June 29, 2015

Praying with Habakkuk 3 this week:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

...His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth.
His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from His hand,
where His power was hidden.
Plague went before Him;
pestilence followed His steps.
He stood and shook the earth;
He looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed--
But He marches on forever.

Father God, we come humbly before You,
recognizing Your power,
remembering Your love.

We have failed.
Forgive us for our part in losing this nation.
We sacrifice the unborn babies.
We idolize the ones who disregard You.
We focus on our comfort--
our gods are our stomachs.
We fight for more money.
We have muddied the path to You, until it is unrecognizable.

We can only come to You because we know You have already forgiven.

Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please help us with this land.
We pray that we will be found worthy of standing in the gap, that we will rise up as Your Bride, and draw people to Your side.

We have failed to legislate morality. We need You to turn hearts. We ask for revival.

We ask for a moving of Your Spirit through our military. Be with our leaders, guide us from the top on down. We pray for the Chief of Chaplain's office--may there be unity and a stronghold of morality.

We pray for our Christian warriors' integrity. We pray for protection of body and heart for our deployed.

We pray we will all be used by You.

We pray for the hurting veterans--may they see You as never before. We want to stand in the gap for them especially. Rescue them from their pit, please Father God!

We pray for the PCS moves--amidst the houses and schools and new friends, Lord plant us where You would have us. Set us into new habits of sharing You in our new communities.

And we ask for help with houses bought/sold/rented. We ask for help with children finding their new ways.

We ask for help for our many friends who are struggling with their health. Lord, may the bones You have broken rejoice (Psalm51)--may they see You working during their weakness.

We pray for those digging out after the floods in the South. We pray for those fighting fires in the forests. We pray for those burying their dead in South Carolina.

We are in awe of Your power. We are in awe of Your love.
Amen.

June 22, 2015

Chris Tomlin's Unfailing Love:

You have my heart
And I am yours forever
You are my strength
God of grace and power

And everything You hold in your hand still you make time for me I cant understand 

Praise you God of earth and sky how beautiful is Your unfailing love unfailing love unfailing love
And you never change God you remain the holy one and my unfailing love unfailing love

You are my rock the one I hold on to
You are my song and I sing for you

And everything You hold in your hand
Still you make time for me, I cant understand
Praise you, God of earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love (unfailing, love unfailing love)
And you never change, God
You remain the Holy One and my unfailing love (unfailing love)

Thank You Lord for being a father to the fatherless. For being the ultimate example. And as we can't rely on our fathers for everything, thank You for being our Father. With unlimited time. Unlimited love. The rock we can hold to. 

And You hold us. You hold the deployments. You hold the rough work. You hold the willful child. You hold the domino schedule. You hold the drowning laundry and dishes. You hold the finances. You hold us through the illnesses. You hold us.

Thank You for daddies. Thank You for the young private doing his best for his new baby. Thank You for the Lt. Colonel with great kids as hopeful examples. Thank You for grandpas with words of wisdom.

And we pray for our military fathers. Help them to balance the extra demands that are placed on them. Heal the childrens' hearts over the losses brought on by deployment and training. Bolster our military families' courage for all the challenges. 

We pray for the fathers who have illness in the family. Give them patience and strength.

Lord we pray that the military father will be the spiritual leader of their homes. Lord, please start a revival through the dads. How awesome that would be! Please turn their hearts toward home. May they be gentle with the weak. Patient with the imperfect. May they be more like You.

We pray for Pastor Saeed--wanting to be home with his family.

We pray for the families in South Carolina, hurting from the tragedy.

We pray for safety for our deployed.

We pray for our veterans. Save them from giving in to depression, from believing the lie that they are not loved.

We pray for the Chief of Chaplain's office, and their leading.

Thank You Heavenly Father for sitting with us today.

