for strength and purpose in the leadership of our church

“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:6-9 (NLT)

It's scary when we step out into something new, Yaweh. You hear these fears repeatedly in every generation so I'll be brief. Make us strong and filled with courage, equipped to fulfill your plans for us. BUT, teach us to rely on you rather than our own abilities, because of course, if we try to do it on our power the project is a failure from the start.

Strong and courageous. Strong and courageous. Strong and courageous. Let it be our breath in and out.

Let us listen to the voices of those who have your best interest at heart, and not be torn apart by the fearful and loud voices of dissention, deception, and disorder.

May the leaders be united, of one mind with you and each other; fending off attack, covering each other's backs, and reassuring the congregation with our faithfulness, unity and determination. May our love cast out fear. May we be strong and courageous. May we follow where you lead, even when – especially when – the road ahead looks difficult.

a fractious child prays for mercy

He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Psalm 33:7 (NIV)

Master and Maker, I am overwhelmed. I am disturbed and unsettled, and I grumble about the shortcomings of everything and everyone around me. I'm tiresome even to myself. My life plays out on a huge stretch of sunny beach, yet I find myself complaining about the cigarette butts tangled in the seawrack or the dearth of perfect shells. How can I stand beneath the scattered blue wavelengths of atmosphere, looking at forty million square miles of ocean, and be irritable at how hard it is to keep my life under control? Somehow I do it. Lord, have mercy on me.

Sometimes I wander out in your universe and believe myself tipped, turned, and stroking into your deep; I fancy myself welcomed by the leviathan, at home among your frightful pressures and ominous mysteries. Most of the time I'm really only in up to my waist, feeling the tidepull, perhaps, but not really risking anything. True, once in a while one of your great creatures of the deep slips into the shallows and makes itself known, but for the most part I don't know that terror. If I am honest I know that to go where they live is to be stripped of the control I so desire. I can't carry anything with me if I am going to swim past the breakers, and I'm definitely a minor player – a silverling at best – in the place where the water turns from gray-green to black. Lord, have mercy on me.

Today I am undecided. Can I be peaceable on the sand? Do I want to venture toward the deep? Safety is like the grave, and my blood urges me to move, but…

Lord, have mercy on me.