Thoughts on Prayer

Our Pastor has been preaching a series on prayer. It is something I must admit I struggle with from time to time. I feel like I don’t know what to pray or how to pray. I worry that my words are all wrong, at times I might not even have words. However, I do know just how important prayer is...many times it is the only thing that helps, that soothes, that satisfies. I did a little research and found several “sound bites” about prayer that have been helpful. 

One of the most helpful and I can’t find the author so I apologize for not citing it properly, but one person wrote they begin their prayers with;

“Father, I love you too.” 

That just helps to center me – acknowledging to the Creator of the universe, to the Great I Am, to the Almighty that we love Him, because he first loved us. 

John Bunyan was an English writer and Baptist preacher best remembered as the author of the Pilgrim's Progress once said; 

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words with out a heart.” 

That is so helpful for me; for those times when I struggle for words, to know that crying out from the heart no matter the words, no matter the issue is ok. It is our way of being in a relationship with our good, good Father in Heaven. 

There is a small book that I once read called The Practice of the Presence of God which is a collection of conversations with Brother Lawrence; a monk that entered into a life of service and devotion to God and spent the majority of his life working in the kitchen. Brother Lawrence once said of prayer; 

“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.” 

That is my hope (and prayer) for us all; that we might enter into a sweet and delightful life of continual conversation with God. 

Grace and Peace!

Crossroads

I retired last week after almost 32 years with one company. When you get to that point, after 32 years of doing something day after day you can find yourself at a major crossroad and it can be a very emotional time. You get a bunch of questions like what are you going to do now and aren’t you afraid you will get bored? You know the typical encouraging comments...but in reality this crossroad can lead you to questions, it can point to uncertainty, it can leave you a little concerned, maybe even a little afraid. I think life is filled with crossroads and while this in the scheme of things is not huge it still can be consuming. 

There is a passage in Philippians that helps me, it just sets me straight, it reminds and encourages. For me it provides the answer to uncertainty as we face those crossroads of life. Maybe some of you are at a crossroad now or will be at some point, maybe you will not be sure if you should do this or that, to go this way or that way, but to me you can take heart and be encouraged. 

Philippians 3:12-24 

Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that 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 wing the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

This passage speaks volumes and says so much. However, it is not telling us to forget the experiences of the past, but it does tell us to forget the attainments so that we can see that there is so much more to strive for; so much more to attain. It is telling us not to rest in the accomplishments of the past, but to recognize the exciting things that lie ahead; things like a deepening knowledge of and relationship with Christ, a life of sharing the Good News with a world so desperate for some good news; a life filled with grace and love.

James Hastings said that the perfect man of this passage “is the man that can see the vast stretches before him to be traversed, the man that knows there are shining heights yet to climb, that there are glories unspeakable ahead.” 

Everyone, no matter your crossroad...press on in Christ Jesus...press on to shining heights only possible through Christ...press on to the glories unspeakable that lie ahead! 

Grace and Peace!

Our Everything

Father God, 

In Psalm 18 David reminds us in one verse that you are our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our refuge, our shield, our salvation, and our stronghold. Father, we come before you this morning amazed and filled with praise; thanking you for being our everything. 

 Father, we also come this day humbly to confess our shortcomings, our failures, our sin, our rebellion against you asking for your forgiveness. And even as we confess we can in the same breath thank you that by the finished work of Jesus Christ we are forgiven, we are made new. 

Again in Psalm 18 David tells us that you reached down from on high and took hold of us, you drew us out of deep waters, you rescued us. And Father, as if that is not enough, you rescued us because you delight in us. How wonderful you are and how thankful we are. 

Father, as we realize and recognize the many blessing we have because of who you are, because of your love, because you are our everything we pray that our hearts might overflow with our love for you, that our lives would be spirit filled, and pleasing to you. 

Oh Father, keep open our hearts and minds. Let us continually hear of your great love and your amazing grace. 

Abba Father, we love you and pray in the most beautiful name of Jesus Christ... Amen!

Grace and Peace!

A Call to Worship

 Psalm 19


Psalm 19 shows us that there is a continuous and abundant revelation of God in the universe.  It is a reminder that all we have to do is look and the more we look, the more; as James Montgomery Boice says, "heaven gushes forth knowledge" of God!


Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Grace and Peace!