January 27, 2014

Sisters: Thanks so much for faithfully praying! Add your prayers for the soldiers or praises in the comments. Just remember it's a public site.

Almighty God!
As Job 38 points out: You are the answer to all the questions; You laid the foundation of the earth while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy; You burst forth the sea with its clouds; You give orders to the morning, ushering the dawn in at its place; You journeyed to the springs of the sea; You see the gates of death and deepest darkness; You keep the light in its home; You keep the storehouses of the snow; You flash the lightning bolt; You give birth to the ice; You parade the stars across the sky; You satisfy the earth with rain; You feed the animals.
Your dominion is over all the earth, never to be threatened, shaken.
And as sure as Your dominion, is our place in You. May we know that peace. That rest.

So we come to You
with awe of Your power
with awe of Your love for us
with gratitude for Your forgiveness
and we pray for our soldiers. For the soldiers of Fort Drum. The single soldier humping a pack around the Riva Ridge loop. The female soldier, lonely in Afghanistan. The commander, considering the missions.

We pray that You will give them Your Spirit. The Spirit that is not timid, but has power, love and self-discipline. (IITim. 1:7) We pray they are strong and courageous, knowing You are with them.
We pray our soldiers would be a people saved by You. That You would be their shield. Their helper. Their glorious sword. So their enemies will cower before You. (Deut. 33:29)
We pray that they would always stay humble, understanding You give the victory. It is not by their sword or their arm, but Your arm and the light of Your face. (Psalm 44:3)
We pray they would fear You, and Your angel will encamp around them and deliver them. (Psalm 34:7)
We pray they will continue to hope in You, for You can renew the strength they need to march another mile. (Isaiah 40:31)
We pray they can be thankful, doing all things in Your name and as working for You. (Col. 3)
May they see the accomplishment of the work You have given their hands to do.

God we pray for our soldiers' safety. Be with those who are saying their goodbyes this week. Thank You for those saying their hello's. May we see Your protection, and then proclaim it loudly for Your glory!

We pray for continued protection around our children. We thank You for miracles seen even this week. Lord fill us and our homes with more of You.

To the One who makes it all a victory in the end! Amen!

January 20, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqd8MoiCbcI

Father God,

Every breath is grace from You, allowing us to be alive. May we breathe "Abba, I belong to You" over and over today (as Brennan Manning suggested). 

Every morning that our children awake, grace from You.

Every night our soldier closes his eyes in safety, grace from You.

Almighty God

You are the One above the Heavens

You are the Commander of the Heavenly Hosts

You are the only Holy One

power beyond our comprehension

above time

everywhere

and still, You love us.

Enough to seek us out. Chase us down. Surround us with Your love.

Even when we fight You.

Even when we shake our fists.

Even when we kill Your Word.

Thank You Lord. Our feeble attempts at thanking You, loving You, are only small reflections back of Your love for us.

Unleash the hounds of heaven on Fort Drum. May they not be restrained spiritually, but may they chase down, surround, overwhelm the many hurting people with Your love. May the demon of suicide and despair be bound up in Your Almighty Name.

The darkness is heavy here, Lord. So many have no one to rely on, no one to turn to. When the packs get heavier, they try to just get tougher. Thank You Lord that You take on our burdens. Every day. Psalm 68:19

You can be here, saturating our homes.

And You can be on the other side of the world, putting a hedge of protection around our soldiers. Nowhere can we get away from Your grace.

So today, Lord, be the grace between us in our homes.

May we find our rest in You.

Please keep our soldiers safe, especially with all the comings and goings right now.

Be with our leaders, and the world's leaders, in the decisions that effect lives.

May we be lights today, and this week, to those who need to know You.

May our children learn this week to see Your grace, and really know it in their hearts.

In Jesus' beautiful name,

Amen

here's the lyrics running through my head: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mattredman/yourgracefindsme.html

January 13, 2014

Let's pray with Psalm 65 today-

Praise awaits You our God in Zion;
to You our vows will be fulfilled.
You who answer prayer,
to You all people will come.

