A Prayer of Dedication

(This is a personal prayer of dedication for myself, my family and fellow believers based on Solomon's dedication of the temple as found in 1 Kings 8.)

A Prayer of Dedication

Lord, you are my God and there is no one like you in Heaven or Earth.

You are faithful. You have given me love that I could not earn and mercy that I do not deserve.

You have never broken a promise. Your Words are truth.

Lord, the whole Heaven can not contain you, and yet you have chosen to live here,

not in a building made by hands, but here in my heart.

You have placed your name on me.

You have called me your child.

Because of your name, Lord, I ask these things of you.

Would you watch over me and my family night and day?

When I remember that you have placed your name on me, hear my prayer.

Hear my prayers when I come in humility, when I remember what you have done for me.

Hear me. Forgive me.

Not just me Lord, but my family also.

I pray that they would see what you have done in my life and that in seeing they too will turn to you and call on your name.

When I hurt somebody or wrong another person, help me to turn to you.

Punish the guilty and redeem the innocent, because of your name.

If sin causes me to be defeated in my spiritual walk, if sin causes financial struggles or a loss of health,

help me to remember that you have placed your name on me. 

When I turn to you, hear my prayer of confession and forgive my sins.

Restore what was broken and set my eyes again on You.

When my family and friends see me, I pray they will not see me but that they will see 

that your name is on me. 

When they turn to you, set your name on their hearts.

Then, let us be a strong unit, praying and worshiping and serving together.

Lord, when we pray about our troubles, let us lift our hands to you in desperation.

Lord, hear our prayers. 

Judge our hearts, because only you can.

Look down and see your name on our hearts.

Heal our sicknesses.

Provide our needs.

Let us walk strongly in you.

Then, when future generations - when the world - sees us, they will know how great your name is.

They will know of your mercy and of your great love, because when they ask Who healed you? How can this be? We will tell them of you. Your name will be praised.

When the world challenges our beliefs and we look to you, 

plead our case and defend us. 

When we sin against you, we know you will be angry and rightfully so. We know there will be consequences. But in that discipline, we will have the opportunity to repent and call on your name.

The name you have placed on all who believe in you.

If we turn to you with our whole heart, 

hear us and forgive us.

Restore our place with you.

You have saved us for your glory. You have placed your name on our hearts.

Forgive us for your glory.

Lord, keep your eyes open to the things I have asked of you and to the prayers of all who love you.

Please, hear and answer when we call out to you.

Those you have saved, you have also set apart for your glory.

We are your own precious possession.

You have placed your name on us.

You have chosen to live in our hearts.

May you receive all glory.

~AMEN~

To Fight or To Forgive

Social media has taken over our lives!
We send a SnapChat when we get ice-cream. #brainfreeze
We post selfies on Instagram and wait with great anticipation to see who "likes" our photos. #hangingwithmybestie
We blab to our Facebook friends about our personal problems then can't understand why people are gossiping about us. #thestruggleisreal
We Tweet about the concert we just attended.  "Epic night…Pentatonix Kelly Clarkson rocked it" #datenight

It's all in great fun…until it's not.

I recently had the unfortunate opportunity to watch as a friendship unravelled on social media. Harsh comments were made. Indirect cries for attention were posted on walls, and finally a public "Dear John" kind of Facebook post ended what once had been a beautiful friendship with so much potential. My heart broke for all parties involved. 

I wanted to cry out, "Stop! Please, you don't know what you are doing!" In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is dealing with members of the church about how to heal broken friendships and how to react when someone hurts you.  Verse 7 has this to say.  "Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." What would our marriages look like, what power would our churches have, what strong friendships could be forged, if we were willing to put our own feelings aside and choose love and forgiveness? God is in the restoration business; yet we, his children, tear each other down when we get our feelings hurt. 

Paul goes on to tell us that he has watched and tested the congregation to see if they would respond correctly to their differences. Then in verse 10 and 11 he tells his people that it is only by God's grace that he can forgive just as he has taught them to forgive.  He also makes a strong declaration about who the real enemy is and what damage their unforgiving attitude has caused. ("…when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit. So that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his schemes.") When someone hurts us and we retaliate instead of choosing to forgive, we strengthen Satan's attacks against us. When we wear our feelings on our sleeves, we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our lives. Paul is not saying it is easy to make these choices. He is saying it is the right thing to do and he chooses to forgive because Christ has forgiven him and because he chooses to consider others first. It's a choice we make - a choice with eternal repercussions. 

Friends don't let friends toy with the enemy. 

Friends fight together against a common enemy, not against each other.

Let's forgive each other, so that the enemy doesn't have his way in our own lives.

Let's forgive others, because it is eternally beneficial.

~ All Scripture from NLT

We Never Give Up

"All of this is for your benefit.

And as God's grace reaches more and more people, 

there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

That is why we never give up…"

2 Corinthians 4:15-16

Sunday after Sunday they show up with a smile. They extend their hand and ask how you are doing. They are faithful. Pastors, youth pastors, children's ministers, Sunday school teachers and music ministers selflessly listen and serve. Many times we look at that smile and extended hand and think, "This guy's got it all together." What we don't know is that he may be struggling with a rebellious teenager. She may have just found out she has cancer. They may have an adult child who doesn't want to have any contact with them. His aging father may not make it through the week.  Are they covering their struggles in order to fake a happy life? No, they are choosing to set aside their personal needs because of the importance and the magnitude of the message they have to bring. "All of this is for your benefit."(vs 15) 

Any person in ministry will tell you, "Look, I am human just like you." Ministers and Sunday school teachers have struggles with finances, health, raising a family, caring for aging parents and stress just like the rest of us. In verse 18 Paul says, "So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." On a daily basis, ministers must choose to look at the here and now and remember to focus on the eternal.

