May 13, 2018

When our hearts are heavy, when the needs are many, when the words won't come, You are there, dear Lord Jesus. And You give us the words to say. And You work outside of time, knowing our needs before we do. And You give peace when there is no earthly reason for it. 

Because You are God. You can heal all. You conquer all. You love faithfully.

And so, we pray.

Lord, we pray for our children by name, and for all of our military kids, using Jeremiah's words:

Before You formed __________ in the womb, You knew him/her, before s/he was born, You set him/her apart.  (1:5)

Lord, do not let __________ forsake You, the Spring of Living Water.  Do not let him/her dig his/her own pits that do not hold water.  (2:13)

Give __________ shepherds, after Your own heart, who will lead him/her with knowledge and understanding.  (3:15)

When You call __________ and declare that You will be his/her Cure, may his/her response be, “Yes, I will come to You, for You are the Lord my God.”  (3:22)

Help __________ to listen to Your words and not reject Your law, that disaster would be averted.  (6:19)

Lord, I pray that __________ would be a man/woman who stands for You in his/her community- who uses his/her strength to protect the widow, the fatherless, the alien and the innocent.  I pray s/he would set aside worthless and deceptive words, that his/her trust would be in You and his/her worship Yours alone.  (7:5-8)

Lord, help __________ to be cautious with his/her friends, remembering that we are all capable of deceit.  Let him/her not live in the middle of deception, refusing to acknowledge You.  (9:5-6)

You are the One True God; You are the Living God, the Eternal King.  When You are angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure Your wrath.  You made the earth by Your power and founded the world by Your wisdom and stretched out the heavens by Your understanding.  You are our Portion, the Maker of all things, including __________, the son/daughter of Your inheritance.  The LordAlmighty is Your name.  (10:12,16)

We pray for Your peace for the children of the deployed. We pray for Your strength coming from Your joy for those PCSing. Lord, may our military kids feel You close.

Amen!

May 6, 2018

Praying with Psalm 93 today:

The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty;
The Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established firm and secure.

The God of the universe who is also our Daddy--
The One who gives the mightiest warrior strength,
who also paints the spots on the bird's belly--
The Lord who sits on the throne encircled with a rainbow
who controls the universe--
who spins the earth, holds it on its axis at the perfect angle and distance
who sparks the embryos' hearts--
To You we turn.

Your throne was established long ago;
You are from all eternity.

The new threat is not new, nor a threat to You
You will not be shaken by the news
You are not rattled by a new development

The seas have lifted up, Lord,
The seas have lifted up their voice;
The seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea-- the Lord on high is mighty.

With all our efforts, our boasting, our powers,
we can't even stop the smallest storm.
May our weaknesses draw us to praising You, Lord.
May our military members always remember Your supreme power, superior love.

We pray for our ships on those pounding waves, Father. May each sailor trust in Your hand.
We pray for our airmen in the skies and on bases. May the endless blue remind them of eternity with You.
We pray for our soldiers on the earth You have established. May they find their foundation in You.
We thank You for the military might you have given us. May we use it wisely and for good.
We pray for our leaders' decisions to be made today.
We pray for our new recruits, entering this life of service.
We pray for strategies, routes chosen, supply lines, communication lines, functioning equipment, policies.
We pray for courage, encouragement.
We pray for health, sleep, strength for the deployed.
We pray for peace, purpose for the veteran. We pray against suicide in all our ranks.

Your statues, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns Your house for endless days.

May we all be growing in Your holiness Lord.
We can ask for these things from the God of all power, the God of all love. Thank You!

Amen!

April 29, 2018

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.
You make the diatom release oxygen.

In the tiny things, we see Your awesome power.

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

Lord please be the God of our thoughts today. May every word we say to ourselves be pleasing to You, captive to Your will. As we face so much change, may we not let fear have a foothold in the face of Your great loving power.

Lord God please be the Lord of our words, the tiny things that can change so much in the world around us.

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 us in this time of transition as so many of us prepare for a move. We pray for all 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.

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 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 deployed. Help them deal with the little and big annoyances and problems.

We pray for our nation--Lord, we want You to reign. May our leaders hear Your still, small voice today. 

