March 28, 2016

The concept for today's prayer is not original with me, but I can't remember or find the source... So, shameless plagiarism here. Also, I want to join the 'hardest prayers of a mother' from the blog site: 

http://wearethatfamily.com/2015/03/the-hard-prayers-of-a-mother/

Lord Jesus, in Holy Week--

we realize how un-holy our lives are.

Help us to take up our cross

and follow You on the road to Golgotha--

the place of the skull

the place of death

where selves die

As we realize how pathetically weak we are

we see how amazingly strong You are.

Lord Jesus,

I, my people, our troops, our country,

we have ran away from You--

"My feet were nailed for you"

Our hands--we've used them in sin

we've hurt people in our anger

we've chosen not to help

"My hands were pierced for you"

We've turned our back on You

we've chosen our own rules

we've chosen to believe our own lies to avoid bowing to You

"My back was whipped to stripes for you"

Lord, we can hardly stay focused for more than 5 minutes on You

our minds wander 

chasing after the winds of our hearts

"My head bore a crown of thorns for you"

The bottom line is we don't love You enough Lord

our hearts are far away

we try to protect them in comfort

"My heart was pierced for you"

Thank You Jesus 

Thank You

Thank You for loving us so much

Help us to bear our crosses

to love You enough to sacrifice

to value You more than anything

even if it hurts

Lord break our wills, 

break our hearts

break our pride and self-sufficiency

whatever it takes to make us see

for You are worth everything--

We pray this for ourselves

for our husbands

with some fear, we pray this for our children

You've given us the strongest military in the world

but don't let us lose our soul

do what You must to bring our soldiers to You.

Move amongst our deployed in this time.

For those that are broken, for our veterans, we pray You will heal them

May they find true rest and comfort in You

not drugs, or meds, or alcohol, or relationships or adrenaline or or or

May our chaplains and chapels and our Christian soldiers be joyous guiding lights, including the Chief of Chaplains office.

Out of a deeper understanding of Your sacrifice, grow our love for You.

Lead on Lord--through the PCSs, the illnesses, the child raising, the career choices, the daily choices of how to live these lives You have given us--and to live them abundantly!

Amen!

March 21, 2016

Using verses from Psalms 32, 33, and 34 today to pray.

The Lord merely spoke,
and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word,
and all the stars were born.
He gave the sea its boundaries
and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs...

For the word of the Lord holds true,
and every thing He does is worthy of our trust.

And Lord we want to trust You more. Help us to trust You, the Maker of the Universe.

For our nation, we pray:

The Lord shatters the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. But the Lord's plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken. What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people He has chosen for His own.

Lord may we follow Your plans. Please be our God.

For our veterans we pray:

I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me, freeing me from all my fears. Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. I cried out to the Lord in my suffering and He heard me. He set me free from all my fears. For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear Him, and He rescues them.

Lord, we pray they will cry out to You.

For our soldiers:

The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory--for all its strength, it cannot save you.
But the Lord watches over those who fear Him, those who rely on His unfailing love.
He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.

For all of us:

We depend on the Lord alone to save us. Only He can help us, protecting us like a shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we are trusting in His holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in You alone.

For our children:

The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you..."

For our hurting friends:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit.

Lord we pray for those whose marriages are struggling, those who need physical healing, those who don't have the strength for today.

Lord we thank You for Your beautiful Bible that gives us the words we need. We look forward to seeing these prayers answered and our trust grow in You.

March 14, 2016

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein

"How Deep The Father's Love For Us"

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure

Lord God, Almighty One, Father in Heaven, Abba,

We sit in our little houses, surrounded by our little things, encapsulated in our own little lives, and we see no miracles. We pretend we're taking care of everything by ourselves. We lull ourselves to sleep without noticing Your love.

But then the snow geese pass. Flocks like clouds, singing Your praise, white bodies tipped with black and for a moment, our eyes awaken to the miracles.

The miracles of temps rising, of new life growing, of hearts changing. And as we see the miracles, we see the love behind them from You.

Help us to see Lord. Help us to be engulfed in Your love.

That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

And there's the greatest miracle of all--that You would love us enough to create us; and then to die for us. So many times, we wonder how You can forgive us; and yet You already did, 2000 years ago.

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

During this season of Lent, Father don't let us forget the cost. Help us be changed by it. May the cross make us grateful. Humble. And yet overwhelmingly confident in Your love.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

Lord, we want to confess for our people. We understand that all need to individually repent, but we corporately confess too. Forgive us for our pride. Forgive us for our egocentrism. Forgive us for thinking we don't need You. Forgive us for filling our need for You with so many other things like drinking and relationships and greed and busy-ness. So much busy-ness. Forgive us for not protecting the innocent. Forgive our foul, scoffing mouths. Forgive us for not seeking You.

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

It is finished. Lord help us to remember the chains of our sinful lives, without staying in them, without wallowing in them. Without saying 'your sacrifice wasn't enough, I still need to punish myself.'

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Easter is coming! And beyond that You are coming again! Lord, help us shout this out! Help us share the joy. Not the joy in the new dress or the eggs or the spring. The joy in You.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Great, unending love. And it is because of this we can pray. 

We pray You will guard the hearts of our deployed. May Your resurrection be real to them as never before in this season. We pray against the demonic spirit of suicide in our troops.

Lord please give our soldiers direction in their careers--promotions, difficult situations, choices to make, new moves. We trust in You through it all.

We pray for our elections. Lord, move in this country according to Your will. May these hard times be the catalyst for great things. We pray for our leaders, including the Chief of Chaplain's office.

We pray for our missionaries in dangerous places. Lord, please change this world.

We pray for healing for our friends--for concussions and thyroids and miserable flu bugs and mysterious illnesses and pre-mie babies. We turn to You, our great Physician, recognizing that everything is a miracle.

We ask for Your wisdom Lord. How to help our children. The logistics of another move. How to serve our husbands. How to reach our neighbors. Please give Your words to our teachers this week.

Help us to live as deeply loved daughters today.

We love You and Your Son's Name, Amen.

http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=577430

March 7, 2016

God of the Universe,
God of the little things--
You provide the plankton to feed the whale
You design each crystal of the snowflake
You see the tiny mushroom
and the fiddle head of the growing fern
the first crocus on the forest floor.
You use the tiny fragments of dust to reflect pink in the sunrise.
You place the eyelashes on the newborn.
You show the sparrow its seed.

In the tiny things, we see You're awesome power.

We pray today for the tiny things that can rule our world if we let it:

We pray for our vets who are lonely and depressed. we pray for the tiny things--a smile, a touch, an eye contact. Infect their world with these good things and may they hold to You.

We pray for our little ones who are coming, have been born, are being adopted. Thank You Lord for these tiny things that can change the world. Thank You for all the hope they hold.

We pray for our deployed. Help them deal with the little and big annoyances and problems.

We pray for our nation--Lord, we want You to reign in our elections. Please reign in all our leaders, including the Chief of Chaplains' office.

We pray for our soldiers' jobs today. May it be a productive, kingdom-building Monday.

We thank You for continued healing of our sick--the tiny things in us that fight the illnesses, that heal the wounds.

We pray for us in this time of transition as so many of us prepare for a move. We pray for the little things that You can so easily take care of, and we trust in You. We pray for houses found/bought/sold/rented. For school decisions and driving distances and neighborhoods and friends for the kids, battle buddies for us.

But Lord, we don't want it to be all about us. May we infect our world today with You through the little things.
Amen.