Tag: Rescue

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

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Proclaim

Posted on by Dorci

Image result for ruth 4:14
 

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you.  Thank you for not only providing Ruth with a redeemer, but for giving us a Redeemer in your Son through her.  We pray you will give us boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and that He would become known in more and more hearts in our families, in our neighborhoods, at our places of business, throughout our country, and into the world. Lord Jesus, help us to continually seek you, to trust you, and hear from you so that our steps our led by you with wisdom and grace.  When we face difficulties, help us proclaim your name. When we are blessed with success, help us proclaim your name. When we don’t understand, help us proclaim your name. In life and in death, help us to continually, boldly, faithfully proclaim the Name that is above all names, – Yeshua Hamashiach – Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, our Savior and Redeemer. In His glorious 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.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer of Trust

Posted on by Dorci

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise you.  Thank you for lifting us up out of our sin and redeeming us for Yourself.  For being a fortress for us where we can safely live and rest in you, where we can know that no matter the storms that rage around us, you are our hiding place.  Thank you for making our hearts new and filling us with songs of praise, for you are praiseworthy.  Lord, we entrust ourselves to you to keep us from wandering, to keep us walking with you in the narrow places. You know our individual hearts, and you know how to love us, bless us, and mature us, each in our own unique way. Help us to not fight against what you’re doing in our hearts and lives, even when it’s painful. Show us people this week who we can extend the love and grace you’ve given us, that they would be encouraged to entrust themselves to you in all ways, too.  For your glory, and in Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Unrivaled Trust

Posted on by Dorci

“Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord, my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
He remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.”
Psalm 146

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you today, from the depths of our souls we praise you. We praise you for all you’ve done, all you are doing, and all you will do.  We put all our trust, hope, and confidence in you and in no one else. Help us to see where we have put our dependence in someone over you and may we re-place it where it belongs – in you, in your perfect will, in your plans, in your love for us as our good, good Father. If you choose to use someone to do good in our lives, we praise you knowing it was by your will and prompting. Thank you for providing for every need we have, especially our spiritual freedom, and with it, your peace, both now and forever.  Help us be a light pointing those you put in our path to you, so they, through your Son, can also have an intimate relationship with you and along with it the confident assurance of your grace and mercy to be their provision, their portion, their all.  You are our hope, and we will put no other in your place. We pray in the name of our El Shaddai – the All-Sufficient God, our El Roi – the God Who Sees Me, our Jehovah-Rapha – the God Who Heals, and our El Sali – the God of my Strength, through your Son Jesus the Christ.  Amen.