Thank You Abba-Daddy for answered prayers! For renewed health, for planes landing safely, for the courage to face new days, for new babies' smiles. We come to You again and again for it is You who answers prayers. We pray more answers will come, more of Fort Drum will pray, more of us will see prayers answered.

When we were overwhelmed by sins,
You forgave our transgressions.

Oh God, the heavy heart when we've messed things up. Yet Your Grace finds us. What a beautiful word--forgiveness. Only You can truly grant it, and You do! Over and over again, You free us. Thank You Lord Jesus!

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas
who formed the mountains by Your power,
having armed Yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

God, we can bring peace to this world about as easily as we can stop an ocean wave. But we know You can! We who are so heavily invested, do ask for You to still the turmoil of Afghanistan... Iraq...Somalia...Syria. Lord, may the nations turn to You. Use us as Your instruments.

You care for the land and water it;
You enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so You have ordained it.

Lord we see Your power  in the strength of the storm, the rush of the rivers. It slows us and reminds us of Your control, and our weakness. Thank You for nurturing the land. Thank You for the coming crops. Thank You for taking care of us.

God of the Heavenly Armies, more planes will come and go this week. Please keep them safe. More trucks and humvees will have to move through hostile land. Please guard them. More soldiers will have to walk through dangerous valleys. Please hide them in Your hand.

And please, Abba, may the demon of suicide be restrained from Fort Drum. May this be the duty station where people are introduced to You. To this end we pray for our youth groups, our chapels, PWOC, our chaplains.

For the families, for ourselves, we pray for peace and strength this week. The kind only You can grant.

For Your glory, we will praise You for answering these prayers. We will tell others of the miracles. May they bring more people to You.

The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders;

where morning dawns, 

where evening fades,

You call forth songs of joy.

Amen!

January 6, 2014

"Prayer is a declaration of dependence on God....I pray to restore the truth of the universe, to gain a glimpse of the world, and of me, through the eyes of God."-- Philip Yancey

Father God,

All of You is more than enough for all of me,
for ev’ry thirst and ev’ry need.
You satisfy me with Your love,
and all I have in You is more than enough.

So many things we could be praying for, Lord. All good things can only come from You.  

We could ask for ease of life, but we'd be stunted in our growth, cut off from Your greater blessings.

We ask for health, for You are the giver of life. Lord, one little bug can cripple us. We ask for strength of character when we are sick.

We could ask for wealth, but what silly little play things they are compared to Your vast kingdom.

Verse 1

You’re my supply, my breath of life;
still more awesome than I know.
You’re my reward, worth living for;
still more awesome than I know.

We could ask to be surrounded by beauty, but that would be disregarding all that You have surrounded us with: the blue of the ice, the valor of the chickadee, the strength of our husbands' arms, the depth of our own eyes in the mirror, the grin of a child, the warm fur of a pet....

Forgive us Lord, when we are ungrateful, unseeing, of Your love.

We ask for Your comfort, for only under Your wings is there true peace that can whether the storms.

Verse 2
You’re my sacrifice of greatest price;
still more awesome than I know.
You’re my coming King, You are ev’rything;
still more awesome than I know.

We could ask for safety, but mountains are never climbed, battles never won, in safety.

We ask for healed relationships, but don't let us replace You with them.

We ask for peace

and joy

but only the deep, true kind that comes from Your heart.
Bridge
More than all I want, more than all I need,
You are more than enough for me.
More than all I know, more than all I can,
You are more than enough.

or ev’ry thirst and ev’ry need.
You satisfy me with Your love,
and all I have in You is more than enough.

So, Lord, we ask for more of You. We place on the altar all the things we must sacrifice in order to make room for more of You. We repent from the sins that do not allow us to have more of You.

And we pray for more of You in our Fort Drum community:
may the hurting soldier be cradled in Your arms.
May the deploying find success in their mission, for Your glory in a world of lost people.
May the working soldier be drawn closer to You.
May our families be nurturing places for our children.
May we as wives, mothers, friends, be overflowing with You.


It's a Monday Lord. Help us to accept the assignments You've placed before us, and get after it. We know You go before us, come behind us, and have Your hand on our head.

We love You. We need You.
Amen

The song is from Chris Tomlin. Here's a link to the melody:
http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=569072