holy Spirit, we are the continued harvest of those seeds Christ planted all those years ago. 

Not only is Passover a day to remember that miraculous, joyful time in the lives of the first disciples, but a celebration of what God’s still doing today.  


Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your glorious name. Thank you for your perfect ways and for the beauty in all your plans. 

Thank you for the gift of salvation and of your Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom, teaches us, ministers to us, comforts us, and leads us through the treacherous terrain in our lives. We are forever grateful for your grace and mercy. 

Father, we pray you would use us to continue your work, and that many more harvests would come as your Holy Spirit works in and through us. In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Israel

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.

You are the LORD, the God of Israel, their Maker, the Holy One of Israel, the LORD Almighty, the God and Savior of Israel, the righteous God and Savior, and there is no other. 

Before you every knee will bow and every tongue will take an oath that in you alone are righteousness and strength. In you the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. 

We pray for your protection over your beloved Israel, for her deliverance and salvation.

May you be glorified and may Yeshua HaMashiach be worshipped.

It’s in the name of Jesus Christ, the name above all names that we pray, amen.  

(Taken from Isaiah 45)

Sunday Praise and a Mother’s Day Prayer of Gratefulness

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for all the ways you’ve blessed us, nurtured us, fed us, taught us, ministered to us, held us, walked with us, called us, provided for us, cared for us, showed us your compassion and hope, and a million other ways you’ve shown yourself faithful to us. 

Father, today there are some who are celebrating, some are hoping, some remembering, and some grieving. We pray for each and every one, that you would bless them according to your riches in Christ Jesus. 

Thank you for imparting your mothering character to all of us, and for giving us people who have mothered us, whether our own or someone else, and for putting others in our lives so that we can nurture and love them.  

You are a God of wonders and miracles and joys and we look to you with hearts of gratefulness today. 

Thank you, dear Father. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

Illustration 183074016 © Inna Sinano | Dreamstime.com

Sunday Praise and a Prayer of Joy

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. On this Palm Sunday, we praise you for all you’ve done, for sending your Son in fulfillment of the coming Savior written about in the Old Testament of your Word.

That Zechariah foretold His coming in this way – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,” and that is just what He did. 

And so we praise you, Lord Jesus, and honor and glorify you for coming as the only One who could have saved us, and has saved us from our sins. We are filled with joy that you loved us so much that you came to purchase our souls with the sacrifice of your own life, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

There is no joy like the joy of those who have been saved and filled with your Holy Spirit, that we might commune with you always, and know your love, your peace, and your hope. Help us walk in your joy as we keep in mind all you’ve done for us. In Jesus’ holy and mighty name we pray, amen. 

The Antichrist, the Scrolls, and the Coming of Christ

Posted on by Dorci

Many of us probably woke up this morning wondering what kind of craziness we’d hear about today. So much has changed in the last year, or maybe it’s just being revealed. 

We see anger, judgment, self-righteousness, violence, hatred, and so much more running rampant, and the basis for all these is one lie or another, but all stemming from the lie that Jesus is not the Christ, and there is no judgment or salvation in Him. 

Jesus stated that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44b)

Paul referred to the devil as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience…” (Eph. 2:2b)

The Holy Spirit lives within God’s children, but satan’s domain is without. We see him at work more and more every day, lying and using others to spread lies. 

Though 1 John was written centuries ago, its author warned “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”

The word antichrist, of course, means opposite, or an opponent of the Messiah. While we don’t know yet who the antichrist will be, the spirit of the antichrist has always been here and works in and through those who don’t believe in Christ as Lord.

As we watch the world spiral more and more out of control, and the enemy work harder to take as many with him while he can, we know these are the beginnings, the continuation, of birth pains. 

Jesus said no one knows when the day or hour of His coming will be, but we are to be ready, mind, body, and spirit. 

You might have read that Israeli archeologists have just uncovered dozens of new fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave in the Judean Desert. They include Greek translations of the Old Testament books of Nahum and Zechariah. 

Nahum and Zechariah were both prophets, and both are books of prophecy. 

Nahum is a short three-chapter book about his preaching to the city of Nineveh around 663 to 654 BC. 

You might remember God sent Jonah to Nineveh, courtesy of a giant fish, about 100 years earlier to tell them they needed to get right with God or suffer the consequences. The Ninevites heeded God’s word, and for a time, lived in obedience. 

But they eventually returned to their wicked ways, and now God’s sent Nahum to warn them of His judgment for their sin against Judah and Israel and their impending destruction.

Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC. 

Zechariah, also a priest, received the first in a series of visions from the Lord almost 100 years later, following the return of the people of Judah from Babylonian captivity, directing him to tell God’s people that if they would return to Him, He would return to them. 

There are numerous prophecies throughout the book about both the first and second coming of Christ, like in Zechariah 9:9:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.”

And in Zechariah 9:14 and 16:

“Then the Lord will be seen over them,
And His arrow will go forth like lightning.
The Lord God will blow the trumpet,
And go with whirlwinds from the south.”

“The Lord their God will save them in that day,
As the flock of His people.
For they shall be like the jewels of a crown,
Lifted like a banner over His land—”

Is it a coincidence that fragments of two books of prophecies, one detailing the destruction of the godless, and the other outlining the coming of Christ, have just been uncovered?

Maybe. Maybe not.

What I do know is the spirit of the antichrist is working overtime, and we do not have a minute to spare. Even if Christ tarries, none of us knows how much time we have in this life.

If we’ve been away from Christ, it’s time to return. If we’ve been lukewarm, it’s time to be on fire. If we’ve let our faith be watered down by teachers who do not walk in the truth, it’s time adhere to truth. If we haven’t been using our spiritual gift, it’s time to use it, to build up the body of Christ, and to reach the lost and dying. And for those who have never believed in Christ as the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God who lived on earth and paid for the sins of the world with His own blood, it’s time to believe.