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


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

April 22, 2018

God who sees,
who sees the little boy in the Chinese orphanage
who sees the little girl hiding under her bed
who sees the tiny fingers uncurling in the womb
who sees the inside of the high school locker room
who sees the test-taking struggle
who sees the shun in the lunch room
who sees the PCS car driving away again
who sees tears on the Skype screen

You see, and You love
You love the brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes
You love the bottom of the class
You love the one standing up for right
You love the one too afraid to stand

You see, You love, and You care
You hold the keys to freedom
and You long to set us free.
To unleash us from all of our fears, all of our entanglements

Father, we pray for our military kids.
Some days it feels like we are again tying them up and throwing them on the altar.
Help us to see it as releasing them into Your hands, the God who sees and loves and sets free.
We will trust You with their schooling
We will trust You with their future
We will trust You with their friends
We will trust You with their hearts.

Lord, may this next generation have an unleashing of Your Spirit like we have never seen before!
Give them the weapons to stand in the spiritual battle.
Give them eyes to see as You see.
May their hearts long for what You do.
Make them fearless!

We pray for Your salvation to come to our children.
We pray for Your protection over those waiting to be adopted.
We pray for our pregnant mommas.
We pray for those dealing with illnesses.
We pray for those struggling in school.
We pray for the lonely. For those with deployed parents.
We pray for the rebellious, who don't even understand why they are acting that way.
We pray for those making life decisions--Lord, may You reign!
We pray for those facing another PCS: Lord, You can make it good!

Father God please rescue our children from fear!

Heavenly Father, please be with our warriors everywhere, and be very real to all of their families.
We pray for our leaders' families, including the Chief of Chaplains' office.
And we pray for our veterans. Lord, please stop the spirit of suicide.

It's only because of Your love that we can have hope for our children.
Thank You Jesus.

Click here to hear No Longer A Slave by Bethel Music


You unravel me with a melody
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance from my enemies
'Til all my fears are gone

[2x]
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God

From my mother's womb
You have chosen me
Love has called my name
I've been born again
Into your family
Your blood flows through my veins

I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God

I am surrounded
By the arms of the father
I am surrounded
By songs of deliverance

We've been liberated
From our bondage
We're the sons and the daughters
Let us sing our freedom

You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
You drowned my fears in perfect love
You rescued me
And I will stand and sing
I am a child of God


CCLI #7051633
Written by Brian Johnson, Jonathan David Helser, and Joel Case
2014 Bethel Music Publishing

April 15, 2018

Praying with excerpts from Habakkuk 3 today:

Lord, I have heard of Your fame,

I stand in awe of Your deeds, Lord.

Timely storms that hid troops. Clear skies that let planes fly. Shelters from the waves for ships. We've seen Your hand for our military through history, God.

Forgiveness being given. Enemies crying together. Hatred being taken away. Only You can do such things. 

Repeat them in our day,

in our time make them known;

in wrath remember mercy.

Lord, we pray for the safety of our warriors.

We pray the impossible prayer--we pray for peace in this world.

And until You grant that, we pray for courage, for strength.

We pray the most hardened heart would learn Your mercy.

We pray our warriors would seek Your face today.

We pray our veterans would feel Your gentle leading. May they be protected from thoughts of suicide.

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. 

Thank You Lord.

Thank You for being in control.

Thank You for Your awesome power.

Thank You for using that to intervene in our lives.

Thank You that we can trust You even as this world falls apart.

Thank You for Your great mercy.

And Father God, we pray for all the things it takes to keep this military life going.

We pray for open minds as orders come.

We pray for houses to be bought, sold, rented.

We pray for extra courage for the families of the deployed.

We pray for grace for the families PCSing.

We pray for safety for the aircraft.

We pray for machines and weapons to function.

We pray for supply lines to be efficient.

Lord, may there be clear communications for the leadership.

May there be camaraderie in the motor pools.

Help the training sessions to be fruitful.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,

Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Lord, help us to trust in You.

You have been so good to our country.

But even in the hard times, may our hope be in You.

May You be the strength of our warriors always.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength,

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

He enables me to tread on the heights.

April 8, 2018

Father God,

You could have just shrugged, turned away, and started over somewhere else.
You could have said 'I told you so. Serves you right.'
You could have said 'you wouldn't listen, so figure it out on your own.'
You could have invoked Your right to be angry.
You could have said 'it's not worth it--you're not worth it.'

