Prayer from Ephesians

Our Most Gracious and Heavenly Father, We humbly come before you praising you for all things. As you tell us in Ephesians;

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Lord, help us to praise you more and more as you have so greatly blessed us; you have blessed us with not just a few, but with every spiritual blessing in Christ. It is mind boggling to think that by your grace and mercy and love; we as Christians are adopted as sons and daughters of the most high God.

Father as your children please forgive our shortcomings; our failures and never let us forget as you also tell us in Ephesians;

7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Father, help us to know and trust that through Christ we have been blessed with the riches of your grace; that as believers we are truly spiritual millionaires and we thank you for that!

So it is with thankful hearts, that we lift up your church and pray for unity, strength and love. We pray for guidance, wisdom and spirit-filled lives. We pray that you would lead us to serve, to give back and to reach out. We pray that there will be an outpouring of service and love so great that it has your fingerprints all over it and that any boasting that results will be a boasting in Christ alone.

We pray for this country that we will be a people that will turn to you for all things. We pray for our missionaries that you will protect, provide and help to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. This day we continue to pray for Haiti that relief will be swift and effective and there will be a mighty movement that brings you the glory.

Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things in the most holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Rag Dolls

John Ortberg tells the story of his sister’s love for a doll. When she got it, the doll was so beautiful, and his sister just truly loved that doll, she took the doll everywhere with her, slept with the doll, and played with the doll continuously. However, over time there was wear and tear; missing hair, broken arm, torn clothes. Still, his sister’s love remained constant, strong, and unconditional.

Ortberg drew two conclusions from this illustration. “First, we are all rag dolls; flawed, wounded, broken and bent. But the second truth is that we are God’s rag dolls. He knows about our raggedness and loves us anyway.”

You have to let that sink in for a few minutes, but once it does it is so encouraging. It is truly amazing to think about this unconditional love of the creator for those that believe; for those that understand and recognize their raggedness and their need for a savior.

Romans 5 tells us just how much God loves us;

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Can you see it? God demonstrates his love for us by loving us even when we were His enemy; through Christ we are reconciled by love and our response should be unconditional love for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen!

Ortberg continues that this can be summarized into one statement uttered by a wise theologian years ago; “God is for us!” It is so true and we can see it clearly in Romans 8;

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Abba Father, thank you so much for loving your rag dolls so much that we might be reconciled to you forever and ever. Thank you for being for us so that nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ. Amen and Amen!

Grace and Peace!

Winner Either Way

I have a good friend and recently we were talking and he was so excited. He told me he just had a great weekend and had gotten to see his parents perform. They are part of a gospel/bluegrass group in North Georgia. Part of the performance included a song that just touched him. It was called “Winner Either Way”. He told me the lyrics just touched him and encouraged him that no matter what as believers we have such hope! I think I agree with him. He gave me a copy of the lyrics;

A LOVED ONE KNEW HE'D REACHED THE END OF LIFE'S JOURNEY, BUT HE'D BEEN HOLDING TO GOD'S HAND A LONG, LONG TIME AND AS I KNELT BESIDE HIS BED, MY HEART WAS THRILLED AT WHAT HE SAID," IF I GO, OR IF I STAY, THE VICTORY IS MINE."

NONE OF US REALLY KNOWS ABOUT TOMORROW, WE MUST PREPARE TO GO TO HEAVEN ANYDAY BUT WHILE WE'RE HERE LET'S TRUST THE LORD, HE'LL LEAD US SAFE TO OUR REWARD AND BY HIS GRACE, WE'LL BE A WINNER EITHER WAY

I'M A WINNER EITHER WAY, IF I GO OR IF I STAY FOR I'LL STILL HAVE MY JESUS EACH PASSING DAY I'LL HAVE MY HEALING HERE BELOW, OR LIFE FOREVER IF I GO, OH PRAISE THE LORD, I'M A WINNER EITHER WAY.

You know there is great encouragement there and it brings to mind Paul’s trials and there is a passage in Philippians 1 that I often dwell on;

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[d] 20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

Can you see the hope of believers? Paul in Jail, facing trial and possible execution sees the hope and it is “better by far”. Life is tough and there will be many bumps in the road, but if we trust in Christ we will be “winners either way”.

Abba Father, thank you so much for your Son; our Lord and Savior, your word and your great plan of remdemption, so that we might have true hope and rejoice no matter our circumstance.

Grace and Peace!

Foretastes of Heaven

Have you ever experienced something in life; hiking, a sunset, some scene in nature, where you were just overcome with joy? Maybe you were even slightly astonished and overwhelmed and thought to yourself with all confidence; God is with us! I will admit I have had a few of those experiences and hope for more. Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven calls these moments “foretastes of Heaven”.

I love that thought; foretastes of Heaven; he uses this to help describe the type of spontaneous joy and worship we will experience in Heaven although magnified beyond belief. Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk says; “occasionally we experience little hors d'oeuvres for heaven in our earthly life, experiences that give us some idea of what final and full happiness must be like.”

Final and full happiness, spontaneous joy and worship, for all eternity; that is so hopeful! I don’t know, but Heaven just seems so “Heavenly” (sorry, I couldn’t resist). It does bring to mind Revelation 21:3-7;

3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

So as believers if we overcome; persevere; continue our walk with Christ we will inherit “all this” as sons of God. Can you imagine being in the presence of God for all eternity; in paradise with Christ? Oh my!

In his book, Alcorn quotes J. I. Packer who sums it up; “Hearts on earth may say in the course of a joyful experience, 'I don’t want this to ever end.' But invariably it does. The hearts of those in Heaven say, 'I want this to go on forever.' And it will. There is no better news than this.”

Abba Father, thank you that by your grace and mercy we might get a glimpse of what it will be like in paradise for all eternity. Eternity, that’s a long time!

Grace and Peace!