When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, "Hosanna to David's Son!" they were up in arms and took him to task. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Jesus said, "Yes, I hear them. And haven't you read in God's Word, 'From the mouths of children and babies I'll furnish a place of praise'?" Matthew 21:15-16 (The Message)
Jesus, may my children respond with praise to the outrageous things you are doing. May they run and shout to believers that you are the son of God. May the community of faith you have brought us to never fail to recognize your outrageous work nor reject the joyful testimony of the children.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
for Edrica and Barry, who are sick
He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Psalm 107:20 (New International Version)
It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! Romans 8:10-11 (The Message)
Healer of Galilee, you are our our Light and Salvation, the stronghold of our lives. You give your angels charge over us to accompany and defend and preserve us. I come to you on behalf of Edrica and Barry, and for them I ask for your deep and powerful healing. Their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and I know you desire life abundant and whole, for both of them.
Both Edrica and Barry have spent a lot of time in the hospital lately. And Edrica is so young to be so weighed down by the infirmities of the body. Help her to not allow troubled thoughts to envelop her life in darkness, fear, or anger.
Mighty God, may both these children of yours have the same attitude and purpose that was in Christ, never letting the strain and difficulty of enduring such a trial destroy or damage their faith in you. Bend the skills of those in whose care they rest toward you, and use each life-giver -- each nurse, doctor, and friend -- for your ultimate purpose. Use us to help a hurting people know your abiding presence guiding and supporting their speech, their actions, their decision-making, and their love.
It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! Romans 8:10-11 (The Message)
Healer of Galilee, you are our our Light and Salvation, the stronghold of our lives. You give your angels charge over us to accompany and defend and preserve us. I come to you on behalf of Edrica and Barry, and for them I ask for your deep and powerful healing. Their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and I know you desire life abundant and whole, for both of them.
Both Edrica and Barry have spent a lot of time in the hospital lately. And Edrica is so young to be so weighed down by the infirmities of the body. Help her to not allow troubled thoughts to envelop her life in darkness, fear, or anger.
Mighty God, may both these children of yours have the same attitude and purpose that was in Christ, never letting the strain and difficulty of enduring such a trial destroy or damage their faith in you. Bend the skills of those in whose care they rest toward you, and use each life-giver -- each nurse, doctor, and friend -- for your ultimate purpose. Use us to help a hurting people know your abiding presence guiding and supporting their speech, their actions, their decision-making, and their love.
for my friend Shawn, as he counsels
Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don't want anyone looking down on God's Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives. Titus 2:1-6 (The Message)
Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. 2 Timothy 2 (The Message)
God's Message came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
I said, "A walking stick—that's all."
And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you.
I'll make every word I give you come true."
Jeremiah 1:12 (The Message)
I thank you God that you have put this young couple in connection with Shawn. They very much need guidance and loving support. May Shawn communicate a deep encouragement that there is a path through pain, especially in these days when so many people just call it quits because the work involved in living out love is so hard. Help Shawn stand firm in the gap. May he turn to his church and community of support for a listening ear or a consult as he needs it. Many of us have faced painful and troubled times in our marriages and relationships, and have been grateful for the people you have sent us to help. You specialize in rescuing people from darkness, and in binding up the broken. We claim your hope on behalf of this young couple, and we understand there is also much work to be done if the couple decides to claim it with us. Guide and protect, O Lord. We continue to trust in you.
Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. 2 Timothy 2 (The Message)
God's Message came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
I said, "A walking stick—that's all."
And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you.
I'll make every word I give you come true."
Jeremiah 1:12 (The Message)
I thank you God that you have put this young couple in connection with Shawn. They very much need guidance and loving support. May Shawn communicate a deep encouragement that there is a path through pain, especially in these days when so many people just call it quits because the work involved in living out love is so hard. Help Shawn stand firm in the gap. May he turn to his church and community of support for a listening ear or a consult as he needs it. Many of us have faced painful and troubled times in our marriages and relationships, and have been grateful for the people you have sent us to help. You specialize in rescuing people from darkness, and in binding up the broken. We claim your hope on behalf of this young couple, and we understand there is also much work to be done if the couple decides to claim it with us. Guide and protect, O Lord. We continue to trust in you.
for a struggling Christian couple
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24 (New International Version)
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (New International Version)
The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Luke 8:24-26 (New International Version)
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18 (New International Version)
Lord of Heaven and Earth, Wind and Sky: I bring before you this struggling young couple for whom my friend Shawn cares deeply. I don't know how broken their relationship is, but I know how hard it is to navigate when storms seem likely to overwhelm. Sometimes it's all we can do to keep the ship afloat. May this couple remember, even amid the thunder and waves, that you are Lord of All Creation, and that all things respond to your command. May they find plenty of community around them to help them bail out the water that threatens to sink their marriage. Let the past not defeat them, nor the present overwhelm them. Send your Light to guide and your Spirit to warm as you recall them to yourself.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (New International Version)
The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Luke 8:24-26 (New International Version)
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18 (New International Version)
Lord of Heaven and Earth, Wind and Sky: I bring before you this struggling young couple for whom my friend Shawn cares deeply. I don't know how broken their relationship is, but I know how hard it is to navigate when storms seem likely to overwhelm. Sometimes it's all we can do to keep the ship afloat. May this couple remember, even amid the thunder and waves, that you are Lord of All Creation, and that all things respond to your command. May they find plenty of community around them to help them bail out the water that threatens to sink their marriage. Let the past not defeat them, nor the present overwhelm them. Send your Light to guide and your Spirit to warm as you recall them to yourself.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
for my son who just turned 12, and for me, his mother
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12 (New International Version)
"Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message)
Maker of all things good, I offer you profound thanks for my son, given by you and born to me 12 years ago. Help me continue to imitate you so that he will do the same. More than anything, help my son love. Not cautiously, but extravagantly, with abandon! May he seek always to serve others, giving away the overflowing gifts you are building up in him. May we both be a light to the world, leading your people and setting an example in speech, life, love, faith, and purity.
clear focus on God's work and way
"I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!" Ephesians 1:18-19 (The Message)
Holy One, help me make my children intelligent and discerning in knowing you. May their eyes be focused and clear, so that they can see the glorious way of life to which you are calling them. I want them to know the energy, strength, and extravagance of your work.
Holy One, help me make my children intelligent and discerning in knowing you. May their eyes be focused and clear, so that they can see the glorious way of life to which you are calling them. I want them to know the energy, strength, and extravagance of your work.
source of self worth
"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me." John 15:4 (The Message)
Thank you, Jesus, that my husband lives in you and draws his self-worth from you, rather than his job or his achievements. He has borne so much good fruit for you! I am deeply grateful you have joined us together in you.
Monday, February 12, 2007
thanksgiving for discernment, careful thought
Holy One, thank you for giving my husband the gifts of discernment and for encouraging in him the practice of careful thinking. Complete every good work in him for your glory.
fruits of the spirit
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians 5:22-25 (New International Version)
Jesus, help me grow in my children the fruit of your Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. May we live in step with your Holy Spirit, rather than the following the patterns of sin.
Jesus, help me grow in my children the fruit of your Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. May we live in step with your Holy Spirit, rather than the following the patterns of sin.
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