Extraordinary Prayer - Expecting Great Things

The Lens of Scripture  - God, the world seems to be going backwards at times. Lord, please wake up people to value life in all its forms and value the life you create in people as male and female. Move people away from defining life by themselves, their biases, their sin, making you God into what they want to believe. Keep us ready in season and out of season to the preaching of the Word; keep us sober-minded, enduring suffering, and do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:1-5). There is a distrust of Scripture that continues to make its way into our lives on this earth. O God keep this distrust out of our churches and out of our pulpits. May we all rightly handle the truth. Sanctify us in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17). Amen. 

Where is the Word of God  - Lord God, this world, it has so much that is competing for truth. In faith, there are so many different claims of what counts as salvation. It is hard for me to reconcile daily. I feel like I have peace what You are teaching me, but sometimes it is hard to get my thoughts out with others. But I appreciate the challenge as well God. But it remains hard to hear of so many with seemingly similar good intentions and yet they beat to an entirely different drum. Oh God, I thank you for the standard and authority you provide through Your word and how you speak through it. I thank you also for the authors that You have led me to read and study and learn from. Even Adam and Eve when after their own way instead of listening to Your word. And yet Lord, I see so many different interpretations of Your word and passages, almost like it gets twisted to say something we want it to say. Again Lord, it is hard to know what is right sometimes. I keep coming back to Love th...

Lord, what a privilege it is each day to grow in my relationship with You because I know each day how prone I am to go a different direction. I struggle Lord daily to seek my own will and think that my life is meant to serve myself. I thank you for the time to reflect on You and all that You have for me. Help me to have my day defined by You and then to know how you are leading me. I feel at times that You speak to me in so many ways. And yet I am not sure that my focus is securely on You, but I thank You that Your spirit is at work in me, speaking to Me and giving me strength and direction each day. Guard my steps. Help me to follow Your guidance so that I find wisdom to serve You in every situation. Keep me humble as I am often not serving You or have that tendency each day. Keep me productive. Keep me doing what I should be doing. As Peter might have been misguided in his approach with you thinking that He was doing good, keep me focused on the big picture and remembering the words ...

Mildew and the Cost of Sin  - Thank you God for all the books of the Bible and what they can teach me. In Leviticus, you show me that Jesus fulfills the office of the priesthood, fulfills the Day of Atonement, and the year of jubilee, freedom and celebration. You also show me the significance of cleansing oneself. Lord, You are sovereign over all of creation. The earth is Yours Lord. You show me that sin must daily be rooted out in my life as you are Holy and cannot look upon sin. Help me to free myself from sin so that You God, the Most High will reign among my life. Praise be to God that You had Jesus pay the cost of sin on the cross. The cost of sin has been paid on my behalf. God you are therefore with me having granted me the forgiveness of sin. 

The Place of Godly Ambition  - Lord, as I think about ambition, I ask what role it should have in my life and whether you promote ambition. James condemns those with selfish ambition (James 3:14) while Paul makes it his ambition to preach the gospel (Romans 15:20). God, ambition seems to be a strong desire that leads to a willingness to overcome obstacles to achieve a particular end. I know God that sin results in desires (lust, cravings, passions) that are self-seeking and pursue things not pleasing to You and my desire is often not for things that matter, but instead for things that are trivial and don't really matter. Train me God to value what You value and hate what You hate, to love what You love. Also, in achieving good things in my life that honor You, let me make sure my course for achieving them is honoring to You and glorifying You. Train me daily God, discipline me so that I am overcoming laziness, doing the right things, growing in godliness. There are times I may not ...

God, you are sovereign. And I am responsible for living according to Your will. I live between the call to trust You and the Call to act. Lord, I admit a struggle at times on when to do which and the temptation to be imbalanced -- thinking I am responsible solely. I over plan at times. I am tempted toward anxiety, fear, over-control, over-responsibility, perfectionism and anger - because often I feel it is all on me to make things happen. And yet on the other side, I can be tempted the direction towards laziness, passivity, stoicism*, fatalism*, and indecision - when I drift towards thinking it is all up to You. I know God you encourage me through Your Word to be wise and prayerful in my planning recognizing that You are responsible and I am responsible, too. God, from the beginning you show me that You planted the garden of Eden but tasked Adam to "work it and keep it" (Gen. 2:8, 15), thus showing me your provision and my responsibility. You provide instructions, such as wor...

Lord, thank you for speaking to me and helping me see that deep down my desire for people to know Christ is often colliding with my desire for people to like me. I am trying to manage both instead of choosing and trusting you for the outcome - and making knowing Christ most important. Yes, God, help me to know or how to know when to "lose" a relationship potentially and speak more frank to people about faith. Yes, I want there to be great outcomes by me doing this in which people come to know You after I have taken the attitude of losing the relationship, but Lord, I know also know I can't make that a formula. Heavenly Father, if I lose this relationship because I spoke about You, as hard as that loss would be for me, I would be OK with that. Free me up to venture and view relationships as a steward, not control it as if it were my possession. You are the Sovereign Master. Have Your way. Lord, I pray that I would be a faithful steward to You in all things. Help me to not ...

As I mentioned, in thinking about Jesus and His Prayer as recorded in John 17, rather than simply taking notes in church, I turned the note taking into prayers.  Titus 3:8-11 based upon the message given by Lamar Morin at Hoffmantown Church on July 14, 2024 God, thank you for continuing to show and teach me that as I listen and learn your Word, my life becomes harmonious. By believing in you God, I am to be careful to engage in good, doing that good, and pursing good in others. Thank you God that your Word has been trustworthy to those before me and continues to be today in people’s lives. Remind me God to share my testimony more as it reminds me of you actively being in my life. Good works are good for others and for me. Help me to continually distance myself (not merely avoid) foolish conversations; keep me far from words that focus on special codes, conspiracies, seeking after too much information that often leads me to anger and rising up division. Again, may I be careful in wh...

I've started something a little different lately and that is as I'm listening to sermons or reading Christian articles, rather than taking notes, I'm turning those notes into prayers. I am patterning this off of John 17 and Jesus (High Priestly) Prayer as he spoke theology in those verses and confirmed truths with the Father while also praying for His disciples and for all believers.  Here is a prayer after reading and studying Titus 3:1-7 Thank you God for your salvation. That we are not saved by our works. But You remind me of my need to do good works. You have set and established rulers over us. You remind me to obey You first and foremost. Lord, make my speech gentle, humble, and be gentle to all people. I am reminded God that I once was foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. I have been captive to passions and pleasures. Make me more understanding of lost people’s current condition. You are my Savior. You have saved me by Your kindness...