June 15, 2015

As Ann Voskamp says,

Why God? Why so much beauty?
Why the snow-capped mountains playing with the clouds?
Why the tiny purple violets sprinkling those mountains where people will probably never even see them?
Why the red on the cardinal? The orange of the oriole?
Why the blue egg of the robin?
The teal of the lake?
The yellow of the field of sunflowers, turning their heads with the sun?
The pink of the sunset?

You love us! You love us! You love us!
Extravagantly!

Help us when we can't see. Forgive us when we refuse to see.
Thank You for loving us. We want to turn our faces to You.
We want to be used by You to open others' eyes.

We pray for Your beauty to touch Pastor Saeed in his prison.
We pray for the oppressed child in Iraq to hold onto the hope of beauty.
We pray for the eyes of the traumatized vet to be opened to Your gifts.
We pray for those searching for beauty after the floods, from under the earthquake rubble, in the new home after a PCS.

We pray for the heart of our soldier--to be as tough as it needs to be while not shutting out the  lovely, the life-giving.

We pray for our leaders to be able to point towards hope,
from the Chief of Chaplain's office
to the battalion commander
to the platoon sergeant
to the fresh new soldier far from home.

There is no limit to Your power to make all things new and beautiful.
We trust in that this day.

Amen!

June 8, 2015 amended

Father God,

We come with all kinds of things heavy on our hearts to pray for--things to cry out to You about.

Sometimes we forget how much You've already done.

Thank You Lord for life-giving blood. We are born in it, we are healed by it, we live and die by it.

And we are saved by it--by the sacrifice You gave.

Thank You Lord Jesus.

Forgive us for forgetting.

So, whether we are kept safe or not,

whether we are healed or not,

whether we have money in the bank or not,

whether our children succeed or not,

we thank You that we are already saved. We are forgiven. We are in Your arms.

We pray for those who have nothing in this world to hold to--our brothers and sisters in Iraq and around the world

who are being persecuted. We ask for an outpouring of Your Spirit on their lives that we cannot imagine.

We ask for Your protection.

We pray for our friends who need healing.

Physical healing: _______________

Emotional healing: _________________ and our veterans

Spiritual healing:___________________

We pray for Your leading throughout our ranks.

Including our Chief of Chaplains office.

May our Christian soldiers have vision to do amazing things for You.

And thank You for loving us and understanding the little issues that rock our boats:

we pray for PCS changes

for houses found, houses rented, houses sold.

Here in You is where our hope is found,

but we need to hand over our life.

Help us to do that Lord.

Right now, today, in all the daily daily-ness.

We give it to You.

Amen!

June 8, 2015

At the Cross, by Chris Tomlin

click here to hear Chris Tomlin acoustic

Father God,

We come with all kinds of things heavy on our hearts to pray for--things to cry out to You about.

Sometimes we forget how much You've already done.

Thank You Lord for life-giving blood. We are born in it, we are healed by it, we live and die by it.

And we are saved by it--by the sacrifice You gave.

Thank You Lord Jesus.

Forgive us for forgetting.

So, whether we are kept safe or not,

whether we are healed or not,

whether we have money in the bank or not,

whether our children succeed or not,

we thank You that we are already saved. We are forgiven. We are in Your arms.

We pray for those who have nothing in this world to hold to--our brothers and sisters in Iraq and around the world

who are being persecuted. We ask for an outpouring of Your Spirit on their lives that we cannot imagine.

We ask for Your protection.

We pray for our friends who need healing.

Physical healing: _______________

Emotional healing: _________________ and our veterans

Spiritual healing:___________________

We pray for Your leading throughout our ranks.

Including our Chief of Chaplains office.

May our Christian soldiers have vision to do amazing things for You.

And thank You for loving us and understanding the little issues that rock our boats:

we pray for PCS changes

for houses found, houses rented, houses sold.

Here in You is where our hope is found,

but we need to hand over our life.

Help us to do that Lord.

Right now, today, in all the daily daily-ness.

We give it to You.

Amen!