"O God, You Created All Things" - 4 September 2016


O God, you created all things very good, by the word of your power; and your works of providence are your mostly holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing of all your creatures and all our actions (WSC 9 and 11). Therefore, our hearts are full of thankfulness because we have been richly endowed with your goodness: health, strength, hope, stamina, happiness, sustenance, homes and satisfaction. And even when in your good providence these are withheld from us, we have you our greatest good and deepest joy! Thank you!

O God, there are people we love and know who have never embraced your Son Jesus Christ, trusting in him for their salvation and repenting of their sins….There are those we love and know who seem to have become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin…There are whole tribes, gangs, and countries; there are Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Iraqis, Afghanis, Nigerians, Somalis, Hans, Yomatos, Koreans, Tibetans, Kazakhs, and truck loads of others that have never heard nor responded to the Gospel of Jesus. We pray for your Gospel to go forth in the power of the Spirit, to have open access and run swiftly, that those appointed to eternal life may believe (Acts 13.48).

Give strength, aid, increasing love, durable commitment and unwavering godliness to your church here and throughout the world, especially in Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Vanuatu; Venezuela and Vietnam. And, O great Shepherd of your people, where there are wolves in sheep’s’ clothing in your flock, expose and remove them.

For our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Law Enforcers, Sheriffs, Deputies, Special Agents, and Marshalls, we ask you to protect them as they pass through harm’s way; give them strength to exercise honor and integrity, and hope in the darkest and bleakest moments.

As our nation goes through more and more changes, as elections draw near, as what we once thought were unquestionable morals get thrown onto the table to be questioned and mocked, as homes shatter, as lives crumble under various addictions; make your truth shine out more brightly, that our leaders, fellow citizens and fellow residents may see the brilliant correctness and goodness of your ways, and submit happily to your course.

Our great God, who is not restricted or restrained by our diseases, ailments, depressions, mental or physical afflictions; we ask you to be with these …..raise them from their misery and misfortune, granting them unlooked for strength and hope, that they may spend the rest of their lives serving, glorifying and enjoying you.


As this new season of Sunday School, evening services and Care Groups builds up steam, bless the teachers, facilitators, learners, and participants with your gracious, loving help, that we all may grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more