December 22, 2019

Give me
Give me
Give me

Oh, Lord God, stop me!
Forgive me.
Break me.
Mold me.
Silence me.
Put me on my knees before You.
Show me Your mercy again.
And give me the gift You want me to have.

Because You know what is best.
And You've already given the best: Yourself, Lord Jesus.
So help me find a silent night, set me down in the manger, help me see God-with-me.
I want to adore You.

I want my faith to grow.
I want whatever it takes to come closer to You.
And I pray this for my sisters too.
Through the loneliness, the separations, the deployments, the waiting for little ones, the toddlers and the teens, the jobs and no jobs, the illnesses and injuries, the failing parents, the launching young adults, the imperfect friends, the next move and the next...
through it all, Lord, more of You.

I pray for rest for the weary new mother.
I pray for healing for the chronically ill sister.
I pray for encouragement for the hard-working friend.
I pray for wisdom for the leader.
I pray for courage for the female service member.
I pray for patience for the mother of teens.
I pray for endurance for the spouse of the deployed.
I pray for peace for the one in the stumbling marriage.
I pray for love for all of us.
All these things come from You.
So, I pray for more of You.

Lord reign over us, leaving no room for the spirit of suicide, depression, anxiety, loneliness. Help us to fight these with the unleashing of Your Holy Spirit.

Thank You for this greatest gift. Thank You for this season to celebrate it. Thank You for giving us more every day. Amen.

"Because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace." --Luke 1:78-79

December 29, 2019

Lord God who makes all things new!

We look forward to this new year because You are already there.

You are the One who created time. You started it and You will finish it and You will never be controlled by it because You are outside of it.

We don't need to fear anything coming because You are in control. 

We don't have to stress and strive because You alone can make it good.

We can stop worrying because we can rest in You.

When the deployments and PCSs come, they are not a surprise to You.

When loneliness creeps in and all people fall short, You never fail.

When the anxiety chokes and the tasks are too many, You give us breath and rest.

When the finances just don't work out, You are unafraid. You provide.

God we thank You for all You have done this last year.

May we remember Your faithfulness and power in the days ahead.

We thank You for growth, for grace, for life.

We thank You for loving us, living in us.

And so, we give this next year to You. 

You alone have the wisdom to handle our problems.

You alone have the strength to endure the hardships.

You alone have the love for all we will encounter.

You alone have the patience to wait and work with time.

We pray for more of Your Spirit in our lives for all these things.

So whether this year brings joy or sorrow, success or setbacks, we trust You.

Increase our faith Father.

We pray for our military family. May the spirit of suicide, division, and all things evil be thwarted. May revival sweep our land, and may it begin with us.

We ask these things because:

"From Him and through Him and for Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever! Amen." --Romans 11:36

December 15, 2019

Oh Lord,

You are the God of love; we are the people of self.

You are the God of light; we hide in the dark.

You are the God of all power; we try to grab control.

You are the God of creation; we continue to destroy.

You are the God of forgiveness; we are the people of grudges.

Please Lord, forgive us again.

As we lie in our helpless filth and darkness, be born in us today.

Be born in us and dawn Your light into our little towns, our Bethlehems.

Make us the shepherds to our people, in fear and awe and praising Your name.

We pray for our little towns, Lord--our forts and bases and ports and outposts and camps.

Please forgive our complaining, our wrongful pride, our stubborn independence, our endless striving.

Please bring revival in this Christmas season.

Remind us of how You have saved us in all ways, over and over.

Humble us Lord. Teach us to be servants like Your Son.

Be born in us today.

Be born in our schools and our headquarters. May Your presence grow in our churches and neighborhoods. Be the grace between us and please heal our divisions God. Don't let us be comfortable without helping the hurting, holding the lonely, carrying each other's burdens.

Lord please protect all from the spirit of suicide, from the lonely private to the bitter veteran.

May the Holy Spirit prevail. May we learn true community with You and each other.

We, the people, need You Lord. How incredible it is that You have come to us. 

November 24, 2019

Good Morning Lord,

We wake to advent today, and remind ourselves again to look for You.

We remind our hearts to hope again

to anticipate the coming of joy

to see You in the world as a child does

to embrace the longing as part of the plan.

We have so much to look forward to.

Give us a glimpse of that wonder. Don't let us lose the awe.

And may we gift that wonder to our children.

Forgive us for distracting them

for trying to give things when they need You,

and You in us.

Help us to give the gift we covet most, our time, our attention, our love.

We pray for the military child who can't be with their service member this holiday.

May they understand deeply how You never fail.

We pray for the kids who are PCSing. May the families pull together and make special, even if different, memories. Please hold them close in the transition.

We pray for those in troubled homes. Lord, show us how to reach out to these families. May the little ones be protected. May Your light pierce their darkness, even as You did on that first Christmas.

