This is an excellent prayer. Pray it and share it with others. Keith
Dear Lord,
I thank You for this day.
I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning.
I'm blessed because You are a forgiving and understanding God.
You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me!
Forgive me this day for everything I have done,said or thought that was not pleasing to you.
I ask now for Your forgiveness.Please keep me safe from all danger and harm.Help me to start each day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things that are of you.Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over.And it is the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits.I know that when I can't pray, You listen to my heart.Continue to use me to do Your will. Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.
Keep me strong that I may help the weak.Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others.I pray for those that are lost and can't find their way.I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood.I pray for those who don't know You intimately.I pray for those that will delete this without sharing it with others.I pray for those that don't believe.
I thank you that I believe.I believe that God changes people and God changes things.I pray for all my sisters and brothers,and for each and every family member in their households.I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes,that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem,circumstance, or situation greater than God.
I thank you that I believe.I believe that God changes people and God changes things.I pray for all my sisters and brothers,and for each and every family member in their households.I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes,that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem,circumstance, or situation greater than God. In jesus name i pray Amen
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Unforgiveness
UNFORGIVENESS
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32
Someone has hurt youCut you through and through.In your spirit you try to let it go,But instead its brought you low. You try to put it out of your mind,But the words were not kind. You become bitter and unforgiving;Your days become miserable living. The Holy Spirit moves you to get it right,But you refuse to repent day or night.You don’t want to be the way you are,But your nearness to God is far. You begin to look withinAt how bad you are, so full of sin.You see how bad you have hurt the Lord;How far you have wandered from His Word. You see you are no better than they;You too, have wandered far astray.God loves you too much to leave you that way.He wants to break your heart to pray. Get it right before its too late;Forgive your brother, refuse to wait.Repent of unforgiveness before the nightSo that you can be pleasing in His sight. -Gene Griffin
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32
Someone has hurt youCut you through and through.In your spirit you try to let it go,But instead its brought you low. You try to put it out of your mind,But the words were not kind. You become bitter and unforgiving;Your days become miserable living. The Holy Spirit moves you to get it right,But you refuse to repent day or night.You don’t want to be the way you are,But your nearness to God is far. You begin to look withinAt how bad you are, so full of sin.You see how bad you have hurt the Lord;How far you have wandered from His Word. You see you are no better than they;You too, have wandered far astray.God loves you too much to leave you that way.He wants to break your heart to pray. Get it right before its too late;Forgive your brother, refuse to wait.Repent of unforgiveness before the nightSo that you can be pleasing in His sight. -Gene Griffin
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Unrivaled Power of Prayer
THE UNRIVALLED POWER OF PRAYER
Romans 8:26-27 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; we know what it is to pray in the Spirit; but we do not so often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays in us prayers which we cannot utter. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
"He," the Spirit in you, "maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God," and God searches your heart not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what is the prayer of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God needs the nature of the believer as a shrine in which to offer His intercession. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, He "would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience.
Jesus ruthlessly cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and said - "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matt 21:13. Have we recognized that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, though it is only a tiny bit of our personality, is to be regarded by us as a shrine of the Holy Ghost. He will look after the unconscious part that we know nothing of; but we must see that we guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
Romans 8:26-27 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; we know what it is to pray in the Spirit; but we do not so often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays in us prayers which we cannot utter. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
"He," the Spirit in you, "maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God," and God searches your heart not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what is the prayer of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God needs the nature of the believer as a shrine in which to offer His intercession. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, He "would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience.
Jesus ruthlessly cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and said - "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matt 21:13. Have we recognized that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, though it is only a tiny bit of our personality, is to be regarded by us as a shrine of the Holy Ghost. He will look after the unconscious part that we know nothing of; but we must see that we guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Trials
Trials
© by Claytia Doran
No matter what trials come our way,God will see us through each day.If only we'll put our trust in Him,The light of His love will never dim.
Don't ever think that He's forgotten you.It's just, sometimes, we need a test or two.For, we'll never be able to help our brotherIf we're not tested, one way or another.
Never ask the Lord for an easy road,But only for strength to carry your load.For, through your sorrows, you will findThe Lord is with you. He's loving and kind. And, when your trials have all gone away,'I've been there, too,' is what you can say.For, there'll be times when someone you meetWill praise God to walk in the steps of your feet.
© by Claytia Doran
No matter what trials come our way,God will see us through each day.If only we'll put our trust in Him,The light of His love will never dim.
Don't ever think that He's forgotten you.It's just, sometimes, we need a test or two.For, we'll never be able to help our brotherIf we're not tested, one way or another.