Above all, it’s time to pray in the Spirit with all hope, love, and fervency.   


Heavenly Father, forgive us for wasting so much time. Forgive us for taking the time we have here for granted, for getting so caught up in the world and not always walking with you, for not always abiding in you and living according to your will.  Thank you for your forgiveness, your grace and mercy, and for your faithful love that never ends. Please show us whatever we may have allowed in our lives that keep us from you and from doing your will, give us the strength to leave it and abide in you. Give us ears to hear you, and instruct us and teach us in the way we should go. In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

 

 

Friday Funnies – The Food Prayer

Posted on by Dorci

Think About These Things

Posted on by Dorci


It is incredibly easy to get focused on what’s going wrong, what went wrong, and what might go wrong in the future. 

Paul had plenty he could have been depressed about when he wrote his letter to the Church in Philippi.

He was writing while imprisoned unjustly and constantly guarded, and had to rely on people outside the prison to supply most of his food and anything else he needed. He lived with a chronic health issue. And he faced the real possibility of execution.

Five times he’d been punished with thirty-nine lashes, three times he was beaten with rods and once was stoned. He was shipwrecked three times, and spent a whole night adrift at sea. He faced danger from rivers, robbers, Jews and Gentiles, wolves in sheep’s clothing, in cities, deserts, and on the seas. He had sleepless nights, had gone without food and water, and had shivered from enduring cold without enough clothing to keep him warm. 

But Paul did not focus on those outward things. 

His focus was on his Savior and his calling, and both of those led him to have a heart for God’s people. Instead of thinking about all that was going wrong or could go wrong, he’s writing a letter to the body of Christ to encourage them. 

He tells them not to worry about him, but reminds them the truth that his imprisonment has only served to advance the gospel inside and outside the prison.

He finds it praiseworthy that his imprisonment has served to strengthen the faith of believers, that they “dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”

And he speaks of the loveliness of this body of believers in sharing in his suffering by sending him aid. 

Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul are laser-focused on the Lord, on getting out the gospel for the sake of lost souls, and encouraging his beloved brothers and sisters. 

If we’re abiding in Christ, our circumstances are in the hands of a gracious and merciful and loving Father. And the excellent thing about Him is that He loves to be our strength when we are weak, and He will use those circumstances in ways we might not know about until we see Him face to face. 

Paul never knew he was writing the majority of the New Testament, and that 2000 years later we would be benefitting  from the encouragement he took and wrote about to the churches while he was in prison. 

Yes, there’s a lot going on in our own lives and all around us we could focus on that is untrue, unjust, unrighteous, etc., etc., and etc.

But we can take our thoughts away from those things and focus them on the Lord, the gospel, and our calling. We walk in the Spirit by first thinking in the Spirit, seeing our circumstances through the eyes of Christ, remembering He has a plan, and praise Him for all the ways He’s blessed us, is blessing us, and will bless us. 

God’s given each of us spiritual gifts to use, and circumstances that allow us to use them. 

I think about my own life, and let me tell you, it’s been a doozy. Almost from day 1 to now it’s been an uphill climb. Sometimes I come to some level ground, although even that’s been rocky. And every once in a while I come to an oasis – a true word from the Lord, a lovely friend, or a praiseworthy answer to prayer. 

Yet I remember that it is in the very depths of those difficult circumstances that draw me to Christ, keep me needing Him, abiding in Him, and loving Him more and more. And without all He’s taught me through them, I wouldn’t have had much, if anything, to write about. 

Even if we can think of nothing else, we can focus on the fact that

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

So. What can we focus on right now, today, that is

True (truth)? 

Noble (worthy of respect)?

Right (just, in character or act)?

Pure (innocent, modest, perfect)?

Lovely (friendly towards)?

Admirable (well spoken of)?

Excellent (praise, virtue)?

Praiseworthy (commendable)?

Hint: The best place to be reminded of all that is true and praiseworthy and everything in between is in the very pages of God’s Word. (Can you imagine Paul’s joy knowing that here we are in 2021 taking courage from his encouragement?)

And one more word of truth lived out by our brother Paul – 

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5

Heavenly Father, we give you praise for our salvation through Christ and for the continual blessing of the Holy Spirit. When we begin to get our eyes onto things or perspectives that would bring us down, remind us of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Help us remember and live worthy of our calling to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ. And thank you for preparing for us a place in heaven, where we will live with you and everything that is good and right and holy forever and ever. In Jesus’ precious name, amen. 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Love

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. Thank you for the gift of love, of yourself. You are too grand for us to fully comprehend, to understand your existence and your eternal nature, but we are forever thankful that you created us and through the sacrifice of your Son, by faith, brought us into relationship with you to receive your love, and through the filling of your Holy Spirit, experience its depth, and be given the ability to love you and love others. 

Father we ask for forgiveness for the times we’ve failed to love. They are too numerous for us to name, but we ask that you would heal the hearts of those we’ve caused pain, and we thank you for softening our own hearts and granting us repentance and new mercies to begin again.

Hold onto us, Lord, and give us willing hearts to obey you. Keep us from even the temptation to sin, knowing that allowing sin would begin to harden our hearts and break the precious communion we have with you. And when we do sin, help us to quickly repent, so we can abide in your love again. 

May we be quick to take the love you give us and your example and love others, our brothers and sisters in the faith, and those who have yet to come to you, and to love our enemies, remembering that

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

This is how you love, Lord, and this is how we want to love, too.  Help us understand more and more the scope of it so we can love others in a way that glorifies you. 

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

* * *

If you have any prayer requests please let me know!

 

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.