We pray for our young adults. Please give them safety in traveling. Help the college kids finish their tasks. Please surround those who can't come home with Your presence. Establish their path in Your way Lord.

We pray for the child of the hurting veteran. May they have wisdom and grace beyond their years.

And Lord we lift up to You those in despair. May the spirit of suicide be thwarted at every turn. We pray in Jesus' name against it in all of our military communities.

We ask all these things knowing Your love for children Lord, Your love for us. We look for Your answers to our prayers.

November 17, 2019

For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
over and around us lies
Lord of all to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise*

Oh, yes Lord!
For burgundy berries and golden squash and corn the color of the sun it came from,
For the smells of abundance in roasting turkey and bubbling pie,
For laughter and hugs and even shared tears,
For all the extravagant, outrageous bounty of beauty that is impractical, unnecessary, for no reason other than to drown us in love--
For all these things, we thank You.
Because Your love does this, we praise You.

And because of this overflowing love that covers every detail,
We can come to You with every confidence that You will help us with every heartache.

Lord, we pray for our deployed who cannot be with us now
For those surrounded by metal, camo, sand
may they find the beauty that You have sent
and may they be Your instruments in bringing beautiful peace.
May their hearts be surrounded with Your presence
and please keep their bodies safe.
May they see You at work and be overwhelmed with life-changing gratitude.

We pray for safety.
We pray for focus.
We pray for rest.
We ask You, Father, for success
and a quick return home.

And God please be with our service members and veterans at home. May their hearts swell with gratitude in this time and may the spirits of despair and depression and suicide be squelched. May we not miss any opportunity to reach out to them.

Because Your love around us lies, may our grateful hymn of praise grow loud and strong and overwhelm the ugly evil of this world Lord!
Amen.

*For The Beauty of the Earth hymn by Conrad Kocher

October 1, 2019

Lord God who made the body--
the fibula, the mitochondria, the canine tooth, the pupil--
You are the Master of the creation,
down to the cells.
You alone can truly protect, truly heal.

Thank You for the head,
our minds that can imagine cantatas,
figure out how to move ships and fly planes,
create the will power to keep taking one more step.

We pray for our warriors' heads. We pray for safety and the functioning of helmets. We pray for protection of hearing. May their eyes be able to see; and may their heart be able to handle what they see. We thank You for dental care and we pray our deployed would not be hindered by a toothache. We pray for our veterans with traumatic brain injuries. May they have patience in the healing.

Lord, our very breath of life is from You. We pray for the health of our warriors' lungs. May they be protected from the many fumes. May they learn to use this gift of cleansing breath in focusing on You.

We thank You for strong shoulders and the ability to carry heavy loads, physically and emotionally. And we pray for those who have to. May they be able to give the burden to You and draw from Your strength.

We thank You for arms to hold and hands to work. May we use them to do Your bidding, whether it is to destroy or to build. Please strengthen our warriors' arms and give their hands the skills needed.

We thank You for the strength in the legs. We pray for the new recruits trying to pass the pt test. We pray for the old sergeants needing foot surgery. We pray for our deployed's safety as they march over foreign lands.

Father, please be with our veterans who have lost limbs. May they find courage and purpose to complete this new mission You have given. Please be with all our veterans as they deal with pain, injuries, failing bodies. May You become greater in their lives.

Lord, You know all the things that have to function rightly for our warriors to get out of bed in the morning. We pray for those who are sick, those fighting cancers, those whose hearts can't keep up. Please give doctors wisdom, caregivers courage, patients patience.

Whether in sickness or in health, may our military members see You, the Giver of the gift of life.

September 2, 2019

When the days are endless
the tasks are thankless
the job is grim;
When the mission seems meaningless
the help seems hopeless
the work as vain as trying to catch the wind--

Encourage us Lord.
Strengthen the heart of our warriors.
Though they be knocked down, may they not be out.
Renew their sense of purpose.
May they see Your hand working through them.

For heavy is the responsibility You have given the American warrior.
May we take our place alongside Jeremiah as Your servants.
"Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant." (1:9-10)
May we take Your Word to the nations.
May we do Your will always.

We pray for the seasoned drill sergeant
and the young recruit.
May the training be strong.
In the crushing, the stripping, may they find their strength in You.

For those in theater
and those in the office
May they work with integrity, diligence, clear-purpose.

We pray for wisdom for our leaders.
We pray for unity for our ranks. May You be the grace between all as they work together.
We pray our Christians will shine, shine, shine.

And we thank You for this work, Lord.
Thank You for physical strength, mental clarity, emotional endurance.
As we see Your work all around us--everything made with such love, beauty, creativity--
we want to join You in caring for it.
So please be with us today. Amen.