Does this "eternal focus" erase the present struggles? No, it doesn't. Let me challenge you to do three things this week. (1) Pray for your church staff. (2) Send a note or text of encouragement to them. (3) Check your own focus. Are you focusing on the present through the eyes of eternity? (4) When you feel like throwing in the towel, remember why "...we never give up."

May God receive all the glory.

Amen

We Stopped Relying On Ourselves

Have you ever been so frustrated with a situation that you threw up your hands in defeat and cried out, "I am SO over this!"? If you're like me, you've probably actually been there many times. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul writes about a time when he found himself at a very low point - a point of despair.

Verses 8-9a say this. "We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die." Now, that is a pretty low point. I mean, circumstances had become so bad for Paul that death seemed like the only way out. But look at the rest of this passage. "But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead." Wow! If Paul had not gone through those near death experiences, he would  have never learned to trust God and turn to Him for every situation. Because of overwhelming circumstances, Paul learned to trust the power of God. In fact, Paul goes on to say that because of the lessons he learned in the hard times, he now has hope for the future. (vs. 10 "And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.)

I pray that when life gets unbearable, when there is no answer in sight, when my health fails we will look back on the times that God has brought us through and that we will hope in the One who has the power to raise the dead. My friend, don't be discouraged.

Trust in the Lord! 

He will continue to rescue! 

He will save!

~ All Scriptures from NLT.

Enough Already

"Fear God"

Enough with the Christian cliche . Let's not put it on our Christian
t-shirts, on our Christian coffee mugs, on our Christian bumper stickers, on our Christian smart phone covers, on our Christian throw pillows, or on our Christian jewelry.

Instead, let's put it to real use in our Christian lives. Put it into our school work. Put it into our career decisions. Put it into our financia...l decisions. Put it into our friendships. Put it into raising our children. Put it into our marriage vows.

But keep it off our stuff!

It's not a slogan.

It's not a suggestion.

It's a way of life, and it's the only way that we can honestly approach God ready to worship. Please, do not confuse worship with music. Although music does have it's place, the two are not necessarily one and the same.

"Fear God"
It's a way of life.

Ecclesiastes 5:7

A Dusty Faith

     "Once they crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized Him, they alerted the whole vicinity and brought to Him all who were sick. They were begging Him that they might only touch the tassel on His robe. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well."  Matthew 14:34-36

I love how these three verses are quietly and neatly tucked into the very end of this chapter. They follow the well known story of Peter's trek across choppy waters. Everyone is aware of Peter's doubt which caused him to sink and cry out for help, but very few people mention that Peter seemed to have been the only one in the boat with faith enough to take that first step.  Those verses, however, are not the center of focus today.

 After showing the disciples a valuable lesson in faith, Jesus and the disciples docked their boat and headed for shore. As they entered the city the citizens immediately recognized Jesus, and the town gossip spread the word of his arrival. People began to bring their sick loved ones to Jesus. They did not ask for medications or treatments. These people asked for a cure!

"They were begging Him that they might 

only touch the tassel on His robe."

 

Two observations:  First of all the tassels or fringe of his garment was not a decoration on his sleeve or an emblem on his shoulder. This was the fringe that swept the dusty dirt roads as he walked. This fringe had probably dragged a bit on the sea as he had walked out to his disciples. This fringe was the lowest place they could touch.

 

My point is this, the people did not ask, "Please, cure me and let me walk beside you." These people did not ask, " Please, heal me by letting me shake your hand." These people were saying how unworthy they felt in the presence of His holiness, and that they were willing to lay themselves down in order to be healed of their ailments.

 

The second observation is this:

 

  "And as many as touched it were made perfectly well."

 

These people were not only saying what they believed, they were showing it. These people didn't expect Jesus to say, "No, that will not be necessary. I can touch you and you will be healed." These people were willing to go to any length to receive the healing that Jesus offered, even if it meant that they would be required to humble themselves.

 

I wonder sometimes if when we pray, we say, "Jesus, please heal our...", "Jesus, please save our children from...", "Jesus, please provide for our...". And when we pray asking, we really believe that Jesus will and can answer those prayers; yet we never see those answers come to pass, because we are so busy asking for whatever it is that burdens us that we forget that our hearts are to be submitted to His will. I wonder if there is an area of our lives that we are not willing to let go of. I wonder sometimes, if we are not willing to truly humble ourselves in obedience and submission. I wonder if that is the reason we are not "...made perfectly well." I wonder what our prayer lives would look like, if we were willing to get a little dust in our faces, if we would truly lay down our lives for the healing  that Jesus still offers today.





Sufficient

 

"And he said unto me,

 My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength

 is made perfect in weakness.

 Most gladly therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities,

that the power of God may rest upon me."

 

II Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

 

 

 

I hear this little voice in my head that is singing, "Gotta keep swimming, just keep swimming. Swimming. Swimming..." Yeah, it's Dory, the little blue fish from Finding Nemo. A cute little ditty that sometimes I sing to myself when I just want to quit, but what a messed up theology this is!  Since when has it become acceptable to take advice from a fictional scatter-brained sea creature anyway?

 

 

The thing is, I have learned that to just keep moving forward is not enough.

 

 

Maybe instead, my song should be, "Gotta keep praying. Just keep trusting. Praying. Trusting. Reading. Praying."

 

 

This life is too difficult for me to control and too overwhelming for me to just push my way through. I am so thankful for the hope of the gospel which grants me salvation from my sins, the power of the Holy Spirit to keep me and comfort me, and the grace of God which He has proclaimed Himself to be "sufficient."