Some Prayers

Prayer of Thankfulness

Dear Lord:

We thank you for who you are, the Lord of our lives. We praise you for the beauty of the season.
Sometimes, we fall short of what you want us to be, for this we are sorry. Other times we have mean thoughts that don’t honor You, please forgive us.
Thank You for our families, thank You for our gifts bestowed for Your kingdom. Thank you for special friendships. Thank you for your guidance.
Lord, please be with all those who deal with Cancer, heart problems, digestive disturbances and their caregivers. Father, please resolve families that are divided. Please guide those who seek your guidance in making decisions affecting their future.
I ask these things because of Your grace and love for all your children.

AMEN



Prayer for Guidance

Dear God:

Please guide Your children as they go through each day. Let them give You their days and the minutes therein.
Help them to perform their tasks in ways that bring honor to You.
Please reward them as they go through their days and comfort them when they are down.
Please allow Your children to turn their planning over to you. Guide them as they go through the planning stages of any and all projects they have in mind.

In the name of Jesus,
AMEN


Prayer for the Uncertain Times

Dear Father;
We have learned that we have no security except in You. We have trusted other created things that have disappointed us but you have always remained steadfast.

We ask you to guide and protect us through these times of uncertainty. We read of so much crime in our land. We hear of banks being closed and of jobs vanishing. If it weren’t for you, we would be confused and fretful. But you tell us to look to our maker for our comfort and for instruction. Sometimes we think we know everything but we don’t-You do. Please, let us learn from you. Help us as we make decisions, let them honor You.
We will give You the praise.
AMEN

Prayer for the Lord’s Day:

Dear Father:

Thank you for this day You have made. I get to go to your house and talk to you. Of course, I talk to you all week long. But Your day is special and I desire to be in your house whenever I can.

Thank You for the music we will hear this morning. Thank You for the message you gave our pastor. Thank You for the offering I can bring. Thank You for the children who will attend and learn of You.

Thank You for our Sunday School class and our teacher. Bless him and his family and those whom he serves throughout the week.

Thank You for the ones who will sit around me. Guide them through whatever need they may have. Speak to their hearts, remind them of Your great love for them.

Bless those who will be visiting. Let them feel Your presence as they enter the front door. Walk through the pews and remind them they are not alone.

Please do these things out of the grace in Your heart, and I will give You the praise.

AMEN

Questions Seekers Ask

Questions Seekers Ask

What happens when God enters our hearts? Will people have it easier than before? Will we become rich because of our new relationship? Do our friends understand about our new life? Will all my problems disappear?

When we find the Lord and He becomes the Master of our lives, He directs us. Our lives will not always become better overnight. We still will have trials and tribulation but God is there for us.

God is in control of our lives, He provides what we need. He knows what lay ahead for us. He guides us through our lives and helps us make choices that honor Him. Our richness is in the Lord.

Because we asked God into our hearts, some of our friends won’t understand. God will lead you to new friends and will help you establish new relationships. We can pray for those friends who choose to avoid you because of your new relationship.

Simply put, our problems will not disappear, We might have more problems because of our new life. But Jesus can take care of these new problems and the old pre-Christian issues.

Contentment: An Ingredient of Peace

. . .for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. . .I have learned the secret of being content in every situation. (Phil 4:11b,12b)

Paul wrote to the people at Philippi an important fact of his life. He was content with who he was and what he did. While we focus on his letter to the Philippians, we need to remember he wrote these words from prison.

A friend recently told me she was happy for the first time in her life. I understood what she meant. I. too can say, I am the most satisfied I have been in my adult life. If someone were to look at my life, they might think otherwise. But my state doesn’t come from this world. It comes from God.

“ Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win he prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 3:12-14.)

In a Bible Study on Philippians, theologian Warren Wiersbe explained that while we may have things of our past come up, we don’t have to be controlled by them.

Jesus told us we could rely on him “For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
(MATTHEW 11:30 )
We all need to turn our burdens and cares over to Him each day because he makes them His and we no longer have to worry about them.

I feel it is important for every child of God to find contentment and peace in his or her heart. Personal peace is the foundation of interpersonal peace. In turn this leads to peace of a nation, which leads to peace in the world. But, we won’t have true, lasting peace until Jesus comes to reign.

Count Your Blessings

One of my favorite hymns tell us to “Count your blessing, name them one by one,
County your blessing, see what the Lord has done.” We are a people God has rewarded.

Do we have a roof over our heads?
Do we have a source of heat for our homes?
Do we have clothes to protect us from the elements?
Do/did we have a spouse that loves/loved us?
Do we have the means to pay our debts?
Do we have at least one friend in whom we can confide, if necessary?
Are we able to enjoy God’s fall display of color?
Do we have enough to feed our families?
Can we travel freely, if we choose to?

If we can answer ‘yes’ to most of these questions, then we are a blessed people.

WE ARE NEVER ALONE.

Blessings

God blesses his children in many different ways. When a believer receives certain spiritual gifts to be used to advance the Kingdom, we recognize that person as being blessed.

A believer can be granted good health, athletic capability, musical talent, creativity, strong faith, God blesses people when he gives them children. He bestows jobs to allow us to care for our temporal needs.

We should not take for granted anything He rewards us with. His son gave us our greatest blessing-our salvation.

The change of seasons we experience in the Midwest is a blessing. The colors of fall are so vibrant and beautiful. The winter’s snow allows the ground to rest from it’s time of work. The spring shows us new life, the colors bright and cheery bring us joy to our souls as the earth awakens from it’s nap. The colors of summer help us enjoy the bounty of the crops grown in God’s earth.

Heaven Is Richer

Heaven is richer because Mark Shreves is there. While his family will miss him, we can rejoice that he’s with God. He loved his family. He always smiled when he saw his friends. If it had been a long while, he made you feel that it had been a few days since your last conversation.

Seeing him in church with his one granddaughter on his knee told me he was a happy man who enjoyed his family.

I picture Mark being let into Heaven and looking around and saying, “Wow, so this is my real home. It’s far more beautiful than I expected.”

Mark gets to talk to God, face to face. He tells Him about his wonderful family, his sweet mother and father, his darling wife, his children and his very delightful grandchildren.

Next he tells about the people at his church and how they loved him through these last 22 months. Mark tells God how he missed his family and asks the Father of us all to stay very close to them.

God then wraps His loving arms around Mark and says, “’You have fought the good fight.’ Welcome home.”

Honoring God

As I drove home one evening, I thought about honoring God. I remembered the ways we are to accomplish this command.

When we worship God we celebrate Him. Our focus is taken off of ourselves and placed on the Creator.

Our Praises recognize His action in our lives. We receive His blessings and we give praise.

We obey God’s Word and He sees it as a way we give Him respect.

Following God’s direction as He guides us through thorny issues, trials, and tribulations allows us to honor Him even when we feel we can’t.

We honor God when we do small things for those we meet. A smile, a ‘thank you’, helping a friend find where she is supposed to be, alerting people of a need for special prayers for a family who has suffered a loss. Being available to listen to someone in need. Opening a door for another person, male or female, healthy or impaired.

In all that we do we are to honor God.