Never ask the Lord for an easy road,But only for strength to carry your load.For, through your sorrows, you will findThe Lord is with you. He's loving and kind. And, when your trials have all gone away,'I've been there, too,' is what you can say.For, there'll be times when someone you meetWill praise God to walk in the steps of your feet.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Our Saviors Amazing Love
Our Saviors Amazing Love
"Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?" declares the Lord. "So you will be my people, and I will be your God." —Jeremiah 30:21-22 It is the Lord who causes us to draw near to Him. God knew we would mess up. He saw it way in advance and made provision for it from the very beginning. He knows our frailty, both physical and emotional. He recognizes the limited capacity of our hearts. He sees the yes in the hearts of His people and says, "I understand your weakness, and yet I recognize your willingness to be wholly Mine." He looks at the agreement in our hearts and calls forth our budding virtues into full maturity. You see, we are dealing with a loving Bridegroom, the Man Christ Jesus. He is fully God, but He is also fully man. He has intense affections filled with tenderness. Even while we grow and falter on our way to full maturity, He enjoys us, and His heart flows with extravagant compassion, the likes of which the world will never know without Him. {PRAYER STARTER} Lord, how awesome the knowledge that You allow me to present myself insin and weakness before You, and then in love You raise me up to spiritual maturity because You love me.
"Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?" declares the Lord. "So you will be my people, and I will be your God." —Jeremiah 30:21-22 It is the Lord who causes us to draw near to Him. God knew we would mess up. He saw it way in advance and made provision for it from the very beginning. He knows our frailty, both physical and emotional. He recognizes the limited capacity of our hearts. He sees the yes in the hearts of His people and says, "I understand your weakness, and yet I recognize your willingness to be wholly Mine." He looks at the agreement in our hearts and calls forth our budding virtues into full maturity. You see, we are dealing with a loving Bridegroom, the Man Christ Jesus. He is fully God, but He is also fully man. He has intense affections filled with tenderness. Even while we grow and falter on our way to full maturity, He enjoys us, and His heart flows with extravagant compassion, the likes of which the world will never know without Him. {PRAYER STARTER} Lord, how awesome the knowledge that You allow me to present myself insin and weakness before You, and then in love You raise me up to spiritual maturity because You love me.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Ready to Give an Answer
Ready to Give an Answer
1 Peter 3:15 - “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” Sometimes during an interview, a reporter may ask me, “Do you think a Jew without Jesus is lost?” If I say, “Yes,” then I will look like a racist or a bigot. If I say, “No,” then, I have dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for the sins of all people. So how do I answer? I say, “Friend, I believe that one of my own children without Jesus would be lost. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a Jew or a Gentile. You see, God demands absolute perfection and none of us can provide it. That’s why we need the gospel. We need Jesus. We need the righteousness of God that comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.” What would you say if someone asked you that question? Ask the Lord to prepare you.
When Chrstians Sin
When Christians Sin
Sinclair Ferguson
How successfully do you handle the sins of others? Observation suggests that the Christian family too often reacts with either hot indignation or cold indifference, without a proper sense of biblical responsibility. Sometimes we seem as bad at handling others' failures as we are at over-coming our own. No doubt these two things are related. Yet, given the nature of the gospel, would we not expect that the church should be vastly different from the world on this point?
Scripture gives several principles which should govern our response to the sins of others.
1. Grief. A life has been marred. Christ's name has been shamed. Perhaps others' lives have been invaded by the consequences of sin. Things can never be quite the same again. Hearts will have been hardened, making repentance the more difficult. Knowing this, we will weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15)
2. Realism. Conversion does not deliver the saints from the presence of sin. We may have died to sin, but sin has not yet died out in us. The regenerate man is only in the process of being healed. Sin dwells in him still, and is deceitful still.
This does not excuse the believer's sin, but it underlines that it is possible for Christians still to sin. Scripture encourages us that there will be no fatalities, but warns us that we can still be critically wounded. The strong-stomached authors of the Westminster Confession caught this balance when they wrote that "sanctification is throughout in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war . . . In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome . . ." (XIV,ii,iii) Such knowledge does not protect us from grief over others' sins, but it does help us to see that a single wound is not the end of the war, and thus preserves us from despair of ourselves or others. 3. Self-examination. We too are frail, we too may fall. Our sins may not have produced the same public consequences as those of our brethren, but may be no less horrible. We may have been spared the combination of sinful desire, the pressure of temptation, and the opportunity to act that has brought another to fall. Only those who know that they too are "subject to weakness" will be "able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray" (Heb.5:2). 4. Mutual confession. We are to confess our sins to each other, and to pray for one another (Jas.5:16). Why? Because mutual confession breaks the grip of Satan over the guilty heart. Satan's paralyzing stranglehold depends on our acceptance of his winsome lies: 1) No other Christian could have sinned as you did. 2) No other Christian will accept you and love you now, so you must disguise your sin by any means you can. But in mutual confession we discover and overcome his lies, and break the blackmailing grip that Satan has gained over us. It brings us back into the fellowship from which we have withdrawn out of guilt and a fear of discovery. 5. Forgiveness and reconciliation. Those whom Christ welcomes we must welcome. He grants grace and forgiveness in order that there may be amendment of life. We dare not reverse that gospel pattern by demanding rigorous rehabilitation before we extend forgiveness and reconciliation. 6. New discipline. Brothers and sisters who sin are to be restored gently (Gal.6:1). There is a twofold emphasis here, on discipline and grace. Those who have failed need to drink long and deeply from the fountain of grace, learning again and again that we are not justified by our sanctification but by God's grace. They will need to be protected from Satan's efforts to overwhelm and cripple them with guilt, or to drive them to a sense of despair. Moreover, they have sinned, as we ourselves have, and together we must help them to remodel and rebuild their Christian lives and testimony. The foundations must be strengthened, the ruins must be reconstructed. It appears from our Lord's teaching that all this may normally be accomplished informally by fellow Christians, long before it becomes necessary for formal discipline to be inaugurated. Such discipline is for the intractable only (Matt. 18:15-17). We must never lose sight of the fact that the New Testament church contained one who, after his regeneration, denied Christ with blasphemies. Christ prays for those whom Satan seeks to sift like wheat. (Luke 22:31) He loves them still. Who knows to what usefulness a brother or sister may be restored by those who have learned how to handle the sins of others as well as their own? This article was previously published in Eternity Magazine.