But instead You said I was worth it. On every. single. step to Calvary.

Thank You. It motivates us to love You back, and it teaches us how to care for others. 

At this time when we market all kinds of love, help us to understand Yours. 

We envision every heart shape around us broken, Lord. Tattered, torn hearts. Thank You for loving us so much You were willing to let it break Your heart. Not an ornamental arrow through it, but a spear pierced all the way through.

Teach us to love like that, Lord Jesus. Teach us that sacrifice--not the passive, submissive sacrifice. Teach us to be intentionally, aggressively sacrificial. 

To pull that cross, and take every step with You. 

Starting with the ones we love--our husbands. Out of gratitude for how You have treated us, help us to show our men and our children that same outpouring.

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will always serve and trust Him
In His presence daily live

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Him my precious Savior
I surrender all.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power;

Let Thy blessing fall on me.

Lord Jesus we give You our right to be angry. Our need to be respected. Our importance that prohibits patience. Our lack of worth that makes us put down others. Our lack of long-suffering.

We pray for our military wives. We bring to You the many things we are concerned with--our marriages, our children, homes that need rented, upcoming moves, illnesses, our parents' health, our tyrannical schedules. We surrender them all to You. Let Your blessing fall on them.

Please work through us Lord--in our volunteer efforts, our PWOCs and chapels, in our social circles.

Lord we need a flood of Your love in this land, in our world. We pray this mighty tide overtake our hurting warriors, banishing depression and suicide and anger. May these people who have shown such sacrifice for others be shown that love at home. May Your grace abound in their homes.

Lord, there's planes flying over the Pacific, bringing our soldiers home. Please keep them safe. There's planes flying over the Atlantic, and the Middle East, be with them now. And please be with the ships on those blue waters, the soldiers scrambling through the mud.

In Jesus' precious name,

Amen.

*I Surrender All

CCLI#7051633

Written By Judson W. VanDeVenter

April 1, 2018

Lord Jesus
Conquerer over sin and death,

With joy we proclaim He is risen! 
I don't have to sit hopelessly in my shame
I don't have to work constantly to make things right
I don't have to grovel and beg, but only receive
I don't have to live by the sword, die by the sword
I don't have to take the punishment I so richly deserve
He is risen indeed!

He is risen!
I don't have to continue to do the things I hate
I don't have to respond the same way, with the same old habits
A lifeline has been thrown to me to pull me out of the whirlpool
You have forgiven me
He is risen indeed!

He is risen!
And I can rest in You
I don't have to hold the grudge and make others pay
I don't have to figure out the perfect revenge
I don't have to make others sorry
I don't have to manipulate, control, make sure I'm winning
You have forgiven, and I can forgive
He is risen indeed!

He is risen!
I don't have to live so very alone
I don't have to fear a distant, holy God
I don't have to handle things myself
I can crawl up into my Daddy's lap
I can see His face, learn His ways, access His power
I am not an expendable pawn, a toy to be played with
My life is not meaningless coincidences, sound and fury, signifying nothing
I am loved
I am ransomed
I am saved
He is risen indeed!

He is risen!
I have hope, no matter what happens
Death isn't the end--it's the beginning
I will get to see my Jesus face to face
I will be with the ones I love
Every tear will be dried, every pain gone
I will live forever
with You
He is risen indeed!

He is risen!
Lord may this truth be real to our military today--from someone's baby boy starting boot camp to the hardened sergeant in Afghanistan to the hurting veteran staring out the window. Don't let their hearts be at rest until they find You.
May this truth be real to our military families--from the young bride far from home, to the mother of five watching the skies, to the kids of the veteran who can't control his temper.
Lord please unleash revival in our ranks. May the true battle become clear. May suicide, pride, anger, selfishness be defeated.

We pray for protection around our military this week, in their training, in their flights, in their patrols. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that we can trust in You no matter what happens.

And we pray for our families this week. Lord, may grace and love abound. Teach us to forgive. Be with those who are struggling so hard. May we all live like we believe "He is risen!"

How awesome that we can pray to You. Thank You for Your sacrifice. Thank You for Your love.
He is risen indeed!