"Strengthener of the Weak..." 14 May 2017


Strengthener of the weak; fortifier of the faithful, rescuer of the wayward, restorer of the repentant; your steadfast love is good and endures forever. It is you who do great wonders so that by your most holy, wise and powerful preserving you govern all your creatures and all our actions; your steadfast love is good and endures forever. It is you who delivers your people from their enemies, elevating them from their low estate in due time, drawing them from the miry bog and setting their feet on a rock; your steadfast love is good and endures forever!

O LORD Most High, you are to be feared for you are the great king over all the earth; We pray for all nations and all leaders to include President Klaus Iohannis of Romania; President Vladimir Putin of Russia; and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; along with our State Representatives such as Brian Renegar, Mike Ritz, Dustin Roberts, Sean Roberts, Michael Rogers and Todd Russ. Bring all peoples of every nation and land to clap their hands, to shout to God with loud songs of joy; bring the princes of the peoples to gather as the people of the God of Abraham, for you reign over the nations, you sit on your holy throne (Psalm 47)! 

We pray on behalf of your Church world-over; this congregation; St. John Baptist Catholic Church; St. John’s CME Church; St. John’s UMC; St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral. Give us the grace and strength to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have called us, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4.1-3). Toward that end, bring all of us to see where we have fallen into the trap of scrappiness and sectarianism and to submit to the authority and word of Jesus our Lord (1 Corinthians 1.10-12).

Take note, Father, of our graduate, college and Academy students, and those now in the military; also on the pain and distress of those struggling with disease or darkness of heart; on the uneasiness or discouragement of those looking into an uncertain future; on the frustration and fear of those fraught with marital and family sweats and strains;…May your hand be on them to guide them, your right hand to uphold them, your peace to fill them and guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Thank you, Holy God, for the godly mothers in our lives, some still living and some already gone from our sight, who have exhibited your own tenderness, compassion, and nurturing care; thank you for those mothers who gave so much not only in having children, but in raising them to adulthood. We pray for those mothers who have left deep scars that you would bring about repentance on their part, and healing to those they hurt. We pray for the mothers of this church; may they continue to encourage, lead and love their children in the various seasons of life, showing them the face of God. And we pray for those who have long desired to be mothers but can’t; make them rich in the joy of the Lord, satisfied with you, and to continue to share the love you have worked in them.

Finally, we bring to you those who continue to look away from you, those who have turned their back to you, those who deny either your existence or your importance, and those who are seriously wavering, …; bring them to see their perilous situation, and to cry out to your Son Jesus, for you have promised that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10.13).

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