1 Peter 3:15 - “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” Sometimes during an interview, a reporter may ask me, “Do you think a Jew without Jesus is lost?” If I say, “Yes,” then I will look like a racist or a bigot. If I say, “No,” then, I have dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for the sins of all people. So how do I answer? I say, “Friend, I believe that one of my own children without Jesus would be lost. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a Jew or a Gentile. You see, God demands absolute perfection and none of us can provide it. That’s why we need the gospel. We need Jesus. We need the righteousness of God that comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.” What would you say if someone asked you that question? Ask the Lord to prepare you.
When Chrstians Sin
When Christians Sin
Sinclair Ferguson
How successfully do you handle the sins of others? Observation suggests that the Christian family too often reacts with either hot indignation or cold indifference, without a proper sense of biblical responsibility. Sometimes we seem as bad at handling others' failures as we are at over-coming our own. No doubt these two things are related. Yet, given the nature of the gospel, would we not expect that the church should be vastly different from the world on this point?
Scripture gives several principles which should govern our response to the sins of others.
1. Grief. A life has been marred. Christ's name has been shamed. Perhaps others' lives have been invaded by the consequences of sin. Things can never be quite the same again. Hearts will have been hardened, making repentance the more difficult. Knowing this, we will weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15)
2. Realism. Conversion does not deliver the saints from the presence of sin. We may have died to sin, but sin has not yet died out in us. The regenerate man is only in the process of being healed. Sin dwells in him still, and is deceitful still.
This does not excuse the believer's sin, but it underlines that it is possible for Christians still to sin. Scripture encourages us that there will be no fatalities, but warns us that we can still be critically wounded. The strong-stomached authors of the Westminster Confession caught this balance when they wrote that "sanctification is throughout in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war . . . In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome . . ." (XIV,ii,iii) Such knowledge does not protect us from grief over others' sins, but it does help us to see that a single wound is not the end of the war, and thus preserves us from despair of ourselves or others. 3. Self-examination. We too are frail, we too may fall. Our sins may not have produced the same public consequences as those of our brethren, but may be no less horrible. We may have been spared the combination of sinful desire, the pressure of temptation, and the opportunity to act that has brought another to fall. Only those who know that they too are "subject to weakness" will be "able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray" (Heb.5:2). 4. Mutual confession. We are to confess our sins to each other, and to pray for one another (Jas.5:16). Why? Because mutual confession breaks the grip of Satan over the guilty heart. Satan's paralyzing stranglehold depends on our acceptance of his winsome lies: 1) No other Christian could have sinned as you did. 2) No other Christian will accept you and love you now, so you must disguise your sin by any means you can. But in mutual confession we discover and overcome his lies, and break the blackmailing grip that Satan has gained over us. It brings us back into the fellowship from which we have withdrawn out of guilt and a fear of discovery. 5. Forgiveness and reconciliation. Those whom Christ welcomes we must welcome. He grants grace and forgiveness in order that there may be amendment of life. We dare not reverse that gospel pattern by demanding rigorous rehabilitation before we extend forgiveness and reconciliation. 6. New discipline. Brothers and sisters who sin are to be restored gently (Gal.6:1). There is a twofold emphasis here, on discipline and grace. Those who have failed need to drink long and deeply from the fountain of grace, learning again and again that we are not justified by our sanctification but by God's grace. They will need to be protected from Satan's efforts to overwhelm and cripple them with guilt, or to drive them to a sense of despair. Moreover, they have sinned, as we ourselves have, and together we must help them to remodel and rebuild their Christian lives and testimony. The foundations must be strengthened, the ruins must be reconstructed. It appears from our Lord's teaching that all this may normally be accomplished informally by fellow Christians, long before it becomes necessary for formal discipline to be inaugurated. Such discipline is for the intractable only (Matt. 18:15-17). We must never lose sight of the fact that the New Testament church contained one who, after his regeneration, denied Christ with blasphemies. Christ prays for those whom Satan seeks to sift like wheat. (Luke 22:31) He loves them still. Who knows to what usefulness a brother or sister may be restored by those who have learned how to handle the sins of others as well as their own? This article was previously published in Eternity Magazine.
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